Victor Aller

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Victor Aller, American pianist, born March 26, 1905 in New York City, died May 1977 in the area of Los Angeles, California. He had a successful career behind the scenes in the film industry, and he taught piano in Hollywood, where his students sometimes included actors preparing to depict musicians on screen. His present fame, however, rests primarily on his performances in acclaimed 1950s-vintage Capitol Records recordings with the Hollywood String Quartet, including accounts of piano quintets by Brahms, Franck, and Shostakovich and the Brahms piano quartets.

Aller had family and professional ties to the quartet. His sister, Eleanor Aller, was its cellist, and her husband, Felix Slatkin, was its first violinist. They and the other quartet members were all musicians with the Hollywood studios of the era, and Victor Aller was the orchestra manager at Warner Bros. during the 1940s; by 1949, his hourly earnings amounted to $19.95 according to company records.

Among Warner films in which Victor Aller had direct input were The Beast with Five Fingers and the biographical picture Song Without End. For the former, he prepared an edition of the Brahms left-hand piano arrangement of Bach’s Chaconne, and, according to a press release, he spent 200 hours training actor Victor Francen in proper technique. For the latter, he provided technical instruction to Dirk Bogarde, who played the leading role of Franz List.

Aller's musical heritage lives on with relatives in succeeding generations. His daughter is concert violinist Judith Aller, a student of Jascha Heifetz and present owner of Aller’s Steinway grand piano; his nephew, son of Felix Slatkin and Eleanor Aller, is noted American orchestra conductor Leonard Slatkin.

[edit] References

Library of Congress authority record citing birth and death dates [[1]]

Neil Lerner, Music’s Role in Hollywood’s Social Erasure of the Disabled Body: Two Case Studies ( Kings Row and The Beast with Five Fingers ) [[2]]

Judith Aller biographical Web site [[3]]