Friday, August 11, 2006
Obit: Anthony Galla-Rini, 102; Accordionist Maestro Extrordinaire
The
ANNOTICO Report
Anthony
Galla-Rini was born Jan. 18, 1904, in
started performing on a vaudeville stage at age 7, and was conducting
summer-camp ensembles in his 90s.
His
career started when he was summoned in 1911 to join his sisters on the
vaudeville circuit in
The Galla-Rinis crisscrossed
the country, playing with many vaudeville headliners, including Bob Hope, Jack
Benny and the Marx Brothers. Talking movies in the late 1920s effectively ended
vaudeville's run, and the Galla-Rini act disbanded in
1932.
But
Galla-Rini's reinvented himself. He taught
himself to read music and had begun composing and arranging classical and
popular pieces for the accordion, and broke into
the movie business and played the accordion on many film scores, most memorably
in "Laura" (1944) and "High Noon" (1952).
Starting in the 1930s and continuing over the next several decades, he
performed as a solo musician and toured the
In 1941 he composed his first accordion concerto and was the featured soloist
with the Oklahoma City Orchestra.
This
internationally known accordion player, composer and arranger also played a variety
of woodwind and brass instruments, starting with the cornet,
but the accordion was his passion.
OBITUARIES
By
Claire Noland
Times Staff Writer
August 11, 2006
From performing on a vaudeville stage at 7 through conducting summer-camp
ensembles in his 90s, Anthony Galla-Rini lived by the
motto "Have trunk, will travel." He needed the trunk for one simple
reason: to carry his accordion.
The internationally known accordion player, composer and arranger died July 30
at
Galla-Rini played a variety of woodwind and brass instruments, starting with the cornet, but the accordion was
his passion.
"It was his entire life's work, to elevate the accordion to a concert
instrument," Ron Galla-Rini told The Times this
week.
A self-taught musician with virtually no formal education, Galla-Rini
was born Jan. 18, 1904, in
His mother, Angela, was pregnant! with him on the ship
crossing the
The rest of the family settled in
The Galla-Rinis crisscrossed
the country, playing with many vaudeville headliners, including Bob Hope, Jack
Benny and the Marx Brothers. Talking movies in the late 1920s effectively ended
vaudeville's run, and the Galla-Rini act disbanded in
1932.
Galla-Rini's career was far from over. He had taught
himself to read music and had begun composing and arranging classical and
popular pieces for the accordion.
He returned to
Except for a short period in Brooklyn and a few stops in the Midwest, Galla-Rini and his new family lived primarily in Southern
California, calling Eagle Rock,
Galla-Rini broke into the movie business and played
the accordion on many film scores, most memorably in "Laura" (1944)
and "High Noon" (1952).
Starting in the 1930s and continuing over the next several decades, he
performed as a solo musician and toured the
In 1941 he composed his first accordion concerto and was the featured soloist
with the Oklahoma City Orchestra.
And always Galla-Rini shared his passion for the
accordion, through private lessons and group seminars. In 1990 he founded
summer camps for accordionists in
At those camps he would arrange such trad! itional melodies as "
"It was not new music, but familiar songs, arranged for accordion,"
Holmes said of Galla-Rini's adaptations. "That
really grabs people."
Galla-Rini, who moved to
A memorial service will be held Saturday at Olive Branch Community Church,
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/
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