Noelte, A. Albert, 1885-1946

Dates

• Existence: 1885 - 1946

Biography

Albert Noelte (1885-1946) was born near Munich in the Bavarian town of Starnberg and was determined to become a musician from an early age. Despite his apparently musical gifts and the fact that his grandfather had been a municipal music director, his parents only allowed him minimal violin study. At age fifteen, violin in hand, young Noelte ran away from home and ultimately emigrated to the United States. At the encouragement of a relative, he completed his schooling in Troy, New York and received formal music training from a local church organist. At age eighteen, Noelte entered the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, studying composition with Frederick Shepherd Converse and George Whitfield Chadwick. He also concurrently studied English literature at Boston University. Chadwick ultimately advised Noelte to return to Munich at the end of his conservatory education where he continued musical studies with Felix Mottl and later Richard Strauss.

While in Germany during the 1920s, Noelte continued to study, taught private lessons, worked as a music critic for the München-Augsberger, Abend Zeitung and the Boston Advertiser. He also composed a number of significant orchestral works and saw his first opera, Francois Villon produced in Carlsruhe, 1920. His Die Herzogin von Padua would premiere at Dresden in 1931 after he had returned to the United States in 1929 to serve as dean of Chicago’s Institute of Music and Allied Arts for four years before his appointment as music theory professor at Northwestern University in 1934.

Noelte’s works were performed throughout Chicago including many by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His Suite for Wind Instruments, Percussions and Harp, op. 27 was written in Chicago shortly after his return to America and was dedicated to Frederick Stock, who premiered the work with the CSO in 1930.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: