Eleanor Spencer (November 30, 1890 – October 12, 1973) was an American concert pianist.
Early life
Eleanor Spencer was born in
Chicago. She studied piano there, was soon identified as a
child musical prodigy,[1] and started performing at age 10.[2] At age 14 she went to Europe to continue her musical education in Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, studying with
Harold Bauer and
Theodor Leschetizky.[3][4]
Career
Spencer gave her first professional recital in London at
Bechstein Hall in 1910. In 1912, while living in Berlin with a Russian princess, she made news as a passenger in a "Wright machine" airplane in Germany with pilot
Vsevolod Abramovich.[5]
She made her American professional debut at
Carnegie Hall in 1913.[6] She lived in Berlin and Paris, and performed mostly in Europe until the beginning of
World War II.[3] In August 1919, she was a soloist at the
Kurhaus Concerts in
Scheveningen, and was described as the first American musician to appear on Dutch concert programs after
World War I.[7][8] She played at New York's
Town Hall venue in 1930[9] and 1936.[10][11] She also taught piano.[12]
Her critical reception was generally positive.[13] Spencer was considered technically strong, and an expert on the works of
Robert Schumann. She played at
Aeolian Hall in 1919, displaying her "original taste and ample technique".[14] Of her 1930 performance at Carnegie Hall,
the New York Times critic noted "a general effect of monotony in the lengthy movements of the Brahms and Schumann works", and cited a "prevailing lack of imagination" as the cause.[15]
By the time she moved back to the United States in the late 1930s, she was becoming deaf. She retrained herself as a deaf musician, and returned to a performing career after the war.[3] In 1946, she played again in New York, introduced by
Edwine Behre.[16]
Personal life
Spencer died in
Locarno, Switzerland, in 1973 aged 81 years (her obituary in The New York Times gave her age as 84 years).[17] Her papers, including diaries, letters, and promotional materials, are in the
New York Public Library.[3]
^"Eleanor Spencer Heard; American Pianist Long Resident in Europe Shows Brilliant Technique". The New York Times. January 19, 1930. p. 30 – via ProQuest.
^"Eleanor Spencer Heard; Pupil of Leschetizky Gives Her First Recital Here in Years". The New York Times. November 11, 1946. p. 50 – via ProQuest.
^"Eleanor Spencer". The New York Times. October 16, 1973. p. 46 – via ProQuest.