Alma Gluck

Alma Gluck, Efrem Zimbalist - Swanee River (1915)

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Alma Gluck (born Reba Feinsohn; May 11, 1884-October 27, 1938) was an American soprano, one of the world's most famous female singers at the peak of her career (around 1910). Marcia Davenport was the child of her first marriage (to Bernard Gluck); Alma Gluck later married violinist Efrem Zimbalist and had two children, Efrem Jr. (Stephanie Zimbalist's father) and Maria. Gluck was born to a Jewish family in Iasi, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn.[1] Gluck moved to the United States at a young age. Although her initial success came at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Gluck later concertized widely in America and became an early recording artist. Her recording of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" for the Victor Talking Machine Co. was the first celebrity recording by a classical musician to sell one million copies. Gluck was a founder of the American Woman's Association. She retired to New Hartford, Connecticut to raise her family in 1925. Alma Gluck died at the relatively young age of 54, of liver failure. ---------------------------------------------------- Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (9 April 1890 - February 22, 1985) was one of the world's most prominent concert violinists, as well as a composer, teacher, conductor and a long-time director of the Curtis Institute of Music. Zimbalist was born in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov on Don (Rostov-na-Donu), Russia, the son of Jewish parents Maria (née Litvinoff) and Aron Zimbalist, who was a conductor.By the age of nine, Efrem Zimbalist was first violin in his fathers orchestra. At age 12 he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Leopold Auer. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1907 after winning a gold medal and the Rubenstein Prize, and by age 21 was considered one of the world's greatest violinists. After graduation he debuted in Berlin (playing the Brahms concerto) and London in 1907 and in the U.S. in 1911, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He then settled in the U.S. He did much to popularize the performance of early music. In 1917, he was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity's Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1928, Zimbalist began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was director of the school from 1941 to 1968. His pupils included such distinguished musicians as Oscar Shumsky, Felix Slatkin, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Hidetaro Suzuki. He married the famous American soprano Alma Gluck and they toured together for a time. Alma Gluck died in 1938. In 1943, a widower for 8 years, he married the schools founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter of publisher Cyrus Curtis. He died in 1985, at the age of 95. His and Alma's son, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and their granddaughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, both became popular actors A Coon Song on Victor: Alma Gluck, Efrem Zimbalist - The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) 1915