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Born: July 31, 1886 - Fogelvik, Sweden
Died: February 1, 1975 - Daytona Beach, Florida, USA |
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The Swedish-born American composer, pianist, and music pedagogue, Carl Fallberg, came to the USA when he was 6, but returned to Europe and studied music in Scotland and Sweden. He toured the continent as a concert pianist, returning to the USA in 1909.
Both Carl Fallberg and his wife Gunhild Fallberg (née Söjostedt) taught music at the Centenary College Conservatory in Cleveland, Tennessee from 1910 to 1917. Carl was the director of the music department. The Fallbergs held classes in piano, organ, violin, voice, theory, and harmony. Fallberg started his career as a concert pianist. A hobby of his was automobile mechanics. And in 1916, when he was building a racing car, he smashed one finger and was unable to resume his concert tour.
But Carl Fallberg always wanted to compose, and after the accident he devoted most of his time to composition. In the 1940’s and 1950’s he lived in Long Island, New York. In the early 1940’s the Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra (Connecticut) played his Rhapsody and the People’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago performed his Suite of Swedish Dances. In 1962 he moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. His Swedish Rhapsody was performed in Los Angeles in 1972.
In addition to a number of shorter works for orchestra, Carl Fallberg composed two symphonies and a number of piano and violin concertos.
Carl and Gunhild Fallberg had three children: Lisa Lena "Dixie", Carl Robert (1915-1996) and Elinor; the latter two were cartoonists for Walt Disney. |
