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 Funeral Service 18 January 1904 to 30 July 2006 by Kevin Friedrich  |
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Family and friends gathered in Corona, California on August 12th, for
a service in the memory of the late Anthony Galla-Rini who passed away
on July 30th 2006 at the grand age of 102. |
 Contributed
by Prof. Joan SommersA few hours ago, on the Sunday 30th July 2006, Anthony Galla-Rini had some troubles at the nursing home where he lived. He was taken to hospital where the family quickly gathered to say their goodbyes. His son Ron told me, that Tony Galla-Rini had a massive heart attack and died, at the grand age of 102 years.  Galla-Rini
had a huge influence on the development of the accordion over so many
decades. He is probably the most published arranger of all time and
was famous for his recordings and teaching. His arrangements were always
regarded as an epitomy of accuracy and attention to detail.I have had Tony in my life from the age of 15, so you can see how much his passing means to me. He had a lot of influence on me, personally, and for thousands of other accordionists for such a very long time. He really was a truly great musician to whom every accordionist owes a tremendous gratitude.  This
is truly the end of a very historical era of the accordion!May we all be so blessed to have such a long and productive life. Prof. Joan Sommers Retired Professor of Accordion University of Missouri, Kansas City |
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Pictures
and memorabilia were on display at the funeral service and reception,
offering an interesting glimpse into Galla-Rini's long and productive
life, one that was dedicated to the accordion.
Guest
speakers were Kjell Holmes from San Diego, who spoke of Galla-Rini's
work with the annual accordion camp, and Kevin Friedrich from New York,
who spoke as President of the Confédération Internationale
des Accordéonistes (CIA) and as a 
Board
of Director of both the American Accordionists' Association (AAA) and
Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG). (Note: Galla-Rini
served as a Vice President of the CIA, and was a founding member of
both the AAA and ATG.)
Esther
Lanting performed Galla-Rini's arrangement of 'The Lord's Prayer', followed
by a moving tribute from Galla-Rini's only child, Ron Galla-Rini (picture
left), who spoke of how it was to be the son of the famous Anthony Galla-Rini.
Mr.
Galla-Rini's obituary was included in the Los Angeles Times, the San
Francisco Chronicle, The San Diego Union Tribune, Forbes, The Ledger,
WBZ News Radio in Boston, Yahoo News, The West Palm Beach Post, CBS
News, AOL News, The Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe, The Guardian (United
Kingdom), the Montreal Gazette, and dozens and dozens of other major
newspapers, magazines, Radio and online news services around the world.|
Remembering
Maestro Anthony Galla-Rini 1904-2006 |
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He studied traditional harmony and would buy and intently listen to
recordings of famous composers and conductors such as Rachmaninoff, Heifetz,
Paderewski and Toscanini. Those musical personalities thus became his
teachers. In
1924 he left his father's act because he wasn't receiving his fair share
of the salary. He and his sisters formed their own act that continued
until 1932. Their salary peaked at $600 per week. The Vaudeville years
ended with the advent of Motion Pictures with sound.All the entertainers had to find some other kind of work and Anthony decided to open an accordion studio in San Francisco. He published his own accordion method books, started writing music for the instrument, and established himself as a teacher. He also worked on getting the accordion introduced on the concert platform as a solo instrument. In 1933, he married Dina Petromilli. Three years Iater their son, Ronald Pascal was born. He was hired by the Wurlitzer Music House to be an accordion instructor at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Eventually the family moved to New York City to be close to the various music publishers. He succeeded very well and eventually wrote music for more than 30 publishing houses.  He
was one of the founding members of the American Accordionists' Association
(AAA) in NYC in 1938 (pictured is his membership card, indicating he is
member No. 1). and also a founder of the Accordion Teacher's Guild, International
(ATG) in 1941 in Chicago, for which he served as President Emeritus throughout
his career. Galla-Rini also served as a Vice President of the Confederation
Internationale des Accordeonistes (CIA).During the spring of that year he began composing his first major work: "Accordion Concerto #1 in G minor", scoring the orchestral part as well as the solo part. It was premiered with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra on November 15th of that year with Anthony as soloist. Galla-Rini returned to California in 1942 and taught accordion again. A year later, he joined a rumba band playing at the Trocadero, one of the most prominent nightclubs on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. There were no written accordion parts, so he had to improvise. This led to opportunities to play on sound track engagements in the Hollywood film industry. You can hear him playing on such films as: High Noon, Laura, Carnival at Costa Rica, Rhapsody in Blue, Shine of Harvest Moon, The Gunfighter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the Sting 11 just to name a few. During the next decade, he performed on concert tours in various theaters across the US He also toured England, Scotland, Norway and Sweden in 1950, taking his family with him.  In
1951 he represented the ATG at the CIA General Assembly and Coupe Mondiale
in Paris, which resulted in the CIA accepting the ATG as a member organization.
In 1958 and 1959, he performed as a guest artist in Carnegie Hall. In
1960 he was elected to the Accordion Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Arcari
Foundation. (Pictured right are Mr. Galla-Rini and long time friend
Joan C. Sommers.)In 1968, Dina Galla-Rini passed away. Three years later, Anthony married Dolly Cortella. He was married to her until she passed away at the age of 101.  In
1975, the President of Italy conferred on him the title of "Cavalier
of the Star of Solidarity" in recognition of his efforts towards
strengthening the cultural bonds between Italian and American people and
for his interest in the development of the Italian accordion in American
activities.The following year he composed Accordion Concerto No. 2 in E minor (in three movements) for free-bass system. And in 1983 he composed "Sonata in D minor" for accordion (in three movements). Since 1990, at age 86, Galla-Rini has held an Accordion Camp every summer where he gives workshops and conducts ensemble work. He was the first person to be inducted in the ATG Hall of Fame on his 99th birthday in 2003.  Being
featured as soloist with over 15 symphony orchestras, Galla-Rini has played
on numerous recordings with several record companies. He has arranged
hundreds of transcriptions from orchestral works for accordion ensembles,
orchestras, soloists and students. His advanced arrangements are quite
challenging but well worth the effort. (Mr. Galla-Rini is pictured
above with his ATG Festival Birthday Orchestra which he conducted by memory
during his 99th Birthday celebrations in San Diego, CA.)He is credited with many pioneering efforts such as: standardizing the stradella system, notating exact pitch of all the 5 sets of reeds in the left hand, notating the left hand in bass clef, and the logical choice and placement of the right hand and left hand registers. He will be forever remembered for his lifetime of musical achievements and extraordinary contributions to the accordion world. Courtesy of United States National Accordion News Editor Kevin Friedrich |
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| Additional Photos provided: | ||||||
ATG Festival Accordion Orchestra rehearsal 1998, prominent in the picture are Kevin Friedrich and Joan Sommers. 
 A photo of Kevin Friedrich, President of the Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes and Anthony Galla-Rini in late 2005. |
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| ANTHONY GALLA-RINI Memorial Services
will be held: Saturday, August 12, at 2:00 PM Olive Branch Community Church 7702 El Cerrito Rd. Corona, CA 92881 Note: The best airport to fly into is the Ontario, CA Airport since it is only about 30 minutes from the church; LAX is approximately 2 hours away. Visitors are welcome at Ron and Jan Galla-Rini's home both before and after the memorial service. Donations, if desired, may be given to the "Galla-Rini Memorial Fund" with proceeds going to a possible scholarship for the Galla-Rini Camp. Personal condolences may be sent to his son at the following addresses: Ronald Galla-Rini 9185 Stone Canyon Rd. Corona, CA 92883 E-mail: Rongee_3@hotmail.com Tel: (951) 277-210 |
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Courtesy
of 
He
had just 6 months of formal education when he joined the family act,
known as "The Galla-Rini Four". Anthony (far right) knew the
alphabet by that time and remembers reading about the sinking of the
Titanic in the newspapers.
His
father gave him a book on geography and told him to study it. That was
the extent of his formal education. So you might say he was self-taught,
self-made man not only in academics but also in music.
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