Glazer had a distinguished career and continued to concertize and teach right up to the last few weeks of his life. He had planned six concerts in four states around his 100th birthday next month.
He was artist-inresidence at Bates College for the last 35 years. He also taught at Eastman School of Music, University of Indiana, Bennett College. His performing career spanned 78 years including solo performances at Town Hall in NYC and Carnegie Hall and as soloist with major symphonies all over the world. He performed with numerous worldrenowned chamber groups.
He was devoted to his wife of 54 years, Ruth Gevalt Glazer, who was a classical soprano when they first met in 1948. After she died in 2006, he worked at a remarkable pace, performing a concert a month and taking on enormous musical projects. One year he performed all 32 of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas in the order they were composed.
In 2011, Bates conferred on him an honorary doctorate; he told graduates: “I believe it serves no useful purpose to compare oneself with another person. Each of us is unique. We are dealt a certain hand at birth over which we have no control. But we have a lot to say about how we play the game.”
He was born on Feb. 19, 1915, in Milwaukee, WI, one of seven children of Benjamin and Clara Glazer, Lithuanian immigrants who had modest means but the resources to have a piano in the house and provide music lessons for the children. At 17, he studied in Berlin with pianist Artur Schnabel and composer Arnold Schoenberg, both of whom had significant influences on his career.
Glazer had an enormous repertoire and more than 60 recordings. In 1980, he and his wife settled at his wife’s family farm in Porter, ME, and then moved to Topsham, ME, in 2004.
Glazer is survived by two brothers in Milwaukee, Sam and Edward, and nephews, nieces, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Glazer will be buried in a private ceremony. Bates College is planning a celebration for the spring; details will be announced.
Condolence cards may be sent to his last address at 23 Coburn Lane, Topsham, ME 04086. Memorial gifts may be sent to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Foundation/ Frank Glazer Scholarship Fund, UWM Peck School of the Arts, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, or the Frank and Ruth Glazer Scholarship Fund, Bates College, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston, ME 04240.
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