{{Short description|Austrian-born American composer and orchestrator}} [[File:Hans-Spialek.jpg|thumb|right|Hans Spialek in 1983]] '''Hans Spialek''' (April 17, 1894 – November 20, 1983) was an Austrian-born American composer and orchestrator. Raised in Vienna and given an early musical education, he continued his studies in Moscow, at first as a prisoner of war during World War I, before settling in the US in 1924.<ref name=grove/>
Spialek is best known for scoring the music for [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musicals by [[Cole Porter]], [[Rodgers and Hart]] and others, as well as ballet music, and radio broadcasts. He orchestrated 147 musicals from 1926 to 1967, many in collaboration with other arrangers such as [[Robert Russell Bennett]].<ref name=ocat/> In his retirement in the 1980s, he helped reconstruct the original orchestrations for recordings of some of his 1930s Broadway shows.
==Life and career==
===Early life and peak years=== Spialek was born in Vienna, where he received a musical education. He sang in the children's chorus of the [[Vienna State Opera]] and played small roles, including the little boy in the second act of ''[[La bohème]]'' under the baton of [[Gustav Mahler]].<ref name=ag>McGlinn, John. "The Original 'Anything Goes' – A Classic Restored", notes to EMI CD 7-49848, ''[[Anything Goes]]'' (1989)</ref> He studied composing and conducting at the Vienna Conservatory, before fighting in the First World War.<ref name=grove>Ferencz, George J. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/45950 "Spialek, Hans,"] ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 23 October 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref> He was taken prisoner by Russian forces, but was allowed to continue his musical studies, and he conducted a prisoners’ orchestra.<ref name=grove/> After the war he studied in Moscow with [[Reinhold Glière]].<ref name=grove/>
In 1924, Spialek and his wife, the singer Dora Boshoer, moved to America, where he joined the music staff of publisher [[Warner/Chappell Music|Chappell Music]]. His [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut was in 1926, orchestrating some of [[Walter Donaldson (songwriter)|Walter Donaldson]] and [[Joseph Meyer (songwriter)|Joseph Meyer]]'s music for ''Sweetheart Time'' (1926).<ref name=ocam>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e1707 "Spialek, Hans"], ''Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online, accessed 23 October 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref> At Chappell, he shared an office with [[Robert Russell Bennett]], with whom he collaborated on dozens of shows.<ref name=grove/> Over the next 22 years, Spialek arranged the music for more than 100 Broadway musicals, and by the time of his retirement in 1957 he had worked on a total of 147.<ref name=ocat>Bordman, Gerald and Thomas S. Hischak (eds.) [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t149.e2898 "Spialek, Hans"], ''Oxford Companion to American Theatre'', Oxford University Press 2004. Oxford Reference Online, accessed 23 October 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref>
Among the shows from the 1920s on which Spialek worked are ''[[Rosalie (musical)|Rosalie]]'' (1928), ''[[The New Moon]]'' (1928) and ''[[Fifty Million Frenchmen]]'' (1929). His many shows from the 1930s include ''[[The New Yorkers]]'' (1930), ''[[Gay Divorce]]'' (1932), ''[[Anything Goes]]'' (1934), ''[[On Your Toes]]'' (1936), ''[[Babes in Arms]]'' (1937), ''[[I Married an Angel]]'' (1938) and ''[[The Boys from Syracuse]]'' (1938). His 1940s shows include ''[[Pal Joey (musical)|Pal Joey]]'' (1940), ''[[Panama Hattie]]'' (1940), ''[[Something for the Boys]]'' (1943), ''[[Are You with It? (musical)|Are You with It?]]'' (1945), and ''[[Where's Charley?]]'' (1948).<ref name=ocat/><ref name=ocam/>
Music historian Thomas Hischak has written of Spialek that perhaps his greatest contribution "was the modern ballet orchestrations he made of [[Richard Rodgers]]' music for "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" and the "Princess Zenobia" ballet in ''On Your Toes'', the "Big Brother" ballet in The Boys From Syracuse, and "Peter's Journey" ballet in Babes in Arms."<ref name=ocam/> In the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', George J. Ferencz writes of Spialek, "His theatre orchestrations are distinguished by their wittiness, frequent text-painting and masterful use of minimum resources."<ref name=grove/>
===Later years=== From the 1940s, Spialek worked less for Broadway; he had written music for the [[1939 World's Fair]], and over the next years he composed and conducted for radio and entertainment events at trade expositions and civic pageants. His last new theatre work was on a 1967 musical, ''Mata Hari''.<ref name=grove/> In retirement, Spialek accepted invitations from the conductors [[John Mauceri]] and [[John McGlinn]] to reconstruct his original 1930s scoring for recordings of ''On Your Toes'' and ''Anything Goes'', which, in Ferencz's words, "earned the adulation of a new generation of theatre scholars and enthusiasts."<ref name=grove/> McGlinn wrote of him, "Spialek genuinely loved this music and loved getting the most out of it. His orchestrations are uniquely transparent and kind to singers – never covering, always supporting, and full of sly humour (he was, beyond doubt, the funniest man I've ever met)."<ref name=ag/>
In addition to his work as an arranger, Spialek wrote and published some original works of his own. They include the orchestral suite ''The Tall City'' (1933);<ref>[http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/DNDK9GIGXJCDCQ7NC1UK9F3S6CKDJJJB8GAS5U75FQ4C399R4P-16421?func=full-set-set&set_number=023060&set_entry=000014&format=999 "The Tall City"], British Library Integrated Catalogue, accessed 23 October 2011</ref> an orchestral ''Sinfonietta'' (1936);<ref>[http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/DNDK9GIGXJCDCQ7NC1UK9F3S6CKDJJJB8GAS5U75FQ4C399R4P-04029?func=full-set-set&set_number=023142&set_entry=000009&format=999 "Sinfonietta"], British Library Integrated Catalogue, accessed 23 October 2011</ref> and ''Manhattan Watercolors'' ("An Orchestral Entertainment", 1937).<ref>[http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/DNDK9GIGXJCDCQ7NC1UK9F3S6CKDJJJB8GAS5U75FQ4C399R4P-17605?func=full-set-set&set_number=023121&set_entry=000004&format=999 "Manhattan Watercolors"], British Library Integrated Catalogue, accessed 23 October 2011</ref>
Spialek died in New York at the age of 89.<ref name=ag/>
==Notes== {{Archival records|title=Hans Spialek papers, 1926-1967|location=[[Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu024012}} {{reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spialek, Hans}} [[Category:20th-century American male composers]] [[Category:Musicians from Vienna]] [[Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:20th-century American composers]] [[Category:1894 births]] [[Category:1983 deaths]]