Arthur Loesser Collection

Arthur Loesser was born in New York on August 26, 1894 and is of German descent. He attended the New York public schools, College of the City of New York, and Columbia University. His formal musical education was acquired, for the most part, at the Institute of Musical Art in New York, where he studied with Sigismund Stojowski and Percy Goetschius, and from which he graduated in 1912 with highest honors.

He was a concert pianist, a devotee of chamber music, a teacher, and a writer on musical and other subjects. He made numerous tours throughout the United States and Australia with Maud Powell (1914-1919), to Japan, China, and the Philippines with Mischa Elman (1920-1921), and again the United States with Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1921-1922).

Mr. Loesser moved to Cleveland in 1926, joining the Cleveland Institute of Music faculty. In 1953, he became Head of the Piano Department at that institution.

During World War II, Mr. Loesser served in the Army as a Japanese language officer, retiring with the rank of major. He was ordered to Tokyo during the early months of the occupation, in the fall and winter of 1945-46. During that time he was soloist with the Nippon Philharmonic at Hibiya Hall, playing the Chopin Concerto in E minor, thus becoming the first American after the war, and while still in uniform, to perform music before a large Japanese audience.

Arthur Loesser was an active writer. From 1936 to 1941, he was editor of the program books of the Cleveland Orchestra. His book Men Women and Pianos: A Social History was published by Simon and Schuster in 1954. It became a standard work among literature written about the piano. Another book, Humor in American Song, was published in 1943.

An active recitalist and lecturer until his death (January 4, 1969), Arthur Loesser also was Cofounder and First President of the International Piano Library [which later became IPAM]. His brother, Frank Loesser, is the well-known Broadway composer.