Lasting Memories

Sandor Salgo
1910-Jan. 20, 2007
Stanford, California

Sandor Salgo, a Stanford University professor emeritus of music, died Jan. 20 at his Stanford home. He was 97.

Salgo was a native of Hungary and studied music in Budapest, Berlin and Dresden. He played in orchestras in Hungary and Germany in the 1930s.

He came to the United States for the first time in 1937, touring with the Roth Quartet. Concerned about the rise of fascism in Germany, he inquired about a teaching job at Princeton and was hired to teach violin and theory in 1939. Salgo played the glockenspiel in an Army marching band during World War II.

He arrived at Stanford in 1949 with his wife, Priscilla, whom he met at Princeton. At Stanford, he taught courses on the literature of the symphony, the concerto and the education of conductors. He also was the director of opera and orchestras.

On May 23, 1957, he conducted the first musical performance at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, the premiere of "The Ballad of Baby Doe," a romantic opera.

"He was very, very warm and gracious," said Alexandra Hawley, who was his student in the 1960s. "He was enthusiastic and sparkling. He always made playing such a joy. He really emphasized the spiritual nature of the music. He would say, 'Oh, my dear, you must play with your heart on the music stand.'"

"Sandor was a wonderful, old-world gentleman," recalled Stephen Hinton, professor of music and associate dean for the humanities in the School of Humanities and Sciences. "You'd go to his house and he'd be wearing an old-fashioned smoking jacket and he'd give you cocktails with little umbrellas in them."

Salgo received a Dinkelspiel award from the university in 1974 for service to undergraduates. He retired in 1974 by conducting four performances of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" in Memorial Auditorium. He also developed the Carmel Bach Festival from a purely local event to a nationally recognized one as its music director from 1956 to 1991.

"I was able to spend a lot of time with him because he would often be at home during the day studying scores and planning for classes," recalled his daughter, Deborah Dranove. "I would go up in the study and turn pages of those big orchestral scores for him. In the evening, I would often go to rehearsal with my parents."

He is survived by his wife, Priscilla; his daughter, Deborah Dranove of Highland Park., Ill.; and two grandchildren.