Edouard Hesselberg

Hesselberg, Edouard

Hesselberg, Edouard (Gregory). Pianist, composer, b Riga, Latvia 3 May 1870, d Los Angeles 12 Jun 1935. He studied at the Cons of the Moscow Philharmonic Society and privately with Anton Rubinstein. After living in Germany and France he came to the USA in 1892 and directed conservatories in various cities. In 1912 he was appointed piano teacher and examiner at the TCM and at several ladies' colleges. He also taught at the Hamilton Conservatory of Music and the London Conservatory of Music. He stayed in Toronto until 1918, and his pupils included Marie Tavery Gresham, Lucy MacDonald, and Hazel Skinner. The composer of over 100 piano pieces and songs (John Church, Whaley Royce, etc), he also compiled 'A review of music in Canada' for a 1913 supplement of the set of volumes Modern Music and Musicians (New York, Toronto 1912), which remains a valuable source of information for the period. Hesselberg also used the name D'Essenelli. He was the father of movie actor Melvyn Douglas.