Norman Carol, violin prodigy, retired concertmaster for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and music teacher, has died at 95
He delighted audiences around the world for nearly nine decades and taught string classes at the Curtis Institute of Music for 35 years. “His playing was bold, expressive, and hall-filling,” a colleague said.
Norman Carol, 95, of Wynnewood, violin prodigy, retired celebrated concertmaster for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and longtime teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music, died Sunday, April 28, of age-associated decline at the Symphony Square assisted living center in Bala Cynwyd.
Mr. Carol started violin lessons when he was 6, performed his first Mozart concerto at 9, and was invited to study at Curtis at 13. He was a lifelong master at tuning, bowing, and phrasing, and critics praised his playing range and precision.
He spent 28 seasons as first chair violinist and concertmaster for the Philadelphia Orchestra before chronic pain in his arm and shoulder slowed him down. From 1966 to 1994, he sat next to renowned conductors Eugene Ormandy, Ricardo Muti, and Wolfgang Sawallisch, and played at the Academy of Music, Mann Center, and dozens of other prestigious venues around the world.
Mr. Carol tuned the orchestra before every performance and painstakingly organized the scores. He directed the string section and helped create the “Philadelphia Sound” that the orchestra made famous.
“Norman’s passing is the end of an era in our history,” Philadelphia Orchestra officials said in a tribute. Joseph H. Kluger, then president of the orchestra, told The Inquirer in 1992: “Carol has played a critical role as concertmaster by providing continuity of leadership.”
Mr. Carol told Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster in 1993: “People dream of being concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. But I have been fortunate enough to have lived that dream.”
Mr. Carol performed with many orchestras and conductors, including Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Fiedler. He played countless concertos over decades of performing and traveled throughout Europe and to Japan, Korea, China, and elsewhere with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
At least five times he stepped in unexpectedly when other soloists had to cancel. He chose a particularly difficult concerto in E minor on Oct. 5, 1984, in Philadelphia, and Webster said he played as “a nearly ideal interpreter, cool in the face of extravagance, adroit in the perilous moments, and able to exploit the size and warmth of the sound of his instrument.”
“I think to be a convincing performer,” Mr. Carol said in a recent online interview with composer John D. Gottsch, “you have to fall in love with whatever the piece is you are playing at the time.”
He played first with the Boston Symphony when he was 17. He made his New York recital debut at 21 and served as concertmaster with the New Orleans Symphony from 1956 to 1959 and Minneapolis Symphony from 1960 to 1965.
He performed with the Philadelphia Piano Quartet for a decade after he retired from the Philadelphia Orchestra and was still practicing at home until recently. Fellow violinist Paul Arnold called Mr. Carol “dashing, comfortable, even swashbuckling as a leader.” Daily News classical music critic Tom DiNardo said in 1994 that he was “an elegant, dapper man, self-effacing yet intensely proud, with a quick wit and wealth of stories.”
Mr. Carol taught orchestral repertoire and string classes at Curtis from 1979 to 2014, and talked often of his respect for young players and collaborative education. “I’m still having a love affair with a fiddle,” he told the Daily News in 1994. “It’s like being hooked. I can’t stop. After all, one’s been under my chin since I was a little kid.”
Norman Carol was born July 1, 1928, in Philadelphia. He grew up in the Strawberry Mansion and Logan sections of the city, and tagged along as a 6-year-old with his older sister, Rene, to her violin lessons.
He graduated from Curtis at 17, was drafted into the Army in 1952, and played in the Sixth Army band in San Francisco. He met Elinor Trobbe at a party in California, and they married in 1952, and had daughter Leslie and son Dan. While in Philadelphia, they lived in Center City, Bala Cynwyd, and Wynnewood.
Mr. Carol followed the Eagles, but baseball and the Phillies were his No. 1 sports passion. He was thrilled when the orchestra performed the national anthem on the field before a game in 1993, especially since he played while standing right on home plate.
He liked crossword puzzles, read deeply about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, and rarely lost at ping-pong and billiards. He summoned his children in for dinner at night by loudly whistling Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and more recently enjoyed hide-and-seek with his great-grandchildren.
“He was dedicated and modest,” his daughter said.
He told the Daily News in 1985. “My granddaughter, 20 months old, knows how to point to the violin and urge me to play nursery songs. Perhaps that’s my best playing of all.”
In addition to his children, Mr. Carol is survived by six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and other relatives. His sister died earlier.
A celebration of his life is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to the Philadelphia Orchestra, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102; Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103; and Settlement Music School, Box 63966, Philadelphia, Pa. 19147.