Prone to Violins

Hans Letz

2012-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hans Letz (Jean Letz) was a German violinist born (in Ittenheim) on March 18, 1887. He is mostly remembered as a teacher of many students at Juilliard (New York.) He studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory and at the Berlin Royal Academy of Music with the famous Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), concertized in Europe for a while then came to the U.S. in June of 1908. He was 21 years old. He soon joined the Chicago Symphony (in 1909) and was appointed concertmaster in 1910. Theodore Thomas had already left the scene, so to speak. Letz left this position in the spring of 1912 and in May of that year joined the Kneisel Quartet (the best string quartet in the country according to several critics) as second violinist. (For some odd reason, Chicago Symphony concertmasters do not stay on for long periods, unlike other top orchestra concertmasters at the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.) Letz also began teaching at the Institute of Musical Art (now Juilliard) in 1912 and continued doing so until 1920. When Kneisel disbanded the quartet in 1917, Letz formed his own – the Hans Letz Quartet it was called. It was active until 1925. It is doubtful that any recordings of the quartet exist – I do not know. Letz then again taught at Juilliard (the Institute of Musical Art) from 1925 onward. He was 38 years old. Letz retired from Juilliard in 1960, though he took two years off between 1956 and 1958. He had been there more than forty years. Letz played a Pressenda violin from 1829, a Guadagnini from 1783, a Testore from 1739, and a Montagnana from 1730. The Guadagnini eventually ended up in the hands of Lorin Maazel, a sometime violinist who became a conductor - he sold it late last year for an undisclosed sum. Letz is said to have favored a small, refined tone, especially suited to chamber music. Among Letz’ many pupils are Mary Canberg, Dorothy DeLay, Sally Thomas, Vittorio Giannini, Anatoly Kaminsky, Robert Kurka, Peter Marsh, Calvin Sieb, Andor Toth, and Patricia Travers. Hans Letz died (in Hackensack, New Jersey) on November 14, 1969, at age 82, largely forgotten.

Miranda Cuckson

2012-01-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

Miranda Cuckson is an American violinist, violist, and teacher known for her lucid and translucent performances of contemporary works. She is also known for her stunningly precise technique. Her extremely fine, silken sound is often and uniquely juxtaposed against angular, rugged, and muscular music which she champions. However, her tastes are famously eclectic and her repertoire very broad. She has played complete Beethoven sonata cycles as well as – on the opposite side of the spectrum - music by Luigi Nono (La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura) for violin and electronic tape. She is largely responsible for bringing the music of a single person - Ralph Shapey, well-known but cantankerous Chicago composer - to the general public’s attention. Cuckson’s career has taken her to the most famous concert venues in the U.S., Europe, and China, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Berlin Philharmonie. Anthony Tommasini, one of the most regarded music critics in the world at present, has described her playing this way: “Miranda Cuckson is a brilliant young performer who plays daunting contemporary music with insight, honesty, and temperament.” (I should point out that her surname is often mispronounced: it is COOKSUN and not COXSUN.) She first began to study violin at age 5, having arrived in the U.S. from Australia with her parents while still a very young child. At the age of nine, Cuckson began her studies at Juilliard and went on to receive her BM, MM and DMA degrees there as well. She studied with Dorothy DeLay, Shirley Givens, Robert Mann, and Felix Galimir, among others. She made her recital debut in Carnegie Hall in 2003 playing an all-American program, and her concerto debut there in 2010 playing Walter Piston’s Concerto No. 1. Precisely because she champions contemporary music, she has in recent years been a greatly sought-after advocate in that area of music performance. She has also given numerous premieres of solo and chamber pieces, some of which have been written expressly for her. Her father is composer Robert Cuckson and she sometimes plays his works, including several he has written for her. This year, on February 3, she will perform a new work (at the Library of Congress) by Harold Meltzer, which was commissioned for her by the McKim Fund in honor of Fritz Kreisler. The McKim Fund is tied to the late American violinist Leonora Jackson – Jackson played what used to be Joseph Joachim’s violin for many years but retired at age 36 and died in obscurity. Cuckson’s first CD recording was a disk of concertos by Erich Korngold and Manuel Ponce with the Czech National Symphony, on Centaur Records. She subsequently made four recital CDs of 20th-century American music for Centaur: disks of music by Ralph Shapey (a two-CD set), Donald Martino and Ross Lee Finney. In 2010, Vanguard Classics released her CD “the wreckage of flowers”, comprising violin and violin/piano music by Michael Hersch, with pianist Blair McMillen. Upcoming releases include solo and duo works by Anna Weesner and a disk of microtonal solo violin pieces. She directs the concert series nunc (previously called Transit Circle), which she founded in 2007. Among the many organizations Cuckson plays with in New York are counter)induction, Sequitur, ACME, Talea Ensemble, Astoria Music Society, and the ISCM. She was the founding violinist of the Momenta Quartet, with which she played for three years. As of 2005, Cuckson has been teaching violin at Mannes College and also teaches classical violin to students of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She is on the faculty at the Composers Conference at Wellesley College and has given numerous master classes and workshops for both performers and composers, at schools such as Peabody Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and Temple, Cornell, Columbia, Yale and Princeton universities. Since 1996, Cuckson has been playing the Bazzini Guadagnini, the one from 1742 (there are two Bazzini Guadagninis – the other one is from 1758.) As were Eugene Ysaye and Jascha Heifetz, she is a devoted tennis fan. YouTube has several videos of her, one of which is here.

Elias Breeskin

2012-01-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

Elias Breeskin was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist, composer, arranger, teacher, and conductor born in 1896 – the exact date is unknown. One source gives his year of birth as 1897, but that source (Cozio) is usually messy and unreliable. He was a notorious gambler and con man who was a very successful musician in spite of his addiction to gambling. He began violin lessons very early in life and, according to one source, by age 7 was studying formally at a conservatory in Poland. He played in public at age 8 and was acclaimed. It has been said that he studied with Leopold Auer in Russia. Whether that is true is quite debatable. At age 10 (1906), he played for Franz Joseph, the Austrian Emperor. After this performance, the Emperor supposedly gave him a priceless ring right off his finger. That, too, is highly questionable. Soon after, the family came to the U.S. and settled in Washington D.C., a very odd place for a European musical family to settle – then and even now. Sponsored by a Washington benefactor, he may have first gone to Baltimore to study at the Peabody Conservatory. However, Breeskin himself stated that after securing financing from (among a few others) Frank Damrosch (brother of conductor Walter Damrosch and, at the time, Director of the Institute of Musical Arts which later became Juilliard), he began his American musical education at Juilliard (New York) in the spring of 1908. He studied with Franz Kneisel for about seven years. A magazine from that era (The Violinist) and the New York Times reported that Breeskin attended Columbia University after hours, studying languages and other subjects. Possibly upon graduation from Juilliard – in 1915 - he shared the Loeb Memorial Prize with Sascha Jacobsen. He was 19 years old. Afterward, as part of the Loeb Prize awarded him, he made his debut in Carnegie Hall and was very well received. In February or March of 1917, he received (on loan) a Stradivarius violin (the 1703 Rougemont Strad) and a Tourte bow from a benefactor – Edward Schafer – which he used for about ten years. In 1929, for understandable reasons, the violin was returned to the benefactor to help him with payment of debts after the stock market crash. The Rougemont was later played for two years by Jacques Gordon, concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony. I do not know where it is now. Breeskin joined the New York Symphony in 1917. At that time, this orchestra was being conducted by Walter Damrosch. Though it was organized many years after the New York Philharmonic, it was the first American orchestra to tour Europe - it merged with the Philharmonic in 1928. Among the New York Symphony’s members were Mischa Elman and Pablo Casals. In early February, 1917, Breeskin appeared in recital at the Aeolian Hall in New York City. A little over a year later (February 28, 1918), he played there again. One of the works he played at this second recital was Bruch’s second concerto with Lawrence Goodman at the piano. On April 1, 1919, he finally made his Carnegie Hall debut, a debut which for unknown reasons, had been postponed several times. Among the works he played was Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol. This time, he was accompanied by pianist Josef Adler. He was very favorably received at each of his recitals. In June of 1920, he married into a very wealthy American family. Anyone else would have used these newly-acquired resources to become a very major and influential figure in music, but not Breeskin. He was about 24 years old. At about the same time, it became known that he was a serious gambler. Around this time, he also became concertmaster of the Capitol Theatre Orchestra in New York. He was named conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony in 1925. Because of his gambling habit and the consequent accumulation of gambling debts, that job did not last long. Having left Minneapolis within the year, he went to Pittsburgh where he helped re-organize the Pittsburgh Symphony. There, he was concertmaster and associate conductor. The gambling continued. His last year in Pittsburgh (1929-1930), he was named Principal Conductor. He left Pittsburgh after his divorce from his wealthy wife. I am guessing that up to this time, his wife’s family may have been taking care of his huge gambling debts. Then, he returned to New York. He worked as an orchestral musician and arranger for a few years. He did some recording as conductor of a pickup orchestra for the KBS (Keystone Broadcasting System) label. Those recordings may still be available though they mostly feature light classical or salon music. He also recorded several violin pieces with pianist Theodore Saidenberg for KBS, one of which can be found on YouTube. Breeskin may have also recorded for the RCA and Brunswick labels. Many years later (1937), he found himself in Hollywood. There, he wrote and arranged music and he helped form the Hollywood Bowl Symphony. Nevertheless, having at one point in 1940 stolen the orchestra’s payroll, he exited to Mexico City, where he worked as musical director for radio stations XEW, XEX, and XEB, gave lessons, and composed movie soundtracks. His second family later joined him. If it’s true that he studied languages at Columbia, those studies now came in handy. One source has it that he lived like a king, surrounded by servants. As far as I know, he never set foot in the U.S. again. In any case, his great success in Mexico lasted about five years. The gambling had continued and he was finally imprisoned for supposedly being on the wrong side of the political agenda – he may have been a Communist - and, presumably, for his gambling debts as well. He was pardoned in 1958. He was 62 years old. While in prison, he wrote a piece entitled the City of the Dead. It got good reviews when he premiered it later on. Whether it is still performed is anyone’s guess – I’m guessing it is not. He married for a third and final time after leaving prison. Breeskin died May 9, 1969, at about age 73. He left three wives (Adelyn, Anna, and Lena) and seven children.

Simon Jacobsohn

2012-01-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Simon Jacobsohn (Simon E. Jacobsohn) was a Russian violinist and teacher born on December 24, 1839 (in Mitau or Jelgava, Latvia – Latvia and Lithuania are closely related – Heifetz was born in Vilnius, Lithuania) – Brahms was about six years old. He was a very highly respected and successful violinist and educator working in the U.S. in the late 1800s. Many American orchestras owe him a great debt for having prepared so many high caliber musicians who later occupied their ranks. He came from a very modest family - he had to help support them from age seven by playing at social functions. His father had died by then and left them penniless. Though it cannot be said that Jacobsohn was entirely self-taught, he did not receive formal training until he was 15 years old. At age 20 he made his way to Germany. He studied with none other than Ferdinand David (Mendelssohn’s concertmaster) in Leipzig, where among his fellow pupils were Joseph Joachim, August Wilhelmj, Johan Svendsen, Edvard Grieg, and Henry Schradieck. He served as concertmaster in Bremen (Germany) from 1860 to 1872. In Europe, Jacobsohn also formed the Jacobsohn Quartet which achieved fame and was highly regarded. In 1872, he came to the U.S. In this country, one of his first jobs was as concertmaster for the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. He was 33 years old. In 1877 he joined the Mendelssohn Quintet of Boston then afterwards was invited to teach at the Cincinnati College of Music but continued giving concerts before moving permanently to Chicago in the fall of 1887. Henry Schradieck was also teaching violin at the Cincinnati College of Music at the time – it is possible that the invitation to teach in Cincinnati came from him. In 1890, the Chicago Symphony was beginning to take shape – I do not know whether Jacobsohn ever played in it but that’s unlikely since no source out of ten that I checked mentions it. In Chicago, he also again established a string quartet – the Jacobsohn String Quartet - in which Theodore Thomas played second violin. Nevertheless, just as is the custom of the Emerson String Quartet in more modern times, Thomas and Jacobsohn alternated playing the first and second violin parts. Among Jacobsohn’s hundreds of pupils were Nahan Franko, Max Bendix, Nicholas Longworth, and Hugh McGibney. He was a teacher of violin at the Chicago College of Music until the day he died. Jacobsohn died in Chicago on October 3, 1902 at age 62.

Eugene Ormandy

2012-01-13T06:38:00.000-08:00

Eugene Ormandy (Jeno Blau) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, and arranger born (in Budapest) on November 18, 1899. Since he became a famous conductor, hardly anyone remembers that he played violin. He enjoyed the longest tenure (unlikely to ever be surpassed) of any American conductor – 44 years with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Nobody seems to know where the name “Ormandy” came from – he only adopted it after coming to the U.S. in 1921. He began studying violin at the Royal Academy of Music (the Franz Liszt Academy) at age 5 then studied with Jeno Hubay (from age 9) for a number of years graduating at age 14, though some sources say at age 17. Eddy Brown was a fellow student of his – in fact, when Brown and Ormandy competed in the Budapest Concerto Competition, Ormandy took second prize and Brown took first. He then also studied Philosophy and received a degree in that subject in 1920. For a time, Ormandy served as concertmaster of the Bluthner Orchestra in Germany and made recital and concert appearances as well. In the U.S., he started out playing second violin in the Capitol Theatre Orchestra in New York City. This was a rather large orchestra comprised of about 75 players of which Elias Breeskin, the notorious gambler and future father of Olga Breeskin, was concertmaster. However, being a superlative violinist, Ormandy was soon promoted to concertmaster. He was 22 years old. Though he had been trained as a concert violinist, he never got a chance to concertize in this country since he quickly developed a taste for conducting. Nevertheless, he recorded as a solo violinist between 1923 and 1929. I do not know where those recordings can be found; perhaps among his archives at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other conductors who entirely abandoned the instrument are Neville Marriner, David Zinman, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Orlando Barera, Theodore Thomas, and Jaap Van Zweden. Though he conducted the New York Philharmonic in 1929, Ormandy’s big break came on October 30, 1931, when he was asked to substitute in Philadelphia for an indisposed Toscanini – the ill-tempered Italian conductor. Many a big career has been launched under similar circumstances. It is known that Arthur Judson, another violinist who abandoned the violin (in favor of concert management), helped him to establish his career. In 1931, he was appointed conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony and stayed until 1936. That year (1936), he was appointed to his post in Philadelphia where he stayed for 44 years (1936-1980.) He actually shared the post with Stokowski for the first two years. Though he conducted many U.S. premieres, he never came close to Theodore Thomas’ record of 162 works premiered with the Chicago Symphony. His most historic recording might be the three Rachmaninoff piano concertos he recorded with the composer at the keyboard. His recorded legacy is very extensive and can be easily accessed on the Internet. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy was the first to tour China (1973) and the first to appear on American Television (1948.) He sometimes guest conducted other orchestras too - the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera among them. Ormandy died (in Philadelphia) on March 12, 1985, at age 85. He died of pneumonia, just as did Theodore Thomas eighty years before him.

Violin Labels and PayPal

2012-01-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

You may have read the story about an “antique violin” and PayPal recently. It appears that a lady named Erica sold a violin (advertised on Ebay) worth approximately $2,500 to a buyer in Canada. The buyer used PayPal to pay Erica for it. However, Erica never got the money because, before PayPal paid her, the buyer claimed the violin was a fake, even though it was accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by a well-known Australian expert. PayPal agreed to return the money to the buyer but insisted that he destroy the “fake” violin (above shown) before it did so. The buyer then obediently destroyed the violin and subsequently got his $2,500 returned to him. Erica, of course, will never see her violin in one piece again. To be fair, PayPal said it was merely applying its policies in this matter, even if they did immediately side with the buyer and not the seller who had actual proof that the violin was genuine. Erica was quoted as saying that "In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless." Even if Erica’s violin was a very, very cheap violin by professional standards, she was lucky the disputed label was not attached to a Strad – not that anyone would sell one through Ebay or transact the payment through Paypal, of course. Cheap as it was, I hope Erica’s violin was insured.

Ruth Posselt

2012-01-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ruth Posselt (Ruth Pierce Posselt Burgin) was an American violinist and teacher born (in Medford, Massachusetts) on September 6, 1914. She is best remembered as the wife of Richard Burgin, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for 42 years, and for premiering several contemporary violin concertos – those by Edward Hill (1939), Walter Piston (1940), Paul Hindemith (1941), and Vernon Duke (1943.) Although these works are probably worth listening to at least once, nobody plays them anymore. She also premiered Aaron Copland’s sonata in 1944. Copland was her accompanist. Having begun violin lessons at age 3, she made her public debut in Boston at the age of six, afterwards studying with Emmanuel Ondricek, pupil of Eugene Ysaye. Her recital debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1923 and Symphony Hall (Boston) were followed by a debut in New York in 1928 under Walter Damrosch (with the New York Philharmonic), playing the Tchaikovsky concerto. She was 14 years old. She studied with Jacques Thibaud in Paris later on and she toured throughout Europe and the U.S. afterward. She first toured the U.S. in 1935, playing with all of the major orchestras. She played in the White House for President and Mrs. Roosevelt in 1937. In 1940, she married Burgin and made Boston her home. She was 25 years old. She again played, at age 29, with the New York Philharmonic on January 1, 1944, playing the Duke concerto. She did not appear with this orchestra ever again. With the Boston Symphony, she appeared more than 60 times. Her last tour of Europe took place in 1949. Thereafter, she only worked in the U.S. In 1958 she formed a duo with pianist Luise Vosgerchian (one of Yo-Yo Ma’s teachers at Harvard.) She moved to Florida when Burgin retired from the Boston Symphony and then taught at Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) from 1963 to 1978, where he was also a teacher. She also played in the Florestan Quartet which Burgin formed after coming to Florida. As far as I know, she never recorded commercially although there are a few live performance recordings available. YouTube has a very short snippet of audio of a live performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto on its site which is so short it’s almost not worth mentioning. According to a usually reliable source, she played a Giovanni Pressenda violin constructed in 1844. Rudolf Koelman plays a Pressenda violin too but his is from 1829. Posselt died on February 19, 2007, at age 92.

Regina Strinasacchi

2012-01-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

Regina Strinasacchi was an Italian violinist, singer, composer, and guitarist born (in Ostiglia, near Mantua, Italy) in 1764. Her date of birth has been obscured since the day she was born, perhaps because she was illegitimately born. Most sources give the year of her birth as 1764. Three sources give it as February 28, 1761. We only know of her today because she once played a violin sonata written for her for a recital she played for the Austrian Emperor (Joseph II) and other aristocrats on April 29, 1784. Mozart was her accompanist. Articles about her are often linked to those dealing with Maddalena Lombardini because both grew up in similar circumstances. The sonata Mozart wrote for Strinasacchi was his number 15 for the instrument, K454. He wrote 18 violin sonatas in all, although these are only the ones composed as a mature artist – he composed 18 more as a child. Strinasacchi was educated at the Ospedale della Pieta (an orphanage for girls) in Venice, where Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) had twice been the music director. From around 1780, she toured as a soloist in Italy, France, and Germany. She was 16 years old (if the 1764 year of her birth is correct), a very young age at which to be touring. It has not been unusual for performers to present themselves as being younger than they really are, so an earlier year of birth is quite possible. She finally got to Vienna in 1784, playing one concert in March then again that fateful day in April. Mozart was very impressed with her playing – documented in a letter to his father - and the recital they presented was very successful. Nonetheless, since the sonata was only completed the day before the recital – allowing Strinasacchi exactly one day to learn it - Mozart was obliged to play his part from memory because he did not have time to write the piano part. For him, that would not have been a problem at all. In 1785, Strinasacchi married Johann Schlick, a very fine cellist and director of the orchestra at the court in Gotha. At least one source guesses that Strinasacchi actually played regularly in her husband’s orchestra, perhaps becoming the first female orchestral player in history. However, there is no proof that she either played in or conducted the orchestra. In 1786, the couple had a daughter (Caroline), a pianist who later became an actress. In 1801, they had a son (Johann) who became a cellist and a luthier. That same year, Louis Spohr was appointed concertmaster of the Gotha orchestra. Whether the Schlick family was still there or remained there is unknown. That is very likely the case. Strinasacchi’s husband died in 1818 – one source says 1825. She subsequently moved from Gotha to Dresden with her son. Most sources state that her final performance took place in Rome in 1809. She would have then apparently been 45 years old. However, in the only letter of hers which has been found, dated 1824, she tells a friend that she is still making music. Whether it refers to private playing or public is anyone’s guess. It is known that the 1718 Stradivarius she played was sold to Louis Spohr in 1822. It quickly became his favorite violin. That violin eventually ended up with Miriam Fried, though it passed through at least ten others before getting to her, including August Kompel, Paul Stassevitch, and the notorious W.E. Hill violin dealer. Strinasacchi died in Dresden on June 11, 1839, at (perhaps) age 75. Mozart had been dead for 47 years.

Teresina Tua

2011-12-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

Teresina Tua (Maria Felicita Tua) was an Italian violinist born (in Turin) on May 22, 1867. Her date of birth is somewhat vague – she may also have been born on April 23, 1866. For a time, she was called the “violin fairy” for her angelic face and good looks. However, her fame did not last into the twentieth century. She studied at the Paris Conservatory with Joseph Lambert Massart, taking a first prize in violin at the age of thirteen. In 1882, she toured Germany. She played in London, England for the first time on May 5, 1883. It has been said that in Europe, everywhere she played, she created a sensation. She very successfully toured all of Europe and Russia. One source states that in Russia, in the fall of 1885, her accompanist was none other than Sergei Rachmaninoff. He was not impressed with her playing but shared the stage with her for three months. Stating that she did not play paticularly well, he went on to say that "as an artist, she is not serious, but she has talent." Soon after touring the U.S. – in 1887 – she gave up her public stage life altogether. A review of one of her performances in New York (New York Times, October 18, 1887) was fairly typical of the reception she received in this country. After her debut performance in New York on October 17, 1887, the reviewer pointed out (among other shortcomings) that “Her enunciation of rapid passages is often unfinished and at times absolutely unintelligible, and her double stopping is frequently distressing to the acute ear.” The reviewer also noted that Tua seemed to want to beguile her listeners with her looks rather than with her playing. After she returned to Europe, Tua seemed to gradually lose interest in concertizing further but devoted some of her time to teaching. It also didn’t help that in 1889, she married a wealthy member of the nobility – Giuseppe Franchi Verney. When he died, she married another aristocrat – Emilio Quadrigo. Her economic incentive to keep playing– if there had ever been one – was thus destroyed. A similar thing happened to Johanna Martzy. According to a usually reliable source, from 1885 until about 1935, Tua played a Stradivarius constructed in 1708. From 1909 forward, she owned and played a 1709 Stradivarius – now in a museum in Turin – given to her by a British friend and patron (Ludwig Mond) via his will. In 1940, she entered a convent and was obliged to give this violin up. She was 74 years old. Tua died on October 29, 1956, at age 90, largely forgotten.

Giovanni Giornovichi

2011-12-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

Giovanni Giornovichi (Ivan Mane Jarnović) was a Croatian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Palermo, Italy) on October 26, 1747. He was a virtuoso violinist who was very well-known in his lifetime though completely forgotten today. I would never have heard of him had it not been for the short blog about George Bridgetower which I wrote immediately preceding this blog. He was one of Bridgetower’s teachers in England. One source states that his full name (i.e. first and last name) - other than in the birth certificate for a daughter born in London in 1795 - did not appear in any document or program during his lifetime, not even in his published works. The first reference work to actually publish his first name was published in 1840. Another oddity about him is that his surname appears to have had at least nine different spellings. Perhaps he purposely desired to be known – or publicize himself - by a single name, such as other artists have since then, including Midori, Liberace, Houdini, Prince, and Madonna. Who knows? It is believed that he studied with Antonio Lolli in Italy and that his ancestry derived from Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is documented that he made a very successful debut in Paris on March 25, 1773 – he was 25 years old. His playing was described as being brilliant, amazing, and elegant. Subsequently, his appearances all over Europe (but especially in England and France) received great acclaim. Among the cities he toured and played in were London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Stockholm, and St Petersburg. He also shared the stage with musicians who are now legendary, including Joseph Haydn. It is known that from 1779 to 1783 he worked for a member of the aristocracy in Prussia. From 1883 to 1886 he was employed by Empress Catherine II of Russia. From 1790 until 1796 he lived in England. He took to touring again from 1797 to 1802. Then he moved permanently to St Petersburg where he died (while playing billiards) on November 23, 1804, at age 57. He composed over 70 works, 22 violin concertos among them – music which is now almost never played. Nonetheless, the Starling Chamber Orchestra can be heard in three of the concertos at Instant Encore’s website here. They have recorded three CDs featuring Giornovichi’s violin concertos.

George Bridgetower

2011-12-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

George Bridgetower (George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower) was a Polish-African violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Biala, Poland) on February 29, 1780, though this date of birth is far from certain. Some sources give this date as October 11, 1778 or simply 1779. Though he was an accomplished concert violinist and teacher, he is best known for his brief association with Beethoven and his Kreutzer Sonata. It appears that his father worked in the household of Prince Esterhazy, Joseph Haydn’s employer, which is where he probably received his early musical training. His Polish mother might have been employed in another royal household nearby. He gave his first public performance in Paris on April 13, 1789, playing a concerto by Giovanni Giornovichi, and caused a sensation. Whether he was 9, 10, or 11 years old is anyone’s guess. On February 19, 1790, he appeared in London, England, playing a solo between the first and second parts of Handel’s Messiah. On June 2 of that same year, he and Franz Clement (who was 9 years old at the time) played a concert sponsored by a member of the British nobility. After a few more public performances in England, he became a member of the first violins in the orchestra of the Prince of Wales, where he remained employed for 14 years. The Prince of Wales, an important patron of the arts, arranged for Bridgetower to receive private lessons from Francois Barthelemon, Giovanni Giornovichi, and Thomas Attwood, recognized eminent musicians of the time. Bridgetower – as did other members of the orchestra - divided his time between Brighton and London. In 1802, Bridgetower visited his mother in Dresden. He played very successful concerts there in July of 1802 and March of 1803. He obtained permission to extend his leave and was thus able to visit Vienna in April of 1803. He played in Vienna and was soon ushered into the highest social circles, including that of Prince Lichnowsky, one of Beethoven’s royal patrons. Bridgetower supposedly met Beethoven through an introduction by Lichnowsky – so the story goes. Beethoven was then working on his Opus 47, the famous violin sonata number nine – the Kreutzer Sonata. Some sources say Bridgetower actually asked Beethoven to write the sonata. In any case, both of them premiered the sonata on the morning of May 24, 1803, reading from Beethoven’s manuscript. It has been said that the violin part of the second movement had not been written out separately, compelling Bridgetower to read that movement from Beethoven’s piano score. Another version has the premiere taking place on May 17, not May 24. Still another version has Bridgetower receiving the manuscript fully copied out the day before the premiere. The fact remains that both played the premiere of the work and the thing was soon afterward dedicated to Bridgetower. However, there was a quick falling out between the two (very soon thereafter) over some remarks Bridgetower made (about a woman both of them knew) that Beethoven found offensive. Some versions actually have Bridgetower and Beethoven competing for the affections of the woman. Who knows? Beethoven subsequently rescinded the dedication and re-assigned it to Rodolphe Kreutzer who actually never played the piece, finding it incomprehensible. Bridgetower was about 24 years old. In June of 1811, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Cambridge. He continued to teach violin and piano and play concerts in Europe, especially Italy and France, for many years. A small piano piece of his was published in 1812. George Bridgetower supposedly died in poverty in London on February 20, 1860, although he left an estate of about one thousand British Pounds Sterling, a very good sum in those days. He was about 80 years old.

Theodore Thomas

2011-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Theodore Thomas (Theodore Christian Friedrich Thomas) was an American violinist, conductor, and arranger born (in Esens, Germany – not to be confused with Essen, Germany) on October 11, 1835 (Brahms was 2 years old.) Today, he is hardly remembered as a violinist though he made his living as one for the first 20 years of his musical life, which began at age 6. However, what is well-known is that he founded the Chicago Symphony and conducted it from 1891 to 1905, although he also conducted other orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic. Thomas exemplifies the quintessential entrepreneur. His father (Johan), a professional provincial musician, seems to have been his only teacher in violin. By age 7 he had played for the King of Hanover. Thomas was by age ten performing (in his home town) at social events and in taverns as well. Thomas never attended a conservatory or a university. The family came to the U.S. (New York City) in 1845. Thomas played in the Navy Band and pit orchestras in the surrounding areas of New York City until about 1849. He then toured briefly as a recitalist, giving concerts as far South as Mississippi. He was fourteen years old and traveled alone. In 1850, back in New York, he took conducting lessons from Karl Eckert while playing in various orchestras which toured the U.S. widely, accompanying major artists of the day, including Jenny Lind, Henrietta Sontag, and Sigismond Thalberg. It has been said that his approach to violin sound changed upon hearing these two singers (Lind and Sontag.) He joined the first violin section of the New York Philharmonic in 1854. In 1855, he organized a musical series of piano quintet concerts called the Mason-Thomas concerts, featuring himself as first violinist and William Mason as pianist. The series lasted for 14 years. After a concert in 1859, he was called "America's most accomplished violinist" by a Chicago newspaper. Thomas unexpectedly made his conducting debut in New York in 1859, filling in for an ill opera conductor - as Toscanini also did later. He then founded the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1862 with which he toured the Northeast (New York to Chicago) and initially made his great reputation as a conductor. He was 27 years old. The orchestra actually made its debut on December 14, 1864. I don’t know if Thomas ever regularly played the violin in public again after that. However, as late as October of 1870, he played Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata at a concert in Boston. His accompanist was a Miss Anna Mehlig, a noted concert pianist of the day. From 1877, Thomas also simultaneously conducted the New York Philharmonic (founded in 1842) until about 1891, in addition to other regional orchestras. He became the highest paid conductor of the time. It must be noted, lest present-day readers imagine an impossible amount of work, that seasons in those days consisted of about six or eight pairs of concerts. Nevertheless, his own orchestra played - during tours - as many as 62 concerts in the span of four months. In 1888, due to financial difficulties, the orchestra (the one bearing his name) was disbanded. Thomas was by then 53 years old. In 1889, a Chicago businessman, meeting Thomas by chance in New York, invited him to come to Chicago to form a permanent orchestra there. Thomas is supposed to have uttered a memorable response. Whether any of that is true is anyone's guess. However, in the summer of 1890. Thomas married that businessman's sister. By December of 1890, Thomas had signed a contract to direct a permanent orchestra in Chicago. In October of 1891, the Chicago Symphony presented its first concert under Thomas. The orchestra consisted mainly of former members of his old orchestra, several former members of the New York Philharmonic, and some musicians brought in from Europe. Sources vary widely as to how many came from each group. The season consisted of twenty pairs of concerts presented over twenty weeks. During his tenure (of thirteen and one half years), he conducted 112 U.S. premieres with the orchestra - more than any conductor since then (of any U.S. orchestra) could ever come close to. Not bad for a guy who never attended a conservatory. Theodore Thomas died (in Chicago) on January 4, 1905, at age 69.

Longevity

2011-12-17T18:43:00.000-08:00

I have been curious lately about the longevity of concert violinists. It seems most age rather well and die in old age. Some have died young, of course, but, among the ones I surveyed here, half reached 80 years of age or more and the other half at least reached age 72. I did a random check of twenty violinists born in the Twentieth Century (on this blog) and found the average age at death was 81. The one lasting the longest died at age 99. Curiously, among female concert violinists, a great number of them (comparatively) died young. The ratio is, of course, skewed because, over time, there have been fewer women violinists than men. Ginette Neveu died at 30; Alma Rose at 37; Edith Volkaert at 42; Alma Moodie at 44; Maud Powell at 52; Johanna Martzy at 54; and Camilla Urso at age 59. With time, that disproportion will correct itself since there appear to now be more female concert violinists than male Among the men who have died young are: Josef Hassid (26), Andrei Korsakov (44), Julian Sitkovetsky (32), Paul Kochanski (47), Leonid Kogan (58), Carl Rosa (47), Michael Rabin (40), and Henryk Wieniawski (44.)

Patricia Travers

2011-12-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Patricia Travers was an American violinist and actress born (in Clifton, New Jersey) on December 5, 1927. She is known for having given up her professional career entirely and dropping from sight in 1951, still in her early twenties. She is also known for having owned the Tom Taylor Stradivarius (1732), the violin Joshua Bell used to play. That violin was sold to a collector in 1954, three years after she retired. She also played a 1733 Guarneri violin. Travers died only recently. She began studying the violin before the age of 4. Her teachers were Jacques Gordon (concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony for almost a decade and teacher at the Eastman School of Music) and Hans Letz (pupil of Joseph Joachim and concertmaster of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra for a time. Letz believed, as did Bronislaw Huberman, that Rhythm was the most important element in music. He also taught at Juilliard.) A single source says that Travers also attended the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Her first public performance was at age 6. She gave her first Carnegie Hall recital in 1938, at age 9. She appeared with the New York Philharmonic on July 6, 1939, playing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol. She was 11 years old. Two years later, she appeared in the movie There’s Magic In Music (1941.) Here is a YouTube video showing her playing in the movie. Travers had a very promising and active career going and played with most major American and European orchestras from age 10 onward, including the orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, London and Berlin. She also recorded several discs, one of them being the first recording of Charles Ives’ second violin sonata. Joan Field had been the first to record the first Ives violin sonata. People have taken wild guesses as to why Travers suddenly stopped playing. She did not suffer a nervous breakdown as did Josef Hassid. It is not an easy thing to stop doing something one truly enjoys. If she had felt fulfilled, successful, or happy as a performer, she would not have stopped playing. Approval from her audiences and critics would have been enough to keep her going. An early article (1939) in a music journal stated the following: “We feel sure that the prophecy that Patricia Travers is to become known as one of the great women violinists will be fully realized.” Toward the end, after a performance in Boston (1951), a critic wrote “…she is not yet either a brilliant technician or a compelling interpreter.” What may have contributed to her decision to stop was that the economic motive to keep working was not there – she came from a well-to-do family. It’s the old push-pull theory. Some sources say she devoted the last six decades of her life to helping run her family’s business interests – similar to what Iso Briselli did, except he stopped playing much later in life. As far as I know, she never had any students. Patricia Travers died on February 9, 2010, at age 82.

Russian Violin Makers List

2011-12-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I am no expert, but I can put a list together as well as anyone else. Here are a few Russian violin makers you might be interested in knowing. I will take a wild guess and say that Russia probably has not had as many makers as have come out of Holland (approximately 300.) Present-day Cremona (Italy) boasts about 500 makers. At present, there are no violin-making schools in all of Russia – not even one. As you can see, there are very few Russian makers, the vast majority unknown. Whether any of them are outstanding is really something I would not know about. In any case, here is my (arbitrary) list: Mikhael Azoyan, Dmitry Badiarov, Vladislav Baginsky, Leon Dobryanski, Nikolay Frolov, Andranik Gaybaryan, Jury Ivanov, Nicolaus Kittel, Anatoly Kochargin, Anton Krutz, Alexander Krylov, Yuri Malinovsky, Amiran Oganezov, Ivan Pashin, Ivan Petrovitsch, Yuri Pochekin, Araik Resyan, Rigat Rubus, Armin Schlieps, George Schlieps, Lev Sobol, Vyacheslav Suprun, Boris Sverdlik, Daniel Tomaschev, Alexander Tulchinsky,

Russian Violin Makers

2011-12-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

In terms of fame, and very likely in terms of expertise, Italian, French, and German violin makers have the Russians beat by a long shot. At least that’s the general opinion. Whether that is so because the violin was actually invented in Italy (around 1530) and the most prolific makers worked from there and were the first to become famous is anyone’s guess. The names of da Salo, Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri, Maggini, Carcassi, Storioni, Gagliano, Guadagnini, Ventapane, Rogeri, Ruggieri, Pressenda, Albani, Gobetti, and Montagnana, are certainly very well known. Their violins are prized above all others. On the other hand, Russian makers are not known at all. This peculiarity is striking since the whole world knows that most of the world’s celebrated violinists are Russian. To filter them further, most among these superlative Russian players are Jewish – Oistrakh, Goldstein, Kogan, Heifetz, Elman, Zimbalist, Seidel, Milstein, and Gitlis, to name a few. So, why aren’t there any great Russian violin makers – makers whose names are household words – Jewish or otherwise? Perhaps it has to do with tradition – like the tradition of exceptional French wine making or fine watch making by the Swiss. After Amati (and his relatives) and other early makers started violin making enterprises, the violin construction economic engine took off; soon, imitators sprang up elsewhere in Italy - some of them really good. Entire families (such as the Guarneris and the Stradivaris) got involved in the trade and the tradition of fine Italian violin making was thus established. By the time the ideas and patterns for violin making spread to other parts of Europe, the Italians had been at it for more than fifty years. Then the Italian violin virtuosos got going as well. Up until 1750, they were dominant in the violin playing sphere. Italian violinists like Corelli, Somis, Pugnani, Tartini, Geminiani, Vivaldi, Tommasini, and Locatelli had few (if any) corresponding contemporaries in the other European countries or Russia. There was a time when Spain ruled the seas. There was also a time when the Roman Empire ruled the world. Nothing lasts forever. Who knows whether the Russian violin makers will not some day soon take over the business?

Martin Marsick

2011-11-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

Martin Marsick (Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick) was a Belgian violinist, teacher, and composer born on March 9, 1847. He created a scandal toward the latter part of his life as did Jean Marie Leclair at the very end of his. Thanks to a few of his students, he will forever remain in the history books, even if his name is not exactly the most remembered among violinists. These students included Bronislaw Huberman, Carl Flesch, George Enesco, and Jacques Thibaud. He is also identified with the violin David Oistrakh played from 1966 until the day he died – the Marsick Stradivarius of 1705. That violin ended up in the hands of Igor Oistrakh, but its present whereabouts are unknown to me. In 1854, seven-year old Marsick was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liege (in other words, the Liege Conservatory.) He studied violin with a very obscure teacher named Desire Heynberg and graduated in 1864. Brahms was about 31 years old at the time. Marsick then continued his studies in Brussels with Hubert Leonard. Later still (1868) he went to Paris – which he made his home from that time forward - to study with Joseph Lambert Massart at the Paris Conservatory. He was 21 years old. Sponsored by the Belgian government, he went to Berlin in 1870 to study privately with Joseph Joachim. In 1871, he founded a string quartet – not an unusual thing to do for recently-graduated violinists. His debut took place in Paris in 1873. He then concertized in Europe and the United States for about 20 years. He was by then playing a Nicolo Amati violin from 1652, given to him by a member of the French nobility. Conductors with whom he frequently worked in Paris included Edouard Colonne, Jules Pasdeloup, and Charles Lamoureux. He also gave concerts with a piano trio which included Anatolyi Brandukov (teacher of Gregor Piatigorsky), and Vladimir de Pachmann (pupil of Anton Bruckner.) In 1892, Marsick was appointed professor of violin at the Paris conservatory. He was 45 years old. He stayed until 1900. In that year, he left his job, his students, and his wife and did not return until 1903. The woman he lived with during this brief time was married and the situation, which was widely known, created a scandal. It has been said that this incident ruined his career. In 1906, he published a study book for violinists entitled Eureka (Opus 34, 18 pages long) and another book (Violin Grammar) published in 1924. Perhaps these books are available in France. Thibaud did record at least one of his pieces (Opus 6, number 2, Scherzando) about one hundred years ago and that recording is still available. Among many other things, Marsick also composed three violin concertos, a quintet, a piano quartet, and a music drama. Whether these works are nowadays performed is unknown – I would guess probably not, except perhaps in France. According to some sources, Marsick died in poverty (in Paris) on October 21, 1924, at age 77.

Russian Violinists

2011-11-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

These Russian violinists (and a few more) are included among those about whom I have written micro biographies: Joseph Achron, Iso Briselli, Zakhar Bron, Mischa Elman, Leonard Friedman, Elizabeth Gilels, Ivry Gitlis, Boris Goldstein, Alexei Gorokhov, Eduard Grach, Jascha Heifetz, Julia Igonina, Iliana Isakadze, Ilya Kaler, Leonid Kogan, Andrei Korsakov, Natasha Korsakova, Louis Krasner, Albert Markov, Nathan Milstein, Viktoria Mullova, David Oistrakh, Anna Rabinova, Vadim Repin, Alexander Schneider, Abram Shtern, Toscha Seidel, Vladimir Spivakov, Steven Staryk, Peter Stolyarsky, Maxim Vengerov, Abram Yampolsky, Zvi Zeitlin, Efrem Zimbalist,.... Even among avid and knowledgeable concert goers, only three or four are known. I asked a violinist colleague the other day whether he had heard a certain recording by Ivry Gitlis. He did not even know who Gitlis was. It is generally agreed that Heifetz, Gitlis, Kogan, Milstein, and Oistrakh, are at the very top. The others are superlative players who for reasons known only to a few, have never achieved that rank which bequeaths an aura of violinistic sainthood of sorts – more than mere historic immortality. Nevertheless, they form the superstructure on which the others stand, the ones against whom we identify the greatest. It is also interesting that some of the greatest Russian players were students of a Hungarian, not Russian, violinist: Leopold Auer.

Felix Galimir

2011-11-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

Felix Galimir was an Austrian violinist and teacher born (in Vienna) on May 12, 1910. Although he was one of the early members of the Israel Philharmonic (the Palestine Symphony Orchestra) he did not stay there long. Today, he is mostly remembered for having taught at the Juilliard School of Music for some time and his long tenure (more than four decades) at the Marlboro Music Festival. He also enjoyed a very successful career as an orchestral player and chamber music player. Galimir entered the Vienna Conservatory at age 12 (some sources say age 14.) He studied with Adolf Bak and Simon Pullman and graduated in 1928. He played the Beethoven concerto in his public debut performance. He studied further with Carl Flesch in Berlin in 1929 and 1930. He had by then already founded the Galimir String Quartet with three of his sisters (1927 – the sisters were Adrienne on second violin, Renee on viola, and Marguerite on cello.) Between 1930 and 1936, he must have had numerous engagements in Europe both with the quartet and as a soloist, though I am simply assuming that to be the case. In 1936 (one source says 1934), he recorded Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite and Ravel’s string quartet with the Galimir Quartet. It may have been the first recording of the Berg Suite. Some sources claim it was the first recording of the Ravel quartet though it was not, it was the second recording of that work – the first recording of the Ravel was by the International Quartet in 1927. The Galimir recording won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1937. Also in 1936, he was accepted into the violin ranks of the Vienna Philharmonic although he was forced out in 1937. He had until then only been a regular substitute player at the Vienna State Opera. He (and two of his sisters – one of them being Renee, the violist in the quartet) then went to Palestine, having been urged to do so by violinist Bronislaw Huberman. His father and his other sister left for Paris. In 1938, he came to the U.S from Palestine and played a solo recital at Town Hall the same year. He was 28 years old. He founded another Galimir String Quartet (which played for radio broadcasts at WQXR) and joined the NBC Symphony in 1939, then being led by the ill-tempered conductor, Arturo Toscanini. Mischa Mischakoff was the concertmaster at the time (and remained so until 1952.) Galimir stayed until 1954, when the orchestra was disbanded. Galimir then served as concertmaster of the NBC Symphony of the Air from 1954 until 1956. Also in 1954, he began teaching at the City College of New York. He finally joined the Juilliard faculty in 1962. The Curtis Institute (Philadelphia) appointed him to its faculty in 1972 (some sources give an earlier date.) In 1976, he began teaching at the Mannes College of Music. Galimir recorded many times (on the Vanguard, Period, Decca, and Columbia labels) as a member of chamber groups, orchestras, or as soloist. A rare live performance of a rarely heard Beethoven piece (on YouTube) is available here. He remained active until just a few weeks before he died, on November 10, 1999, in New York City, at age 89. The quartet with the Galimir name had finally disbanded in 1993, after 65 years. Among Galimir’s students are Mark Kaplan, Hilary Hahn, Jennifer Koh, Miranda Cuckson, Leila Josefowicz, and Ani Kavafian.

Edouard Dethier

2011-11-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

Edouard Dethier (Edouard Charles Louis Dethier) was a Belgian violinist and teacher born (in Liege) on August 25, 1885. Though he was a well-known recitalist and concert violinist for a time, he is now best remembered as a teacher at the Juilliard School of Music, since before it became the Juilliard School of Music. He began his violin studies with his brother Gaston while still a child. At the age of eight, he enrolled in the conservatory of his hometown (Liege), from which he graduated with a First Prize – Eugene Ysaye had studied there also (1865) as a seven-year-old child. Dethier entered the Brussels Conservatory at age 15, winning a first prize one year later (at age sixteen) after entering the Brussels violin competition. One year after that, he was already teaching at the Brussels Conservatory. He was 17 years old. He was then also appointed concertmaster of the opera orchestra of Brussels. During his student days and early career, he was a close friend of Polish violinist, Paul Kochanski. Dethier came to the U.S. (New York City) in 1905, establishing himself as a recitalist and teacher, although he toured for a few years. He played the Vieuxtemps concerto in d minor (number 4) with the New York Symphony on June 6, 1905. On November 29, 1907, he debuted with the New York Philharmonic, playing Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy. He again soloed with this orchestra on December 18, 1910, playing the Tchaikovsky concerto. Gustav Mahler conducted on that occasion. By then, he had already been appointed (in 1906 or 1907 – sources vary) to the faculty of Juilliard – he was 21 years old. As did Ivan Galamian after him, Dethier taught there until the day he died. As far as I know, there are no commercial recordings by him and I also have no idea what violins he played. After 1911, Dethier must have had no financial worries as he had that year married Avis Putnam, the daughter of a famous publisher. Among his many pupils were Julius Hegyi, Robert Mann, Louis Lanza, Emanuel Vardi, Sally Thomas, Genevieve Greene, Julius Schulman, Anna Tringas, Joan Milkson, and Paul Zukofsky. Dethier died (in New York City) on February 19, 1962, at age 76.

Arabella Steinbacher

2011-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Arabella Steinbacher is a German violinist (and pianist, as were Fritz Kreisler, Arthur Grumiaux, Louis Persinger, and as is Julia Fischer) born (in Munich) on November 14, 1981. She is now in the forefront of concert violinists performing all over the world. She began studying the violin with Helge Thelen at the age of three. He was her teacher for six years. At age nine, she became the youngest violin student of Ana Chumachenko at the Munich Academy of Music. She received further musical inspiration and guidance from Ivry Gitlis, one of the oldest living concert violinists (among whom are also Zvi Zeitlin, Camilla Wicks, Ida Haendel, Robert Mann, David Nadien, Albert Markov, Abram Shtern, and Ruggiero Ricci.) In 2001, she was awarded a scholarship by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. She made her debut in March, 2004, in Paris, playing the Beethoven violin concerto, actually stepping in at the last moment for an indisposed violinist. She was 22 years old. Many other artists have begun their careers in similar fashion – Leonard Bernstein and Shlomo Mintz come to mind. Steinbacher made her New York recital debut in June, 2006. She has also already appeared with most major orchestras in the world – the New York Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic are the exceptions. Steinbacher has recorded extensively and many videos of her playing can be found on YouTube. One such can be found here. She received the German Record Critics Award in 2005 for her recording of both of Darius Milhaud’s rarely-heard Violin Concertos. She now records exclusively for PentaTone Classics. Arabella Steinbacher plays the Booth Stradivarius (1716) provided by the Nippon Music Foundation and uses a bow from luthier Benoit Rolland.

Orchestra musicians

2011-10-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

I often wonder what orchestra musicians in the times of Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach, Zelenka, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bizet, Verdi, Berlioz, Paganini, Rossini, Puccini, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Poulenc, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev thought about their music when it was being played for the first time. Orchestral music is an art that requires many collaborators. It’s not just one man and his piano. What thoughts passed through their minds as they labored to understand and decipher, and practiced and rehearsed what the composers had just written? Did the manuscripts contain a lot of misprints? Was the music illegible? Did they even have enough light to see the notes? Did they have enough rehearsal time to learn the music? Composers frequently finished their work at the last minute. Was the conductor clueless? Was the music any good? Did they hesitate to speak out? Were they just there to do a job and go home? Were they all free-lancers? Organized, standing (civic) orchestras did not come into existence until about 1800. Did they take on other work to make ends meet? Did they ever praise or encourage a composer? Did they think they got paid enough for their services? What did they think about the aristocracy? Did they ever think they were making history? Did they drink on the job? Was the music even well-played? Did they care about that? What did they think of Bach’s Mass in B minor or Handel’s Messiah? What did they think of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony or his Don Giovanni? When Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was premiered, who played in the orchestra? What did they think of Brahms’ Second Symphony? What did they say about Bizet’s Carmen? What did they think of Paganini and his impossible concertos? What did they say about Tchaikovsky when he conducted? Who was playing in the orchestra when the riot took place during Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring premiere? Did orchestral musicians think about their audiences at all? Did the audiences think about them at all? Only God knows. Even among the very best-known orchestras in the world – the New York Philharmonic, for instance - the rank and file musician is invisible. With some luck, the concertmaster’s identity and abilities might be known, but only to a few. The rest of the players are anonymous. They don’t even talk to the conductor, except perhaps about innocuous topics (and only now and then), but certainly not about the music at hand. Perhaps it’s no different than it is in other enterprises or industries which hire dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people. We know Mozart and Schumann and Wagner and Berlioz wrote quite a bit about their work and their lives. Many other more contemporary musicians have also written books about their experiences – Arnold Steinhardt, Leopold Auer, Louis Kaufman, Albert Spalding, Isaac Stern, Joseph Szigeti, Ivry Gitlis, Ned Rorem, Henri Temianka, Carl Flesch, Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein, Steven Staryk, Ida Haendel, Charles Munch, Riccardo Muti, Igor Stravinsky, Mischa Mischakoff, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Charry, and Gunther Schuller, to name a few. They are all higher-profile musicians. What about the guy in the third stand of the cello section, or the third trumpet player, or the woman in the fourth stand of the first violin section, or the assistant principal in the viola section, or the second horn player? Except for when they play, they keep quiet.

Edith Lorand

2011-10-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Edith Lorand was a Hungarian violinist, singer, and conductor born (in Budapest) on December 17, 1898. She is remembered for the great number of recordings she produced for German labels of the 1920s and 30s – Odeon, Parlophone, and Beka. Her specialty was salon music of that era – it included opera music arrangements, dance music, popular songs, and light classical pieces. That was during a time when live music was played at the more elegant hotels and restaurants all over Europe. Up to a point, her biography reads somewhat like Alma Rose’s. She studied to be a concert violinist but her ambition (and abilities) took her in a different direction. Though her mother was an accomplished pianist, her father was not a musician. Her first public performance was at a charity concert in Budapest at age six. Lorand graduated from the Royal Music Academy in Budapest where she studied with Jeno Hubay. She also later studied with Carl Flesch – either in Berlin or Vienna. She made her debut in Vienna and Berlin in 1920. She was 22 years old. One source states that critics of the day compared her to Fritz Kreisler and Pablo Sarasate. Lorand also became fluent in French, Italian, and English. She made Berlin her home and base of operations until 1934. After her debut, Lorand played as a concert soloist a few times and founded and recorded with a quartet and a trio (which included Gregor Piatigorsky, the cello player) but soon found her calling as conductor of a 15-piece all-male orchestra called the Edith Lorand Orchestra. The orchestra, but especially Lorand, enjoyed great success throughout Europe. They made regular radio broadcasts in Holland, Austria, Sweden, Germany, and England, and even appeared in movies. The orchestra performed in the most important theatres as well, not just hotels. It has been said that she became a symbol of female emancipation. By the late 1920s, she was one of the top stars of the record industry. In France, she was known as the Queen of the Waltz and in England as the Female Johann Strauss. On April 1, 1930, she signed a three year recording contract with Lindstrom AG, which called for her to produce at least 144 tunes per year, averaging six two-sided records per month, with a fee of at least 36,000 Marks per year (about $107,000 in today’s dollars.) Despite her great popularity and success, she had to flee Germany for Hungary in 1934. In Hungary, she organized her All-Gypsy Orchestra which toured as far as the U.S.in 1935, where one of her concerts took place in Carnegie Hall. In December 1937, she had to flee Hungary for the U.S., where she established herself in Woodstock, New York. She was 39 years old. Her orchestra in the U.S. (with different musicians, of course) was called the Viennese Orchestra. Her success here did not come close to what she had in Europe but she managed, playing as far afield, in September of 1939, as the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, where composer Ingolf Dahl became her pianist for a short while. She had a reputation for being demanding and autocratic. In 1945, she was engaged to play in Vienna for an extended time but returned to the U.S. afterward. In May 1960, she returned to Berlin, intending to resettle and restart her career. However, on November 23, 1960, she died in New York, at age 61. Many of her recordings are easily found on the internet and a very old video of her conducting a fast rendition of a famous waltz is available here. Lorand played a 1744 Guarneri Del Gesu which later ended up (for 15 years) in the hands of Richard Burgin (of the Boston Symphony) and is now in Europe. She must have taken very good care of that violin because it has been described as being in stunning condition and appearance. A 1775 Guadagnini was also hers for a while. That violin is now being played (though not owned) by Seattle violinist Maria Larionoff.

Charles Munch

2011-09-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

Charles Munch was a French violinist, conductor, and teacher born (in Strasbourg, when it was German territory) on September 26, 1891. Today, nobody remembers him as a violinist. Although he conducted many great orchestras, he is best known for his tenure at the Boston Symphony, from 1949 to 1962. He first studied violin at the Strasbourg Conservatory (inaugurated in 1855.) His first job as a violinist was in an orchestra conducted by his father (an organist), playing in the second violin section. In 1912, at age 20, he graduated from the conservatory and moved on to Berlin for further study with Carl Flesch. He also studied with Lucien Capet at the Paris Conservatory. In 1920, he was appointed professor of violin at the Strasbourg Conservatory while he was also playing as assistant concertmaster of the Strasbourg Philharmonic. He was 29 years old. Later on, he was concertmaster of the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne. (The Gurzenich Orchestra is really not to be trifled with. It played the world premieres of Brahms’ Double Concerto (1887), Strauss’ Till (1895), Strauss’ Don Quixote (1898), Mahler’s Third Symphony (1902), Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (1904), and Max Reger’s Variations (1907.) He then served as concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (1926 to 1933) under Bruno Walter. In 1933, he left Germany for Paris. He had already made his conducting debut there in November, 1932. He was 41 years old at the time of his debut. As far as I know, after 1933, he never again touched the violin in public. In 1938, he helped found the Paris Philharmonic. He had already begun teaching conducting at the Paris Conservatory (1937-1945.) During the war years (1939-1945), he conducted the Paris Conservatory Orchestra. For this, he was later accused of being a Nazi collaborator, though the charge did not stick. The Boston Symphony he first conducted in December, 1946. His legacy with the Boston Symphony is well-known and documented in dozens of recordings. Heifetz recorded the Beethoven concerto with Munch and the Boston Symphony in November of 1955. I don’t think Heifetz recorded it ever again. If Munch ever recorded anything as a violinist I don’t know where that recording might be found. After 1962, Munch conducted European orchestras and guest conducted all over the world. He died on November 6, 1968, in Richmond, Virginia, at age 77. Here is one of his many YouTube videos.

Robert Virovai

2011-09-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Robert Virovai is a Hungarian concert violinist born (in Duravar, Yugoslavia) on March 10, 1921. Except for this blog profile, he is today almost totally forgotten. He began his violin studies with his mother at age 6. By age 8, he was studying at the Belgrade Conservatory with Peter Stojanovich, a Serbian violinist, teacher, and composer. He spent four years there. He then studied, from the age of 13, with Jeno Hubay at the Budapest Conservatory. Hubay later said of him, “Virovai plays so beautifully as to astonish even me.” Some sources say Hubay declared him his best pupil. He lived in New York City for a while but later spent most of his career in Europe. He made his U.S. debut (playing a rented Stradivarius) on November 3, 1938, at age 17, with the New York Philharmonic. He played Vieuxtemps’ Fourth Concerto in d minor (Opus 31) and all critics agreed he was sensational, one of them declaring that “his attack was positively ferocious.” He later played a solo recital at Carnegie Hall on December 17 of the same year. Virovai was soon placed among the front ranks of violinists. It was said that his playing was “remarkable for speed, accuracy, and beautiful tone.” He toured the U.S. for two or three years after that, playing with the most important orchestras. Then he dropped out of sight, spending most of his time in Europe. As far as I know, he has never commercially recorded anything, though that would be extremely unusual since recording technology had a progressive surge in the 1950s when Virovai would have been in his thirties. Most violinists reach their apogee between thirty and fifty years of age. Why there is no record of a discography is a mystery. Perhaps I just don’t know where to look. Later on, Virovai played and taught in Switzerland, where he now lives. As a youth, Virovai was fluent in four languages – German, Hungarian, Croatian, and Slovenian. Perhaps today, he is fluent in a few more.

Rudi Berger

2011-09-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Rudi Berger is an Austrian violinist, singer, pianist, guitarist, and composer born (in Vienna) on November 19, 1954. Be that as it may, Rudi Berger has actually become the most-recorded jazz violinist of another country (Brazil) and may very well be the only Austrian jazz violinist in the world, though he has lived and worked outside of Austria for many years. His classical training on violin and piano – begun when he was six - took place at the Vienna Conservatory where he studied with Guenther Schich and Karl Barilly, learning the works of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Paganini, Kreutzer, Rode, and all the rest. As have other jazz artists, he began playing jazz as a very young student, having been drawn to it from age fourteen. His grandfather (Rudolf Berger) and his uncle were strong influences in this regard. By age fifteen, he had begun to teach himself to play electric guitar and had joined Viennese Blues legend Al Cook in performances and recordings. Later on, he worked as a violinist, pianist, guitarist, and singer in a night club band and with a Viennese Waltz Orchestra. (Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, although best known as a violinist, also played saxophone, piano, and accordion.) In 1977, he became a soloist with the newly-formed Vienna Art Orchestra. He was 22 years old. He worked with this orchestra for three years while at the same time forming a Jazz Rock group called Good News in 1978. In 1985 and ’86 he was voted Violinist of the Year by Jazz Live, a European jazz music magazine. By then, Berger had formed the Rudi Berger Quartet, Rudi Berger Project, and Rudi Berger Group jazz ensembles. Berger moved to New York in September of 1986, having already released his first album, First Step, in Europe. In New York, Berger restarted his career by working as a street musician for about a year. During that time, New York jazz radio station WKCR invited him and his New York Quartet to play a two-hour live Jazz Concert Special. Among the jazz clubs he worked in were the Village Vanguard, the Bottom Line, the Village Gate, Indigo Blues, and the Knitting Factory. His international reputation was established in 1988 at the American Music Theater Festival in collaboration with Astor Piazzola, well-known Argentine tango cross-over composer. Since 1990, he has toured in Europe, Japan, the U.S., and South America. Berger’s collaborators in film and Grammy-nominated studio recordings have included Tonhino Horta, Mauro Rodrigues, Yuri Popoff, Gerry Weil, Jay Anderson, Phil Bowler, Mike Clark, Ron McClure, Victor Bailey, Michael Gerber, Peter Madsen, Art Frank, Charles Fambrough, Joseph Bowie, and Nana Vasconcelos. In 1993, Berger performed in Brazil for the first time. Between 1998 and 2002, he traveled between Brazil, New York, and Vienna, moving among three cultures and working in essentially different jazz worlds. He was guest instructor at the University of Minas Gerais in Brazil between 1998 and 2000. In 2003, Berger moved to Brazil permanently, working regularly with some of Brazil’s top composers and musicians, including Toninho Horta, Selma Reis, and Nelson Ayres. Here is one of his YouTube videos and here is one of his recent CDs – In Search of Harmony. Rudi Berger plays a 1992 violin by American violin maker David Burgess. His bow of choice is by English bow maker Howard Green - "a really, really great bow," Mr Berger says.

Liana Isakadze

2011-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Liana Isakadze is a Georgian (Russian) violinist, conductor, and teacher born (in Tbilsi) on August 2, 1946. She is very well known in Europe and Russia though not in the U.S. She began studying music at age three. One of her first teachers was Leo Shiukashvili. She was to have been a pianist but became a violinist by pure chance. Isakadze first performed in public (as a violinist) at age 7 and by age 9 had already soloed with the Georgian State Orchestra. Her first recital took place when she was 10. She started winning prizes at competitions when she was 12, including First Prize in the 1970 Sibelius Competition (Helsinki, Finland.) She graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1968. She was 22 years old. Her principal teacher there was David Oistrakh. Isakadze has been concertizing in Russia and Europe ever since. Ironically, Isakadze and her cellist brother – Eldar Isakadze - were rehearsing the Brahms Double Concerto with Oistrakh (as conductor) in Amsterdam in 1974 when he suddenly died while there. In 1971, she became a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic (1970-1994) and ten years later was made head of the Chamber Orchestra of Georgia (a province of the Soviet Union at that time.) She led this orchestra for fifteen years. In 1988 she was named People’s Artist of the USSR, the youngest to be so named. Isakadze has also received various other honors from the governments of various countries. For over two years, she even served as a Deputy in the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies (March 1989 to December 1991.) She has resided in France and Germany for many years and presided over various music festivals in Georgia, Russia, and Europe. She has also given Master classes at the Mozarteum (Salzburg, Vienna) among many other venues. Her recordings are very numerous and YouTube has many videos of her playing. Here is one of them - a small slice of a nice violin concerto by Georgian composer Otar Taktakishvili. For many years, Isakadze played a Stradivarius violin from the Russian State collection. I do not know what violin she is playing these days.

James Ehnes

2011-09-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

James Ehnes, is a Canadian violinist born on January 27, 1976. Ehnes is probably, along with Leila Josefowicz, the best known Canadian violinist concertizing today. He is also one of the most-recorded contemporary violinists, with over 25 CDs to his credit. One of those CDs is similar to ones which Ruggiero Ricci and Elmar Oliveira have done previously – a comparison of some very remarkable and valuable violins. Many have said that Ehnes is the most underrated violinist of this generation, though that has also been said of Pinchas Zukerman. In fact, YouTube has very few videos of his performances though I did find this one. He began violin lessons with his father, a trumpet player, at age 4 (some sources say age 5.) At age 9 he began studies with Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin, pupil of Louis Persinger and violin professor at Brandon University (Manitoba, Canada.) His first recital he gave at age 10. At age 13, he performed as soloist with the Montreal Symphony, playing Ravel's famous Tzigane. After 1989, his main teacher was Sally Thomas, pupil of Ivan Galamian. Ehnes graduated from The Julliard School (New York) in 1997, winning several prizes along the way. He was 21 years old. Ehnes has been concertizing on a world-wide scale ever since. His debut appearance with the New York Philharmonic took place on July 7, 2003. On that occasion, he played the Tchaikovsky concerto. The Canadian (British) Monarchy and the Canadian Governor General have also bestowed honors on him. In 2008, he won a Grammy for his recording of the Korngold concerto; he has also won several other awards for his recordings. His technique is so advanced and polished a Canadian newspaper has called him “the Jascha Heifetz of our day.” Another reviewer stated that Ehnes “achieves a sonority of such beauty that words cannot describe it.” For the last fifteen years, Ehnes has spent part of his summer with the Seattle Chamber Music Society - in 2012, he becomes its Artistic Director. His violin is the Marsick Stradivarius from 1714, although he has also played the 1717 Windsor Stradivarius and a Riccardo Antoniazzi (1853-1912) violin.

Protesting politely

2011-09-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

If you follow the musical news at all, you must know that some Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted a Proms concert by the Israel Philharmonic (and Gil Shaham) last night. I am all in favor of freedom of speech and peaceful protests for redress of government abuses. However, there are many good venues available for these protests already, no matter what issues may be in play. A concert by defenseless musicians is not one of them. The protestors were the tyrants and bullies in this case. Here is just one video of the event.

Irina Muresanu

2011-08-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Irina Muresanu is a Romanian violinist born (in Bucharest, Romania) on May 26, 1971. Muresanu is known for attaining a very successful (and well-balanced) concertizing career on both sides of the Atlantic. She began her violin studies at age 7 with Vlad Cristian. She later studied with Stefan Gheorghiu, (pupil of George Enesco and David Oistrakh) who had also taught Silvia Marcovici much earlier. Muresanu earned her first degree at the Bucharest Academy in 1994. That same year, she came to the U.S for further study and her career has been non-stop ever since. In the U.S. she studied at the University of Illinois and at the New England Conservatory. One of her teachers in Boston was Michele Auclair. The Los Angeles Times has written that her performances contain “musical luster, melting lyricism and colorful conception.” Strad Magazine called her Carnegie Weill Hall performance “a first-rate recital.” Her debut performance at Weill Hall took place in 1997. She was 26 years old. In 1999 she received her Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. She had already won top prizes in major competitions, including the Montreal and the Queen Elizabeth (Belgium.) Although her repertoire includes the standard concertos and recital pieces every violinist plays, her recordings contain many contemporary or seldom-heard modern works. One of the latest is the violin concerto composed for her by Thomas Lee premiered in March and recorded in August of 2010. Besides concertizing with major orchestras around the world, she is now Artist-in-Residence at the Boston Conservatory and teaches at Harvard University. The Boston Trio, which she joined in 2002, is Ensemble-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory. Muresanu, as do almost all contemporary concert violinists, also plays chamber music and gives Master Classes at music festivals in the U.S. and in Europe, including those in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. You can see and hear one of her YouTube videos here - Prokofiev's Second Concerto, one of my favorites. Her violin is an 1856 Giuseppe Rocca.

Rediscovering Joseph Achron

2011-08-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Joseph Achron Society, headed by pianist Samuel Zerin, is working on digitizing and publishing dozens of Achron’s scores, scores which are still in manuscript form, but especially his version of Paganini’s 24 Caprices. These are NOT arrangements in the style of Leopold Auer’s, they are Achron’s original compositions based on the Caprices. The project will disseminate music which has lain dormant for decades. It reminds me of the rediscovery of J.S. Bach’s music, Antonio Vivaldi’s, and Jan Dismas Zelenka’s as well. There are literally thousands of violinists out there who will be able, for the first time, to study and play these magnificent works. For the project to succeed, funding – that most crucial element – must be secured. The Joseph Achron Society hopes you can help. Their website will show you how far even ten dollars can go toward assisting the project. Become part of a historic achievement and receive a free score as well. Nothing beats discovering new music. (Here is a symphony Zelenka wrote – more like a violin and oboe concerto - which you have likely never heard. It is as good as anything Vivaldi ever wrote but it was unavailable to the public for over 200 years.)

Maddalena Lombardini

2011-08-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Maddalena Lombardini (Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen) was an Italian violinist, harpsichordist, singer, and composer born (in Venice) on December 9, 1745 (Bach was 60 years old and would live an additional five.) Today, she is remembered thanks to a well-known (and lengthy) letter which her teacher, Giuseppe Tartini wrote to her on March 5, 1760, outlining several details of violin technique. The letter is often quoted in music journals and Tartini biographies. From age seven (1753), she was trained in one of the four hospitality homes (orphanages or Ospedale) in Venice. This one was called the Ospedale dei Mendicante – Home for the Indigent. (The orphanage where Antonio Vivaldi usually taught was called the Ospedale della Pieta.) These institutions, begun in the sixteenth century, were combination orphanages and churches. They not only took in orphans, but the elderly, poor, and infirm as well. Music instruction for girls was important to these institutions for both its educational value, and for the income from public attendance of church services at which excellent music performances were featured. The student body consisted of between sixty and eighty girls. Although Lombardini was not an orphan – she was the daughter of impoverished aristocrats - she was admitted to the music school of the Ospedale based on her musical talent, as were a few other children who were not orphans. Her teachers at the orphanage were Antonio Vivaldi, Baldassare Galuppi, and Nicola Porpora. While at the Ospedale, Lombardini was occasionally allowed to leave the orphanage to study both violin and composition with Tartini in Padua (about twenty five miles west of Venice.) It has been said she was his favorite pupil. Lombardini could have become a nun but, in 1767, she chose to marry a violinist-composer by the name of Ludivico Sirmen. She was 22 years old. They took off on a tour together and were well-received everywhere. However, she also concertized by herself to great public acclaim. Lombardini and Sirmen eventually separated and from that day forward, her constant travel companion was a priest - Don Giuseppe Terzi; according to one source, they died within nine days of each other. Sirmen established a personal relationship with someone else, too - a now-forgotten Countess. Lombardini and Terzi's travels took them to London, Paris, and St Petersburg (Russia), among other places. She first played in London on January 9, 1771 and was highly praised. Curiously, on April 15 of that year, instead of playing a violin concerto, she played a harpsichord concerto at a benefit concert. By the time she was 28, she had turned her attention to singing (for reasons known only to herself) but was not able to duplicate her earlier violinistic successes. In London, she played in the Italian opera orchestra and sang leading opera roles as well. Nine years later, she was appointed concert singer to the Court of Saxony (Dresden, Germany, 1782.) In 1785, she appeared at a Concert Spirituel in Paris for the last time. She was 40 years old and her star power had dimmed. However, at least one source states that by then, she was already a wealthy woman - she had been since 1798. Her compositions - most of them works which included the violin - were well-regarded by her contemporaries. Interestingly, most of her pieces were published (in England, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany) before 1774. There is speculation that some of them may have been written while she was still a student at the Ospedale. In any case, she was not yet thirty years old at the time of publication. Even Leopold Mozart praised her writing after hearing one of her concertos played in Salzburg in April of 1778. Her string quartets have been compared to Joseph Haydn's. YouTube has several examples of her music - violin concertos and string quartets - here, here, and here. Recordings of her music are not hard to find on the internet. Lombardini, who had once been compared to the great Pietro Nardini, apparently died in obscurity (in Venice) on May 18, 1818, at age 72. Nonetheless, her compositions (and Tartini's letter) have made her immortal.

Joan Field

2011-08-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

Joan Field was an American violinist born (in Long Branch, New Jersey) on April 28, 1915 (Heifetz was 14 years old and would live an additional 72 years.) She is a very rare example of an American concert violinist who never attended an American music school, although she studied privately with Albert Spalding (teacher at Boston College), Franz Kneisel (teacher at Juilliard), and Michel Piastro (Concertmaster of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic under Rodzinski.) (In fact, Nicolo Paganini, Zino Francescatti, and Alexander Markov never formally attended a conservatory either. For the record, neither did Daniel Barenboim.) She began violin studies at the age of 5. One source states that her earliest teacher was pianist Andre Benoist, whom, it is said, discovered her. From age 10, in Europe (Paris, France), she studied with Jacques Thibaud and George Enesco, among others. At age 14, she returned from Europe (1929) and continued her studies, most likely with her former teachers. Her debut in Town Hall in New York City took place five years later, in 1934. She was 19 years old. Benoist was her accompanist, accompanist also of Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, and Albert Spalding. The program included the violin concerto of Ernst von Dohnanyi (Opus 27 in d minor), a seldom-performed work. The review of the performance (in the New York Times) stated that "Miss Field's playing is that of a thoughtful, sensitive, and fastidious musician." From that point forward she regularly concertized and recorded, in the U.S. and in Europe, playing with all of the major orchestras. In 1937, she played at the White House, hosted by President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She first soloed with the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall on March 25, 1939, playing Wieniawski’s second concerto. In 1944, she began a successful radio career at WQXR in New York (the same station which violinist Eddy Brown helped found in 1930), eventually writing, producing, and performing in more than 200 weekly programs. She premiered the violin concerto of prodigious (though unknown) composer Mana-Zucca (Augusta Zuckerman) which was probably written for her. Eddy Brown later recorded the concerto. Field also premiered Sergei Prokofiev’s second violin sonata in the U.S. She was the first to record Charles Ives’ first violin sonata (1951) as well – she had already been playing his violin works for some time. Her playing (for an October, 1948 Town Hall recital) was described as being “uncommonly satisfying.” Coming from a professional New York music critic, that wording is itself very uncommon and an exceedingly high compliment. Decca signed her to a recording contract in 1958 and one of the first works recorded by her for this label was Spohr’s eighth violin concerto - she was only the third violinist to record the work. (Georg Kulenkampff was the first to record it, in 1935, and Heifetz was the second, in 1951.) One of her rare recordings – now out of print - can be found here. Although YouTube has no videos of her playing, a Facebook fan page can be found here. Until 1968, Field played the Joseph Joachim Stradivarius violin (1698) which is now in Geneva, Switzerland. She retired (in Florida) in 1965, at age 50. (Iso Briselli retired from the concert stage at age 35. On the other hand, at age 89, Ivry Gitlis is still giving concerts.) Joan Field died in Miami Beach on March 18, 1988, at age 72. As far as I know, she only taught privately.

On The High Cs

2011-08-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

It has long been my opinion that in order for an artist to be able to perform, she needs Conviction, Control, Courage, Confidence, Composure, and Concentration. To a great degree, these are overlapping attitudes. Conviction is simply the foundation upon which careers (and lives) are built – it is the belief that what one is doing is worth doing to the best of one’s ability. (Oprah Winfrey once said that you are what you believe. She knows that for sure.) Before one can convince an audience, one has to be self-convinced. You might question Leila Josefowicz’ interpretations but not her conviction – it is there in spades. Then comes Control – that is the same as knowledge or technique – if one cannot exert full control over one’s physical preparedness – control over intonation, rhythm, and tone problems - then one is actually not ready to do the job. Courage enables us to take that first step onto the stage. However, Courage comes in varying degrees. Some of us can muster enough of it to perform in groups, though not as soloists or conductors. There’s nothing wrong with that. Isaac Stern called it arrogance and perhaps, in his case, that’s what it was. Confidence is an attitude that convinces others that you know you can succeed, but it comes after one takes that first step. Composure is an attitude which overcomes panic. Ivan Galamian’s solo career didn’t pan out because he was terror-stricken at the thought of playing in front of an audience. Fear can undermine even the best-prepared, best-trained artist. Finally comes Concentration. Imagine going out to play Beethoven or Mendelssohn with great conviction, control, confidence, courage, and composure, but then focusing your attention on the conductor’s very loose bow tie or the second clarinet’s flat tuning or the Principal cellist’s unpolished shoes or the fidgety little boy in the front row. This is how tiny, little lapses enter a performance. This is how careers get destroyed. There are critics out there who know how the music should go – they talk and they write and they tell people who care about these things. However, these factors only make a career feasible. Sustainability is another matter.

Raymond Gniewek

2011-08-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Raymond Gniewek is an American violinist born (in East Meadow, Long Island, New York) on November 13, 1931 (Heifetz was 30 years old.) He is best known as the long-time concertmaster (43 years) of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, to which he was first appointed in 1957. His longevity is unlikely to ever be surpassed. He was 25 years old and the youngest concertmaster ever to hold the post as well as the youngest member of the orchestra. Someone who must have actually done the counting has stated that Gniewek performed 115 different opera scores during his tenure. At least one source states that he was the first American concertmaster of the orchestra; however, that’s not true – Nahan Franko was the first American concertmaster of the Met orchestra. Gniewek began his violin studies with his father (a violinist who became a barber) at age 5. At a later age, he studied at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York.) It has been written that he studied with Canadian violinist Albert Pratz (who also taught Steven Staryk, Lenny Solomon, and Jack Benny) though I could not find out when or where that would have been. In 1949, conductor Erich Leinsdorf appointed him, at age 18, associate concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic. He soloed with this orchestra at age 19. One source has it that Max Rudolf was the person who told Gniewek about the Met Orchestra’s concertmaster job opening. It helps immensely to know someone who knows something like this. At that time, the job paid about $9,500 a year. By 1975, it was paying $60,000. As Gniewek himself put it, the reward of playing in an opera (pit) orchestra, practically unseen (and unnoticed) by the audience, lies simply in being part of an extravaganza unlike anything else in the performing arts - an amalgamation of voice, orchestra, acting, set design, lighting, costumes, and effects as dazzling in their way as anything Hollywood can do, all performed in large halls peopled with emotional audiences. After retiring from the Met in May of 2000, Gniewek has led or worked with opera or festival orchestras in Switzerland, Japan, and the U.S. James Levine, the chief conductor and General Manager of the Met for many years stated that "The single luckiest thing that happened to me since I have been at the Met is that Ray Gniewek was the concertmaster."

Sidney Harth

2011-07-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Sidney Harth was an American violinist, conductor, and teacher born (in Cleveland) on October 5, 1925 (Heifetz was 24 years old.) He is best known for being concertmaster of several prominent American orchestras – the Louisville Orchestra (1953 - 1959), the Chicago Symphony (1959 - 1962), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1973 - 1979.) and the New York Philharmonic (1979-1980.) He graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1947. His principal teachers were Mishel Piastro, Joseph Knitzer, and George Enesco. In 1949, he won the Naumberg Award. He was 24 years old. He toured France as a recitalist in the 1951 - 1952 season. Later, he won second prize in the Wieniawski violin competition in Europe (Poland – 1957.) It created something of a sensation because he was the first American to win one of the top prizes at that competition. His recording of the violin solos in Scheherazade with the Chicago Symphony and Fritz Reiner is still much talked about. Harth’s first appearance with the New York Philharmonic came on June 23, 1964. He played the Brahms double and the Beethoven Triple concertos on the same program (assisted by Leslie Parnas and Leonard Pennario.) On January 30, 1965, he soloed with the orchestra in Wieniawski’s second concerto. He later settled down to an orchestral career with frequent solo and conducting engagements thrown in. In fact, in Los Angeles, he was often criticized for his numerous absences from his orchestral duties. He performed with major orchestras in North and South America, Europe, Russia, Israel, and China. Among the schools at which he was a violin professor or conducting teacher (or both) are the University of Louisville, the University of Texas, the University of Houston, the Mannes College of Music, Carnegie Mellon University (1963 to 1973), Yale University (for 17 years), and Duquesne University (2001 to 2011.) His conducting career began in Louisville, where he was concertmaster and assistant conductor. He held the same title in Los Angeles. His career seems to mirror that of Richard Burgin except that Burgin stayed with the Boston Symphony for 42 years and Harth moved around quite a bit more. Harth actually became musical director or principal conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (Durban, South Africa), Northwest Chamber Orchestra of Seattle, and the Jerusalem Symphony. His wife (Teresa Testa) was also a professional violinist. (Burgin’s wife was a professional violinist too.) You can find several audio recordings of his on YouTube. From 1957, Harth played a Domenico Montagnana violin from 1740 aptly named the Duchess of Cleaveland. He later played a Stradivari violin constructed in 1737 that bears a fancy French name. Harth died (in Pittsburgh) on February 15, 2011, at age 85.

I couldn't name one

2011-07-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Using 1875 as a starting point, I am recalling that in 1877, Karl Goldmark composed a violin concerto that is still being played today. In 1878 Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky composed his, then that same year (1878) Johannes Brahms also came out with his concerto, in 1880 Camille Saint Saens composed his third violin concerto, in the same year came Antonin Dvorak’s in a minor, in 1898 Julius Conus’, in 1904 Alexander Glazunov’s, in 1904 Jean Sibelius’, in 1910 Edward Elgar’s, in 1916 Karol Szymanowski’s, in 1917 Serge Prokofiev’s first, in 1931 Igor Stravinsky’s, in 1935 Alban Berg’s, again in 1935 Serge Prokofiev’s second concerto, in 1938 Bela Bartok’s second, in 1939 Benjamin Britten’s, in 1939 William Walton’s, in 1939, Samuel Barber’s, in 1940 Aram Khachaturian’s, in 1945 Erich Korngold’s, and finally in 1948, Dmitri Shostakovich’s still often-played first violin concerto. That’s twenty one concertos which entered the standard repertoire (and never left it) in a span of 71 years. I am trying to think of one violin concerto which has been written after 1948 which has entered the standard repertoire and I simply can’t name even one. Not one in 63 years.

Alma Roseˊ

2011-07-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

Alma Roseˊ (Alma Maria Rose´) was an Austrian violinist and conductor born (in Vienna) on November 3, 1906 (Heifetz was 5 years old and would live an additional 81.) She is remembered for having (for ten months) conducted the world’s, and possibly history’s, most notorious orchestra – the all-female orchestra which played for inmates at the Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoners’ camp (in Poland, also known as Auschwitz II – there were three Auschwitz camps, Birkenau being the largest) during the final days of World War Two. It is important to point out at this juncture that Alma Rose´ was Jewish, although both parents were converts and were well-assimilated into Viennese Christian society, as she was. Her father was long-time Vienna Philharmonic concertmaster Arnold Rose´ (one and the same who turned Fritz Kreisler down after Kreisler’s audition to join the orchestra. He was highly respected and esteemed all over Europe.) Her uncle was composer-conductor Gustav Mahler, on her mother’s side. She may even have been named after Mahler’s wife, Alma Mahler. She was also at one time married (1930-1935) to brilliant Czech violinist Vasa Prihoda (1900-1960.) Books have been written (by Fania Fenelon and Richard Newman) and films produced about her (one of them using an Arthur Miller script) which go into great detail concerning her activities during her tenure at Auschwitz-Birkenau, if one can call it that. It is generally agreed that her talent was modest but that she had great ambition. She studied at the Vienna Conservatory and at the Vienna State Academy. Her debut came in 1926, playing the Bach double concerto alongside her father – that in itself is indicative of her abilities. (They recorded the concerto two years later and – amazingly - an audio version is available on YouTube, here. If you choose to listen to it, be prepared to hear a bombastic cadenza, some odd-sounding glissandi, and a style of playing which is very much from a long, long time ago. Don’t say I did not warn you.) She never became a full-fledged solo artist or an acclaimed concert violinist. However, in 1932, she formed an all-female orchestra called The Vienna Waltzing Girls (or The Waltzing Girls of Vienna) and enjoyed great success with the highly-accomplished ensemble, which toured all over Europe. It was a wonderful life – while it lasted. The orchestra quickly disbanded after the German annexation of Austria in March of 1938. Shortly thereafter, a few months before the outbreak of World War Two (September of 1939), with the help of several friends, including Bruno Walter, Carl Flesch, and Adrian Boult, she and her father managed to make their way to London. Since Arnold Rose’s pension had been terminated by the Nazis, they experienced acute financial difficulties. In England, they played where they could. At this point, Arnold Rose´ was 76 years old. Alma returned to Holland to play and earn money for expenses back in London. She considered it safe to do so and she had many engagements. However, after the German invasion of the Netherlands in May of 1940, she could no longer perform openly and went into hiding for many months, eventually making her way to France, from where she hoped to get away to safety. In late 1942, she tried to transfer herself to (neutral) Switzerland but was betrayed to the Gestapo and captured before she could do so. She was then interned at Drancy (near Paris.) A few months later, in July 1943, she was sent from Drancy to Auschwitz. When she arrived, she was not immediately recognized. She was placed in a block from which inmates were taken for medical research purposes - experiments. In the nick of time, someone identified her and she was then engaged as a musician for a rag tag orchestra which then already existed at the camp. Among them were at least three professional musicians. The camp commander was a serious music lover. Eventually, Rose´ took over the duties of a full-fledged conductor and arranger and built it up to include 45 members, much larger than a typical chamber orchestra. She would also occasionally play violin solos with the orchestra. It is generally agreed that she treated the players quite harshly. On or about April 2, 1944, Rose´ attended a birthday party for one of the camp’s block leaders where, it has been said, she ate some bad meat. As soon as she arrived back at her private quarters, she exhibited symptoms of food poisoning. She was taken to the camp infirmary and, despite treatment, died two days later – April 4, 1944. She was 37 years old. During her tenure, none of the orchestra members died – whether from natural or other causes. Her 1757 Guadagnini violin – which she had entrusted to some friends in Europe – made its way to London in 1945 or 1946 and was soon sold to Felix Eyle, concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the time. A usually reliable source has it that Zakhar Bron (Russian violin pedagogue) now owns it.

Andrei Korsakov

2011-06-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Andrei Korsakov was a Russian violinist, teacher, and conductor born on May 7, 1946 (Heifetz was 45 years old and would live an additional 41.) Korsakov was a distant relative of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian composer known for his book on orchestration and, of course, Scheherazade) and is remembered for his exquisite recordings and for having lived (as did Michael Rabin, Paul Kochanski, and Julian Sitkovetsky) a very short life. His daughter is concert violinist Natasha Korsakova. (Korsakov was fluent in three languages – German, Russian, and French – Korsakova is fluent in five.) It is worth noting that few concert violinists have daughters who grow up to be concert violinists themselves – it is usually sons who follow in their footsteps – Mozart, Kogan, Oistrakh, Sitkovetsky, Markov, and Kaler come to mind. Korsakov began violin studies with his father, Boris Korsakov, at the Central School in Moscow, at age 7. He made his debut in 1954 (perhaps 1955), at the Moscow Conservatory. He was either 8 or 9 years old. By age 18 he was studying at the Moscow Conservatory with Boris Belenky and Leonid Kogan (famous pupil of Abram Yampolsky.) Korsakov concertized regularly in Russia, Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S from that point forward. While still a student, he had already won prizes at the Paganini Competition in Genoa, the Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, and the Montreal Competition in Canada. In 1971, he was awarded second prize in the Queen Elizabeth Competition (Miriam Fried was given first) though he was by far the audience favorite and felt he should have won. It sometimes happens that juries disagree with the audience, though, as I always say, the audience has a much better instinct for what is best. Among the jury that year were Joseph Szigeti, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, and Zino Francescatti. (A similar thing happened to Julian Sitkovetsky at this same competition in 1955. It happened again in 1967 with Gidon Kremer, who was awarded third prize. Nobody remembers who came in first or second that year.) Korsakov later taught at the Conservatory – among his pupils are Natalia Alenitsyna and Alexander Spivak. One critic called Korsakov’s technique “brilliant and dazzling, full of beauty and nobility. He played everything as if he were a nineteenth century virtuoso.” In 1980, at age 34, he founded the Russian Ensemble Concertino which he conducted for 11 years. In 1989, he became the chief conductor and Artistic Director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (founded by Rudolf Barshai in 1956 and originally known as the Russian State Chamber Orchestra.) A review (by the Holland Telegraaf) stated: "Korsakov can be compared to Heifetz; he is capable of doing anything, and this ability is combined with his remarkable composure and lack of showiness." An example of his refined and breathtaking playing can be found here on YouTube. Another review (of his recording of the Bruch and Paganini first concertos) stated: "for raw electricity, this performance would be hard to beat." Other recordings (of famous showpieces) have also been described as stunning. There is also his recording of a concerto made famous by Heifetz - the Conus - which is a collector's item. It is nearly impossible to find. (Thanks to my Facebook friend - Alison Whalen - I have it.) A few of his recordings can be found here, here, and here. At one point in his career, Korsakov was named the People's Artist by the Soviet government. He initially played an Andrea Guarneri violin from the Russian State Collection and later on a Vincenzo Rogieri. Korsakov died on January 19, 1991, at age 44.

Abram Yampolsky

2011-06-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Abram Ilich Yampolsky was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist and teacher born on October 11, 1890 (Stravinsky was 8 years old and would live an additional 80.) He, along with Peter Stolyarsky (in Odessa) and Leopold Auer (in St Petersburg) is known for having developed some of the greatest Russian violinists of the twentieth century – Heifetz, Kogan, Oistrakh, Markov, Milstein, Elman, Sitkovetsky, and quite a few more. He studied with Sergei Korguyev in St Petersburg, graduating in 1913. Some sources say he actually also studied with Auer as an older student. He played in the Lenin Quartet with Lev Zeitlin, Ferdinand Krisch (viola), and Gregor Piatigorsky (Piatigorsky was 16 years old.) As far as I know, they never recorded anything. He taught for many years at the Moscow Conservatory, but I don’t know exactly how many, possibly as many as forty – in 1955 he was still teaching there. Among the awards the Communist Party bestowed on him were Honored Worker in the Arts and Honored Artist. Among his famous pupils are Igor Bezrodny, Boris Goldstein, Elizabeth Gilels, Yakov Rabinovich, Isaac Zhuk, Yuri Yankelevich, Michael Fikhtengoltz, Julian Sitkovetsky, and Leonid Kogan. Yampolsky died in Moscow on August 17, 1956, at age 65.

Buy a New Violin

2011-06-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Back in 1989 or 1990, a couple of violinists from the New York Philharmonic (Richard and Fiona Simon) took the IRS to court over some deductions which had been disallowed. That case, which they won in U.S. Tax Court in 1994, firmly established that a violinist is lawfully entitled to depreciate the cost of his instrument (over a number of years), be it a humble Roth, a copy of a Strad, or a Guarnerius, even if the instrument is actually appreciating in value. In any number of metropolitan orchestras around the country, a typical violinist can spend $5 or $10 thousand on a violin. In a major orchestra, the norm is closer to $100,000. In a world class orchestra, perhaps $200,000 violins are not all that rare. (I know five violinists in our own orchestra who own very pricy violins.) Of course, if you’re a concert violinist, you don’t own your violin, you borrow it. But if you can afford to, it would be wise to buy a new, expensive violin every five years or so just to be able to take the allowable depreciation against your earnings. When you hear that so-and-so recently fell in love with a new Guadagnini or a new Stradivarius (or what-have-you) and just had to have it, this might be part of the reason.

Max Rostal

2011-06-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Max Rostal was an Austrian violinist, arranger, and teacher born (in Teschen) on July 7, 1905 (Heifetz was four years old.) He is not particularly well-known for anything other than that he had a long teaching career and was under-rated as a violinist. He began his violin studies at age 5. He began playing in public from age 6 (1911.) One of his teachers was Arnold Rose, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic for many years. (When Fritz Kreisler - as a teenager - applied to the Vienna Philharmonic, it was Arnold Rose who turned him down.) Another was Carl Flesch when he was still teaching in Berlin. According to at least one source, Rostal was often compared to Bronislaw Huberman, Fritz Kreisler, and Eugene Ysaye. In 1925, he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship. Another obscure violinist who won this prize was Leonora Jackson in 1897. From 1930 to 1933 he taught at the Advanced School for Music in Berlin. From 1944 to 1958, he taught at the Guildhall School of Music in London and played many concerts broadcast over the BBC. He then taught in Cologne (Germany) from 1957 to 1982. Simultaneously, he was a violin teacher at the Conservatory in Bern, Switzerland (1958-1985.) Several recordings of his are posted on YouTube and it is said that his few recordings are now treasured by collectors. Many critics have also said that he had a very individual style. He was especially praised for his interpretation of Bartok’s second concerto (as is Silvia Marcovici nowadays) and was known to champion contemporary music. Rostal premiered Alan Bush’s violin concerto in 1949, a work which has not been heard from since. He also edited quite a few works for violin and wrote a method book as well. These works can easily be found on the internet. A violin (and viola) competition (begun in Bern in 1991 and now held in Berlin) is named after him. In 1944, Rostal was instrumental in organizing the Carl Flesch violin competition (which ran from 1945 until 1992. Raymond Cohen was the first winner of that competition.) Among his pupils were Sergiu Luca, Norbert Brainin, Yfrah Neaman, Edith Peinemann, and Igor Ozim. His Guarnerius del Gesu is now owned by the Stradivari Society (Chicago, USA.) Max Rostal died in Switzerland on August 6, 1991, at age 86.

Jean-Marie Leclair

2011-06-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Jean-Marie Leclair (Jean-Marie Leclair, the Elder) was a French violinist, composer, dancer, lace maker, and teacher born (in Lyon) on May 10, 1697 (Bach was 12 years old.) He is frequently mentioned as having founded the French violin school of violin playing, whatever that may be. His three younger brothers were also musicians. Leclair is now remembered as one of the very, very few violinists who died a violent death – he was assassinated at age 67. The culprit was never found out. He studied dance and violin in Turin but also made a living as a lace or braid maker, his father’s profession. Little is otherwise known about his early years. In 1716, he was a dancer with the Lyons Opera and married a fellow dancer in the same opera company (Marie Rose Casthanie) on the first of February that same year. He was 19 years old. He became a principal dancer with the Turin Opera in 1722. In October of 1723, he returned to Paris – which he had previously visited on and off - and played at the Concerts Spirituel, where he was well-received. He also published his Opus 1, a set of violin sonatas that same year. The publication was sponsored by a wealthy patron (Joseph Bonnier) to whom the works were, understandably, dedicated. In 1726 he again visited Turin where he worked as a dancer and choreographer with the Turin Opera and took violin lessons from Giovanni Battista Somis. In 1728, he returned to Paris. Leclair’s wife died in that year and he remarried in 1730. She (Louise Roussel) was an engraver who, beginning with his Opus 2, published all of Leclair’s works from that point forward. In 1733, he was hired by Louis XV (to whom Leclair dedicated his Opus 3) as a court musician. He gave up that post in 1737 after quarreling with a colleague (someone named Jean-Pierre Guignon, also known as Giovanni Pietro Ghignone.) From 1738 until 1743, he worked three months out of the year at The Hague for the Princess (Anne) of Orange, a former harpsichord pupil of Handel. He dedicated his Opus 9 to her. (Some sources give these years as 1737 to 1742.) In Holland, he also met and probably took lessons from the great (and mysterious) violinist Pietro Locatelli. From 1740 until he died, Leclair worked for the Duke of Gramont as principal violinist and director of his private orchestra, although he spent a few months in Spain in 1743 where he played for some aristocrat called Infante Don Felipe, a fan of French music. Leclair dedicated his Opus 10 to Don Felipe. Although his output was comparatively small, he has on occasion been referred to as the French Corelli, the French Vivaldi, and even the French Bach. He broke up with his wife in 1758 and went to live in an unsavory and dangerous neighborhood in the outskirts of Paris, where he had purchased a small house. He was 61 years old. It has been suggested that the Duke of Gramont would certainly have provided comfortable lodgings for him so the reason he chose these undesirable circumstances for himself remains a mystery. On the morning of October 23, 1764, Leclair’s gardener found him in a pool of blood, dead from three stab wounds in the back. Since the stabbing probably took place the prior evening, his date of death is usually given as October 22, 1764. He was 67 years old. An investigation produced three suspects but nothing was ever proved against anyone. Many consider Leclair the first French violin virtuoso. His best known pupil is probably Pierre Gavinies. Although he composed almost exclusively for the violin, he did write an opera (1746) which is even now occasionally performed. Much of his music is available through numerous recordings. Many of his ballets and works for voice and for the stage were either lost or destroyed by Leclair himself.

Giovanni Somis

2011-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Giovanni Battista Somis was an Italian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Savoy-Piedmont – a then French-Italian state in northwest Italy of which Turin was once the capital) on December 25, 1686 (Bach was born the previous year.) Although rather obscure, many consider him a critical link between Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) and virtuoso violinists who came after him. It has been suggested that the connection follows this sequence: Corelli-Somis-Pugnani-Viotti-Baillot-Kreutzer-Massart-Wieniawski (1835-1880.) His first teacher was his father, Lorenzo Francesco, a violinist in the court orchestra of Duke Vittorio Amedeo II’s mother (Marie Jeanne Baptiste.) Somis' family was well-known for its important musical role at the royal court. (Lorenzo Francesco was also employed by the prince of Carignano, the duke’s cousin.) At age 10, little Somis was already playing in the orchestra as well. In 1703, at age 17, he was sent to Rome (by the Duke) to study with Corelli and he remained under Corelli’s tutelage until 1706 or 1707. He may also have studied with Vivaldi in Venice. Upon finishing his studies, he became leader of the orchestra (at Turin) and eventually solo violinist to the king of Turin (1713) – the former Duke of Savoy, the same patron who had sponsored his studies with Corelli. In 1709, he was made an assistant at court to the prince of Carignano as well. Although he sometimes traveled with the royal household, he almost never ventured outside Turin after these appointments. He did play – in 1731 – a concert in Paris for the Concerts Spirituel for which he was highly praised. Records indicate that some of his music, though written in Turin, was intended for performance in Paris, where musicians from the Piedmont region were active. It is not certain how much music he composed; however, it is known that he published (between 1717 and 1750) eight collections of violin sonatas, some of them for two violins (Opus 5 and 7) – 78 sonatas in all. One source conjectures that Somis also wrote 134 concertos, although only nine survive (in manuscript.) In composition, Somis’ influence on the transition from Baroque to Classic styles is considered negligible. His pupils included Gaetano Pugnani and Jean-Marie Leclair. Somis died on August 14, 1763, at age 76. Joseph Haydn was 31 years old and Mozart was already six.

Pierre Gavinies

2011-05-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Pierre Gaviniès was a French violinist, teacher, and composer born (in Bordeaux) on May 11, 1728 – one source gives his date of birth as May 26, 1726 (J.S. Bach was 43 years old and would live another 22.) Gaviniès was the son of a violin maker (Francois Gavinies, 1683-1772) and is famous for his 24 Caprices (1794), probably, next to Paganini’s, the most difficult set of etudes for any violinist. He has been credited with being the founder of the French violin school of violin playing – whatever that may be – though that distinction is debatable. His teachers are unknown, although he may have studied with Leclair in Paris, having moved there with his father in 1734. Many of his contemporaries spoke of him as being the greatest living violinist. Judging from the Caprices, he may have been. Gavinies was also then famous for his rendition of Vivaldi’s Spring from the Four Seasons. His first important appearance in concert took place in 1741. He was 13 years old. For thirty years (and perhaps more) he was associated with the Concerts Spirituel, which he directed from 1773 to 1777. Mozart was in his late teens at the time. (The Concerts Spirituel was a French public concert series founded by musicians of the Paris Opera - it ran from 1725 until 1790. Mozart’s Paris Symphony was played at these concerts.) While he was esteemed as a great virtuoso (Viotti called him the French Tartini), Gavinies rarely left Paris and eventually, at the age of 67, ended up teaching at the Paris Conservatory, alongside Pierre Rode, Rodolphe Kreutzer, and Pierre Baillot. In 1794 he was actually named Director but did not take this office until 1796. Kreutzer dedicated his third violin concerto to Gavinies. Few have heard this concerto and it might not even be currently published. It has been written that Gavinies was one of Joseph Chevalier De Saint George’s teachers and that may well be so – in any case, it is a possibility. An indication that he somewhat favored the Baroque style during the transition from Baroque to Classical is that many of his works for violin have accompaniments marked in figured bass only. He composed – besides the Caprices - an opera, twelve violin sonatas (1760), six violin concertos (1764), six violin duos, and several other pieces which are now never played, except, perhaps, in France. Gavinies died in Paris on September 9, 1800, at age 72. Mozart was dead by then but Paganini was only 18 years old.

Joseph Lambert Massart

2011-05-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Joseph Lambert Massart was a Belgian violinist and teacher born (in Liege) on July 19, 1811 (Paganini was 29 years old and would live another 29.) He performed as a soloist only infrequently and devoted most of his time to teaching. As a young student, because he was not admitted to the Paris Conservatory (because he was a foreigner), he took private lessons with Rodolphe Kreutzer. Luigi Cherubini (the Italian composer) was the Conservatory Director at the time. Paradoxically, at age 32, he was accepted as a Professor at the same Conservatory (1843.) He then taught there for 47 years. Massart performed Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with none other than Franz Liszt – his teacher had previously rejected it as unintelligible. Among Massart’s students were legendary violinists Isidor Lotto, Fritz Kreisler, Franz Reis, Eugene Ysaye, Pablo Sarasate, Julius Conus, Teresina Tua, and Henryk Wieniawski. When one teaches for forty seven years, one is bound to find at least a few good students. Among this group, Pablo Sarasate and Fritz Kreisler are the only ones who produced no extraordinary students. Massart has been credited with the origination of the systematic vibrato. This is his claim to fame, since he is not among the trio of violinists who earlier established the violin method taught at the Paris Conservatory – Rode, Baillot, and Kreutzer. It has been conjectured that Kreisler championed such a system, though it was widely criticized at the time, being considered a little too emotive and perhaps even vulgar. Massart was also a chamber music player and gave many concerts with his wife (Louise Aglae Marson), who was a pianist. He died in Paris on February 13, 1892, at age 80. Other than in connection with his famous pupils, his name is infrequently mentioned nowadays.

Silvia Marcovici

2011-05-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Silvia Marcovici is a Romanian violinist and teacher born (in Bacau) on January 30, 1952 (Itzhak Perlman was 7 years old.) She is practically the only artist in the western world without a website. Marcovici began her studies at an early age in Bacau. Her formal studies took place at the Conservatory in Bucharest. Stefan Gheorghiu, a pupil of Oistrakh, was one of her teachers. At 13, Marcovici made several public appearances and played on Romanian Television. She made her professional debut at the age of 16 at The Hague. At age 17, she took second prize in the Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris – nobody took first prize. (Something similar happened to Eugene Fodor at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1974) Marcovici later said that she was so nervous before this competition that someone had to push her on stage to perform. The following year, she took first prize in the George Enesco Competition in Bucharest. Marcovici first toured the U.S. at age 20. She played the Glazunov Concerto with the London Symphony (with Leopold Stokowski) at the Royal Albert Hall in 1972. That was Stokowski’s final appearance with the London Symphony. It has been frequently remarked that her stage presence is striking. Her first appearance with the New York Philharmonic was on January 24, 1980. She was (almost) 28 years old - the third concerto of Saint Saens was the work she played. Her second (and most recent) appearance with the Philharmonic was on September 28, 2001, Of the Big Five American orchestras (New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and Boston) the only one she has never soloed with is the Boston Symphony. She has recorded under the Decca, BIS, Doremi, and Aurophon labels. Her discography includes the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruch, Sibelius, and Nielsen. One of her specialties is the second concerto of Bartok. Marcovici has toured Japan, Europe, South America, the U.S., and the Middle East, and played with some of the world’s leading conductors. She also frequently participates in chamber music concerts. Her playing has been described (by the Daily Telegraph, London, UK) as “beautiful, perfect, with genuine eloquence and feeling.” There are many videos of her playing on the internet, including this magnificent one (from 1980.) Marcovici currently teaches at the University for Music and Art in Graz (Austria) and has also taught at the Conservatory in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her views on the career of an artist are stated thus: “The secret of a career lies in the knowledge of how to manage it - adapt your repertoire to your talent, choose carefully where, when and with whom you play. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. And then, just pray to the gods that luck may smile on you."

Ilya Kaler

2011-05-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ilya Kaler is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Moscow) on June 2, 1963 (Anne-Sophie Mutter was born 27 days later that same year and Heifetz was already 62 years old and would live an additional 24 years.) He is known for his unique achievement of winning three major violin competitions, namely the Paganini (1981), the Sibelius (1985), and the Tchaikovsky (1986) competitions, the only one to do so – so far. At the Central Music School in Moscow he studied with Zinaida Gilels (Anastasia Khitruk and Stefan Jackiw also studied with her. She is Elizabeth Gilels' niece.) He later studied with Leonid Kogan and Victor Tretyakov at the Moscow Conservatory, and with Abram Shtern privately (in Kiev, Russia and Los Angeles, U.S.A.) Kaler has been praised (by The Washington Post) as being “a consummate musician, in total control at all times, with a peerless mastery of his violin.” His recordings of the Paganini Caprices have been described (by American Record Guide) as being “in a class by themselves – combining the perfection, passion, and phrase sculpting of Michael Rabin with the energy, excitement, and immediacy of Jascha Heifetz.” Kaler has performed with the Moscow, Leningrad, and Dresden Philharmonics; and the Montreal, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, Danish, and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestras among many others. (For reasons known only to those immediately involved, Kaler has never soloed with the orchestras of New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Philadelphia. He has also never appeared with the top orchestras of London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, or Paris. It is an odd and freakish thing that while the concertmasters of these orchestras – none of whom achieves his level of artistry - get to solo with these prestigious ensembles, a phenomenal player like Kaler does not. It could be the Eugene Fodor phenomenon at work – blacklisting – but who really knows? - there may be other factors at play about which I know nothing.) From 1996 to 2001, Kaler was concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic. He has toured with a group called the World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble led by Valery Gergiev – I had not heard of this orchestra until just now. Kaler has also toured Russia, Europe, the U.S., South America, and Asia, as a recitalist and as a soloist. With Amit Peled (cello) and Alon Goldstein (piano), he recently formed the Tempest Trio. The trio has received enthusiastic reviews and has been compared to the legendary Heifetz-Piatigorsky-Rubinstein trio. Kaler has taught at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York) from 1998 until 2001, Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and (currently) DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.). As do almost all concert violinists nowadays, Kaler performs frequently at far-flung music festivals in the U.S. and abroad. His recordings include the concertos of Paganini, Brahms, Dvorak, Glazunov, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich. They are very easy to find on the internet. He has recorded for the Naxos, Melodya, and MCI labels. YouTube has several videos of his playing, one of which is this Slavonic Dance by Dvorak. Kaler has played and recorded with the Sennhauser Guarnerius del Gesu (1735 – from the Stradivari Society.) He has also played and recorded with more modern Joseph Curtin violins (1998, 2003, and 2010.) Ilya Kaler is married to a concert violinist (Olga Kaler), as is Gil Shaham (Adele Anthony), Albert Markov (Marina Markov), and as were also Leonid Kogan (Elizabeth Gilels), and Richard Burgin (Ruth Posselt.) Among Kaler's pupils are Sean Bradley and Daniel Kurganov.

Max Bendix

2011-05-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Max Bendix was an American violinist, conductor, teacher, and composer born (in Detroit, USA) on March 28, 1866 (Brahms was 33 years old and would live an additional 34.) He is mostly remembered for his long-term professional ties to Theodore Thomas, one of the founders (and first conductor) of the Chicago Symphony. His most important, and perhaps his only teacher was Simon E. Jacobsohn, a very significant (but now forgotten) violinist and teacher of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. (Jacobsohn began his American career in New York but later established himself in Cincinnati then in Chicago in 1887. Bendix may have studied with him from 1874 until about 1878. Bendix himself later said that the total sum of formal training he had was about four years. According to Bendix, Jacobsohn kicked him out of his class for being undisciplined. Among Jacobsohn's other pupils was Nahan Franko.) Seemingly without bothering with a lot of formal training and its attending rituals (such as a formal debut and subsequent concert tours), Bendix first played with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in May of 1878, when the orchestra was playing in Cincinnati. In 1880, he became concertmaster of the Cincinnati Orchestra, the precursor of the Cincinnati Symphony. He was 14 years old. Bendix went on to play in other orchestras as concertmaster or in the first violin section, including the Germania Orchestra (in Philadelphia, 1883-1884), the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (New York, 1885-1886), and the Arion Society of New York. Bendix told an interviewer in 1898 that he also played in small theatre orchestras and in circus bands as well simply to make a living (probably during the off season.) By the Spring of 1886, he was concertmaster of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, which would much later (some sources say 1895) become the Chicago Symphony. It is important to say here that the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony were, for a time, two distinct groups, even though they shared many of the same players. The Chicago Symphony has actually played under three names: The Chicago Orchestra (1891-1905), the Theodore Thomas Orchestra (1905-1912), and finally, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1912.) (Similarly, in 1882, Benjamin Bilse's Band became the Berlin Philharmonic.) Bendix went to Europe for about 7 months in 1889 but rejoined the Thomas group in 1890, again as concertmaster. (It is probable that he studied with Emile Sauret while in Europe.) In October of 1891, Bendix played the U.S. premiere of the Dvorak violin concerto in Chicago with Thomas conducting. Bendix remained with the orchestra until about 1896, actually leading the orchestra as conductor for a time in 1892 and 1893, filling in for Thomas when the latter left suddenly after some political battles which he (apparently) lost. It is well-known that Thomas was not pleased by this and a rift between the two started to develop. After Thomas decided not to renew his contract, Bendix said “One thing is true: either I have conducted the concerts too well or not well enough.” In 1897, Bendix toured the U.S with none other than Eugene Ysaye (whom he had met in Europe) and a small group of other (less well-known) musicians. In 1899, the Musical Courier pronounced Max Bendix the “finest American violinist.” He conducted regularly as well, wherever such opportunities arose, including St Louis, Seattle, New York, and Chicago. In 1904, he was concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera and, in addition, began conducting there beginning in 1905. 1907 found him serving as concertmaster and assistant conductor of a now forgotten organization called the Manhattan Opera Company – he had taken over for Sam Franko, another violinist who had played with Theodore Thomas. He also formed the Bendix String Quartet, about which little is known. He briefly conducted a group called the People’s Philharmonic Orchestra (in 1919 in San Francisco) formed out of a break-away group of musicians from the San Francisco Symphony. His best-known pupil was (violinist) Arthur Judson, the famous (some would say infamous) manager of classical music artists and orchestras. Bendix also taught someone named Marion Carpenter, whom he praised. Bendix died in Chicago, almost forgotten, on December 6, 1945, at age 79. Heifetz, Milstein, and Ricci were in their prime. However, Bendix’ association with Theodore Thomas, the Chicago Symphony, and Arthur Judson ensures that his name will be in the history books forever.

Rodolphe Kreutzer

2011-04-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

Rodolphe Kreutzer was a German (many would say French) violinist, composer, teacher, and conductor born (in Versailles) on November 16, 1766 (Mozart was 10 years old, Beethoven would not be born for another 4 years, and Paganini would be born 16 years later.) Despite his having written much concert music, including nineteen violin concertos and more than forty operas and ballets, he is remembered for his book (1796) of 42 etudes for violin – Canadian violinist Jacques Israelevitch was the first to record them. Kreutzer is also remembered as the violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated his ninth violin sonata (1803), after having first dedicated it to another violinist, George Bridgetower - Bridgetower even premiered the work. Ironically, Kreutzer never played the sonata and even declared it incomprehensible. (He had met Beethoven in Vienna in 1798.) His name is now synonymous with the famous sonata. There are also no fewer than four Stradivarius violins which bear his name. He studied first with his violinist father then with Anton Stamitz. He may also have studied with Giovanni Viotti, but that is far from certain. In 1782, after his father died, he took his father’s place as concertmaster of the royal orchestra. He was 16 years old - Marie-Antoinette was a patron of his. He eventually (1801) became concertmaster of the Paris Opera orchestra, where he later conducted (from 1817 until 1826.) Together with Pierre Rode and Pierre Baillot, he wrote the Paris Conservatory’s violin method book. He taught at the Conservatory from 1795 until 1826 – thirty one years. In 1806, he was solo violinist to Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1815, he also held the title of concertmaster for Louis XVIII. All the while, he kept composing. It has been written that his style of playing was individualistic, full of fiery flourishes, fine finish, and pure tone. He broke an arm in 1825 (I don’t know which) and retired from playing. He then also retired from conducting in 1826. He was 60 years old. In 1831, after being repeatedly rebuffed by the Paris Opera administration (they refused to produce his last opera), he moved to Switzerland, where he died (in Geneva) on June 6, 1831, at age 64. His music (other than the etudes) is now never played.

Richard Burgin

2011-04-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Richard Burgin was a Polish (many would say American) violinist, conductor, and teacher born (in Warsaw) on October 11, 1892 (Stravinsky was ten years old and Joseph Szigeti had been born about a month before in Hungary.) He is best known for being the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for many years (1920-1962); easily the longest tenure by a Boston Symphony concertmaster. Burgin began the study of violin at age 6. After studying with local teachers and with Isidor Lotto in Poland, Burgin moved to Germany in 1903 to study with Joseph Joachim at the Advanced Academy for Music in Berlin. Burgin's first public performance was in 1904 with the Warsaw Philharmonic. He was 11 years old. From 1908 to 1912, he studied with Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he graduated in 1912, winning the Silver medal in violin in that year. He was never a star pupil of Auer’s, as were Milstein, Elman, Heifetz, Zimbalist, and Seidel. Burgin became concertmaster of the Warsaw Philharmonic in 1914, at age 22. (He was not the youngest concertmaster the Warsaw Philharmonic had ever had; Paul Kochanski was, at age 14.) He was concertmaster of the Oslo (Norway) Symphony in 1915, and of the Stockholm Concert Society (Sweden) from 1916 to 1919. Some sources list Helsinki (Finland) and Leningrad as other cities where he worked, presumably as concertmaster. Only Steven Staryk has been concertmaster of as many orchestras. During those years, he played under several famous conductors, including Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch, and Jean Sibelius. Burgin came to the U.S. in 1920 and soon joined the Boston Symphony as concertmaster. Within a few months after that, he founded the Burgin String Quartet. According to the Boston Symphony, he used to spend summers in Paris during the 1920s and 30s, probably up until the beginning of World War Two – what he did while there is not known. From 1927 until he retired, Burgin also served as Assistant Conductor of the orchestra, conducting more than 300 of its concerts in diverse places, including Japan and Australia. He declared a well-known attitude of concertmasters when he was quoted thus (by TIME Magazine): "I know many virtuosos and I do not envy them. They tell me what it's like to play the same few pieces over and over and know they have to go here and then be there. Not for me. I like the orchestra." He played under Pierre Monteux, Serge Koussevitzky, and Charles Munch. He also, of course, played in dozens of recordings under these, and other, conductors. One of the high points of his career was his playing the U.S. premiere (in Boston under Koussevitzky) of Prokofiev’s first concerto on April 24, 1925 (two years after it was written.) Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Koussevitzky conducted the world premiere of the concerto with the Paris Opera Orchestra, its concertmaster playing the solo part. Burgin taught violin and conducting (and directed the Conservatory Orchestra from 1953) at the New England Conservatory. At the Berkshire Music Center he taught conducting. In 1959, he began teaching at Boston University. His most famous pupil is probably Sarah Caldwell, Boston organizer and director of operas. Because all this was (evidently) not enough to keep him totally busy, he conducted the Portland, Maine symphony as well. I ordinarily don’t touch upon personal details of a violinist’s life but I must report that, in 1940 (July 3), Burgin married Ruth Posselt, about whom I will write something later. He was 47 and she was 25. Her concert career (as a violinist) was just beginning to blossom. As far as I know, Burgin was not a chess player, as are (and were) so many other top violinists, but he was an accomplished Bridge player. Burgin retired from the Boston Symphony in May, 1962, and moved to south Florida, where he taught at Florida State University and founded the Florestan Quartet. He was 69 years old. Burgin also conducted the Florida State Chamber Orchestra. A great source of very detailed information about him is at this site. Among the several violins he owned and played was a 1744 Guarnerius Del Gesu which is unusual in that it is the only known Guarnerius made entirely of beech wood (instead of spruce and maple.) It is now somewhere in Europe. Richard Burgin died (in St. Petersburg, some sources say Gulfport, Florida) on April 29, 1981, at age 88. His widow died 26 years later.

Victor Young

2011-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

Victor Young was an American violinist, composer, arranger, and conductor, born (in Chicago) on August 8, 1899 (two years before Heifetz was born.) He is an example of instrumentalists who gravitate from concertizing to other endeavors – in his case, composing, arranging, and conducting for films and records. Violinists Iso Briselli, Pierre Monteux, Jaap Van Zweden, Eddy Brown, and Joseph Achron are five others who more-or-less switched careers as other things drew their attention. Young is remembered as having been nominated for an Academy Award 22 times (an all-time record) and never actually winning – in any case, not while he was alive. He began violin studies with Isidor Lotto (pupil of Joseph Lambert Massart and teacher of Bronislaw Huberman) at the Warsaw Conservatory at age 10 and later studied piano with Isidor Philipp (pupil of Camille Saint Saens) at the Paris Conservatory. Being highly gifted, at age 13, he made his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic. He toured Europe as a soloist for a while, but with the outbreak of World War One in 1914, his grandparents, who had been raising him since his arrival in Europe, sent him back to the U.S. Young then embarked on a career as an orchestral violinist with popular and classical orchestras, often serving as concertmaster or conductor in theatre and radio orchestras, all the while teaching himself the art of arranging popular music. He was barely 16 years old. These activities were mostly centered in Chicago. He played in the Isham Jones and Ted Fiorito orchestras during this time - other members of the Jones orchestra were Woody Herman and Benny Goodman, both of whom would become more famous than Young. He participated in early recordings with Bing Crosby and radio programs with Betty Grable too. In New York, where he moved in 1931, Young recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Al Jolson, and Lee Wiley (his girlfriend), among many others. In 1933, he started writing music for films, his first one being Murder at the Vanities (a rather obscure but notorious film. Some sources say his first movie score was Wells Fargo – a film about the stage coach company, not the bank.) In 1934, Young signed a contract with Decca Records and stayed with them for the rest of his life. In 1936, he moved to Hollywood, initially writing music for Paramount Pictures and leading the orchestra at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. In Hollywood, he eventually wrote soundtracks for movies and television and recorded with many legendary stars, Judy Garland among them. His scores include Golden Boy, Around the World in Eighty Days, Shane, Samson and Delilah, Scaramouche, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is known that Young was a workaholic. In fact, he died while working on a movie score (China Gate), on November 10, 1956, at age 57. By then, he had worked on over 350 movies and had spent almost 90 percent of his professional life in the popular music sphere. It had been a long way from the Warsaw Philharmonic to the Hollywood sound studios. Brandeis University (Boston) has a collection containing more than one hundred scores and recordings of Young's music. About Victor Young, Henry Mancini has been quoted as saying “All he had to do was sit down at the piano and the melodies fell out of his sleeves.”

Fabio Biondi

2011-04-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Fabio Biondi is an Italian (Sicilian) violinist and conductor born (in Palermo) on March 15, 1961 (Heifetz was 60 years old and would live another 26 years.) He is known for leading the Italian baroque ensemble which he founded (in 1989 – some sources say 1990), Europa Galante, one of the many original (authentic or period) instrument groups in Europe, with which he has toured the world. Biondi is to Europa Galante what Simon Standage is to the English Concert except much more. (Biondi has in fact recently conducted the English Concert ensemble.) He began violin lessons at age five with Salvatore Cicero (concertmaster of the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra) in Palermo. He made his public debut with the well-known Italian Radio Symphony (RAI) at age 12. Interestingly, and perhaps foretelling the huge celebrity he would later attain, on this occasion, Biondi played Vivaldi's Concerto number 9 out of his Opus 8. (Vivaldi's Opus 8 also contains the Four Seasons, the best known baroque work for violin - they are the first four concertos in the set of 12 concertos in Opus 8.) Later on, he studied at the Conservatory of Rome with Mauro Lo Guercio (pupil of Salvatore Accardo and violinist with the Trio Modigliani), where he won a first prize in violin in 1981. He was 20 years old; however, by age 16, he had already played a recital comprised of Bach violin concertos at the Musikverein (concert hall) in Vienna. After that, he decided to concentrate on authentic baroque performance practice and subsequently played with a number of chamber music ensembles for a number of years, including the Musicians of the Louvre (Les Musiciens du Louvre), Seminario Musicale, and Vienna’s Musica Antiqua. (Sergiu Luca was one of the first to delve into this area of performance but never became a specialist.) In addition to the music of the typical baroque composers - Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Corelli, Locatelli, Scarlatti, and Tartini – Biondi has also recorded the works of Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann. However, Biondi still performs as a soloist with other orchestras and ensembles, including the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Norway. It has been said of him that he “pursues style, free from dogmatism, in a quest for the original language.” There are many videos of his on YouTube. The one I have linked here is not Vivaldi or Corelli but it displays his fluid virtuosity quite well. He plays a Gofredo Cappa violin (1690), a Carlo Gagliano (1766), and an Andrea Guarneri (1686.) In 2005 Biondi was appointed artistic director for baroque music of the Stavenger Symphony (Norway.)

Alison Whalen's mystery

2011-04-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Alison Whalen, violinist, cellist, and painter, recently sent me this story and I am very pleased to pass it along (almost) verbatim. The violin shown here is the subject of this fascinating mystery.

“I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, but I've been living in California for the last three decades. Several years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and I moved back to Buffalo for four months to be with him during his last days. One Sunday morning after his hospice nurse arrived, I decided to take the morning off, and headed over to my favorite old haunt, the local flea market. While en route, I suddenly remembered a dealer there from whom I used to buy wonderful paintings many years ago, and I decided to look for him on the off chance that he might still be doing business at that flea market. Amazingly, I found him, still in the same location, and I saw that he had three violins in his booth. The first two were nothing special, but when I opened the lid of the third case, I found an instrument with a beautifully timeworn patina. Even though the inner label was long gone, I got that special little zingy chill that told me I'd found a treasure. Her tailpiece was inlaid with a mother-of-pearl bird on a branch, and when I turned her over, I was surprised to see my initials - A.W. - carved into her back. I took the bow to her, and the tone that emerged was dark and rich like melted chocolate. After awakening from a long hibernation, she had quite a bit to say, and I fell instantly in love with her.

After a bit of half-hearted haggling, I wrote a check and took her home, excited to show my dad what I'd found. We were sitting on the couch, and as I passed the violin to him, I noticed more carving along the reverse upper bout that I hadn't previously seen. Closer examination revealed the name 'A. Whalen.' My first initial and my last name!

Some folks may write this off as mere coincidence, but as a firm believer in the threads that guide us through our destiny, I know better. 2500 miles from my home, this violin was waiting for me. A whim directed me to a favorite flea market where I searched for and found a dealer whom I hadn't seen in 10 years, and he just happened to have a violin bearing carvings of my initials and my name. This connection was meant to happen. This violin perfectly suits my playing style. The minor keys reveal her soul, and it's as though she's always a hair ahead of me, somehow intuitively knowing exactly what I'm trying to express, no matter what I'm playing. I call her my gypsy girl, my serendipity. She may not be worth a fortune at auction, but to me, she's priceless. By the way, my dad was a professional magician. He used to tell me that I had magic in my DNA, and that my life would be filled with unusual occurrences with no logical explanation. I'm glad that he and I had the chance to share this special one. He passed away two weeks later. “

Hyman Bress

2011-04-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hyman Bress was a Canadian violinist born (in Cape Town, South Africa) on June 30, 1931 (Heifetz was 30 years old.) He is known for having recorded the violin concertos of Joseph Joachim and Ernest Bloch, probably the first to do so, among many other obscure works. He was also the first violinist of the Montreal String Quartet in its third incarnation in 1955. It was composed of Hyman Bress, Mildred Goodman, Otto Joachim, and Walter Joachim (cellist and brother of Otto Joachim, violist.) In fact, on May 21, 1956, the quartet played the premiere of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s string quartet (Gould’s Opus 1), a work that has kindly been described as being serious and pensive. Bress later recorded a series of five records for Folkways Records entitled The Violin. (Folkways is a special project of the Smithsonian Institution.) The series covered material from the Baroque to the Twentieth Century (1960s) and included one of his own electronic compositions – the Fantasy for Violin, Piano, and electric tape. (One of the pieces recorded in this series is the Sarasate Zapateado played at the fastest tempo I have ever heard.) He first studied with his father and gave his first public performance in Cape Town (South Africa) at age nine with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra. After that debut, he performed throughout South Africa for a time. In 1946, at age 15, he began studying with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute (Philadelphia) and continued with Galamian until 1951. In 1951, he moved to Canada and established himself in Montreal, giving recitals and playing in radio as well (mostly for the CBC.) He performed regularly there, in the U.S., and in Europe, eventually founding the Montreal String Quartet in Canada with the Joachim brothers. He became concertmaster, at age 27, of the Montreal Symphony for one season (1958-59) then continued his concertizing career as a soloist, often with major orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Symphony. (Bress was never a guest artist with the New York Philharmonic.) He also continued playing with the quartet (until 1963.) A Canadian newspaper reported that in 1966, Bress became the first Canadian violinist to tour Russia, though it seems unlikely. In 1973 he toured the Far East. He settled in Europe for a time but returned to Canada in the 1980s. By this time, he was no longer playing, being prevented by what has been called mental illness. He was 55 years old. Bress premiered several works which are no longer heard and will most likely not be heard again for some time, including Violet Archer’s violin concerto, Udo Kasemets’ concerto, and Kelsey Jones’ Introduction and Fugue. In New York, he presented his Fantasy in 1962 (or thereabout) while the score of the piece was being shown on a large screen as it was being played – one of the first instances of a multi-media concert presentation. YouTube has a sound recording of his – the Tchaikovsky concerto – which you can listen to by pressing here. His recordings are not hard to find on the internet. Hyman Bress died on October 30, 1995, in Montreal, largely forgotten, at age 64.

Tigran Vardanyan

2011-03-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

Tigran Vardanyan is an Armenian violinist and teacher born on July 4, 1977 (Heifetz was 76 years old and had already retired.) He is best known as one of the violinists in the first violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic (U.S.A) and exemplifies the type of highly gifted players (about whom I have been writing lately) who occupy some of the top positions in the best orchestras in the world. Vardanyan is also one of only two Armenian violinists I have on this blog – the famous violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian is the other one. He began his violin studies with his father, a professional violist, at the age of six. Later he attended the Sayat Nova School of Music and the Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School, studying with Professors Levon Zorian and Villy Mokazian. While still very young (age 13), he made his debut with the Armenian Television and Radio Orchestra playing the Mendelssohn concerto. Two years later, he performed the Bruch g minor concerto with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Vardanyan also appeared as soloist with the Armenian Chamber Orchestra during this time. In 1994, Vardanyan came to the U.S. to study with Abram Shtern, at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. Since 1995, he has regularly performed throughout Mexico, and has also presented numerous recitals in that country. In 1996 Vardanyan moved to Rochester (New York) to study with Zvi Zeitlin (a pupil of Ivan Galamian and Louis Persinger) and Oleh Krysa (a pupil of David Oistrakh) at the Eastman School of Music. (Zeitlin is one of the oldest living violinists who is - like Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel, Abram Shtern, Albert Markov, David Nadien, and Ivry Gitlis - still actively teaching) In 1998 (at age 21), Vardanyan won an audition for a vacancy in the Rochester Philharmonic and has been with the orchestra ever since. The year he graduated from Eastman, he made his professional U.S. debut with the Rochester Philharmonic playing the Sibelius concerto - December 30, 2000 (Christopher Seaman conducting.) Vardanyan is a winner of several competitions: First Prizes in the 1991 and 1993 Armenian National Competitions, and the Gold Medal in the 1992 Amadeus Competition for Young Artists, and has received awards from the Leni Fe Bland Foundation, the Maurice Sklar Music Scholarship, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Encourage Award), and the Starling Foundation at the Eastman School of Music. He continues to perform as a soloist and chamber musician at many music festivals and concert venues in the Middle East, Europe, Central America, and North America. He also teaches at the Hochstein School and Nazareth College in Rochester. His repertoire includes all of the standard concertos (and some that are not so standard – Szymanowski, Glazunov, and Khachaturian.) His particular affinity however is for the small vignettes in the violin repertory, showcased in his recital programs; in fact, his future plans include recording many of these miniatures. He is unusual in that he plays a modern violin (1984) constructed by Ukrainian violin maker, Stefan Melnik (Stefan Melnyk), whose instruments have been very highly praised.

Isolde Menges

2011-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

Isolde Menges (Isolde Marie Menges) was an English violinist born on May16, 1893 (Igor Stravinsky was 11 years old but Fritz Kreisler was already 18 years old.) She is known for having a major prize named after her at the Royal College of Music (RCM-England.) Menges was said to possess a very legato and fine tone and her playing was described as being soulful and exuberant. She began her violin studies with her father. She later studied for three years in Russia (St Petersburg) with Leopold Auer, although she was never known as one of his famous pupils. She also studied with Carl Flesch – she was not one of his famous pupils either. She began her concertizing career at an early age, as do most violinists, while still a very young student. For her formal London debut in February of 1913, she played both the Tchaikovsky concerto and the Symphonie Espagnol by Eduard Lalo, something that no concert violinist today would dare do (for a debut.) She was 19 years old. (A few violinists – Raymond Cohen and Yehudi Menuhin, for instance - have played three concertos in one evening, but not two in a debut performance.) Two weeks later, she played the Beethoven and the Wieniawski concertos at another concert. Soon thereafter, she again played two concertos in a single program - the Brahms and the Glazunov concertos. Her interpretations were highly praised and she was compared to Marie Hall. In 1918, she spent several months teaching in Canada. Menges was entrusted with presenting the English premiere of Ernst Von Dohnanyi’s first violin concerto (opus 27 - 1915) in 1923. She also toured the U.S. Three famous conductors with whom she worked early on were Willem Mengelberg, Bruno Walter, and Ernest Bloch. In September 1931, she was appointed violin and chamber music teacher at the Royal College of Music in England. She was 38 years old. Coincidentally, she also founded the Isolde Menges Quartet in that same year. The quartet was somewhat unusual for the time in that it brought together female and male players – Isolde Menges, Beatrice Carelle, John Dyer (viola), and Ivor James (cello.) Menges also played and gave many concerts with a Quintet. In 1938, her Quartet was one of the first to present the entire cycle of Beethoven Quartets in London. Menges retired from the Royal College of Music in 1971. She was 78 years old. Her pupils include Leonard Salzedo, Norma Varga, Isobel Murray, and Malinee Peris. The only YouTube performance of hers is here – Bach’s Air on the G String. Interestingly, her brother, (conductor-composer) Herbert Menges, conducted the recordings by Joseph Szigeti, of the Brahms and the first violin concerto of Prokofiev. Isolde Menges died on January 13, 1976, at age 83. She is now completely forgotten, although there is a fan page on Facebook.

Leonora Jackson

2011-03-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Leonora Jackson (Leonora Jackson McKim) was an American violinist born (in Boston, USA) on February 20, 1879 (Brahms was about 46 years old.) One source gives the year of her birth as 1880. She concertized at a time when female concert violinists were a rarity. Although she lived a long life, she is almost completely forgotten today. As did many artists before her, she received financial support from a benevolent patron to enable her to study in well-known conservatories. In her case, the patron was none other than Frances Cleveland, wife of U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908.) Another of her well-known patrons was George Vanderbilt. The schools she attended were in Chicago, Paris, and Berlin. I have no idea who she studied with in Chicago but I do know she won the well-regarded Mendelssohn Stipendium (Mendelssohn Scholarship) in October of 1897, the first American to do so. The award consisted of about $90,000 in today’s dollars and was intended to assist foreign students to attend the Leipzig Conservatory. For obvious reasons, it was discontinued in 1934 but later re-established. Subsequent winners of this prize have included Ernst Toch, Kurt Weill, Max Rostal, and Roman Totenberg (Nina’s father.) In Berlin, she studied with Joseph Joachim. Her debut is said to have taken place in 1896. Jackson often played for European royalty and was also decorated by Queen Victoria of England. She performed with the top orchestras of Europe and the U.S., including those of Boston and London. Her career was so successful that in the 1900-1901 season, she played over 160 concerts in the U.S. alone. Nonetheless, on February 22, 1900, she played the Mendelssohn concerto in New York (with the Boston Symphony) and received a very unfavorable review. Her retirement came in 1915, at age 36, after her marriage to William McKim (1855-1935.) As far as I know, she never recorded anything; however, a well-known Stradivarius violin (1714) bears her name and is now owned by William Sloan of Los Angeles. She sold it four years after her marriage. The violin had been previously owned by Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim - one of her teachers. Leonora Jackson died on January 7, 1969, at age 89, in complete obscurity.

Regina Carter

2011-03-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Regina Carter is an American violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Detroit, Michigan - U.S.A.) on August 6, 1966 (Heifetz was 65 years old.) (One source gives her year of birth as 1963.) She is one of very few women jazz violinists in the world and is known for having received a MacArthur grant in September, 2006 – just as did Leila Josefowicz in 2008. She is also just one of two jazz violinists on this blog – the other is Stephane Grappelli. Carter began her violin studies at the age of four. She attended Cass Technical High School until graduation, playing with the Detroit Civic Orchestra while studying there. She then studied at the New England Conservatory (Boston) but ended up returning to Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan, on the northern outskirts of the city of Detroit), graduating from that school. After graduation, she taught in the Detroit Public Schools for one year. Carter then spent two years in Germany (1985-1987), immersing herself in the world of the jazz clubs there. Although she had already been dabbling in jazz music performance, her serious entry into that sphere took place in 1987. She played with the all-female jazz group Straight Ahead, with which she did some recording, until 1994. In 2001, she played a concert in Genoa, Italy. She performed that concert playing Paganini’s famous Cannone violin (Guarneri – 1743.) Camillo Sivori (Paganini’s pupil), Bronislaw Huberman, Ruggiero Ricci, Leonid Kogan, Eugene Fodor, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Salvatore Accardo, have also been accorded that privilege. As far as I know, she is the first jazz musician, the first female, and the first black violinist to do so. She also later recorded a CD using this violin. Coincidentally, until about 2002, the critics had largely ignored her career as a soloist and recording artist. Carter has also performed with the String Trio of New York and the Black Rock Coalition. She is the composer of How Ruth Felt, written for Ruth Felt, President of an arts organization (San Francisco Performances) in San Francisco (California, U.S.) for which Carter was Artist-in-Residence for some time. There are several videos of her performances on YouTube (one of which you can listen to here) and many albums available on the internet through Verve Records. Her violin is a 1747 Storioni.

Abram Shtern

2011-03-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Abram Shtern is a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist and teacher born March 19, 1919 (Heifetz was 18 years old.) He is one of the oldest violinists still playing or teaching – Ida Haendel, Zvi Zeitlin, Ruggiero Ricci, and Ivry Gitlis are four others. He is known as a violin pedagogue in the tradition of Leopold Auer. He studied violin with David Berthier (aka David Bertie, a violinist about whom almost nothing is known), one of Auer’s pupils. All I know about Berthier is that he taught at Kiev’s Central School and taught Julian Sitkovetsky there as well. After graduating from the Kiev State Conservatory, Shtern became an assistant to Berthier and was concertmaster (soloist, leader) of the Kiev Philharmonic. He concertized in Eastern Europe and Cuba for many years. He was later granted a professorship at the conservatory. He held the position of concertmaster of the Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Orchestra from 1947 to 1989, immigrating with his family to the United States, in 1990. He was 71 years old. That means that he (more than likely) took part in Alexei Gorokhov’s recordings of the six Paganini violin concertos. It is a very small world indeed. (When Heifetz was engaged to play violin solos for a movie soundtrack, he ran into Toscha Seidel, a former fellow student and recital partner from childhood – Seidel was concertmaster of the studio orchestra.) During his 42-year tenure with the Shevchenko Orchestra, Shtern also appeared frequently as soloist and chamber musician. He has held master classes in Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, the United States, Yugoslavia, and the Russian Federation. Many of his students hold positions in the world’s top orchestras, too numerous to mention. Shtern is little known outside professional music circles (where his reputation is held in high esteem), but his name is mentioned in several books on the lives of violinists. One of those books is Henry Roth’s book, Violin Virtuosos, and another is Yakov Soroker’s similar book. You can hear one of Shtern’s performances on YouTube by pressing here. It is the famous violin solo from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet score.

Julian Sitkovetsky

2011-03-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Julian Sitkovetsky (Yulian Sitkovetsky) was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist born (in Kiev) on November 7, 1925 (Heifetz was 24 years old and already living in the U.S. Leonid Kogan was a one-year-old child.) He is remembered mostly for having lived a very short life and for being the father of Dmitry Sitkovetsky, violinist and conductor, and the husband of pianist Bella Davidovich. He was a prodigy, starting violin lessons at age 4 with his father, then continuing with David Bertie at the Central School in Kiev (Ukraine.) At age nine, he played the Mendelssohn concerto with the Kiev Symphony. In 1939, at age 14, he enrolled in the class of Abram Yampolsky (teacher of Leonid Kogan and a well-known Russian pedagogue, though not as celebrated as Eduard Grach, Zakhar Bron, Leopold Auer, or Peter Stolyarsky) at the Moscow Central Music School. In 1947, in a three-way tie, he won first prize in the Prague Festival violin competition. The other two winners were Kogan and Igor Bezrodny. In 1952, he took second prize in the Wieniawski Competition – David Oistrakh took first. Again, in 1955, he came in second (to Berl Senofsky) in the Queen Elizabeth Competition. Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh (both of whom were judges in the competition) later said they thought he had been robbed of the first prize. Later, David Oistrakh himself was quoted (by Joseph Magil of American Record Guide) as saying that, had he lived, Sitkovetsky would have eclipsed both him and Kogan. Magil stated that “Sitkovetsky had a broad, firm, focused tone in all registers; flawless intonation; a rapid, even trill; a swift, perfectly controlled staccato; strong, immaculate harmonics; and an even, clear sautillé." He forgot to mention the natural, intuitive sense of rubato and phrasing for which fellow musicians admired him. CDs of his recordings (live and studio) are not hard to find on the internet. YouTube has several audio files of his playing, one of which you can listen to (this one is Paganini’s Le Streghe variations based on a melody [The Witches or Magic Sisters] by Franz Sussmayer, Mozart’s pupil, but arranged by Kreisler, who harmonizes it in his own way [as usual] featuring some very clearly articulated left hand pizzicatos – Bella Davidovich on piano.) Sitkovetsky played a Vincenzo Panormo violin (also known as Vincenzo Trusiano) for a long time. That violin is now being played by Julia Igonina, Russian concert violinist and first violinist of the New Russian Quartet. Toward the end of his life, Sitkovetsky played a Stradivarius, on loan from the USSR State Collection. He died (not unexpectedly) on February 23, 1958, at age 32.

Isidor Lotto

2011-03-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

Isidor Lotto (Izydor Lotto) was a Polish violinist, teacher, and composer born (in Warsaw) on December 22, 1840 (Paganini died that same year and Brahms was 7 years old.) Some sources give the year of his birth as 1844. Even though he lived a long life which covered some of the most outstanding events in classical music history and had a few prominent pupils in an important music school, details of his life remain obscure. Other than that his family was poor, little is known of his early life. His father may have been a street musician and little Isidor could well have played with him as he made the rounds of the Warsaw taverns. At age 12 (1852), he received financial backing from wealthy patrons that allowed him to study at the Paris Conservatoire. Upon arriving in Paris, he gave a concert at Herz Hall (Salle Herz.) His principal teachers at the Conservatory were Joseph Lambert Massart (pupil of Rodolphe Kreutzer and teacher of Eugene Ysaye, Henryk Wieniawski, and Fritz Kreisler as well), Napoleon Reber (teacher of Benjamin Goddard), and Ambroise Thomas. At graduation (1855), he made a very successful debut in Paris. He toured briefly in Germany and Poland after that then, in 1862, was appointed solo violinist and chamber virtuoso to the Grand Duke in Weimar (J.S. Bach lived and worked in Weimar for nine years, more than one hundred years before this.) Lotto was either 18 or 22 years old, depending on the actual year of his birth. He was also later appointed professor of violin at the Warsaw Conservatory (Warsaw Music Academy), all the while sporadically concertizing in Europe. Ten years later, in 1872, he was appointed professor at the Conservatory in Strasbourg (in northeastern France, on the border with Germany, now the official seat of the European Parliament); however, due to ill health, he was mostly unable to teach there and very soon afterward returned to Warsaw. (A usually reliable source (Grove's Dictionary, which is, of course, not infallibe) has it that Lotto taught at the Strasbourg Conservatory from 1873 to 1880.) He taught at the Warsaw Conservatory for many years - I don’t know how many - presumably until his death. Lotto was also concertmaster of the Warsaw Opera Orchestra during this time. His most famous pupils were Bronislaw Huberman, who probably only studied with him for three months (either in Paris or at the Warsaw Conservatory), prior to 1892, Richard Burgin (concertmaster of the Boston Symphony), Joseph Achron (violinist-composer), Victor Young (violinist-composer), and Henryk Heller (violinist-theorist.) A contemporary account of his playing declared that Lotto’s virtuosity rivaled Wieniawski’s, though, of course, his fame now does not even come close. It is indicative of how carelessly some records are passed down from one generation to the next that even Lotto's year of death is in question. According to Grove's Dictionary, Lotto died on July 13, 1927, though another very reliable source gives the year of his death as 1936 - the day itself is not in question. Depending on which dates one relies on, he was either 82, 87, 91, or 95 years old. The few pieces he composed for violin are now never played.

Bernard Chevalier

2011-03-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

Bernard Chevalier is an American violinist and teacher born on October 21, 1949 (Heifetz was 48 years old.) He typifies the violinist who, despite having the ability to perform as a soloist on any stage in the world, deliberately chooses to work with a group of colleagues like himself – a professional orchestra’s string section. In Chevalier’s case, it’s the San Francisco Symphony’s first violin section. Playing in a prestigious professional orchestra requires highly developed skills that soloists often do not attend to. After playing as a guest with many orchestras, Gil Shaham has often sat among the violin ranks (trying to look inconspicuous) to learn what it takes and to learn the orchestral repertoire, which is infinitely larger than the solo repertoire. Leonard Friedman used to do exactly the same thing. (Concert violinist Guila Bustabo tried playing in the string section of the Alabama Symphony but was unsuccessful due to her training as a soloist. She was also unable to read music well enough.) Chevalier’s first teacher was Isabel Stoval (Isaac Stern’s first teacher as well, many years earlier.) He was six years old. After Stoval came Carol Weston, pupil of Russian pedagogue Leopold Auer (the intended dedicatee of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto.) He later studied with Zaven Melikian, Ivan Galamian, Stuart Canin, Lazlo Varga, Andor Toth, Rolf Persinger, and Frank Houser, among others. His debut came at age 16 with the San Francisco Symphony playing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol. He later joined the San Francisco Symphony at the invitation of Seiji Ozawa (who would later lead the Boston Symphony as well.) As a violinist in one of the top orchestras in the U.S. (Gramophone listed it at number 13 in the world, right after the New York Philharmonic, which came in at 12), Chevalier has shared the stage with all of the world’s great artists, too numerous to list, and has also toured widely as soloist, chamber musician, and (needless to say) with the orchestra. Even prior to being engaged by the San Francisco Symphony, Chevalier was already embarked on his teaching career. His recordings include the Kreutzer book of 42 Etudes – the only recording of these works other than Steven Staryk’s - and the Caprices of Pierre Rode. The complete Beethoven Sonatas, the 24 Paganini Caprices, and the Bach Partitas for solo violin, are already among works on his upcoming recording schedule. Chevalier also has several videos on YouTube - including the very seldom recorded Scene De Ballet by De Beriot - which you can view here. Among his violins have been a Nicolas Lupot (1813 – purchased from Frank Passa, pupil of Sacconi), a Guarnerius (1728), and three violins by Anthony Lane, California Luthier (1999, 2006, and 2010.)

Eugene Fodor and Fate

2011-03-03T22:49:00.000-08:00

Eugene Fodor died young, at age sixty, on a Saturday in late February, 2011. Perhaps he wanted it this way – the end of what was to have been a great life, from beginning to end. Eugene Fodor was a great violinist who somehow lost control of himself and his career. You can read about it here among many other places. With his credentials, he could have gone anywhere and he did, but only for a time. Many doors were closed on him for reasons which are not completely understandable – was he black-listed, did his agents let him down, did he antagonize conductors or orchestra managers, did composers not want him playing their works, or was he just simply irresponsible and difficult and not able to cope with the pressures of concert life? Only those close to him know. Ever so slowly, though his playing remained brilliant, his engagements got less frequent and less sparkling. Margalit Fox, in her magnificent New York Times obituary, quotes Susan Davis (Fodor’s widow): “Last year, in despair over his career, he stopped playing the violin entirely. It was too painful for him. He felt like his career had been ripped from him, and he didn’t have the great venues to play in anymore. and it just crushed him.” Ripped from him by whom? Fate? The same Fate that brought Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bizet, Van Gogh, Franz Clement, Joseph Hassid, Guila Bustabo, Toscha Seidel, and Michael Rabin down? Mozart would have to be the prime example of someone whose unimaginable genius and earthly rewards were as far apart as could be, whose economic status did not come even a little close to matching what he gave the world. His must have been a frustration beyond imagining. It’s as if Fate says “this far and no farther.” Did Fodor have enemies? Why were the big, important orchestras not calling him? Only those closest to him know the answer. Fodor had drug and alcohol addiction problems on and off. Apparently, even close friends and family could not intervene for his benefit. Should they blame themselves for not doing more? Why? There have been other concert violinists with the same problems and they did not just give up. Their careers did not suffer. Henryk Szeryng comes to mind – it is common knowledge that he drank quite heavily, even right before concerts. It is rumored that Nigel Kennedy has had drug problems, too, and he seems to be doing just fine. Other concert artists have gone into decline, accepted it, and just moved on, playing music festivals far and wide, founding chamber orchestras, taking up conducting, taking up full-time teaching, starting private academies and so on. (They are too numerous to mention. It happens, even in the natural course of getting old.) For some reason, Fodor could not bring himself to do any of those things. Only those closest to him know why. According to some sources, he got ill last summer and seemingly, just decided to die.

Alexei Gorokhov

2011-03-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Alexei Gorokhov (Aleksey Nikolaevich Gorokhov) was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist and teacher born on February 11, 1927 (Heifetz was 26 years old.) He is remembered (if at all) for keeping a very low profile and staying out of (Russian) politics, somewhat as did Leonid Kogan and Boris Goldstein before him. Among those violinists who chose to stay in Russia, he was easily overshadowed by Kogan (1924-1982), David Oistrakh (1908-1974), Vladimir Spivakov, and Eduard Grach. Gorokhov was the first Russian violinist (and the second in the world – after Salvatore Accardo) to record all six of Paganini’s concertos. As a child and teenager, he studied at the Central Music School (1934-1944.) At the Moscow Conservatory he studied with Lev Tzeytlin (aka Lev Zeitlin – pupil of Leopold Auer) and graduated in 1949. Between 1949 and 1951 he entered several violin competitions but never received anything higher than a second prize. He further studied with Abram Yampolsky, completing that study in 1955. Besides being a concert violinist, he was also a musicologist. He consistently toured Russia and Europe. He moved to Ukraine in 1956 and in 1957, at age 30, he accepted a position as violin professor at the Kiev Conservatory (Ukraine – the music school from which pianist Vladimir Horowitz graduated) where he remained for 42 years, in fact, until the day he died. The Kiev Conservatory is now known as the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music of Ukraine. Gorokhov left a great number of live (radio) recordings produced through Ukrainian Radio equivalent to about 50 or 60 CDs, including the Bach solo violin Partitas, Paganini’s 24 Caprices, and the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky. An early studio recording of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol from 1952 (with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra and Kyrill Kondrashin) is not currently available, as far as I know. He was named Honored Artist Worker of Ukraine but, even then, remained rather obscure. When he was 70 years old, he performed all of Paganini’s concertos in the space of three days, using the original orchestrations he composed. His initial recording of these concertos (1973, with the Ukrainian National Opera Theatre Orchestra) was reissued in 2006 – Gorokhov uses his own cadenzas and he is billed as the conductor (though the conductor part may not be accurate.) You may see it for yourself here. An inexpensive recording of the six is available with what is said to be the Chamber Orchestra of the Shevchenko Opera Theater under the baton of Zakhary Kozharsky – I do not know if it is one and the same recording (it most likely is) but you can listen to this entire set of six here (Napster site.) Gorokhov died on February 3, 1999, at (almost) age 72.