Stanley Ritchie

Stanley Ritchie is an Australian violinist, author, conductor, and teacher born (in Yenda, New South Wales – about 350 miles west of Sydney, Australia) on April 21, 1935.  He is known for a successful career encompassing a wide range of musical activity.  He is, however, probably best known for his later involvement in Baroque music, being a specialist in period instrument performance.  In fact, he may well have been one of the first artists to teach (historically-informed) early music practice in America, if not the first.  Sergiu Luca also pioneered early music playing on baroque instruments in the mid-1970s and was the first to record the Bach unaccompanied violin works on a period instrument; however, he did not become as well-known in the field as later violinists did.  It is interesting to note that (in 1980) Austrian violinist Norbert Brainin became involved in a widespread movement in England and elsewhere to lower the tuning of “A” from 440 hz to 432 hz but without success.  This would have applied across the board, not just Baroque music.  I personally favor a lowering of the standard tuning.  The 440 tuning has made music sound a little too brittle and brilliant.  Nevertheless, I think we should keep modern strings – they simply last longer.  Ritchie began his violin studies at age 7 with someone whose name is unknown to me.  He enrolled at the Sydney Conservatory of Music as a young man and graduated in 1956.  He was 21 years old.  Two years after that, he went to Paris where he studied with Jean Fournier (pupil of George Enesco and brother of cellist Pierre Fournier.)  Ritchie finally came to the U.S. in 1959.  He was 24.years old.  In New York, he studied with Joseph Fuchs, Oscar Shumsky, and Samuel Kissel.  In 1963, he became concertmaster of the New York City Ballet.  After two years, he moved to the Metropolitan Opera where he served as Associate Concertmaster.  Raymond Gniewek was the concertmaster at the time.  From 1970 to 1973, Ritchie was a member of the New York Chamber Soloists.  He was appointed Assistant concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony and played in that orchestra from 1973 to 1975.  In 1975, he joined the Philadelphia String Quartet (University of Washington - Seattle, Washington) as first violinist.  Since 1970, he had developed an interest in early music performance as played on instruments fitted to original Baroque standards or specifications (if one can call them that), using Baroque bows as well.  Supposedly, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has said that period instrument players are “players who ordinarily wouldn't make it, who make silly accents with the bow, cannot produce a sound, and think they are making something profound."  If she in fact made that statement, she has since changed her opinion to a highly positive view.  Ritchie has been professor of violin at Indiana University since 1982 but has continued to concertize and teach far and wide.  He has recorded for various labels, including EMI, Decca, Dorian, Nonesuch, and Harmonia Mundi.  Opinions vary, of course, but my choices for the best authentic (period) instrument ensembles in the world are: the English Concert, the Academy of Ancient Music, Tafelmusik, Europa Galante, Il Giardino Armonico, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, and Les Musiciens du Louvre.  Ritchie’s recording of Vivaldi’s concerto in e minor (with the Academy of Ancient Music) is available on YouTube here.  Vivaldi wrote more than 200 violin concertos – eleven of them are in e minor.  This one is the second in Opus 11 - Opus 11 contains 5 violin concertos and number 2 is the one in e minor.  Whether it’s true or not, it has been widely reported that Igor Stravinsky (or Luigi Dallapiccola or Darius Milhaud) once said that Vivaldi - one of the most important Baroque composers - didn’t compose 600 concertos; “he composed one concerto six hundred times.”  Ritchie has played a Jacob Stainer violin of 1679 for some time.  I do not know if he is still playing it.  

Berl Senofsky

Berl Senofsky was a Russian violinist and teacher (most people would say American) born (in Philadelphia) on April 29, 1926 – one source gives his year of birth as 1925.  He was known for his strong, focused sound and his strong convictions, whether on music topics or otherwise.  He actually emerged from the ranks of orchestra players to become a concert violinist and teacher.  Joseph Fuchs did essentially the same thing, though he spent many more years in an orchestra than did Senofsky.  Senofsky began his violin studies at age 3, with his father, who himself had studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Mischa Elman.  At age 6 (1932) he began studying with Louis Persinger, who was teaching Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Isaac Stern, Hermilo Novelo, Guila Bustabo, Camilla Wicks, and many other violinists at about the same time.  According to one source, Senofsky also studied with Paul Stassevitch at the Mannes School of Music from age 9.  Persinger began teaching at Juilliard (New York) in 1930.  Senofsky may have been studying privately with Persinger since he did not enroll at Juilliard until age 12.  From then on, his teacher was Ivan Galamian.  Senofsky’s career was interrupted by World War II in 1944.  However, after his brief military service, he made his debut in New York in 1946.  He was 20 years old.  He had by then won the Walter Naumberg Award, one of the top prizes for violinists.  After further study with Galamian – an additional 4 years – he concertized for a short while.  He first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on July 11, 1950, playing the Brahms Double concerto.  The cellist on that occasion was Shirley Trepel.  Senofsky eventually took a position with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1951, as assistant concertmaster.  Joseph Gingold was the concertmaster at the time.  He was there until 1955.  In that year, he won the Queen Elizabeth competition in Belgium.  From that point on, he concertized far and wide, focusing his initial (and extensive) concert activities on Russia.  On January 15, 1959, he again played with the New York Philharmonic.  The concert was repeated four times and the work he played was the Brahms concerto.  With William Walton on the podium, Senofsky appeared with the same orchestra on August 8, 1963, playing the Walton concerto.  On July 28, 1973, he was for the last time featured with the New York Philharmonic, performing the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch.  He was 47 years old.  From 1965 until 1996, Senofsky had a teaching job at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.  He was also concertizing around the world during all that time.  Although he recorded for four (or five) different labels, Senofsky only recorded sporadically, but his recordings can still be easily found.  A YouTube audio file is here.  Among other violins, Senofsky played a 1771 Tomas Balestrieri violin which was later played by Ruggiero Ricci and a 1757 Carlo Landolfi later on.  He loved playing chamber music but I could not find any mention anywhere indicating he actually played chamber music in public.  A quote attributed to Senofsky goes something like this: "To me, music is a higher calling than just a profession or living. It is an effort in understanding something bigger than yourself--it is an effort at striving to be something bigger than you are. You can define religion that way too."  Senofsky died on June 21, 2002, at age 76.