Arkadi Futer (Arkadi Naumovitch Futer) was a
Russian violinist and teacher born (in Moscow) on September 6, 1932. He is known for his impressive recording of
Wieniawski’s first violin concerto in F sharp minor, but he is also known for
having spent a large part of his career in Spain. For some time, he was concertmaster of
Vladimir Spivakov’s Moscow Virtuosi, which was founded in 1979. I do not know if he was the initial
concertmaster – he probably was. The
Moscow Virtuosi later resided in Spain for nine years (1990-1999.) When the Moscow Virtuosi left Spain, Futer
stayed behind. He then became
concertmaster of the Oviedo Symphony Orchestra.
He was 67 years old. (Oviedo is
the small capital city of the principality of Asturias, located in northern Spain,
next to the Bay of Biscay.) Prior to his
association with the Moscow Virtuosi, Futer was concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic,
the Moscow Radio Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Film Industry of the
USSR. He was also a member of at least
two string quartets. Futer began his
studies at age 7 in Kiev, in the years of 1939 or 1940, I don’t know which. His first teacher was Nina Dulova. In 1943, he returned to Moscow with his
family. He was 11 years old. He entered the Tchaikovsky Conservatory at
age 18. Yuri Yankelevitch was one of his
teachers. He later graduated from the
conservatory with top honors. He was
named Artist of the Russian Republic in 1998.
Futer died (in Gijon, Asturias, Spain) on September 5, 2011, at (almost)
age 79. His granddaughter, Vera Futer,
is now a professor at the University of Oviedo.
Here is an audio file of Futer’s Wieniawski recording.
Edith Volckaert was a Belgian violinist born on August 27, 1949 (Heifetz was 48 years old.) Someone wrote a biography about her but I do not own it. Since there is precious little information about her on the web, I can only mention that she recorded several albums (works by Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bartok, Cesar Franck, and others) before her early death on July 2, 1992 (at age 42) and that she was the fifth prize winner in the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium violin competition in 1971. Volckaert also taught at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels until 1978. Her CDs can be easily found on the internet. She played a 1620 Maggini. That’s about it. On a different topic, I am guessing that great composers have always been pianists. It seems logical since the piano covers such a wide spectrum of notes all at once, obliging the player to think and see vertically, as if visualizing a score. Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev were pianists (or keyboardists.) Sibelius might be the only exception, if one considers him a great composer. There are many second (and third) tier composers who were violinists though: Vitali, Geminiani, Tartini, Molter, Vivaldi, Corelli, Paganini, Spohr, Rode, Viotti, Wieniawski, Enesco, Ernst, De Beriot, Sinding, Vieuxtemps, Bridge, Novacek, Sarasate, Kreisler, Elgar, Ysaye, and more.
Eugène Ysaÿe was a Belgian violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher born on July 16, 1858 (Brahms was 25 years old.) His first lessons were with his father but later on, he was largely self-taught until about age 12. After he entered the Conservatory at Liege at age 7, he was dismissed because he made little progress. As a teenager, he became a pupil of both Henryk Wieniawski and Henri Vieuxtemps. Having graduated from the same conservatory he had previously been kicked out of, he became concertmaster of a highly accomplished orchestra which was about to become (in 1882) the Berlin Philharmonic – Benjamin Bilse’s Band. Many famous musicians frequented the beer hall where this orchestra played – among them were Joseph Joachim, Franz Lizst, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein. At age 27, Ysaye made his Paris debut and thus began a highly successful concert career. The following year, he was appointed violin professor at the Conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Louis Persinger, Josef Gingold, Nathan Milstein, Alfred Dubois, Jascha Brodsky, Nikolai Sokoloff, and William Primrose were among his many students. In 1886, he founded the Ysaye String Quartet. Debussy, Saint Saenz, Chausson, and Franck were among composers who dedicated works to him. Ysaye was a busy concert artist. In fact, he turned down the conductor’s post at the New York Philharmonic when it was offered to him (1898) precisely because he was too busy. Understandably, Ysaye did not have too much time to compose though he wrote six sonatas for solo violin which are part of the standard repertoire, some chamber music, a few orchestral pieces, and an opera (Peter the Miner.) Carl Flesch, the Hungarian violin pedagogue was quoted as saying that Ysaye was the most outstanding and individual violinist that he had ever heard in his life. Ysaye was principal conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony for four years – 1918 to 1922 – and made a few recordings with that orchestra. It was during his tenure there that he met his second wife – he was 66 and she was 22 (Jeanette Dincin, a violinist.) Ysaye died in Brussels on May 12, 1931, at age 72.
Henryk Wieniawski (Henryk Helman) was a Polish violin virtuoso, composer, and teacher born on July 10, 1835 (Paganini was 53 years old and Joseph Joachim was 4 years old.) Among violinists, he is most famous for his Scherzo Tarantelle and his second violin concerto (d minor – 1862 – dedicated to Sarasate), which all violinists – without exception – have in their repertoire (it’s the one Heifetz played on his U.S. debut.) He began his violin studies at age 5 and at age 8 (1843 - some sources say age 9), Wieniawski entered the Paris Conservatoire. Upon graduation, he concertized all over Europe. By all accounts, he was an extremely busy artist, presenting hundreds of concerts every year. His first published composition was the Caprice Fantastique (1847.) From 1860 to 1872, Wieniawski lived and taught in St Petersburg. He toured the U.S from 1872 to 1874. In 1875, he lived and worked (in the Royal Conservatory) in Brussels, Belgium. Among his pupils is Spanish violinist Achille Rivarde. Wieniawski also composed, among many other works, Etudes (Caprices) for violin (dedicated to Ferdinand David), Caprices for 2 violins (1862), cadenzas for the Beethoven, Vieuxtemps (#5), and Mendelssohn (!!) violin concertos, and a third (unpublished) violin concerto in a minor (1878.) Few violinists – if any - have ever had their image engraved on a coin but he has (Poland - 1979.) No fewer than three Guarneri and two Stradivari violins still bear his name. He died in Moscow on March 31, 1880, at age 44.
