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.
Louis Persinger (Louis Humphreys Persinger) was an American violinist, teacher, and pianist born (in Rochester, Illinois) on February 11, 1887 (Brahms was 54 years old.) Some sources give the year of his birth as 1888. So fleeting was his fame as a virtuoso that Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Third Edition, 1953) has no mention of him. His concertizing career was short-lived. However, his name is now immortal thanks to several outstanding violinists he taught – Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Isaac Stern, Donald Erickson, Zvi Zeitlin, Guila Bustabo, Arnold Eidus, Camilla Wicks, Louise Behrend, Nannette Levi, Fredell Lack, Leonard Posner, Frances Magnes, Francis Chaplin, Sonya Monosoff, Roland Vamos, and Hermilo Novelo among them. In fact, he not only taught them, being an accomplished pianist (as were Fritz Kreisler and Arthur Grumiaux and now Julia Fischer and Arabella Steinbacher), he accompanied several of them on recitals and recordings. (Ricci, Erickson, Wicks, Zeitlin, and Lack are still with us and Zeitlin and Ricci are still actively teaching. I believe Camilla Wicks easily rivaled Heifetz, Ricci, Milstein, and Kogan. It is an artistic tragedy that she had to interrupt her career in order to raise her five children.) Persinger also taught Dorothy DeLay who then went on to become the teacher of some of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century. Some time during his childhood, Persinger moved to Colorado (USA.) With financial backing from a generous and wealthy patron (Winfield Scott Stratton, Colorado Springs gold mine owner) he started out on his career and eventually travelled to Europe (1909) where he studied with Hans Becker at the Leipzig Conservatory, later with Eugene Ysaye (presumably in Brussels, Belgium), and with Jacques Thibaud in France for two summers. He made his London debut on May 9, 1912 (at age 25) at Bechstein Hall (now Wigmore Hall) and received excellent reviews. The Titanic disaster had already occurred - April 15, 1912. On November 1 and 2, 1912, he played with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Stokowski on the podium. On November 9 of the same year he made his New York recital debut at the Aeolian Hall, the site of the world premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. It was a small hall, seating about 1100. His accompanist was pianist Samuel Chotzinoff, who would later accompany Jascha Heifetz and Efrem Zimbalist as well, become Director of Music at NBC (1936), become a music critic, and write Toscanini’s biography (1956.) Among the works Persinger played were a concerto by Pietro Nardini (an obscure work though Pinchas Zukerman has made a recording of it) and the Bruch g minor concerto. He also played six encores. The reviews were very favorable. More than a month later (December 22, 1912), he played Edouard Lalo’s violin concerto in f minor (Opus 20 – not the better-known Symphonie Espagnole, Opus 21) with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. Returning to Europe, he served as concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic (some sources say he played in the first violin section) and was also concertmaster of the Royal Opera Orchestra in Brussels, Belgium. In 1915, he accepted the post of concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. He was also named assistant conductor. He was 28 years old. He later became the Director of the Chamber Music Society of that city. It was in San Francisco that he had the good fortune to be sought out by Ricci, Menuhin, and Stern. In 1925, he moved to New York. In 1930, he was appointed professor at the Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard) to replace Leopold Auer. He taught at Juilliard until the day he died. Menuhin later said “I was, in some ways, the pupil of Persinger’s abandoned dreams.” Around the same time, Persinger was also on the violin faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Persinger played a Nicolas Lupot violin for some time although he also played a Stradivarius and a Guarnerius violin. YouTube has a recording of him playing the Capriccio Espagnol solos with the San Francisco Symphony and some with him playing piano for Menuhin. The only other recording by Persinger that I know of is the one with his son Rolf, the late principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony (1963-1976), featuring works by Hindemith and Handel. He was a chess player too, though not a very good one. David Oistrakh, among others, beat him at it. (Since I have beaten a computer at its top level, I know I would probably have been able to beat him, too. On the other hand, he was a much, much better violinist than I.) Persinger died in New York City on New Year’s Eve, 1966. He was 79 years old.
Camilla Wicks is a Norwegian (some would say American) violinist born on August 8, 1928 (Heifetz was 27 years old.) She is well-known for her exceptionally thoughtful and insightful interpretations, her inspired phrasing, and the extremely wide range of her repertoire. Most of her recordings are now collectors' items - her recordings of many rare Twentieth Century works (many of them Scandinavian) are significant, illuminating, and incandescent (some would say stunning.) She began her violin studies with her father at age 3. At age 7, she made her debut with orchestra in Long Beach, California, playing Mozart's D major concerto. She learned Bruch's g minor concerto at age 8 and the Paganini D major concerto at age 9. A year later, her family moved to New York where she began studying with Louis Persinger at Juilliard. With Persinger as her piano accompanist, she made her debut at New York's Town Hall in February of 1942. Two years later, she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the third concerto of Saint Saens. Her Carnegie Hall debut came in April of 1946 with the New York Philharmonic - she played the Sibelius concerto on that occasion - Artur Rodzinski, the notorious conductor, was on the podium. Wicks continued to concertize extensively in the U.S. and in Europe until about 1958. She then stopped playing altogether and even sold her "Duke of Cambridge" Stradivarius. After devoting much time to her five children, she returned to her career in 1966, though she only played sporadically. Among other schools, Wicks has taught at the University of Michigan, Rice University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She retired from teaching in 2005.
Guila Bustabo (Guila Adelina Theressina Bustabo) was an Italian-Bohemian violinist born on February 25, 1916 (Heifetz was 15 years old.) She is remembered (if at all) for a brilliant career which ended prematurely. Bustabo later said: "Menuhin got away from his parents. He was lucky. I never got away from mine." She was the daughter of a domineering (some would say abusive) mother. Bustabo was actually born in Wisconsin (which is in itself unusual.) She began lessons with her mother before she was three years old. By age five, she was studying with Leon Sametini (a pupil of Ysaye) in Chicago. She is said to have played in the Chicago Symphony and the Chicago Grand Opera Company although that is debatable given her age at the time. After Sametini procured a scholarship for her (from Juilliard), she went to New York to study with Louis Persinger. Other pupils who were studying with Persinger at the same time (including Yehudi Menuhin) would later remember noticing bruises on her little arms and head when she would arrive in the morning. On November 2, 1929, she played the first movement from Wieniawski's F sharp minor concerto (a very difficult work) at a children's concert of the New York Philharmonic. Bustabo again soloed with the New York Philharmonic on December 6, 1930, this time playing the first movement from Mozart's fifth violin concerto. She played Wieniawski’s d minor concerto in her New York, Carnegie Hall debut at age 15 (1931.) By 1934 she was touring Europe and even played the Sibelius concerto for Sibelius himself (by his invitation) in 1937. The old man was exceedingly impressed with her playing. Bustabo was, by then, also playing a Guarnerius violin which had been given to her as a gift by several admirers (including Toscanini.) Some sources say that Lady Ravensdale purchased the violin for her in 1934 after her London debut. Perhaps both versions are true. In 1938 and 1939 she appeared with the New York Philharmonic. Her last appearance with the philharmonic took place on January 10, 1948 - it was for a youth concert at Carnegie Hall. She was by then 31 years old. During the war years, Bustabo played almost exclusively in all the Nazi-occupied territories in Europe. After the war (1945), she was arrested by General Patton in France, though she was never charged. After that episode, word got around that she had been a Nazi sympathizer (if not a collaborator) and her solo career became somewhat inert, especially in the U.S. She was barely thirty years old. In 1949, she married an American military bandmaster (Edison Stieg.) It has been reported that violinist Yfrah Neaman heard her play in a recital at Wigmore Hall (London) in the late 1940s and “came away very disappointed.” With most of her engagements dried up, she took a teaching post in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1964. She ended up retiring in 1970 (at age 54) and settled in Birmingham, Alabama, with her mother. In Birmingham, she sat in the first violin section of the Alabama Symphony for five years, though she played like a soloist and could not sight read (please see comments below for a second opinion). She divorced her bandmaster husband in 1976 (or 1977 – accounts vary) and her mother (Blanche) finally died in 1992 (see comments below for a correction). Guila Bustabo herself died on April 27, 2002, in her two-room apartment in Birmingham, Alabama, at age 86. I do not know what became of her Guarnerius violin - one source says it was returned to its original owner. Bustabo’s recordings of the Bruch and Beethoven concertos with the Concertgebouw are still available. Bustabo's best known pupil is Judith Ingolfsson.
Ruggiero Ricci is an Italian (some would say American) violinist, writer, and teacher born (in San Bruno, California) on July 24, 1918 (Heifetz was 17 years old.) He is one of the last great living (legendary) violinists of the Heifetz era – Ivry Gitlis, and Ida Haendel being the other two. He was a child prodigy who first studied violin with his father. At age seven, Ricci studied with Louis Persinger (who also taught Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, and Zvi Zeitlin, among others.) Later on, Persinger was also his piano accompanist for many recitals and recordings. One of Ricci’s other teachers was Adolph Busch. His first public performance took place in San Francisco in 1928, at age 10, playing works by Wieniawski, Vieuxtemps, Mendelssohn, and Saint Saens. At age 11, he made his orchestral debut with the Mendelssohn concerto and later that same year gave his Carnegie Hall debut in New York which solidly established him as a virtuoso concert violinist. A quote from a review of the concert has become famous: "All that great violinists do, he did." As a teenager, he went to Berlin for further study. He toured Europe in 1932 (age 14) and continued his worldwide concertizing until 1942. During the Second World War, he played hundreds of concerts everywhere as an enlisted man (1942-1945.) His repertoire includes over 50 concertos, myriads of solo violin works, sonatas, and showpieces. There are several videos of his playing on YouTube, though some are sound-only uploads. One of them is here. His discography is enormous – over 500 recordings. In fact, he has recorded the complete Paganini Caprices no less than four times, the first one dating from 1947 (he was the first to do so) and the last one from 1988. On one of his interesting recordings he plays 16 different cadenzas for the Brahms concerto. Jascha Heifetz, Louis Kaufman, and Steven Staryk might rival him in the recording sphere - they also have enormous discographies. Ricci has taught at Juilliard, Indiana University, and at the Mozarteum (Austria), among other schools. His book on left hand technique is a classic. Ricci played his last concert in the U.S. in October, 2003, in Washington D.C., having already given over 5000 concerts during his 75-year career. In all those years, he played many violins - a 1731 Guarnerius, a 1734 Guarnerius, a 1771 Balestrieri, a 1780 Storioni, a 1714 Stradivarius, and a Vuillaume (with double purfling) from an undetermined year. (See comment below.) The 1714 Stradivarius has had at least 18 different owners but only 3 have been musicians. In 1995, Ricci commissioned a violin from modern luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz. The violin was a copy of the famous Plowden Guarnerius Del Gesu. It was sold in 2012 for about $65,000.
Isaac Stern was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist, teacher, and writer born on July 21, 1920 (Heifetz was 19 years old.) His family came to the U.S. when he was less than two years old; he thus received his entire training in the U.S. Other than as a touring virtuoso with a vibrant, robust sound, he is remembered for saving Carnegie Hall from demolition (1960), for his tours of China, and for a comprehensive discography (more than 100 recordings.) Having started music lessons with his mother, he enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory in 1928 (age 8). One of his first teachers in San Francisco was Robert Pollak, an Austrian violinist who had recently arrived in the U.S. In 1931 (age 11), he studied privately (in New York) with Louis Persinger, who also taught Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, and Zvi Zeitlin, among others. He returned to the San Francisco Conservatory to study with Naoum Blinder (a student of Adolph Brodsky) for five years. Blinder had taught at Juilliard (New York) between 1929 and 1931. Blinder was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony until 1957. Stern gave most of the credit for his training to Blinder. Stern made his public debut at the age of 15 (February 18, 1936) with the San Francisco Symphony. Some sources say he played Saint Saenz’ third concerto on this occasion and others say it was the Brahms concerto. Yet another source says he played the Bach Double concerto with his teacher (Blinder.) [His memoirs probably mentions something about this but I haven't read the book and I have no intention of reading it.] The following year, he made his New York Town Hall debut, which did not go well. He returned in 1943 to debut at Carnegie Hall, after which his career took off. Stern soloed with the New York Philharmonic for the first time in 1944. His European debut came in 1948 and his Russian debut in 1956. So influential did he become, that it has long been rumored that he could make or break any classical musician’s career. He was married three times and had 3 children from his second wife. Stern owned several fine violins, including the Ysaye Guarnerius Del Gesu (1740) which he sold three years before he died. He died on September 22, 2001, at age 81.
Yehudi Menuhin, was a Russian violinist and conductor born on April 22, 1916 (Heifetz was 15 years old.) He began his career as a child prodigy, having started on the violin at age 3. His teachers were Sigmund Anker, Louis Persinger, Eugene Ysaye, Adolf Busch, and Georges Enesco, among others. He made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in 1923 – at age 7. It is after a concert of his in 1929 that Einstein made the comment after hearing him play "Now I know that there is a God!" All I know is that he played the Paganini Moto Perpetuo faster than anyone else I’ve heard. He was one of four concert violinists to play three concerti in one concert (1929 - Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.) Raymond Cohen, Szymon Goldberg, and Henryk Szeryng were the other three. He was also the first Jewish musician to play in Germany after the Holocaust (1947.) His recording contract with EMI set a record for longevity (70 years.) Menuhin played the Prince Khevenhuller Stradivarius (1733), among other fine violins. In the midst of his career he developed arm problems for which he consulted Theodore Pashkus and his wife (Alice), well-known violin pedagogues at the time. He died on March 12, 1999, at age 82.
Zvi Zeitlin is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Dubrovna, Belarus) on February 21, 1923. Zeitlin is known for his robust and clean sound. He first studied with his father but from age 11, he studied at the Juilliard School (New York) with Sascha Jacobsen, Ivan Galamian, and Louis Persinger - at the time, he was the youngest scholarship recipient ever admitted to Juilliard. Sarah Chang now holds that distinct honor. He later studied in Jerusalem (Hebrew University) where he made his debut in 1940. He was 17 years old. Louis Persinger and Ivan Galamian are famous for having taught some of the world's leading violinists - Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Michael Rabin, Eugene Fodor, Pinchas Zukerman, and Itzhak Perlman are among them. Zeitlin's U.S. debut was made in New York's Town Hall in 1951. He first played with the New York Philharmonic, with which he appeared numerous times, on February 2, 1961. He chose the Stravinsky concerto on that occasion. Also in 1961, Zeitlin made his London debut. Since the early 1950s, Zeitlin has concertized extensively throughout the world. He played world premieres of concertos by Gunther Schuller, Paul Ben-Haim, and Carlos Surinach. As far as I know, he is still on the faculty of the Eastman School where he first began teaching in 1967. From 1976 to 1982 he played with the Eastman (Piano) Trio, of which he was a founding member. He plays a 1734 Guarnerius del Gesu violin, although he owns and plays other violins. Zeitlin has recorded extensively for various labels and his CDs are quite easy to find on the internet. His recording of the Schoenberg violin concerto can be found here. Although he did not record this concerto with the New York Philharmonic, he played it with that orchestra on January 5, 1967. There are a few videos of his playing on YouTube as well. You can listen to one here.
P.S. Zvi Zeitlin died on May 2, 2012, at age 89. He gave a farewell recital in February of 2012, intending to retire in the summer of 2012. Only Roman Totenberg, Ivry Gitlis, and Joseph Zigeti have played recitals at that age.
