Johan Svendsen

Johan Svendsen (Johan Severin Svendsen) was a Norwegian violinist, conductor, and composer, born on September 30, 1840 (Brahms was 7 years old.) He was very popular and successful in his day. Svendsen first studied with his father (what else is new?) and was working as an orchestral musician by the time he finished his secondary school education. At that time, he also undertook occasional tours as a violinist. A wealthy patron who heard him on one of these tours, financed further study for him at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1863 until 1867. There, he studied with the famous violinist Ferdinand David and the composer Reinecke. After turning his almost undivided attention to conducting, he worked in England, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Norway. Eventually, he was engaged as the Theatre conductor in Copenhagen, Denmark, on or about the year 1871. He was barely 31 years old. There he stayed until his death. His most famous composition (which is seldom heard nowadays) is his Romance for Violin from 1881. He was popular as a composer almost from the start, having achieved recognition with his very first composition - the string quartet from 1865. He composed three symphonies, a violin concerto, a ballet, and an assortment of chamber music. It is said that the original score to his third symphony was destroyed in a fire before having been published. It has therefore never been heard by anyone other than Svendsen. I have never heard anything of his aside from the Romance for Violin. Svendsen died on June 14, 1911, at age 70  (Richard Strauss was 47 years old, Igor Stravinsky was 29, and Jascha Heifetz was 10.) 

Leonard Salzedo

Leonard Salzedo was a Spanish (some would say English) violinist, conductor, and composer born (in London) on September 24, 1921 (Heifetz was 20 years old.) He is remembered for having led very successful dual careers as a violinist and composer; for his many ballet scores; and for his film score to the movie The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958.) Salzedo first studied at the Royal College of Music in London. While still a student, he won the Cobbett Prize for his First String Quartet and was commissioned to write his first ballet score (The Fugitive) for the Ballet Rambert (now the Rambert Dance Company, whose founder, Marie Rambert danced in the first performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.) This was the first of 17 ballet scores which he composed. Between 1946 and 1947, Salzedo wrote four ballets for the Ballet Negres dance company, of which he and his wife were members. From 1947 to 1950 he played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and then for sixteen years (1950-1966) in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. While in the Royal Philharmonic, he was also Thomas Beecham’s assistant – it was Beecham who premiered Salzedo’s First Symphony in 1952. His most successful ballet score, The Witch Boy, came in 1956. It has been performed all over the world and has enjoyed several revivals since its premiere. In 1964, Salzedo joined the London Soloists Ensemble - he toured Europe with them and recorded one of his works, Concerto Fervido with this ensemble as well. In 1967, Salzedo gave up playing altogether to become Musical Director of Ballet Rambert (until 1972.) After that, he was appointed principal conductor with the Scottish Ballet, and from 1982 until 1986 he was Music Director of London City Ballet, for whom he re-orchestrated classical ballet scores for smaller orchestra. After 1986, he devoted himself full-time to composition. In spite of his continuous activities as a performer, Salzedo was extremely prolific, writing more than 160 compositions, including 10 String Quartets, two symphonies, 17 ballets, and many other works. Many of these works have been recorded on various labels and are easily available. Salzedo died on May 6, 2000, at age 78.

Gioconda De Vito

Gioconda De Vito was an Italian violinist born on July 22, 1907 (Heifetz was 6 years old.) She began formal violin lessons with an uncle, who was a professional violinist, at the age of 8. Three years later, she entered the Pesaro Conservatory. She graduated two years after that and started her career as a soloist. By age 17, she was teaching at the Conservatory in Bari. At age 25, she won an international violin competition in Vienna. She was then hired (supposedly through the influence of Mussolini) to teach at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. Since the Second World War interrupted her solo career, her London debut, which was very successful, didn’t happen until 1948. She subsequently performed frequently in the major European venues, sometimes appearing with other important artists, including Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Rafael Kubelik, and Furtwangler. She also twice played for the Pope (Pius XII). De Vito was one of several famous female violinists of the early Twentieth Century who were quickly forgotten by the general public – Ginette Neveu and Janine Andrade were two others. In 1961, she retired from playing and virtually from the violin itself. She was then only 54 years old. Although she toured Europe and other countries (Australia, Russia, India, Israel), she never played in the U.S. A highly admired player, she was nevertheless, almost an anachronism during her career. Her repertoire was old fashioned and did not include the concertos of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Elgar, Bartok, Barber, Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Korngold, Glazunov, Berg, Walton, or Szymanowski. It is said that she was such a meticulous player, that she worked on the Brahms concerto for fifteen years before she played it in public. She married at age 42. Her discography is rather limited but includes the concertos and sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. De Vito died on October 24, 1994 at age 87, virtually forgotten.