Zino Francescatti

Zino Francescatti (René-Charles Francescatti) was a French violinist born on August 9, 1902 (Heifetz was born in 1901.) Both of his parents were violinists - his father had even been a pupil of Camillo Sivori, a pupil of Nicolo Paganini. Francescatti began to study violin at age 3 and made his public debut with Beethoven’s violin concerto at age 10. As far as I know, his father was his only teacher (such was the case with Alexander Markov and Daniel Barenboim as well.) Prior to 1927, Francescatti briefly undertook a career in Law but gave that up when his father died, leaving the family in a precarious financial situation. Before transitioning into a successful solo career, he taught at the National School of Music in Paris (where other teachers included Alfred Cortot, Pablo Casals, Paul Dukas, Arthur Honneger, and Nadia Boulanger.) He also played in the Concerts Poulets Orchestra as assistant concertmaster. He did not make his first world tour until 1931. His U.S. debut took place in New York in 1939. On that occasion, he played Paganini’s first concerto, for which he later became well-regarded. From then on (except for the War years), he concertized and recorded until his retirement in 1976. He was also known as a great humanitarian. His sound was not thin and focused but rather ample and broad and warm (especially well-suited for the Romantic repertoire) and his technique was magnificent. All of his recordings – among which are all the Beethoven Sonatas - are highly regarded. Several videos of Francescatti at work are posted on YouTube. One of the violins he owned was the Hart Stradivarius of 1727, now owned by Salvatore Accardo. Francescatti died on September 17, 1991, at age 89. His most famous pupils are probably Gerard Poulet and Tedi Papavrami. 

Adolf Busch

Adolf Busch (Adolf Georg Wilhelm Busch) was a German violinist, composer, and teacher born on August 8, 1891 (Stravinsky was 9 years old.) He began violin lessons at age 3 and studied – from age 11 - with Willy Hess at the Cologne Conservatory. Busch also studied composition with his future father-in-law (Hugo Gruters) in Bonn, where he used to sit in on the Joachim Quartet’s rehearsals. In 1912, Busch founded his first quartet, which floundered when the First World War overtook it. After the war, in 1918, he founded the famous Busch Quartet, which played almost continuously until 1951. Apart from this, Busch is remembered for having been one of Yehudi Menuhin’s teachers, though he also taught Erica Morini, among others. In 1927, he moved to Switzerland and from there, in 1939, he moved to Vermont. In the middle of all this, the Busch Quartet had become the core of the Busch Chamber Players, another group Busch founded, and the forerunner of today’s ubiquitous chamber orchestras. In Vermont, he eventually founded (with his son-in-law, Rudolf Serkin, and Marcel Moyse) the Marlboro Music School and Marlboro Music Festival (1951.) During his career, Busch kept concertizing as a soloist, solidifying his reputation as a great Beethoven and Brahms interpreter. Rudolf Serkin often served as his recital accompanist. Though Busch recorded extensively with the quartet, few studio recordings exist of him as a solo player. Live recordings of his performances can be found on YouTube – sound only. It is said that Max Reger (whom he knew since 1907) greatly influenced his composition style. Among his many compositions are a violin concerto, a Quintet for saxophone and string quartet, and a Concerto for Orchestra (1929, fourteen years before Bela Bartok wrote his concerto for orchestra in 1943.)  Adolf Busch died on June 9, 1952, at age 61.

Josef Suk

Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, and conductor born on August 8, 1929 (Heifetz was 28 years old and would live an additional 58.) He is descended from two highly distinguished musicians – his grandfather, the violinist-composer Josef Suk, and his great grandfather, Antonin Dvorak. In Czechoslovakia, he was given the title of National Artist. His concert appearances in the U.S. were few and far between. He is well-known for having favored chamber music over solo playing. At the Prague Conservatory, his teacher (up to 1950) was Jaroslav Kocian. He also studied at the Prague Academy. While still a student, he joined the Prague Quartet as first violinist. In 1951, he formed the Suk Trio with cellist Janos Starker and pianist Julius Katchen (some sources say it was cellist Josef Chuchro and pianist Jan Panenka because the trio was initially begun with these artists.) His solo debut in Prague took place in 1954 and was very successful. It has been said that his worldwide tour with the Czech Philharmonic in 1959 was especially memorable. Suk recorded extensively for various labels – EMI, Decca, Naxos, and Supraphon, among others. Suk won the Grand Prix Du Disque several times – for recordings of music by Claude Debussy, Leos Janacek, Alban Berg, and others. He was once asked why he did not compose like his grandfather and great-grandfather - he said the following: "To be a composer after Dvorak and after Suk, I would have to be sensational.  I don't have that sort of inspiration.  I tried, but it wasn't that good so I stayed with my fiddle."  He also founded the Suk Chamber Orchestra in 1974.  Suk retired in 2004, at age 74, but, like Heifetz, did play afterward now and then.  He even recorded in the year 2010.  He was 80 years old. Suk played a 1729 Stradivarius, a 1744 Guarnerius, and a 1758 Guadagnini. There are many videos of his playing on YouTube. Josef Suk died on July 6, 2011, at age 81.

Raymond Cohen

Raymond Cohen is an English violinist born on July 27, 1919 (Heifetz was 18 years old.) He first studied violin with his father in Manchester. At 15, he entered the Manchester College of Music where he studied (for four years) with Henry Holst, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. Soon thereafter, still aged 15, he joined the ranks of the famed Halle Orchestra, based in Manchester - the youngest member of England’s oldest orchestra (founded in 1858.) At age 18, he became concertmaster of the Blackpool Orchestra, a city less than fifty miles from Manchester. While still studying, he concertized extensively, playing the concertos of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Busoni, Sibelius, and others. In 1940, he played a historic concert with the Halle Orchestra – still only 19 years old – in which he played the Bach (E Major), the Mendelssohn, and the Brahms concertos in the same evening. Few violinists have ever attempted or accomplished such a feat, though Yehudi Menuhin was one who did. The Second World War interrupted Cohen’s fast rise but he re-emerged in 1945 by winning the Carl Flesch Violin Competition. Soon, he had a full schedule of concerts in Europe, having more than 40 concertos in his repertoire by then. However, he slowly gravitated toward concertmaster positions everywhere – English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Symphony, BBC, and Royal Philharmonic (1959, under Thomas Beecham.) He also started teaching at the Royal College of Music in London. In addition, he was very active in the chamber music arena. With his pianist wife (Anthya) and son Robert (a cellist), he eventually formed the Cohen Trio. He was the first to realize a videotaped performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He has also recorded the entire set of Beethoven Violin Sonatas for the Meridian label. Raymond Cohen teaches privately and is on a very short list of distinguished elder statesmen of the violin still working – with Zvi Zeitlin, Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel, and Ivry Gitlis.

Mark O'Connor

Mark O'Connor is an American violinist, born on August 5, 1961. He has been playing professionally since about 1974. Though he is primarily known as a (largely self-taught) fiddler crossover artist, he is heavily into composing what could pass as classical music heavily influenced by Jazz and Country Music idioms. His violin concertos have been especially successful with critics and audiences alike, though reviews of his works by sophisticated and high-powered critics are often diplomatically worded. In the style of Paganini, Spohr, Wieniawski, Enesco, Sarasate, Kreisler, and others, he plays and promotes his own music. O’Connor also frequently records with classical musicians as well as country music artists. Two such artists are cellist Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor. It could easily be said that he is one of the U.S.’s most successful composers, having written for practically every venue – the stage, television, and movies – and every format, from country songs to chamber music to concertos to large-scale symphonies. O’Connor could never be categorized as a classical violinist (playing Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc.) using other musical genres in his compositions (ala Copland), but neither could he be dismissed as having no influence (however slight) on the classical music landscape.

Guido Papini

Guido Papini was an Italian violinist born on August 1, 1847 (Brahms was 14 years old.) It is said that he studied alongside Leopold Auer, though that is highly questionable. He was initially a pupil of a teacher named Giorgetti and made his debut at the age of 13 playing Louis Spohr’s third Concerto. He is known for being one of the early editors of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin and for having owned the Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarnerius Del Gesu (1739.) He became the leader of the Quartet Society of the City of Florence, where he was born, as well as the Court Violinist to the Queen of Italy. Papini made his English debut in 1874 (at age 27), at the Musical Union and later at the Crystal Palace with the London Symphony Society. His Paris debut took place in 1876 at the Concerts de Pasdeloup and the Bordeaux Philharmonic Concerts. Thereafter, he regularly toured throughout Europe, making England his home. In 1893, he accepted the post of head of the violin department at the Dublin Conservatory. In 1896, he returned to London, where he dedicated a good deal of time to composing a large body of works (which are now never played) and taught at the Royal Academy in London. Papini died in London on October 3, 1912, at age 65.

Emil Mlynarski

Emil Szymon Młynarski was a Polish violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher. He was born on July 18, 1870 (Brahms was 37 years old.) He became Artur Rubinstein’s father-in-law when his daughter married Rubinstein in 1932 – her second marriage. Mlynarski was also one of Leopold Auer’s and Rimski-Korsakov’s not-so-well-known students. He was one of the founders, in 1901, of the Warsaw Philharmonic, which he conducted until 1905. From 1910 to 1916 he was principal conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (which became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950 and then the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 1991.) Among his compositions are a symphony and two violin concertos which are seldom heard. However, his second violin concerto has been recorded by English violinist Nigel Kennedy. Emil Młynarski died in Warsaw on April 5, 1935, at age 64, about four and a half years before the start of the Second World War.