Violin Greats!

Henryk Szeryng (1918 - 1988) was a violinist and pedagogue. As a young boy he was trained by his mother in piano but later decided turned to the violin. Szeryng went to Berlin to study under famed pedagogue Karl Flesch. He made his debut in Warsaw in 1933 performing the Beethoven violin concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. In the course of his career, he performed with the most famous orchestras and conductors across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
Wikipedia

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) was one of the most productive composers of the Baroque era, that is the period or dominant style of Western classical music from about 1600 to 1750. His vast output included substantial quantities of chamber and vocal music, some 46 operas and a remarkable 500 concertos.

The Violin Concerto in A minor by Vivaldi is part of a group of works entitled "L'Estro Armonico" (The Harmonic Inspiration) which was published as Antonio Vivaldi\'s Op. 3 in Amsterdam in 1711.

Kyung Wha Chung, born in 1948, is a famous South Korean violinist. She began studying the violin at age 4 and became recognized as a child prodigy. At age 9 she made her debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto! In 1967, Kyung Wha Chung and Pinchas Zukerman were the joint winners of the Edgar Leventritt Competition, the first time for such an outcome in the history of the competition. This prize led to several engagements in several orchestras in North America, including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony. A prolific recording artist, her dazzling and probing artistry has made her a much-acclaimed performer throughout her forty-year career.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 - 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

The Violin Concerto in A minor by Johann Sebastian Bach shows the influence of Italian composers such as Bach's older contemporary Vivaldi. It is unclear when or where it was written, but likely between 1717-23.

Yehudi Menuhin, (22 April 1916 - 12 March 1999) was an American-born violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the great violinists of the 20th century.

David Oistrakh, ( b. Odessa, Sept. 30, 1908; d. Amsterdam, Oct. 24, 1974) was a giant among 20th-century musicians, a violinist whose calm, unruffled demeanor belied both his genius as a performer and the particular circumstances of his life and career as a Soviet artist. With his warm, powerful tone and the contained virtuosity of his playing, he represented a peak of the Russian violin. school

David Oistrakh, ( b. Odessa, Sept. 30, 1908; d. Amsterdam, Oct. 24, 1974) was a giant among 20th-century musicians, a violinist whose calm, unruffled demeanor belied both his genius as a performer and the particular circumstances of his life and career as a Soviet artist. With his warm, powerful tone and the contained virtuosity of his playing, he represented a peak of the Russian violin. school

Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 - 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is a major American violin soloist of today. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she has played as a soloist with orchestras and conductors, and as a recitalist. On December 21, 1991, at age 12, Hahn made her major orchestral debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Soon thereafter she debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. He wrote the concertos for his fellow-violinist Gaetano Brunetti, doubtless for performance at court. The scoring is light and the solo writing gracefully ornate. The three-movement form is standard.

Nathan Mironovich Milstein (January 13, 1904 [O.S. December 31, 1903] – December 21, 1992) was a Russian and American virtuoso violinist. Widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and for works from the Romantic period. He was also known for his long career: he performed at a high level into his mid-80s, retiring only after suffering an injured hand. His natural, relaxed manner of playing was truly a marvel.

Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (1756 - 1791) was arguably the most gifted musician in the history of classical music. Born in Salzburg, he was already considered a genius as a child. He made his first attempts at composition at the tender age of six. His inspiration is often described as "divine", but he worked assiduously, not only to become the great composer he was, but also a conductor, virtuoso pianist, organist and violinist. The music of Mozart embraces opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral, instrumental and vocal music, revealing an astonishing number of imperishable masterpieces.

The Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219, is more unique in its structure and complexity than the the Violin Concerto No. 3, also here presented, though they both seem to have been written around the same time. Often referred to by the nickname "Turkish", due to its final movement which contains a section of "Turkish music", distantly based on the music of Turkish military bands. It was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775, premiering during the Christmas season that year in Salzburg.

Itzhak Perlman, (born August 31, 1945, Tel Aviv, Palestine now Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel), is an Israeli-American violinist known for his brilliant virtuoso technique and artistry. Perlman contracted polio at age four, which left his legs paralyzed. His first public concert was in Tel Aviv when he was 10. In 1958 he went to the United States to study at the Juilliard School in New York City with the renowned teachers Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay; in that same year he performed before a national television audience on the Ed Sullivan Show. He made his Carnegie Hall (New York City) debut in 1963 and won the prestigious Leventritt Prize a year later, which brought him immediate engagements with major American orchestras. He is still peforming today.

Ludwig van Beethoven (17 December 1770 - 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the classical period to the romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. In musical form he was a considerable innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet, while in the Ninth Symphony he combined the worlds of vocal and instrumental music in a manner never before attempted. His personal life was marked by a heroic struggle against encroaching deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life when he was quite unable to hear.

Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 , in 1806. Its first performance by Franz Clement was unsuccessful and for some decades the work languished in obscurity, until revived in 1844 by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Since then it has become one of the best-known violin concertos.

Augustin Hadelich (born April 4, 1984) is an Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist. Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. Known for his phenomenal technique, insightful and persuasive interpretations and ravishing tone, he tours extensively around the world. He has performed with all the major American orchestras as well as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and many others.

Niccolò Paganini, (1782 - 1814), was an Italian composer and principal violin virtuoso of the 19th century. A popular idol, he inspired the Romantic mystique of the virtuoso and revolutionized violin technique! He indulged excessively in gambling and romantic love affairs and at one point pawned his violin because of gambling debts; a French merchant lent him a Guarneri violin to play a concert and, after hearing him, gave him the instrument. Between 1801 and 1807 he wrote his famous 24 Capricci for unaccompanied violin, and the two sets of six sonatas for violin and guitar. He later gave recitals of his own compositions in many towns in Italy. In 1828 Paganini experienced great success in Vienna, and his appearances in Paris and London in 1831 were equally sensational. His tour of England and Scotland in 1832 made him a wealthy man. His other works include 6 violin concertos; 12 sonatas for violin and guitar; and 6 quartets for violin, viola, cello, and guitar. The influence of his virtuosity has extended to orchestral as well as to piano music.

The Violin Concerto No. 1, Op 6 of Niccolò Paganini dates from the mid-to-late 1810s and is today the most well known and frequently performed of his six violin concertos. It was premiered in Naples, Italy on 31 March 1819. The concerto shows the great influence of the Italian bel canto style, and especially on Paganini's younger contemporary Gioachino Rossini.The later addition of instruments from a military band give this orchestration a distinct aggressive and militaristic sound.

Anne-Sophie Mutter (born June 29, 1963), German violinist, is a superstar in the world of classical music. Mutter began piano lessons at age 5, but after a few months switched to the violin. At age 6, after only a year of study, she won first prize with special distinction in violin in a national competition for young musicians and, with her brother, Christoph, took a prize for the performance of a piano piece for four hands. The conductor, Herbert von Karajan, first heard her in 1976, and in 1977, at age 13, she made her professional debut with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Mutter has appeared with orchestras throughout the world, played in chamber groups, and given solo recitals. She received many awards and honors for her recordings, including the Grand Prix du Disque and four Grammy Awards

Felix Mendelssohn, in full, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, (born February 3, 1809, Hamburg [Germany] - died November 4, 1847, Leipzig), was a German composer, pianist, musical conductor, and teacher, one of the most-celebrated figures of the early Romantic period. In his music Mendelssohn largely observed Classical models and practices while initiating key aspects of Romanticisn - the artistic movement that exalted feeling and the imagination above rigid forms and traditions. Among his most famous works are Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826), Italian Symphony (1833), the violin concerto (1844), two piano concerti (1831, 1837), the oratorio Elijah (1846), and several pieces of chamber music.

The Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, for violin and orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn, is one of the most lyrical and flowing works of its type and one of the most frequently performed of all violin concerti. It premiered in Leipzig on March 13, 1845.

Midori Goto
Born in Osaka, Japan, on October 25, 1971, Midori demonstrated her musical ability at an early age. Her mother, a violinist, regularly took young Midori with her to orchestra rehearsals. On her third birthday, her mother gave her a one-sixteenth-size violin and began to teach her to play it. Later, Midori maintained that learning to play the violin was as natural as learning to talk. At age six, Midori gave her first public recital. She progressed rapidly during the next few years. She came to the U.S. in 1981, studying with famed teacher Dorothy DeLay. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. Midori has appeared with many of the world's best orchestras, including those in Berlin, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, and London, performing some of the most technically difficult works in the solo violin repertoire.

Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 - 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. His reputation and status as a composer are such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three B's" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. An uncompromising perfectionist, Brahms destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished.

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 , was composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. Along with the Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concerti, it is one of the four main large scale works for violin and orchestra. It is a monumental work of great breadth and majesty.

Jascha Heifetz (February 2 1901 - December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist. Born in Vilna (Vilnius), he was a virtuoso since childhood. As a teenager he moved to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He is universally considered the greatest violinist that ever lived. Check out my own Jascha Heifetz tribute page with the link below!

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (born May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia - died November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg), was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. His music has always had great appeal for the general public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and colourful, picturesque orchestration, all of which evoke a profound emotional response. His oeuvre includes 7 symphonies, 11 operas, 3 ballets, 5 suites, 3 piano concertos, a violin concerto, 11 overtures, 4 cantatas, 20 choral works, 3 string quartets, a string sextet, and more than 100 songs and piano pieces.

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D was written in 1878. It was at first considered unplayable, due to its many double stops, glissandi, trills, leaps, and dissonances, but has since become a standard of the repertoire.

Christian Ferras, outstanding French violinist and pedagogue ( b. Touquet, June 17, 1933; d. Paris, Sept. 14, 1982). Ferras was a remarkably gifted child who began to study at a very early age the Nice Conservatory. In 1942 he made his public debut as soloist with an orchestra in Nice. He then continued his training at the Paris Conservatory taking premiers prix in both subjects in 1946, the year he made his Paris debut. In 1949 captured 2nd prize in the Long-Thibaud competition in Paris. Thereafter, he pursued a distinguished career as a soloist with orchestras and as a recitalist.

Jean Sibelius, original name Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, (Dec. 8, 1865 - Sept. 20, 1957), was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic period. His music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. The core of his oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies. Like Beethoven, Sibelius used each successive work to further develop his own personal compositional style. His works continue to be performed frequently in the concert hall and are often recorded. In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius's best-known compositions include "Finlandia", the "Karelia Suite", "Valse triste", the Violin Concerto presented here "The Swan of Tuonela"

The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 of Jean Sibelius, originally composed in 1904 and revised in 1905, is the only concerto by Sibelius. It is symphonic in scope and included an extended cadenza for the soloist that takes on the role of the development section in the first movement. The premier of the concerto in its initial form was a bit of disaster. The work was then substantiallhy revised by the composer with a more successful premier in October, 1905. Although, originally its technical demands were considered daunting, it is today a staple of any modern violin soloist's repertoire.