Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin Baron Menuhin 22 April 1916 12 March 1999 was an Americanborn 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 He played the Soil Stradivarius considered one of the finest violins made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City to a family of Lithuanian Jews Through his father Moshe he was descended from a rabbinical dynasty In late 1919 Moshe and his wife Marutha née Sher became American citizens and changed the family name from Mnuchin to Menuhin Menuhins sisters were concert pianist and human rights activist Hephzibah and pianist painter and poet Yaltah Menuhins first violin instruction was at age four by Sigmund Anker 18911958 his parents had wanted Louis Persinger to teach him but Persinger refused Menuhin displayed exceptional musical talent at an early age His first public appearance took place as an accompanist to another child prodigy pianist Viola Walters at the Imperial Theaters Golden Hour Saturday matinee on January 21 1921 Menuhin was five years old at the time Two years later when he was seven years old Menuhin appeared as solo violinist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1923 Persinger then agreed to teach him and accompanied him on the piano for his first few solo recordings in 192829 Julia Boyd records On 12 April 1929 it the Semperoper cancelled its advertised programme to make way for a performance by the twelveyearold Yehudi Menuhin That night he played the Bach Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos to an ecstatic audience The week before Yehudi had played in Berlin with the Philharmonic under Bruno Walter to an equally rapturous response A newspaper critic said of his Berlin performance There steps a fat little blond boy on the podium and wins at once all hearts as in an irresistibly ludicrous way like a penguin he alternately places one foot down then the other But wait you will stop laughing when he puts his bow to the violin to play Bachs violin concerto in E major no2 When the Menuhins moved to Paris Persinger suggested Menuhin go to Persingers old teacher Belgian virtuoso and pedagogue Eugène Ysaÿe Menuhin did have one lesson with Ysaÿe but he disliked Ysaÿes teaching method and his advanced age Instead he went to Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu under whose tutelage he made recordings with several piano accompanists including his sister Hephzibah He was also a student of Adolf Busch in Basel He stayed in the Swiss city for a bit more than a year where he started to take lessons in German and Italian as well According to Henry A Murray Menuhin wrote Actually I was gazing in my usual state of being half absent in my own world and half in the present I have usually been able to retire in this way I was also thinking that my life was tied up with the instrument and would I do it justice  Yehudi Menuhin personal communication 31 October 1993 Source Article Yehudi Menuhin from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30