Mischa Elman
Saulovich Mikhail "Misha " Elman (born 8 Januarjul / January 20 1891greg in Talnoje, Kiev Governorate, .. † April 5, 1967 in New York City ) was a violin virtuoso of Ukrainian origin.
The son of a Hebrew teacher and grandson of a Klezmers grew up in the tradition of Eastern European Jewry. As a child he was given a small violin and learned in a very short time self-taught to play the violin. He was therefore sent to Odessa, there to attend the Royal Academy of Music. He made rapid progress and was given an opportunity by traveling virtuosos such as Adolph Brodsky, Pablo de Sarasate and Leopold Auer audition.
1902 Elman was recorded on Auer's recommendation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he was his pupil. Already in the following year he began to practice before wealthy art lovers. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, gave him a violin by Amati, and his debut in Berlin was a sensational success. Joseph Joachim, who heard him on this occasion, said he was speechless, and in the UK, where Elman at Buckingham Palace before Edward VII occurred, the press described him as the greatest violinist in the world.
In 1908 he made his debut at Carnegie Hall accompanied by the Russian Symphony Society under Modest Altschuler with Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Elman moved with his family to the United States and became an American citizen in 1923. He was in his new home and a sought-after international soloist; sometimes he gave more than a hundred concerts in half a year. He also appeared in a duo with Eugène Ysaÿe.
The focus of Elmer's repertoire were the great romantics of the 19th century, such as Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Wieniawski; but in addition he also played works by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. In 1942 he gave the premiere of the second violin concerto dedicated to him by Bohuslav Martinů.
Elman wrote several violin arrangements of classical and romantic pieces, and even some of his own compositions for violin. His father published in 1933 the book Memoirs of Mischa Elman 's Father.