Yehudi Menuhin is one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, an American musician and conductor, founder of his own school and several charitable foundations in support of young musicians. He is also a well-known Western popularizer of yoga.
Childhood and youth
Yehudi was born in New York in the spring of 1916 to immigrants from Lithuania, Orthodox Jews Moishe and Maruta Mnukhin. The surname of the mother and father of the future musician changed after receiving American citizenship, in 1919.
The boy was born with a congenital defect - the shortening of both arms. But in return, fate generously endowed Yehudi with an impeccable ear for music and genius. Already at the age of three, the child began to show his remarkable talent. And already at the age of four, the child prodigy wrote the first etude for the violin. Parents wanted their gifted son to study with the famous Louis Persinger, a violinist and teacher, and he really did give lessons to little Yehudi at first, but he refused to continue individual lessons.
However, Yehudi Menuhin worked hard and first appeared on stage at the age of seven, performing a violin solo in concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. After this success, Persinger decided to give the lion's share of his time and talent to this shy boy with an incredible musical gift and began to accompany Yehudi's performances with playing the piano.
Pre-war career
At the age of 12, on April 12, 1929, the young violinist performed at the Saxon State Opera in Dresden. He played the works of Beethoven, Bach and Brahms for an enthusiastic audience all night. A week earlier, Yehudi performed in Berlin, where he made a splash among lovers of classical violin.
Soon the parents moved to Paris, where Yehudi was offered to study with the Belgian virtuoso and teacher Eugene Isaiah, Persinger's teacher, but the boy did not like his teaching style and old age. He chose for himself education with the famous Romanian violinist George Enescu, made violin recordings under the piano with various accompanists.
Yehudi's first professional work was Brujah's Concerto in G minor in London, which he recorded under the direction of the famous Briton Sir Landon Ronald in 1931. In 1932, the young violinist recorded Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor for HMV London, under the direction of the composer himself.
Between 1934 and 1936, Yehudi made the first integral recording of Johann Sebastian Bach. The interest in music of the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok ended with writing the four-part sonata Sonata for Solo Violin, and then took a break from his career, retiring to his home in California to do yoga and learn the essence of being.
War years
During World War II, despite chronic fatigue and constant hunger, Yehudi performed in front of the allied forces, giving a total of about five hundred concerts for soldiers and survivors of concentration camps.
In 1945, the famous musician came to the USSR to perform a double Bach concerto together with the legendary Soviet violinist, violist and teacher, People's Artist of the USSR David Oistrakh.
Returning to Germany after the victory, Yehudi made several performances with the Berlin Philharmonic. Yehudi Menuhin was the first Jewish musician to perform in Germany after the Holocaust. He stated that his concerts are an act of reconciliation and acceptance of the true German spirit, free from the monstrous ideology of fascism and the rehabilitation of great German classical music.
Life after the war
There are many travels in Yehudi's biography. Together with his parents, he managed to visit the USA, France, Great Britain. The war brought him to various countries in Europe, including Germany. In 1959, the violinist received British citizenship and founded his own music school in Surrey, which still operates today. Wonderful musicians come out of its walls. Among the teachers at the Yehudi Menuhin School is the Russian violinist Natalya Boyarskaya.
Since 1970, the great musician became a citizen of Switzerland, in the 70s and 80s he recorded several concerts of oriental music together with the most famous Indian musician, guitarist Ravi Shankar, and a whole galaxy of original jazz compositions together with the Frenchman Grappelli.
The British charity project Live Music Now, a major social movement supported by renowned musicians around the world and dedicated to supporting young talents, is also the brainchild of Yehudi, who founded the movement in 1977, and in 1985 he created a charity in his name in the British county Kent.
Family and personal life
Yehudi's mother herself performed superbly on the piano and cello. She gave her children a versatile and brilliant upbringing, the basis of which was classical music. Two sisters of the famous violinist, Yalta and Khevsib, became equally brilliant pianists.
The musician first married in 1938 to a woman named Nola Nicholas, who bore him two children. After the war, the couple divorced - it was hard for the wife to live at his pace of endless touring. Soon, Yehudi has a new love Diana Gould, an English ballerina, and then they have a son and daughter.
Yehudi performed until his very old years. In 1990, already a completely gray-haired musician, he traveled all over Asia with young oriental performers, gathering full houses. The violinist died in Berlin in the spring of 1990.
