Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin

Birth : 1916-04-22, New York City, New York, USA

Death : 1999-03-12

History

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron 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. 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. Menuhin's sisters were concert pianist and human rights activist Hephzibah, and pianist, painter and poet Yaltah. Menuhin's first violin instruction was at age four by Sigmund Anker (1891–1958); 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 Theater’s 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 1928–29. Julia Boyd records: " On 12 April 1929 it [the Semperoper] cancelled its advertised programme to make way for a performance by the twelve-year-old 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 Bach's violin concerto in E major no.2." When the Menuhins moved to Paris, Persinger suggested Menuhin go to Persinger's old teacher, Belgian virtuoso and pedagogue Eugène Ysaÿe. Menuhin did have one lesson with Ysaÿe, but he disliked Ysaÿe's 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 CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Profile

Yehudi Menuhin

Movies

Rostropovich: L'archet Indomptable
Self (archive footage)
David Oistrakh: Artist of the People?
The life and virtuosic work of Russian violinist David Oistrakh, once known as King David in the Soviet Union, is chronicled with depth and detail by filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon in this intriguing portrait of an artist. Highlights include a range of performance footage throughout Oistrakh's legendary career, as well as interviews with his son, Igor, conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Glenn Gould: Extasis
A collection of recollections and opinions of and about Glenn Gould, interspersed with excerpts of archive footage of the great Canadian pianist speaking and playing.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
Self
A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past
Self
Documentary about sixteen great conductors of the 20th century.
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Self (uncredited)
The gloriously glamorous Dame Edna entertains a celebrity audience in this 1988 special.
The French as Seen by…
Self - Interviewee
In 1988, Figaro magazine asked a few famous directors to direct a series of short movies to celebrate the 10 years of the revue. The movies have been released for the French revolution bicentenary. Includes: Werner Herzog's Les Gaulois, David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchman, Andrzej Wajda's Proust contre la déchéance, Luigi Comencini's Pèlerinage à Agen, Jean-Luc Godard's Le dernier mot.
At the Haunted End of the Day
Musician
A documentary by Tony Palmer on English composer Sir William Walton (1902–1983), made shortly before his death. The film includes the only full-length interview ever recorded with Walton. Filmed at his home on Ischia and in Oxford, London & Oldham, it includes contributions from Laurence Olivier, Sacheverell Sitwell and Lady Susana Walton. Specially performed extracts of his music are conducted by Simon Rattle in his first substantial contribution to television when he was in his early 20s, with Simon Preston, Julian Bream, Yvonne Kenny, Yehudi Menuhin, Iona Brown, John Shirley-Quirk, Elgar Howarth & Ralph Kirshbaum, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford & Los Paraguayos.
The Chinese Word for Horse
A BAFTA award nominated animated fable in which the audience, while being entertained, may also learn eight Chinese characters.
The Memory of Justice
Self
This exceptional, disturbing and thought-provoking documentary compares the atrocities committed by the Nazis as revealed during the Nuremberg trials to those committed by the French in Algeria and those done by the Americans in Vietnam. The four hour epic questions the right of any country to pass self-righteous moral judgements upon the actions of another country.
Karajan: Mozart Violin Concerto No 5, Dvorak Symphony No.9
Self
Combining the forces of two of the 20th century's greatest musicians - Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan in their only recorded performance together - this magnificent programme marks a high point in filmed classical music, directed by master filmmaker and long-time Karajan collaborator Henri-Georges Clouzot. Herbert von Karajan conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the Berliner Philharmoniker in performances of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, filmed in 1966 by film director Henry-Georges Clouzot.
Yehudi Menuhin und Herbert von Karajan – Mozart: Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr. 5
Self
Sabine und die hundert Männer
Stage Door Canteen
Yehudi Menuhin
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance
Yehudi Menuhin: The Violin of the Century
This film is devoted to the artistic heritage of a personality who ranked among the most extraordinary musicians of his time, even as a child. Menuhin was not a mere musician: he was a cosmopolitan, a peacemaker and a true humanist. French filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, who filmed this great retrospective, describes his work with Menuhin as follows: “He threw himself into it whole-heartedly, with great sense of humour and overwhelming humanity. This film also shows my heartfelt gratitude for a man who gave such decisive sense to my own existence.”