Which violin did Menuhin love best?

Which violin did Menuhin love best?

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norman lebrecht

April 21, 2016

The late Lord Menuhin, who would have been 100 years old on April 22, vacillated all his life between a Stradivarius and a Guarnerius del Gesu, acquiring or borrowing several exemplars of each maker.

The history of his violins is nicely traced in a centennial article here by Tully Potter.

Had he been alive, those who knew Yehudi would have greeted him today with Happy Passover.

Little known fact: Yehudi took care not to appear in concert on the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur and Seder night, asking a family of observant Jews to advise him on diary clashes.

menuhin poster

 

Comments

  • Rodney Friend says:

    ==Little known fact: Yehudi took care not to appear in concert on the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur and Seder night, asking a family of observant Jews to advise him on diary clashes

    No, this is *not* a little known fact.

    In the late 40s, Yehudi was famously about to be sued for breach of contract for refusing to play on Yom Kippur.

    • norman lebrecht says:

      Sued by whom, Rodney? In the late 40s he played once on Kol Nidrei and regretted it ever after, donating his fee to some good cause.

  • Julian Reynolds says:

    This link below tells half of YM’s Yom Kippur story. Yes, I too remember hearing about the breach of contract bit, but it’s not in this version..

    Mr Friend ( a great violinist….) was quite right. It was in the late 40s

    http://www.jta.org/1949/09/09/jewish-holidays/yom-kippur/yehudi-menuhins-concert-put-back-to-afternoon-prior-to-commencement-of-yom-kippur

  • Milka says:

    You would expect this sort of nonsense to surface now and then.

  • FreddyNYC says:

    Does it really matter? He had the most whiny unimpressive tone regardless……

  • .C.Czaja Sager says:

    two funny remarks ” “the most whiny unimpressive tone”
    Tagore wrote that Menuhin’s sound was the sound of Soul…

    and “diary clashes” :d a i r y ??

  • Rodney Friend says:

    It was in Manchester and was picked up widely by the press worldwide

    Here from Chicago :

    http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1949/09/01/page/15/article/yehudi-to-fiddle-on-yom-kippur-to-escape-suit

  • Milka says:

    He was a phenomenon ..crashed as Ysaye predicted..never recovered no matter
    what violin he played….he was always in search of his “lost ” genius but did manage
    to build on whatever ability was left him .
    As to the rest , who cares ?

    • M2N2K says:

      Mostly those who agree with you that “genius” and “phenomenon” are words that are appropriate when talking about YM.

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