Violinist & Pedagogue Leopold Auer Died in 1930

He is remembered as one of the most important violin pedagogues of all time with students including Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Efrem Zimbalist and Oscar Shumsky

Hungarian violinist and pedagogue Leopold Auer died on this day in 1930 – aged 85.

Auer was born in 1845 in Vesprém, Hungary, and started his first violin studies with a local concertmaster. At the age of 8, he continued his violin studies with Dávid Ridley Kohne at the Budapest Conservatory. Kohne later became the concertmaster of the orchestra of the National Opera.

Auer gave a performance of Mendelssohn's violin concerto which attracted the interest of some wealthy music patrons, who gifted him a scholarship for further study. Auer then moved to Vienna,  to study (and live with) violin pedagogue Jakob Dont. Auer wrote that it was Dont who taught him the foundation for his violin technique.

Once the scholarship money extinguished, Auer's father urged him to pursue a performance career, at just 13 years of age, to help with finances. After an unsuccessful audition with Henri Vieuxtemps in Graz, Auer decided to seek the advice of Joseph Joachim, who was then the royal concertmaster at Hanover.

The two years Auer spent with Joachim (1861–63) proved to be a turning point in his career. During this period, he was exposed to the world of German music making — which stressed musical values over virtuoso "glitter."

Auer returned to the concert stage in 1864 and became a concertmaster in Düsseldorf. In 1866, he assumed the same position in Hamburg.

While visiting London in 1868, he was asked to perform Beethoven’s Archduke Trio with pianist Anton Rubinstein and cellist Alfredo Piatti. Rubinstein was in search of a violin professor for the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and Auer agreed to a three-year contract. He would go on to stay for 49 years (1868-1917).

During that time, he held the position of first violinist in the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres (including the Imperial Ballet and Opera, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre). Notable ballet composers of the time, such as Cesare Pugni, Ludwig Minkus, Riccardo Drigo, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Alexander Glazunov, wrote the violin solos of their scores with his artistry in mind.

In 1918, following the Russian Revolution, Auer moved to the United States of America, eventually teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

He is remembered as one of the most important violin pedagogues of all time - his famed students included luminary violinists Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Efrem Zimbalist, and Oscar Shumsky.

LEOPOLD AUER & WANDA AUER | BRAHMS | HUNGARIAN DANCE IN G-MINOR | 1920 | AGED 75