Nathan Milstein

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Nathan Mironovich Milstein (31 December, 1903 — 21 December, 1992) was a Russian violinist who took United States citizenship in 1942.

He is widely considered one of the 20th century's finest violinists and was especially well known for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonatas and partitas for solo violin and Romantic works. He is also known for his long career: he performed at a high level of excellence in public into his mid-80s, only to retire after suffering a broken hand.

Among Milstein's teachers were two celebrated violinists, Leopold Auer in St Petersburg and Eugène Ysaÿe in Belgium. He told film-maker Christopher Nupen, director of "Nathan Milstein - A Portrait", that he learned almost nothing from Ysaÿe but enjoyed his company enormously. In a 1977 interview printed in High Fidelity he said, "I went to Ysaÿe in 1926 but he never paid any attention to me. I think it might have been better this way. I had to think for myself." ^[1]

He was born in Odessa. As a child, he was forced by his mother to take violin lessons to keep him out of mischief and studied with Piotr Stolyarsky (also David Oistrakh's teacher). He did not remember Stolyarsky fondly. "Stolyarsky never taught anything," Milstein remembered. "When you played, he said "Bad" or "Good."" ^[2] When Milstein was 11, Leopold Auer invited him to become one of his students at the St Petersburg Conservatory. Milstein reminisced:

Every little boy who had the dream of playing better than the other boy wanted to go to Auer. He was a very gifted man and a good teacher. I used to go to the Conservatory twice a week for classes. I played every lesson with forty or fifty people sitting and listening. Two pianos were in the classroom and a pianist accompanied us. When Auer was sick, he would ask me to come to his home. ^[2]

Milstein may in fact have been the last of the great Russian violinists to have had personal contact with Auer. Auer did not name Milstein in his memoirs but mentions "two boys from Odessa ... both of whom disappeared after I left St Petersburg in June 1917." ^[3] Neither is Milstein's name in the registry of the St Petersburg Conservatory.

When Auer went to Norway in 1917, Milstein went back to Odessa. He met Vladimir Horowitz and his sister, Regina (also a pianist) in 1921 when he played a recital in Kiev. They invited him for tea at their parents' home. Milstein later said, "I came for tea and stayed three years." ^[4] Milstein and Horowitz performed together (as "children of the revolution") throughout the Soviet Union and struck up a life-long friendship. In 1925, they went on a concert tour of Western Europe together.

Milstein made his American debut in 1929 with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He eventually settled in New York and became an Americal citizen. Hw also toured repeatedly throughout Europe, maintaining residences in London and Paris.

A transcriber and composer, Milstein arranged many works for violin and writing his own cadenzas for many concertos. One of his best known compositions is Paganiniana which is a set of variations on various themes from the works of Niccolò Paganini.

He received a Grammy Award in 1975 and was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 1968. He was also awarded Kennedy Center honors by President Reagan.

He died in London ten days before his 89th birthday. ^[5]

References

^ High Fidelity, November 1977, 86. As quoted in Schwarz, Boris, Great Masters of the Violin (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 444.
^ ^a ^b High Fidelity, November 1977, 84, 86. As quoted in Schwarz, 443.
^ Auer, Leopold, My Long Life in Music, 343-344. As quoted in Schwarz, 443.
^ Schwarz, 443.
^ Inkpot biography