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DESCRIPTION : Up for auction is a large BOLDLY HAND SIGNED original AUTOGRAPH of the renowned beloved JEWISH VIOLINIST - YEHUDI MENUHIN which is beautifuly and professionaly matted beneath a reproduction action PHOTO of quite young MENUHIN playing his violin . The original AUTOGRAPH and the reproduction ACTION PHOTO are nicely matted together , Suitable for immediate framing or display . ( An image of a suggested framing is presented - The frame is not a part of this sale - An excellent framing - Buyer's choice - is possible for extra $ 100 ). The size of the decorative mat is around 10 x 8 " . The size of the reproduction action photo is around 5 x 5 " . The size of the original hand signed autograph ( signature - autogramme ) is around 5 x 1.5 " . Very good condition of the original hand signed autograph, The repruduction photo and the decorative mat . ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images ) Authenticity guaranteed. Will be sent inside a protective rigid packaging .

PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal .

SHIPPMENT :SHIPP worldwide via registered airmail is $ 35 . Will be sent inside a protective packaging. Handling around 10 -15 days after payment.

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 1916 – 12 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. He played the Soil Stradivarius, considered one of the finest violins made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari. Early life and career Menuhin with Bruno Walter (1931) Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City to Moshe Menuhin, a Lithuanian Jew from Gomel in modern Belarus, and Marutha, a Crimean Karaite. Through his father Moshe, he was descended from a rabbinical dynasty.[1] Moshe and Marutha (née Sher) met in Ottoman Palestine before marrying in New York in 1914. In late 1919, the pair became American citizens and changed the family name from Mnuchin to Menuhin.[2] 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, and Persinger agreed. Menuhin took lessons for a while from Persinger at his Hyde Street studio. He made his first public solo appearance in November 1921, at a pupil's concert.[3] On 29 February 1924, he formally debuted at the Oakland Auditorium followed by a solo performance with the San Francisco Symphony under the direction of Alfred Hertz and a recital at the Scottish Rite Hall. His reputation preceded him to New York for his debut there on 17 March 1926, at the Manhattan Opera House.[4] In 1923, when he was seven years old, Menuhin appeared as solo violinist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. 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.[5] 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."[6] The city of Basel: place of study under the guidance of Adolf Busch When the Menuhins moved to Paris, Persinger suggested Menuhin go to Persinger's old teacher, Belgian virtuoso and pedagogue Eugène Ysa e. Menuhin did have one lesson with Ysa e, but he disliked Ysa e'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[7] His first concerto recording was made in 1931, Bruch's G minor, under Sir Landon Ronald in London, the labels calling him "Master Yehudi Menuhin". In 1932 he recorded Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor for His Master's Voice in London, with the composer himself conducting; in 1934, uncut, Paganini's D major Concerto with Emile Sauret's cadenza in Paris under Pierre Monteux. Between 1934 and 1936, he made the first integral recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, although his Sonata No. 2, in A minor, was not released until all six were transferred to CD. His interest in the music of Béla Bartók prompted him to commission a work from him – the Sonata for Solo Violin, which, completed in 1943 and first performed by Menuhin in New York in 1944, was the composer's penultimate work. World War II musician Menuhin in 1943 He performed for Allied soldiers during World War II and, accompanied on the piano by English composer Benjamin Britten, for the surviving inmates of a number of concentration camps in June and July 1945 after their liberation in April of the same year, most famously Bergen-Belsen. He returned to Germany in 1947 to play concerto concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler as an act of reconciliation, the first Jewish musician to do so in the wake of the Holocaust, saying to Jewish critics that he wanted to rehabilitate Germany's music and spirit. World interactions For Menuhin's notable students, see List of music students by teacher: K to M § Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin during a 1963 visit to Israel. Boris Carmi, Meitar collection, National Library of Israel Menuhin during a 1963 visit to Israel. Boris Carmi, Meitar collection, National Library of Israel Menuhin credited German philosopher Constantin Brunner with providing him with "a theoretical framework within which I could fit the events and experiences of life".[8] He and Louis Kentner (brother-in-law of his wife, Diana) gave the first performance of William Walton's Violin Sonata, in Zürich on 30 September 1949. Following his role as a member of the awards jury at the 1955 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, Menuhin secured a Rockefeller Foundation grant for the financially strapped Grand Prize winner at the event, Argentine violinist Alberto Lysy. Menuhin made Lysy his only personal student, and the two toured extensively throughout the concert halls of Europe. The young protégé later established the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA)[9] in Gstaad, in his honor.[10] Menuhin made several recordings with the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who had been criticized for conducting in Germany during the Nazi era. Menuhin defended Furtwängler, noting that the conductor had helped a number of Jewish musicians to flee Nazi Germany. In 1957, he founded the Menuhin Festival Gstaad in Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1962, he established the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. He also established the music program at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, California, sometime around then. In 1965 he received an honorary knighthood from the British monarchy. In the same year, Australian composer Malcolm Williamson wrote a violin concerto for Menuhin. He performed the concerto many times and recorded it at its premiere at the Bath Festival in 1965. Originally known as the Bath Assembly,[11] the festival was first directed by the impresario Ian Hunter in 1948. After the first year the city tried to run the festival itself, but in 1955 asked Hunter back. In 1959 Hunter invited Menuhin to become artistic director of the festival. Menuhin accepted, and retained the post until 1968.[12] Menuhin also had a long association and deep friendship with Ravi Shankar, beginning in 1952, leading to their joint performance in 1966 at the Bath Festival and the recording of their Grammy Award-winning album West Meets East (1967).[13] During this time, he commissioned composer Alan Hovhaness to write a concerto for violin, sitar, and orchestra to be performed by himself and Shankar. The resulting work, entitled Shambala (c. 1970), with a fully composed violin part and space for improvisation from the sitarist, is the earliest known work for sitar with western symphony orchestra, predating Shankar's own sitar concertos, but Menuhin and Shankar never recorded it. Stéphane Grappelli (left) with Menuhin in 1976 Menuhin also worked with famous jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli in the 1970s on Jalousie, an album of 1930s classics led by duetting violins backed by the Alan Claire Trio. In 1975, in his role as president of the International Music Council, he declared October 1 as International Music Day. The first International Music Day, organised by the International Music Council, was held that same year, in accordance with the resolution taken at the 15th IMC General Assembly in Lausanne in 1973.[14] In 1977, Menuhin and Ian Stoutzker founded the charity Live Music Now, the largest outreach music project in the UK. Live Music Now pays and trains professional musicians to work in the community, bringing the experience to those who rarely get an opportunity to hear or see live music performance. At the Edinburgh Festival Menuhin premiered Priaulx Rainier's violin concerto Due Canti e Finale, which he had commissioned Rainier to write. He also commissioned her last work, Wildlife Celebration, which he performed in aid of Gerald Durrell's Wildlife Conservation Trust. In 1983, Menuhin and Robert Masters founded the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, today one of the world's leading forums for young talent. Many of its prizewinners have gone on to become prominent violinists, including Tasmin Little, Nikolaj Znaider, Ilya Gringolts, Julia Fischer, Daishin Kashimoto and Ray Chen. In the 1980s, Menuhin wrote and oversaw the creation of a "Music Guides" series of books; each covered a musical instrument, with one on the human voice. Menuhin wrote some, while others were edited by different authors. In 1991, Menuhin was awarded the Wolf Prize by the Israeli Government. In the Israeli Knesset he gave an acceptance speech in which he criticised Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank: This wasteful governing by fear, by contempt for the basic dignities of life, this steady asphyxiation of a dependent people, should be the very last means to be adopted by those who themselves know too well the awful significance, the unforgettable suffering of such an existence. It is unworthy of my great people, the Jews, who have striven to abide by a code of moral rectitude for some 5,000 years, who can create and achieve a society for themselves such as we see around us but can yet deny the sharing of its great qualities and benefits to those dwelling amongst them.[15] Later career External audio audio icon 1946 performance featuring Menuhin (violin) of Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 BB 117 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati on archive.org Menuhin regularly returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, sometimes performing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. One of the more memorable later performances was of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto, which Menuhin had recorded with the composer in 1932. On 22 April 1978, along with Stéphane Grappelli, Yehudi played Pick Yourself Up, taken from the Menuhin & Grappelli Play Berlin, Kern, Porter and Rodgers & Hart album as the interval act at the 23rd Eurovision Song Contest for TF1. The performance came direct from the studios of TF1 and not that of the venue (Palais des Congrès), where the contest was being held. Menuhin hosted the PBS telecast of the gala opening concert of the San Francisco Symphony from Davies Symphony Hall in September 1980. His recording contract with EMI lasted almost 70 years and is the longest in the history of the music industry. He made his first recording at age 13 in November 1929, and his last in 1999, when he was nearly 83 years old. He recorded over 300 works for EMI, both as a violinist and as a conductor. In 2009 EMI released a 51-CD retrospective of Menuhin's recording career, titled Yehudi Menuhin: The Great EMI Recordings. In 2016, the Menuhin centenary year, Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) issued a milestone collection of 80 CDs entitled The Menuhin Century, curated by his long-time friend and protégé Bruno Monsaingeon, who selected the recordings and sourced rare archival materials to tell Menuhin's story. From 1984 until his death in 1999 he was the first guest conductor of Sinfonia Varsovia with which he performed over 300 times (nearly half of which were between 1996 and 1998).[16] He said that "working with no other orchestra gave me as much satisfaction as my work, as soloist and conductor, with the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra."[17] In his Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later he added "It was a true inspiration to spend as much time with them [Sinfonia Varsovia] as possible, to enjoy the deep satisfaction I derive from our music-making together.".[18] In 1991, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, a position he also held until his death. In 1990 Menuhin was the first conductor for the Asian Youth Orchestra which toured around Asia, including Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong with Julian Lloyd Webber and a group of young talented musicians from all over Asia. Personal life Menuhin (left) and author Paulo Coelho in 1999 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Menuhin was married twice, first to Nola Nicholas, daughter of an Australian industrialist and sister of Hephzibah Menuhin's first husband Lindsay Nicholas. They had two children, Krov and Zamira (who married pianist Fou Ts'ong). Following their 1947 divorce he married the British ballerina and actress Diana Gould, whose mother was the pianist Evelyn Suart and stepfather was Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt. The couple had two sons, Gerard, notable as a Holocaust denier and far right activist, and Jeremy, a pianist. A third child died shortly after birth. In the 1960s and 1970s they lived in Highgate at 2 The Grove, a house later owned by Sting.[19] The name Yehudi means "Jew" in Hebrew. In an interview republished in October 2004, he recounted to New Internationalist magazine the story of his name: Obliged to find an apartment of their own, my parents searched the neighbourhood and chose one within walking distance of the park. Showing them out after they had viewed it, the landlady said: "And you'll be glad to know I don't take Jews." Her mistake made clear to her, the antisemitic landlady was renounced, and another apartment found. But her blunder left its mark. Back on the street my mother made a vow. Her unborn baby would have a label proclaiming his race to the world. He would be called "The Jew".[20] Menuhin became an honorary citizen of Switzerland, and then also of the United Kingdom, in 1970 and 1985, respectively.[21][22][23] Along with Albert Einstein, Menuhin was one of the sponsors of the Peoples' World Convention (PWC), also known as Peoples' World Constituent Assembly (PWCA), which took place in 1950–51 at Palais Electoral, Geneva, Switzerland.[24][25] Menuhin was a pescetarian.[26] Interest in yoga In 1953, Life published photos of him in various esoteric yoga positions.[27] In 1952, Menuhin was in India, where Nehru, the new nation's first Prime Minister, introduced him to an influential yogi B. K. S. Iyengar, who was largely unknown outside the country.[27] Menuhin arranged for Iyengar to teach abroad in London, Switzerland, Paris, and elsewhere. He became one of the first prominent yoga masters teaching in the West. Menuhin also took lessons from Indra Devi, who opened the first yoga studio in the U.S. in Los Angeles in 1948.[28] Both Devi and Iyengar were students of Krishnamacharya, a famous yoga master in India. Death and legacy Menuhin died in Martin Luther Hospital[29] in Berlin, Germany, from complications of bronchitis. Soon after his death, the Royal Academy of Music acquired the Yehudi Menuhin Archive, which includes sheet music marked up for performance, correspondence, news articles and photographs relating to Menuhin, autograph musical manuscripts, and several portraits of Paganini.[30] Violins Menuhin played a number of famous violins, arguably the most renowned of which is the Lord Wilton Guarnerius 1742. Others included the Giovanni Bussetto 1680, Giovanni Grancino 1695, Guarneri filius Andrea 1703, Soil Stradivarius, Prince Khevenhüller 1733 Stradivari, and Guarneri del Gesù 1739. In his autobiography Unfinished Journey, Menuhin wrote: "A great violin is alive; its very shape embodies its maker's intentions, and its wood stores the history, or the soul, of its successive owners. I never play without feeling that I have released or, alas, violated spirits."[31] Awards and honours Appointed to the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1965. At the time of his appointment, he was an American citizen. As a result, his knighthood was honorary and he was not entitled to use the style 'Sir'. Later, he became a British citizen and the knighthood became substantive. In 1993, he was ennobled taking the style The Right Honourable The Lord Menuhin, OM, KBE (see below).[32][33] Freedom of the City (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1965). The Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding (1968).[34] Became President of the International Music Council (1969–1975)[35] Became President of Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance), 1970.[36] The Léonie Sonning Music Prize (Denmark, 1972). Nominated as president of the Elgar Society (1983). The Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (1984). The Kennedy Center Honors (1986). Appointed as a member of the Order of Merit (1987).[37] His recording of Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor with Julian Lloyd Webber won the 1987 BRIT Award for Best British Classical Recording (BBC Music Magazine named this recording "the finest version ever recorded"). The Glenn Gould Prize (1990), in recognition of his lifetime of contributions. Wolf Prize in Arts (1991). Ambassador of Goodwill (UNESCO, 1992). On 19 July 1993, Menuhin was made a life peer, as Baron Menuhin, of Stoke d'Abernon in the County of Surrey.[38] Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama (1994).[39] The Konex Decoration (Konex Foundation, Argentina, 1994). The Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold of the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin (1997). Honorary Doctorates from 20 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Bath (1969).[40] The room in which concerts and performances are held at the European Parliament in Brussels is named the "Yehudi Menuhin Space". Menuhin was honored as a "Freeman" of the cities of Edinburgh, Bath, Reims and Warsaw. He held the Gold Medals of the cities of Paris, New York and Jerusalem. Honorary degree from Kalamazoo College.[41] Elected an Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College in 1991. He received the 1997 Prince of Asturias Award in the Concord category along with Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1997, he received the Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On 15 May 1998, Menuhin received the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (Portugal).[42] Coat of arms of Yehudi Menuhin Crest Out of an eastern crown Or inscribed on either side with a crotchet rest a sharp semi-quaver a flat and semi-quaver rest Sable a pair of cubit arms Proper supporting a terrestrial globe the land Vert fimbriated Or the sea Azure. Escutcheon Azure four bendlets between as many violin bridges Gold. Supporters On either side a representation of a firebird à la Benois wings elevated and addorsed Gules beaked and membered with wings tipped Or the tail Bleu Celeste that to the dexter Gorged with a chain Or pendent therefrom a hurt fimbriated and charged with a menorah Or the candles Argent enflamed Proper that to the sinister gorged with a like chain pendent therefore a bezant charged with a representation of the gypsy flag mon Proper the compartment a grassy mound with bluebells and blue poppies growing therefrom all Proper with at the centre thereof a plough Gold.[43] Cultural references The catchphrase "Who's Yehoodi?" popular in the 1930s and 1940s was inspired by Menuhin's guest appearance on a radio show, where Jerry Colonna turned "Yehoodi" into a widely recognized slang term for a mysteriously absent person. It eventually lost all of its original connection with Menuhin. Menuhin was also "meant" to appear on The 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show but could not do so as he was "opening at the Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead in Old King Cole". He was replaced by Eric Morecambe in the famous "Grieg's Piano Concerto by Grieg" sketch featuring the conductor André Previn; he was also invited to appear on their 1973 Christmas Show to play his "banjo" as they said playing his violin would not be any good; he ruefully said that "I can't help you". A picture of Menuhin as a child is sometimes used as part of a Thematic Apperception Test.[44] Films 1943 – Menuhin was a featured performer in the 1943 film, Stage Door Canteen. Introduced only as "Mr. Menuhin," he performed two violin solos, "Ave Maria" and "Flight of the Bumble Bee" for an audience of servicemen, volunteer hostesses and celebrities from stage and screen. 1946 – Menuhin supplied the violin solos in the film The Magic Bow. 1979 – The Music of Man (television series) The Mind of Music ***Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’Abernon American violinist and conductor Also known as: Abernon, Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’, Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’Abernon Written and fact-checked by Article History Quick Facts Born: April 22, 1916, New York, New York, U.S. Died: March 12, 1999, Berlin, Germany (aged 82) Awards And Honors: Kennedy Center Honors (1986) Grammy Award (1977) Grammy Award (1967) Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’Abernon (born April 22, 1916, New York, New York, U.S.—died March 12, 1999, Berlin, Germany) was one of the leading violin virtuosos of the 20th century. Menuhin grew up in San Francisco, where he studied violin from age four and where his performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto at age seven caused a sensation. He studied in Paris under the violinist and composer Georges Enesco, who deeply influenced his playing style and who remained a lifelong friend. As a teenager he toured widely, winning admiration both for his technical proficiency and for his musical interpretation. (Later in Menuhin’s concert career, critics complained of technical problems with his playing; even so, he was always regarded as being a highly interpretive musician who played with great feeling.) In 1936 he retired from performing for 18 months of study, then resumed concert activity. During World War II Menuhin performed some 500 concerts for Allied troops, and in 1945 he and composer Benjamin Britten went to Germany to perform a series of concerts, including several concerts given at Bergen-Belsen for recently liberated inmates of that concentration camp. Menuhin gained note for introducing into his concerts rarely performed and new music, such as that by composer Béla Bartók. He commissioned Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin. He moved to London in 1959 and in 1963 opened the Yehudi Menuhin School for musically gifted children at Stoke d’Abernon, Surrey. Also during the 1960s, Menuhin widened his musical scope and began conducting, going on to conduct most of the major world orchestras. In addition, he presided over the annual music festivals at Gstaad, Switzerland (from 1957); and Bath (1959–68) and Windsor (1969–72), England. In 1966 at Bath and in 1967 at the United Nations, Menuhin performed duets with the noted Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, who composed the solo piece Prabhati for him. He also ventured into the jazz genre with recordings made with jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. By the 1990s Menuhin had retired from playing violin and was conducting exclusively. In 1965 Menuhin was granted knighthood, but he did not receive the title until 1985, when he became a British citizen. He received the Order of Merit in 1987 and was made a life peer in 1993. He was involved with numerous causes promoting environmental issues and social justice, in addition to being a prolific writer. His publications include a collection of essays, Theme and Variations (1972); works for musical instruction, Violin: Six Lessons (1972) and Violin and Viola (1976; with William Primrose and Denis Stevens); The Music of Man (1979; with Curtis W. Davis); and an autobiography, Unfinished Journey (1977; released with four additional chapters in 1997 as Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later). ***Great violinists: Yehudi Menuhin 22 April 2024 No comments Save articlePlease Sign in to your account to use this feature Julian Haylock examines the player whose openness and sincerity gave even lighter music a profound emotional resonance MENUHIN Discover more Featured Stories like this in The Strad Playing Hub This article appeared in the November 2009 issue of The Strad The most musically gifted violin prodigy of his generation, Yehudi Menuhin was one of the deﬁning ﬁgures in 20th-century culture. From jamming with Stéphane Grappelli to conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with his feet, he devoted his life to breaking down musical barriers. Chronology 1916 Born in New York 1924 Public debut with Bériot’s Scène de ballet 1929 Makes ﬁrst solo recordings for HMV 1932 Records Elgar Concerto with the composer conducting 1939 Plays over 500 concerts for the Allies during World War II 1951 Discovers yoga 1959 Masterminds the Bath Festival 1963 Establishes Yehudi Menuhin School 1985 Becomes a British citizen 1999 Dies in Berlin, aged 82 PEDAGOGICAL BACKGROUND Menuhin’s ﬁrst teacher was Sigmund Anker, an authoritarian ﬁgure who between 1921 and 1923 kept his young charge on a tight rein. Louis Persinger then took over and saw Menuhin through the remainder of his early prodigyhood. ‘When I began it was pure instinct,’ Menuhin later recalled. ‘I had the knack, the gift, the will.’ So important was Persinger to Menuhin that when the teacher moved from San Francisco to New York in 1925, the whole Menuhin family followed him. ‘He demonstrated and I imitated,’ was how Menuhin neatly encapsulated his lessons with Persinger. The following year the family travelled to Europe, but when Ysa e (Persinger’s teacher) offered to provide him with some ﬁrm technical discipline, Menuhin turned him down. ‘Music was something very alive to me,’ he later reﬂected, ‘an essential means of expression, and I suspect that unending hours of work on dull material might well have blunted rather than polished my interpretation of it.’ Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the technical frailties Menuhin suffered from in later life might well have been avoided had he taken Ysa e’s advice. However, in 1927 Menuhin began lessons with his hero George Enescu, with whom he struck up an instant rapport despite an age gap of 35 years: ‘What I received from Enescu was the note transformed into vital message, the phrase given shape and meaning, the structure of music made vivid.’ In 1929 and 1930 Menuhin also had a series of consultations with Adolph Busch. ‘Without him,’ he fondly remembered, ‘I would not have been able to understand and penetrate the spirit and heart of that music of mists and forests, of drama and contained passion.’ TECHNIQUE AND INTERPRETATIVE STYLE Menuhin captured the emotion of the moment like no other violinist. His unvarnished emotional openness and sincerity spoke directly from the heart to the heart. In Menuhin’s hands the violin became a natural extension of his being, it gave voice to his most intimate feelings and revealed his inner soul with poignant eloquence. At the peak of his form he gave transcendent performances that produced the strange impression of the music ﬂowing through him, as though there were no mechanics involved at all. That said, the pyrotechnics of violin playing were to become a sword in Menuhin’s side for much of his later career. By his own admission, up until 1936, when he was already 20 years of age, he had survived on sheer musical instinct and natural ability. His technique had evolved naturally out of a compelling desire to make music at an astonishing level of maturity for one so young. It was the realisation that he could not continue indeﬁnitely surviving on inspiration and adrenaline alone that he now began, in effect, relearning the instrument in an attempt to rationalise what had so far come completely naturally. So natural was Menuhin’s prodigious talent that he sounded completely at home in virtually any style The pull between Menuhin the supremely natural musician and Menuhin the executant violinist lies at the heart of the problems that would occasionally beset him in later life. By the 1970s his concert appearances ranged from blazing triumphs of musical incandescence to spiritually uplifting performances compromised by technical discomfort. Judged by the very highest standards, Menuhin’s technique was not ostentatiously brilliant: his intonation could be less than ringingly pure, his bow strokes were not strikingly melliﬂuous, the coordination between his left and right hands rarely blemishless. Yet none of this seemed to matter given Menuhin’s profound artistry and mesmerising stage presence. SOUND To experience the Menuhin sound at its most natural, his pre-war recordings are essential listening. Here the sound is uniquely direct in its plangent chasteness, and it’s as though one is listening to a human voice, with no sensation of sophisticated technical airs and graces. Read: The Fulton collection: Magnificent obsession Watch: Yehudi Menuhin getting married STRENGTHS So natural was Menuhin’s prodigious talent that he sounded completely at home in virtually any style. He never used music for mere display but always sought to reveal the inner soul of even the lightest of musical pleasantries. WEAKNESSES Menuhin’s inspirational art was dependent above all on capturing the moment as if spellbound by its divine majesty. In later years, this left him vulnerable to technical fallibilities, especially in the lower half of the bow. INSTRUMENTS AND BOWS Menuhin amassed a large number of instruments and bows during his career, many of which (over a hundred) were auctioned at a famous Sotheby’s sale in November 1999. His collection ranged from a small Stefano Scarampella to an 1862 Jean Baptiste Vuillaume to ﬁne examples by Lorenzo and Tomaso Carcassi. The instruments with which he was most closely associated included the 1733 ‘Prince Khevenhüller’ Stradivari, which he was presented with when he was twelve years old, the 1714 ‘Soil’, now owned by Itzhak Perlman, and no fewer than six violins by Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, most notably the 1739 ‘Menuhin’ and two magniﬁcent 1742 instruments, the ‘Menuhin’ and the ‘Lord Wilton’. His father bought him three Sartory bows, and he also owned distinguished examples by Tourte (c.1810), Peccatte and Kittel. REPERTOIRE At the core of Menuhin’s repertoire lay the Austro-German classics. On peak form he imbued the concertos of Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bruch, Brahms and Berg with a noble intensity and sense of spiritual grandeur that for a whole generation of listeners and concert-goers virtually deﬁned what this music was all about. Yet it was the way he found profound emotional resonances in music of less exalted quality that was perhaps his greatest gift. No violinist has performed Paganini’s D major Concerto with such heartfelt dignity and expressive ardour, nor the concertos of Bloch, Sibelius, Delius and (most especially) Nielsen. He was a master of centralist 20th-century music – his Bartók is so deeply insightful that one can’t imagine why he didn’t record the two Prokoﬁev concertos or the Glazunov. Menuhin was also a deeply committed chamber music player, both in accompanied music (as witness his many ﬁne recordings with his sister, Hephzibah) and in ensemble. One particularly happy outcome of his many distinguished orchestral recordings is his glorious playing of the Bourrée classique violin solo from Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. *** ebay folder220 + 222