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 Listen to Nathan Milstein performingLudwig van Beethoven's "Violin Concerto in D major" Opus 61 withWilliam Steinberg conducting thePittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1955here on archive.org |
Nathan Mironovich Milstein (Russian:Натан Миронович Мильштейн,romanized: Natan Mironovich Milshteyn; January 13, 1904 [O.S. December 31, 1903] – December 21, 1992) was a Russian-American virtuosoviolinist.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, Milstein was known for his interpretations ofBach's solo violin works and for works from theRomantic period. He was also known for his long career: he performed at a high level into his mid-80s, retiring only after suffering a broken hand.
Milstein was born inOdessa,Russian Empire, as the fourth of seven children in a middle-class Jewish family with no musical background.[1] His mother recognized his early interest in music and encouraged him to take violin lessons at the age of five, hoping it would keep him out of trouble. In 1909, Milstein began studying with Odessa’s most esteemed violin teacher,Pyotr Stolyarsky, and continued with him until the summer of 1914. Among his fellow students was a six-year-oldDavid Oistrakh. When Milstein turned 11,Leopold Auer invited him to become one of his students at theSt. Petersburg Conservatory. Milstein later fondly reminisced about those early years:
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 have been the last Russian violinist to have had personal contact with Auer. Although Auer does not mention Milstein by name in his memoirs, he refers to "two boys from Odessa ... both of whom disappeared after I left St. Petersburg in June 1917."[3] Additionally, Milstein's name does not appear in the registry of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Milstein also studied withEugène Ysaÿe in Belgium. In the documentaryNathan Milstein – In Portrait, Milstein told director Christopher Nupen that he learned very little from Ysaÿe but greatly enjoyed his company. In a 1977 interview published inHigh Fidelity, Milstein stated, "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."[4]
Milstein metVladimir Horowitz and his pianist sister Regina in 1921 when he played a recital inKiev. They invited him for tea at their parents' home. Milstein later said, "I came for tea and stayed three years."[5] Milstein and Horowitz performed together, as "children of the revolution", throughout theSoviet Union and struck up a lifelong friendship. The premiere ofProkofiev'sViolin Concerto No. 1 in theSoviet Union in 1923 is worth noting since it was given just three days after the Paris premiere by two 19-year-olds, Milstein and Horowitz. Horowitz played the orchestral part on the piano. Milstein later wrote in his memoirs,From Russia to the West, "I feel that if you have a great pianist like Horowitz playing with you, you don't need an orchestra."[6] Milstein and Horowitz also introducedKarol Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto at the same concert.[7] In 1925, they went on a concert tour of Western Europe together.
In 1929, Milstein made his American debut withLeopold Stokowski and thePhiladelphia Orchestra. He eventually settled in New York, gaining American citizenship in 1942.[8] He toured repeatedly throughout Europe, maintaining residences in London and Paris. A transcriber and composer, Milstein arranged many works for violin and wrote his owncadenzas for many concertos. He was obsessed with articulating each note perfectly and would often spend long periods of time working out fingerings which would make passages sound more articulated. One of his best-known compositions isPaganiniana, a set of variations on various themes from the works ofNiccolò Paganini.
After playing many different violins in his earlier days, Milstein finally acquired the1716 "Goldman" Stradivarius in 1945 which he used for the rest of his life. He renamed this Stradivarius the "Maria Teresa" in honor of his daughter Maria and his wife Therese. He also performed on the1710 ex-"Dancla" Stradivarius. In 1948,Milstein's recording of Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, withBruno Walter conducting theNew York Philharmonic, was the first recording issued inColumbia'sLP format.[9][10]
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| You may hear Nathan Milstein performingPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky'sViolin Concerto in D major Opus 35 withFrederick Stock conducting theChicago Symphony Orchestra in 1940here on archive.org |
Milstein was awarded theLégion d'honneur by France in 1968 and received aGrammy Award for his recording of Bach'sSonatas and Partitas in 1975. He was also awardedKennedy Center honors by US PresidentRonald Reagan. A recital he gave in Stockholm in June 1986, one of his last performances, was recorded in its entirety[11] and shows the remarkable condition of his technique at age 82. A fall shortly afterward in which he severely broke his left hand ended his career. During the late 1980s, Milstein published his memoirs,From Russia to the West, in which he discussed his life of constant performance and socializing. Milstein discusses the personalities of composers such asAlexander Glazunov,Sergei Prokofiev,Sergei Rachmaninoff andIgor Stravinsky and conductors such asArturo Toscanini and Leopold Stokowski, all of whom he knew personally. He also discusses his best friends, pianist Vladimir Horowitz, cellistGregor Piatigorsky and ballet directorGeorge Balanchine, as well as other violinists such asFritz Kreisler andDavid Oistrakh. Milstein was married to Therese Kaufman, with whom he had one daughter, Maria Bernadette. He died of a heart attack in London on December 21, 1992, 23 days before his 89th birthday.[12] Therese died in 1999 aged 83.
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