Adolph Brodsky

Adolph Davidovich Brodsky ( _ru. Адольф Давидович Бродский, "Adolf Davidovič Brodskij"; OldStyleDate|2 April|1851|21 March - January 22 1929) was a Russian violinist.

He was born in Taganrog on the Sea of Azov. His grandfather and father were also violinists. He started music lessons at the age of five, a year after he first played his first violin, which he had bought at a fair. For four years he was taught music in his home town. Aged nine, he gave his first concert in Odessa, where a wealthy person heard him and was so impressed that they provided Brodsky with the funds to study in Vienna. In 1860, he started his studies at the Vienna Conservatory with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr. In Vienna, Brodsky met fellow student Hans Richter, with whom he became friends. Hellmesberger gave Brodsky the opportunity to play at numerous concerts and invited him to join the Hellmesberger Quartet to play second violin.

From 1866 to 1868 Brodsky was a member of the court orchestra. After ten years in Vienna, he toured for four years giving concerts. (One source says he toured Europe, another says Russia). After the tour he settled in Moscow in 1873. Contrary to what some source say, he did not study with Ferdinand Laub. [Adolph Brodsky article in the Musical Times] In 1875, Brodsky became second professor of violin at the Moscow Conservatory, where he remained for four years.

In 1880 he married Anna L'vovna Skadovskaya in Sebastopol. On December 4, 1881, Brodsky premiered Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in Vienna, under the baton of Hans Richter. Brodsky was the dedicatee of the concerto, after Leopold Auer rejected it as unplayable.

Later on, in 1883, after Henry Schradieck moved to the College of Music of Cincinnati, Brodsky was called to fill his position at the Leipzig Conservatoire. He remained in Leipzig until 1891. He formed there his own string quartet, the Brodsky Quartet [The namesake Brodsky Quartet founded in 1973 was an unrelated later group of players, who chose the name in honour of Adolph Brodsky because the members all came from the Manchester area.] with Hugo Becker, Hans Sitt, and Julius Klengel. It was to this quartet that Sir Edward Elgar dedicated his "String Quartet in E minor", Op. 83 (1918).

In October 1891, Walter Damrosch invited Brodsky to become concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra [Famous violinists of today and yesterday, p. 264] He was replaced in Leipzig by Arno Hilf. Brodsky settled in New York City with his wife. In 1894, after three years in the United States, he returned to Europe, with a short stay in Berlin; while he was there Sir Charles Hallé invited him to Manchester to teach at the Royal Manchester College of Music, and direct the Hallé Orchestra. He taught at the College from 1895 until his death, becoming principal in 1896. It was in England that he changed the spelling of his first name to Adolph.

While he was in Leipzig, he held a Christmas dinner, at which Johannes Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Edvard Grieg met. This sparked a friendship between Tchaikovsky and Grieg, who held high esteem for each other. (Brahms and Tchaikovsky, however, never liked or understood each other's music, although they had cordial and respectful relations personally.)

Brodsky was in possession of a Guarnerius violin, previously owned by Charles Philippe Lafont. [Famous violinists of today and yesterday, p. 82]

References

cite journal
quotes =
author = Unknown Author
date = 1903-4-1
title = Adolph Brodsky
journal = Musical Times
volume = 44
issue = 722
pages = 225–227
doi = 10.2307/902923
id =
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4666%2819030401%2944%3A722%3C225%3AAB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A&size=SMALL
format =
accessdate = 2006-10-10

Notes

External links

* [http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0500brodsky.html Bio]
* [http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2000/06/bwhappy.htm About the encounter of Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Grieg]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp00570&desc=&eDate=&grp=&lDate=&medium=drawing&name=&occ=32%3BMusic&search=as Portraits of Adolph Brodsky in the National Portrait Gallery]
*gutenberg|no=14884|name=Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday by Henry Charles Lahee by Henry C. Lahee (Project Gutenberg free e-book)
* [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1330/Brodsky-Adolfz.html Biography]