Boris Sergeevich Kamensky (15 November 1870 – 21 September 1949)Janchevski, N.D. "Vozrozhdenie." (#13) Paris, 1951. Obituary. was a violinist from the Russian Empire. Born in

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, son of a director of a commercial bank, Kamensky made his first appearance in concerts at the age of nine. He was noticed as a talented violinist by

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...

Concert programmes for concerts held on 9 November 1908, 21 November 1908, 26 November 1908, 29 November 1908, 2 December 1908 and 4 December 1908 at the Bechstein Hall, London, provided by the Wigmore Hall Archive. and he started taking lessons with him. He went on to study at the

Saint Petersburg State Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory () (formerly known as the Petrograd Conservatory and Leningrad Conservatory) is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members ...

(now the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory) with

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer (; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Auer was born in ...

, and he had ensemble classes with

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein, who founded the Moscow Conservatory. As a pianist, Rubinstein ran ...

; Drinker Bowen, Catherine. "Free artist – the story of Anton and Nicholas Rubinstein." 1939, Random House, New York. pp. 302. and then he studied with

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

in Berlin. Kamensky was appointed as

Concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

in the orchestra of the St Petersburg Imperial Russian Musical Society and he became first violin of Tzar Nicholas II.Armstrong, Glenn / Harari, Jean-Marc. "Coup d’Archet." 'Michèle Auclair / Jacqueline Bonneau: Bartok no. 1, Prokofiev no 2 violin sonatas.' Coup LP/CD011. 2002. http://www.coupdarchet.com/catalogue/product/4-coup-011-michele-auclair-jacqueline-bonneau.html He was one of the founding members of the St Petersburg String Quartet, which was maintained by Helena Pavlovna's grandson, Duke George Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whilst appearing as soloist at the concerts of the

Russian Musical Society The Russian Musical Society (RMS) () was the first music school in Russia open to the general public. It was launched in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and Anton Rubinstein, one of the few notable Russian pianists and composers of th ...

in various cities in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The Quartet played old Italian instruments made by the

Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati ...

family which had taken years for the Duke to find. Despite the exceptional qualities of the instruments, it took over 500 rehearsals before the artists successfully achieved exactly the right equilibrium of tone. The Quartet initially played at the Duke's palace, where only select society was able to attend. The Duke was encouraged to let the Quartet give public concerts and as a result, it made its début in 1897 in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The Quartet became very famous in Russia and then started touring around Europe. Kamensky married Maria Apakidze and they had a daughter, Irina in 1907. He was so passionate about his violin that on the eve of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, when he was forced to leave the country and faced with the choice between taking his wife or his violin, he chose his

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

. He fled to Paris and became a professor at the Russian Conservatory (now the Rachmaninov Conservatory) and he gave private lessons (pupils included

Michèle Auclair Michèle Auclair (Paris, 16 November 1924 – Paris, 10 June 2005) was a French violinist and teacher. Michèle Auclair was born into a family with sense for arts and culture. Her first teacher was Line Talluel and later, at the Conservatoire de P ...

, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Nejiko Suwa and Jean Fournier). He subsequently married Ksenia Vladimirovna. Kamensky is buried at the

Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery () is part of the ''Cimetière de Liers'' and is called the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, close to Paris, France. History The ''Cimetière de Liers'' was created as the se ...

in Paris.

Selected performance reviews

NIZHNY NOVGOROD "The ensemble of the four artists is simply wonderful. It is impossible to explain in words the perfection of their masterful playing, one must hear them to understand the power and brilliance of their interpretation of the pure quartette music. They represent one whole, one soul. It seems like one instrument in the hands of a maestro, in whose power it is to easily transmit the musical beauties, enrapturing the audience with the purity of tone, either dying away to the hardly audible pianissimo, or growing to the greatest forte. Many years work were required to create such a perfect musical ensemble. The execution of the artists merits the highest praise, acquainting the Russian public with the works of the great composers." POLTAWA "Nothing surpasses their playing as regard to the ensemble, transparency and artistic interpretation. The four artists play like one person. They master their instruments exquisitely and achieve even a still greater mastery of themselves." KISHINEFF "Although their playing sounds like one great instrument, it is nevertheless not a bit mechanical, for each artist retains his own individuality." OREL "The concert was of such deep interest, both on account of the serious programme and also on account of the popularity of the artists, that we can note it as one of the most important events in our musical life." SARATOFF "I heard the celebrated Quartet for the first time and the impression received excelled by far my expectation. One can hardly imagine a greater harmony of interpretation. Listening to the Quartet I had the impression that I heard a small, wonderfully harmonious orchestra, an orchestra, where every musician is a great and thorough artist. In forte, the orchestra surprises you with its strength and power and in piano it charms your ear with tenderness of tone and the finest achievement. During the whole performance here is the impression of great nobility and deep reverence for the authors. There is not the slightest wish of any of the artists to exhibit himself, not the least striving for cheap effects. Strange as it may seem, this is so seldom found in music."

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20091009165547/http://www.thestrad.com/nStory.asp?id=999 * http://www.concertprogrammes.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/4331 * https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/arts/music/nejiko-suwa-and-joseph-goebbelss-gift.html?pagewanted=all * http://www.coupdarchet.com/catalogue/product/4-coup-011-michele-auclair-jacqueline-bonneau.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamensky, Boris Violinists from the Russian Empire Russian male violinists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France 1870 births 1949 deaths Musicians from Mykolaiv