Naoum Blinder (July 19, 1889 – November 21, 1965) was a

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 ...

n- American

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and teacher, born in

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(then

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, now

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 ...

Early life and education

He graduated from the Imperial Musical College of

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

at 16, where he studied with Alexander Fiedemann.''Otchet Odesskago Otdeleniya Imperatorskago Russkago Muzykal'nago Obshchestva za 1905-1906 god. (Annual report 1905/1906 of the Imperial Russian Musical College, Odessa) — p. 14''. Odessa 1907 (ru) From 1910 to 1913, he attended the

Royal Manchester College of Music The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893. In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Mu ...

, where he studied with Adolph Brodsky. He then returned to Odessa to teach at the Imperial Conservatory of Odessa, which he did until 1920. Alexander Fiedemann and Naoum Blinder

Violinist career

In 1921 Blinder embarked on a concert tour that included stops in

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Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

among others. In 1926 he went on tour again, this time playing in

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, and

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and Siberia. In 1928 Blinder played seven concerts in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and twenty three other concerts in other Japanese cities. Following this tour, he moved to the United States and began recording for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

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. From 1929 to 1931 Blinder and his wife and daughter remained in New York while he taught at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

. Around this time, Blinder's teenage daughter died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. In 1931,

Issay Dobrowen Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen (; 9 December 1953) Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik, was a Russian/Soviet- Norwegian pianist, composer and conductor. He left the Soviet Union in 1922 and became a Norwegian citizen in 1929. Biography He was bo ...

offered Blinder the concertmaster position at the

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Franci ...

. He accepted and moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

where he also played under

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

and Enrique Jorda. He stayed with the orchestra until eyesight problems forced him to retire in 1957. Blinder also played as a soloist with many orchestras around the country. He co-founded the San Francisco String Quartet (1935), which included members of the orchestra, including his

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

brother, Boris.

Teaching

Blinder was a noted violin teacher as well. His most prominent student was one of the most critically acclaimed violinists of the twentieth century,

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Ukraine, Stern moved to the United States when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union a ...

. At one point, his students included 17 members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the whole first violin section of the

Oakland Symphony Orchestra The Oakland Symphony is an American orchestra based in Oakland, California. The orchestra is resident at the Paramount Theatre (Oakland, California). Founded in 1933, the orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1986. Musicians from the orc ...

. Other students of Blinder have had distinguished careers including David Abel, Austin Reller, and

Glenn Dicterow Glenn Dicterow (born December 23, 1948) is an American violinist and former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music where he holds the Jasch ...

, who was the concertmaster of the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

. Blinder died in

on November 21, 1965, of heart failure, aged 76 years.

Violins Used

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (often shortened to G. B. Guadagnini; 23 June 1711 – 18 September 1786) was an Italian luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history. Reprint with new introduction by Stewart Po ...

, violin 1753c ex-Rauer 1933 * Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, violin 1774 ex-Blinder * Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, violin 1845-50 ex-Blinder

References

* Roth, Henry. ''Great Violinists in Performance. Critical Evaluations of over 100 Twentieth-Century Virtuosi'', Panjamdrum Books, 1987. * Saleski, Gdal. ''Famous Musicians of Jewish Origin'', Bloch Publishing Company, 1949. * Sendrey, Alfred. ''Bibliography of Jewish Music'', Columbia University Press, 1951. * Vodarsky-Shiraeff, Alexandria. ''Russian Composers and Musicians. A biographical Dictionary'', H. W. Wilson, 1940. * Wier, Albert E. ''The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians in One Volume'', Macmillan and Co., 1938.

Notes

External links

Online Archive of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blinder, Naoum Classical violinists from the Russian Empire Male classical violinists Soviet classical violinists 20th-century American classical violinists Jewish classical musicians Jewish American classical musicians Jews from the Russian Empire Soviet Jews 1889 births 1965 deaths People from Yevpatoria Soviet emigrants to the United States 20th-century American male musicians Concertmasters Players of the San Francisco Symphony