Full Description
This memoir, written by one of the greatest American violinists of the 20th century, recounts an extraordinary life in music. Louis Kaufman was born in 1905 in Portland, Oregon. He studied violin with Franz Kneisl at New York's Institute of Musical Art. He was the original violinist of the Musical Art Quartet (1926-1933) and won the Naumburg Award in 1928, the year of his American solo recital debut in New York's Town Hall. During these early years, he played chamber music with Pablo Casals, Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Gregor Piatigorsky and Efrem Zimbalist, among others. After performing the violin solos for Ernst Lubitsch's 1934 film ""The Merry Widow"", Kaufman became the most sought after violin soloist in Hollywood, playing in some 500 films, including ""Casablanca"", ""Gone With The Wind"", ""The Diary of Anne Frank"", ""Wuthering Heights"", ""The Grapes of Wrath"" and ""Spartacus"". He worked closely with Robert Russell Bennett, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alfred Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Victor Young.
Contents
Bucharest To Portland And Back; I Become A Violinist; New York And Kneisel; More Kneisel-Auer; Graduation; Chamber Music; Musical Art Quartet Is Launched, I Become An Art Collector; Musical Art Quartet; Baltimore And Capri With The Musical Art Quartet; Paris!!!; Musical Art Quartet Italian Concerts - Encore Paris; ""The Real Thing"" - Romance And Annette; Together In Europe - Our Honeymoon; Hometown Triumph And California Here We Come; The Goal-Los Angeles!; The Hollywood Golden Years; Another Aspect Of Hollywood - Art & Music (William Grant Still); Bernard Herrmann, Another View, Anthony Collins; Concert Opportunities; Works Progress Administration (Wpa); Vivaldi Discovers Me; We Meet Francis Poulenc; En Route To France Via Honolulu; En Route To Venice Via Zurich (Paris-Visit With Poulenc); Unfinished Business - Meeting Gian Francesco Malipiero; Brussels Con Moto; Fateful Meeting With Paul Collaer; More Poulenc, More Brussels - Paris Premiere; Introducing Vivaldi To Boston And New York (First American Vivaldi Festival); Unexpected North African Tour; We Meet Samuel Barber, San Francisco; South American Adventures (1952); Utrecht Recording, War Crimes; Search For Spohr; Paris The Survivor; Maryan; London Adventures In Music And Art; Northern Exposure, Sweden-Denmark; Dag Wir En; Miracle In Milan; Richard Tucker; Recording Torelli In Paris; Los Angeles Again; Recording; Concerts; Erich Wolfgang Korngold Memorial; Adventures Behind The Iron Curtain; Lebduska Mystery; Cousin Mico Sculptor; The Dybbuk; Devil To Produce (1972); Hazardous Travel; From Sicily To Tahiti; Postscript - By Annette Kaufman.
