Louis Kaufman

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Louis Kaufman (May 10, 1905, Portland, Oregon – February 9, 1994, Los Angeles, California) was an American violinist and possibly the most recorded musical artist of the 20th century. He played the soundtrack on as many as 500 movies and over 100 musical recordings. He is also credited with reviving the music of Antonio Vivaldi with his recording of The Four Seasons in 1950, which won the Grand Prix du Disque.

With the recommendation of Maud Powell and Efrem Zimbalist, Kaufman started at the age of 13 to study with Franz Kneisel in New York City at the Institute of Musical Art, now Juilliard. He played the violin with the Musical Art Quartet from 1926 to 1933. His solo recital debut at New York's Town Hall in 1928 won him the Naumburg Award.

Subsequently, he performed chamber music with Pablo Casals, Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Efrem Zimbalist.

He was an accomplished violinist, playing 15-minute radio recitals when he was asked to play the soundtrack for Ernst Lubitsch's movie The Merry Widow; this performance opened up a long career in performing soundtracks for Hollywood films, including such classics as Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, The Diary of Anne Frank, Wuthering Heights, The Grapes of Wrath, and Spartacus. It is variously estimated that he made 400 solo performances for movies and acted as the concertmaster for several hundred.

He also premiered a number of notable 20th century composers, including works by Aaron Copland, Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Samuel Barber's violin concerto.

He and his wife, the pianist Annette Kaufman (née Leibole) often performed together. In September of 2003, she published the book A Fiddler's Tale - How Hollywood and Vivaldi Discovered Me (ISBN 0-299-18380-7), crediting Louis as her co-author.

The couple donated a large collection of personal papers to the Library of Congress in 2000, which included papers from such notables as Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Heifetz, and others. They also donated a large art collection to the National Gallery of Art and Syracuse University.