Adolph Brodsky
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Adolph Brodsky (Russian: Адольф Давидович Бродский, Adolf Davidovič Brodskij; March 21, 1851 - 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 the violin. He later studied at the Vienna Conservatory.
He participated there in the Hellmesberger Quartet, a String Quartet with Joseph Hellmesberger (1st violin), Sigismund Bachrich (viola) and David Popper (cello).
Brodsky was the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, after Leopold Auer rejected it as unplayable. Brodsky premiered the work on December 4, 1881 in Vienna, under the baton of Hans Richter.
Brodsky taught music, first at the Leipzig Conservatoire from 1883 to 1891, and later at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1895 until his death.
While he was in Leipzig, he held a Christmas dinner, in which Brahms, Tchaikovsky and 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 relations personally.)
In October 1891 Brodsky and his wife settled in New York where he played with the New York Symphony Orchestra. After three years he returned to Europe, 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.
[edit] References
Unknown Author (1903-4-1). "Adolph Brodsky". Musical Times 44 (722): 225–227. doi:.
