Francescatti, Zino
(9th August 1902-17th September 1991)
He was a virtuoso violinist, conductor and teacher born
Rene-Charles Francescatti in Marseilles, France, whose father a violinist
and cellist and his mother also a violinist.Learning the violin from a very young age he debuted
when he was five years old and performed "Violin Concerto in D" by Ludwig
van Beethoven in his solo debut when he was just ten.As he grew older and ventured out
on his musical career he became known by many of the great musicians of his
day and was renowned as being a specialist in Paganini's works.In 1925 he debuted in Paris and the
following year made a tour of England with Maurice Ravel where he would perform
duo recitals with him.Not just as a violinist, but also as
a conductor and teacher, he moved to Paris in 1927 to take a position at
the Ecole Normal de Musique and also lead the Concerts Poulets.Within another four years he found
himself on a world tour and debuting at New York in 1939.Working
as a soloist with many acclaimed orchestras he performed and
recorded with ensembles and artists such as Robert Casadesus, the Lucerne
Festival Strings and the New
York Philharmonic
.No stranger to the recording
studio he was acclaimed for many of his recordings which include
performances of "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch, "Violin
Concerto No. 1" by Paganini, "Violin Concerto in E Minor" by Felix
Mendelssohn
and "Violin
Concerto No. 3" by Camille Saint-Saens to name just a very few.Recognised for his services to
music he received many honours including being made Commander of the Legion
of Honour, grand Officer of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the
Order of Arts and Letters and Commander of the Order of Leopold of Belgium.
In 1991, when he was aged 89
years, he died in La Ciotat in France, leaving behind him the Zino
Francescatti Foundation, which he established in the latter half of the
1970s to provide assistance to young violinists.
