Works by Leopold Auer
Biography
Following his studies under Joseph Joachim and his early successes as a performer, Leopold Auer was appointed professor of violin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He also taught in London and Dresden and was first violinist in many of St. Petersburg’s theatres. He performed with numerous other great musicians of the day including Anton Rubinstein, Anna Yesipova and Raoul Pugno. In 1918 Auer went to the United States where he continued to perform and teach – in 1926 at the Institute of Musical Art (later The Juilliard School) and then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. As a teacher, Leopold Auer was highly regarded and numbered many virtuoso violinists amongst his students – including Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman, Konstanty Gorski and Efrem Zimbalist. To this day he is considered to be one of the most significant teachers of the violin and his books Violin Playing as I Teach It and Violin Master Works and Their Interpretation are held in great esteem. Amongst his own compositions are several works for the violin and cadenzas for famous violin concertos.
He also edited many publications of the standard violin repertoire and transcribed works by, for example, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven for violin and piano.