Roots and branches - The story of Lipót Auer

Lipót Auer (1845-1930), violinist, conductor and music teacher, is a defining figure in the musical life of the world. Europe, Russia and the United States are proud of the Hungarian musician. In a few decades, the boy from Veszprém became the tsar's court solo violinist, a state councilor with a noble rank, a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and a director-conductor of the Russian Music Society. Countries, kings and sultans competed to hear his game. He was awarded with honors from the Meiningen Cross through the French Order of Honor to the Order of Merit of St. Vladimir. After the Russian Revolution, the U.S. welcomed him with open arms: he became head of department at the world’s number one art school, the Juilliard Graduate School of Music (New York) and the Curtis Institute (Philadelphia). He even performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of 80. The most famous composers and instrumental artists of the age were proud of his friendship: Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Sarasate, Rimsky-Korsakov, Francis Liszt. A multitude of world-famous musicians have emerged: Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein and we could continue the long line of violin virtuosos. Auer was an artist and teacher alike, Christian and Jewish, Russian and American. And of course Hungarian, as he confessed: "the affiliation of every artist is decided by the Hungarian nugget".