Ivan Galamian
Encyclopedia
Ivan Alexander Galamian was an influential Armenian
violin
teacher of the twentieth century.
He was born in Tabriz
, Iran
, but his family soon emigrated to Moscow, Russia. Galamian studied violin at the School of the Philharmonic Society there with Konstantin Mostras
(a student of Leopold Auer
) until his graduation in 1919. He moved to Paris, France, during the Bolshevik Revolution and studied under Lucien Capet
in 1922 and 1923. In 1924 he debuted in Paris. Due to a combination of nerves, health, and a fondness for teaching, Galamian eventually gave up the stage in order to teach full-time. He became a faculty member of the Russian Conservatory in Paris, where he taught from 1925 until 1929. His earliest pupils in Paris include Vida Reynolds, the first woman in the Philadelphia Orchestra's first violin section, and Paul Makanowitzky.
In 1937 Galamian moved permanently to the United States of America. In 1941 he married Judith Johnson in New York City. He taught violin at the Curtis Institute of Music
beginning in 1944, and became the head of the violin department at the Juilliard School
in 1946. He wrote two violin method
books, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching (1962) and Contemporary Violin Technique (1962). Galamian incorporated aspects of both the Russian and French schools of violin technique in his approach. Galamian founded the summer program Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. He died in Manhattan, New York City, at the age of 78.
His most notable teaching assistants — later distinguished teachers in their own right — were Margaret Pardee
, Dorothy DeLay
, Sally Thomas, Pauline Scott, Robert Lipsett
, Lewis Kaplan
, David Cerone
, and Elaine Richey.
Galamian held honorary degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music
, Oberlin College
, and the Cleveland Institute of Music
. He also was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music
, London.
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
teacher of the twentieth century.
He was born in Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, but his family soon emigrated to Moscow, Russia. Galamian studied violin at the School of the Philharmonic Society there with Konstantin Mostras
Konstantin Mostras
Konstantin Georgiyevich Mostras was a Russian violinist, pupil of Boris Sibor, a teacher at the Moscow Philharmonic Society school and at the Moscow Conservatory ....
(a student of Leopold Auer
Leopold Auer
Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, conductor and composer.-Early life and career:...
) until his graduation in 1919. He moved to Paris, France, during the Bolshevik Revolution and studied under Lucien Capet
Lucien Capet
Lucien Louis Capet was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer.-Career:Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes...
in 1922 and 1923. In 1924 he debuted in Paris. Due to a combination of nerves, health, and a fondness for teaching, Galamian eventually gave up the stage in order to teach full-time. He became a faculty member of the Russian Conservatory in Paris, where he taught from 1925 until 1929. His earliest pupils in Paris include Vida Reynolds, the first woman in the Philadelphia Orchestra's first violin section, and Paul Makanowitzky.
In 1937 Galamian moved permanently to the United States of America. In 1941 he married Judith Johnson in New York City. He taught violin at the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
beginning in 1944, and became the head of the violin department at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
in 1946. He wrote two violin method
Method (music)
In music, a method is a kind of textbook for a specified musical instrument or a selected problem of playing a certain instrument.A method usually contains fingering charts or tablatures, etc., scales and numerous different exercises, sometimes also simple etudes, in different keys, in ascending...
books, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching (1962) and Contemporary Violin Technique (1962). Galamian incorporated aspects of both the Russian and French schools of violin technique in his approach. Galamian founded the summer program Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. He died in Manhattan, New York City, at the age of 78.
His most notable teaching assistants — later distinguished teachers in their own right — were Margaret Pardee
Margaret Pardee
-Life:She grew up in Valdosta, Georgia.She graduated from The Juillard School, where she studied with Ivan Galamian, Sascha Jacobsen, Albert Spalding, and Louis Persinger.She teaches at Juillard, and Meadowmount School of Music.She married Daniel Butterly....
, Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay was an American violin instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School.She was born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.-Career and education:...
, Sally Thomas, Pauline Scott, Robert Lipsett
Robert Lipsett
Robert C. Lipsett, birth name "Mister Lipsett" is a renowned violin teacher in Los Angeles, California. He holds the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. He also serves on the faculty at the Aspen School of Music, the Colburn Conservatory and the...
, Lewis Kaplan
Lewis Kaplan
Lewis Kaplan is an American violinist. He was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He resides on the Upper West Side in New York City with his wife, Adria...
, David Cerone
David Cerone
David Cerone was a co-founder of the ENCORE School for Strings, where he co-directed and served as faculty member since 1985. Mr. Cerone serves as a juror for many prominent national and international violin competitions and presents master classes around the world. An active chamber musician, he...
, and Elaine Richey.
Galamian held honorary degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, and the Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....
. He also was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, London.
Notable pupils
- William BarbiniWilliam Barbini-Biography:William Barbini is an American violinist. He took his diploma from Juilliard School in 1970, studying with Ivan Galamian, among others. He thereafter became one of the youngest members selected to the New York Philharmonic violin section...
- James Buswell
- Anker Buch
- Stuart Canin
- Skye Carman
- Jonathan CarneyJonathan CarneyJonathan Carney is a violinist, violist, and conductor noted for his interpretations of Luciano Berio, Michael Nyman, Max Bruch, Johannes Brahms, Jean Sibelius, Felix Mendelssohn, John Cage, Bruno Maderna, Pablo Sarasate, Fritz Kreisler, Krzysztof Penderecki, Paul Hindemith, Philip Glass, Toru...
- Charles Castleman
- Kyung-wha ChungKyung-wha ChungKyung-wha Chung is a Korean violinist.- Biography :Kyung-wha Chung's musical career began at the age of three. Her fame in the seventies and eighties was at the top level, and ranked alongside the great violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman...
- Dona Lee Croft
- Dorothy DelayDorothy DeLayDorothy DeLay was an American violin instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School.She was born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.-Career and education:...
- Glenn DicterowGlenn DicterowGlenn Dicterow , is an American violinist and is currently concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.Mr. Dicterow's musical gifts became apparent when, at age 11, he made his solo debut with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra...
- Ray Dotoratos
- Philippe DjokicPhilippe DjokicPhilippe Djokic is a Canadian violinist, conductor, and music educator of French birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1990.Born in Nancy, France, Djokic was the son of a Serbian father and French mother...
- Eugene FodorEugene FodorEugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr. was the first American violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.Fodor was born in Denver, Colorado. His first ten years of study were with Harold Wippler...
- Miriam Fried
- Erick FriedmanErick FriedmanErick Friedman is considered by many as one of the greatest American born violinists of the past century. Erick Friedman's illustrious career took him to many of the great concert stages of the world appearing as guest soloist with most of the great orchestras throughout the United States and...
- Vincent Frittelli
- Gregory Fulkerson
- Shirley Givens
- Herbert Greenberg
- Betty Jean Hagen
- Kaoru KakudoKaoru KakudoKaoru Kakudo , a violinist born in Japan, who performed internationally in recital and solo orchestral appearances. She was a concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands.-Biography:...
- Dong-Suk KangDong-Suk KangDong-Suk Kang is a South Korean violinist.-Biography:Kang played his first concert at the age of eight. He went to New York in 1967 to study at the Juilliard School and completed his education with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music...
- Martha Strongin KatzMartha Strongin KatzMartha Strongin Katz is a violist and member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches viola and chamber music...
- Ani KavafianAni KavafianAni Kavafian is a classical violinist and professor at the Yale School of Music.Kavafian was born in Istanbul to parents of Armenian descent. In 1956 she moved with her family to Detroit, by which time she had begun playing piano. She began on violin at age nine, studying under Ara Zerounian and...
- Ida KavafianIda KavafianIda Kavafian is a classical violinist and violist.Kavafian was born in Turkey to Armenian parents. She moved with her family to America in 1956, and began studying violin in Detroit at age six...
- Bayla Keyes
- Erica Kiesewetter
- Chin KimChin kimChin Kim is a Korean-born American classical violinist, largely educated in the United States through the Juilliard School, and the Curtis Institute of Music.-Activities:...
- Young Uck Kim
- Constantine Kiradjieff
- Jaime LaredoJaime LaredoJaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
- Isidor LateinerIsidor LateinerIsidor Lateiner was a Cuban/American violinist. He was the brother of pianist Jacob Lateiner....
- Sergiu LucaSergiu LucaSergiu Luca was a Romanian-born American violinist, renowned as an early music pioneer who first introduced playing J. S...
- Roy Malan
- David Montagu
- James Maurer
- David Nadien
- Brad Oviatt
- Itzhak PerlmanItzhak PerlmanItzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
- Daniel Phillips
- Michael RabinMichael Rabin (violinist)Michael Rabin was an American virtuoso violinist whose fame has continued despite his death at the age of 35.Michael Rabin was of Romanian-Jewish descent. His mother Jeanne was a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his father George was a violinist in the New York Philharmonic...
- Gerardo RibeiroGerardo RibeiroProfessor Gerardo Ribeiro , a world renowned concert violinist, had taught at numerous Universities after studies at the Juilliard School of Music with Ivan Galamian in New York City. He won numerous international competitions, and soloed with major world orchestras and venues...
- Eugene Sarbu
- Berl SenofskyBerl SenofskyBerl Senofsky was a violinist of the twentieth century.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Russian immigrant violinists. He received his first music lessons from his father at the age of three. By the time he was six he had won a scholarship to study with Louis Persinger, a...
- Ann Setzer
- Jan Mark Sloman
- Simon StandageSimon StandageSimon Andrew Thomas Standage is an English violinist and conductor best known for playing and conducting music of the baroque and classical eras on original instruments.- Biography and career :...
- Kate Stenberg
- Jim Sitterly
- Arnold SteinhardtArnold SteinhardtArnold Steinhardt , is an American violinist, best known as the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet....
- Arve TellefsenArve TellefsenArve Tellefsen is a Norwegian violinist.He was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway. When he was 6 years old, he began playing the violin in 'Trondheims musikkskole'...
- Sally Thomas
- Gwen ThompsonGwen ThompsonGwendoline Linda Louise Thompson is a Canadian violinist and music educator. She has been a member of two notable chamber music ensembles with whom she has made several commercial recordings: the Masterpiece Trio and Viveza, the latter of which she formed in 1989 with Lee Duckles , Wilmer Fawcett...
- Andor TothAndor TothViolinist Andor John Toth , earned international celebrity as a soloist, concert artist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades...
- Charles Treger
- Donald Weilerstein
- Peter Zazofsky
- Pinchas ZukermanPinchas ZukermanPinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...
Edited works
- Bach, Concerto No. 1 (A Minor). New York: International Music Company, 1960.
- Bach, Concerto No. 2 (E Major). New York: International Music Company, 1960.
- Bach, Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. New York: International Music Company, 1971. (Includes facsimile of the original)
- Brahms, Sonatas, Op. 78, 100, 108. New York: International Music Company.
- Bruch, Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46. New York: International Music Company, 1975.
- Conus, Concerto in E minor. New York: International Music Company, 1976.
- Dont, Twenty-four Etudes and Caprices, Op. 35. New York: International Music Company, 1968.
- Dont, Twenty-four Exercises, Op. 37. New York: International Music Company, 1967.
- Dvořák, Concerto in A minor, Op. 53. New York: International Music Company, 1975.
- Fiorillo, Thirty-six Studies or Caprices. New York: International Music Company, 1964.
- Galaxy Music Company, 1963 and 1966.
- Gaviniés, Twenty-four Studies. New York: International Music Company, 1963.
- Kreutzer, Forty-two Etudes. New York: International Music Company, 1963.
- Mazas, Etudes Speciales, Op. 36 Part 1. New York: International Music Company, 1964.
- Mazas, Etudes Brilliantes, Op. 36 Part 2. New York: International Music Company, 1972.
- Paganini, Twenty-four Caprices. New York: International Music Company, 1973.
- Rode, Twenty-four Caprices. New York: International Music Company, 1962.
- Saint-Saëns, Caprice, Op. 52, No. 6. New York: International Music Company.
- Sinding, Suite in A minor, Op. 10. New York: International Music Company, 1970.
- Tchaikovsky, Three Pieces, Op. 42. New York: International Music Company, 1977.
- Vivaldi, Concerto in A minor. New York: International Music Company, 1956.
- Vivaldi, Concerto in G minor, Op. 12, No. 1. New York: International Music Company, 1973.
- Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Op. 3, No. 11. New York: International Music Company, 1964.
- Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Violins in A minor. Piccioli-Galamian, New York: International Music Company, 1956.
- Vieuxtemps, Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Op. 37, New York: International Music Company, 1957.
- Wieniawski, Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22. New York: International Music Company, 1957.
- Wieniawski, Ecole Moderne, Op. 10. New York: International Music Company, 1973.
Publications
- Galamian (with Neumann), Contemporary Violin Technique, Part I, Scale and Arpeggio Exercises; Part II, Double and Multiple Stops. New York:
- Galamian, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching. Ann Arbor: Shar Products Company