Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’Abernon

Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’Abernon (born April 22, 1916, New York, New York, U.S.—died March 12, 1999, Berlin, Germany) was one of the leading violin virtuosos of the 20th century.

Menuhin grew up in San Francisco, where he studied violin from age four and where his performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto at age seven caused a sensation. He studied in Paris under the violinist and composer Georges Enesco, who deeply influenced his playing style and who remained a lifelong friend. As a teenager he toured widely, winning admiration both for his technical proficiency and for his musical interpretation. (Later in Menuhin’s concert career, critics complained of technical problems with his playing; even so, he was always regarded as being a highly interpretive musician who played with great feeling.) In 1936 he retired from performing for 18 months of study, then resumed concert activity. During World War II Menuhin performed some 500 concerts for Allied troops, and in 1945 he and composer Benjamin Britten went to Germany to perform a series of concerts, including several concerts given at Bergen-Belsen for recently liberated inmates of that concentration camp.

Menuhin gained note for introducing into his concerts rarely performed and new music, such as that by composer Béla Bartók. He commissioned Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin. He moved to London in 1959 and in 1963 opened the Yehudi Menuhin School for musically gifted children at Stoke d’Abernon, Surrey. Also during the 1960s, Menuhin widened his musical scope and began conducting, going on to conduct most of the major world orchestras. In addition, he presided over the annual music festivals at Gstaad, Switzerland (from 1957); and Bath (1959–68) and Windsor (1969–72), England. In 1966 at Bath and in 1967 at the United Nations, Menuhin performed duets with the noted Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, who composed the solo piece Prabhati for him. He also ventured into the jazz genre with recordings made with jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. By the 1990s Menuhin had retired from playing violin and was conducting exclusively.

In 1965 Menuhin was granted knighthood, but he did not receive the title until 1985, when he became a British citizen. He received the Order of Merit in 1987 and was made a life peer in 1993.

He was involved with numerous causes promoting environmental issues and social justice, in addition to being a prolific writer. His publications include a collection of essays, Theme and Variations (1972); works for musical instruction, Violin: Six Lessons (1972) and Violin and Viola (1976; with William Primrose and Denis Stevens); The Music of Man (1979; with Curtis W. Davis); and an autobiography, Unfinished Journey (1977; released with four additional chapters in 1997 as Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later).