In this episode Rayne discusses Norbet Braimin She is a student journalist with us on a placement organised by the Oxford University Career Services. This article was edited using the ChatGPT.
🎧 listen to Rayne’s backstory here - she discusses her motivation & research as well.
Rayne also wrote a short article about Norbet Braimin with a summary inforgraphic - A quick 2 minute read.
Norbert Brainin, 1923-2005, was one of the most accomplished and celebrated classical musicians of his day. Born in Vienna to Jewish parents. He was raised with a passion for music, being gifted a violin for his seventh birthday. In 1938, Hitler’s Anschluss with Austria. It posed a threat to Austrian Jewish communities. Like many, Brainin was forced to flee. With his siblings and uncles (who had raised them since their parents’ deaths) he fled to London.
Here, Brainin took up studies with violinist Carl Flesch, although this would be cut short. During the Second World War Flesch fled to Rotterdam. Where he was later killed. Brainin himself was forced to spend time in a British internment camp as an ‘enemy alien’. After leaving the camp. He resumed his studies with Flesch’s assistant. Max Rostal, along with Peter Schidlof (violinist, later violist) and Siegmund Nissel (violinist). Like Brainin, Nissel and Schidlof were also Viennese Jewish refugees.
In 1946, Brainin became the first person to win the Carl Flesch competition. An international competition for violinists. In 1947, Brainin, Schidlof, and Nissel, along with Martin Lovett as cellist, debuted as a quartet. In 1948, the quartet played their first concert in London. Their name changed from the ‘Brainin Quartet’ to the ‘Amadeus Quartet’. It was by this name that they would come to be known.
For the next forty years. The quartet would tour around the world playing classical music. Becoming widely renown for their talent. This included Brainin’s receipt of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to music. The death of Peter Schidlof in 1987 prompted the surviving three members to disband. Though Brainin continued to perform as a soloist, including a concert in Alabama in 1993 in memory of Martin Luther King. Brainin is often remembered for both his commitment to music and his sense of humour. He died of cancer in 2005.
Thank you for reading a A4R 🎨 Post. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family.