From time to time at MCN I will share with you what I have learned about major musicians of the past. Today, I want to tell you about violinist Norbert Brainin:
Norbert Brainin
Photo of Brainin with the Amadeus Quartet
Norbert Brainin was the first violinist of the Amadeus Quartet, one of the world’s most highly regarded string quartets.
Because of Brainin’s Jewish origin, he was driven out of Vienna after Hitler‘s Anschluss of 1938, as were the violinist Siegmund Nissel and violist Peter Schidlof. Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp. Like many Jewish refugees they had the misfortune to be confined by the British as “enemy aliens” after reaching the UK.
Born: March 12, 1923, Vienna, Austria
Died: April 10, 2005, London, United Kingdom
Here is the Amadeus Quartet in the String Quintet KV 516 by Mozart:
