The Russian Violin School ─ The Legacy of Yuri Yankelevich

The Russian school of violin playing produced many of the twentieth century's leading violinists - from the famed disciples of Leopold Auer such as Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, and Mischa Elman to masters of the Soviet years such as David Oistrakh and Leonid Kogan. Though descendants of this school of playing are found today in every major orchestra and university, little is known about the pedagogical traditions of the Russian, and later Soviet, violin school.

Masha Lankovsky's translation reveals the methodology of one of the most important teachers of the Soviet Union, becoming the first English translation of the Russian book,Pedagogicheskoe Nasledie [Pedagogical Legacy], and the only English text documenting the pedagogical principles of the Russian school of violin. Lankovsky's translation,The Russian Violin School: The Legacy of Yuri Yankelevich, is a collection of writing by Yuri Yankelevich (1909 - 1973) published posthumously in 1983 by Muzyka and essays about the esteemed Russian violin pedagogue.

Considered one of the most important violin teachers in twentieth century Russia, Yankelevich taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1936 to 1973. Yankelevich was an heir to the great traditions of this school of violin playing, and his students include over forty first-prize winners in international competitions. He contributed a significant amount of methodological work to the pedagogical literature and was known for his systematic and analytical approach to playing. Yankelevich's original essays skillfully provide an examination of two important components of violin technique; shifting positions, and positioning the violinist's hands and arms. The essays by prominent Russian violinists provide unique first-hand historical and biographical documentation of Soviet pedagogical traditions. As the first access in the English-speaking West to this influential technique,The Russian Violin School will be of essential and lasting use to teachers and students of the violin, and to professional performers as well.

Considered one of the most important violin teachers in 20th century Russia, Yuri Yankelevich (1909 - 1973) taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1936 to 1973. He contributed a significant amount of methodological work to the pedagogical literature and was known for his systematic and analytical approach. Yankelevich was an heir to the great traditions of the Russian violin school (later known as the Soviet violin school) and his students included over forty first-prize winners in international competitions.

Masha Lankovsky (translator) was educated in the tradition of the Russian violin school, completing her Bachelors and Masters degrees at Indiana University under the tutelage of Nelli Shkolnikova, a pupil of Yankelevich. She has extensively researched the traditions of the Russian violin school and received her doctorate from the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a concertizing violinist and active teacher, serving on the faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music where she is also Director of the Classical Division.