Ten Great Violinists Trivia Quiz

Answer: Niccolò Paganini

In his day, Paganini was idolised much as popular musicians are today. Also like them, his often unconventional behaviour and lifestyle did much to enhance his fame and popularity. He died in 1840 of throat cancer, although illness had forced him to give up performing some years previously.

Answer: Joseph Joachim

Joachim was probably the most famous and influential violinist of his time. Other composers, including Schumann, Bruch and Dvorak, wrote concertos for him (although he never performed those of Schumann or Dvorak), and he played a key role in the revival of Beethoven's Concerto in D, op 61.

Answer: Caprice no 24

The "Caprice" no 24 is, of course, by Paganini. "Liebeslied" (Love's Sorrow) and "Liebesfreud" (Love's Joy) are also well known in transcriptions for piano by Rachmaninov. Kreisler also wrote many pieces that were pastiches of other earlier composers, such as Vivaldi, Couperin and Tartini, which he originally claimed were their own, unknown, works. Only in 1935 did he reveal that he was in fact the composer as well as performer.

Answer: Jean Sibelius

The Sibelius Concerto was premiered by the little-known violinist Viktor Novacek, although Heifetz did make the first commercial recording of the revised version (still regarded as one of the best recordings of the work). Of the concertos premiered by Heifetz, that of Walton is generally recognised as the finest.

Answer: David Oistrakh

David Oistrakh, who was born in 1908, died of a heart attack in 1974, a year before his friend Shostakovich. Other Russian composers who dedicated works to him included Miaskovsky, Khachaturian and Prokofiev (his two violin sonatas). His son, Igor, also became a noted violin soloist.

Answer: Yehudi Menuhin

Menuhin began learning the violin in 1919 when he was only three years old, and gave his first performance as a soloist at the age of seven. Born in New York, he became a British citizen in 1985 and was honoured with a life peerage in 1993. He died in 1999 aged 82.

Answer: Carnegie Hall

Stern gave his first performance in Carnegie Hall in 1943. It was due for demolition in 1960, but Stern galvanized a successful campaign to save it that was supported by both musicians and the music-loving public. He was made president of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, which runs the hall, and in 1997 the main concert hall was named the Isaac Stern Auditorium in honour of his efforts.

He died in 2001, aged 81.

Answer: Local bylaws prevented children under 14 from performing on Sundays

To get around the problem, her father claimed she was born in 1924 (rather than 1928), and had just turned 14. Some sources still quote her birth year as 1924 (or even 1923); to an extent that she now routinely takes copies of her birth certificate to interviews.

The incomparable Ida Haendel's performing career has been one of the longest of any great violinist - in 2007, a mere 70 years after her debut there, she performed in London again, this time at the Wigmore Hall with young musicians of the Razumovsky Academy.

Answer: Performing the Berg violin concerto dressed as Dracula

This memorable appearance took place in 1991 during the BBC Symphony Orchestra's 60th anniversary concert, and rather took the spotlight off the orchestra - which is probably what annoyed Drummond as much as anything else. It wasn't until 2008 that Kennedy appeared again at the BBC's Proms Concerts, and even then it was with the rather less prestigious BBC Concert Orchestra. Kennedy's unconventional personal style is balanced by an extraordinary musicianship that enables most critics and audiences to forgive (or at least put up with) his embarrassing behaviour for the sake of the music.

Answer: André Previn

While Anne-Sophie Mutter's early career may have been helped by her photogenic appearance and habit of performing in strapless dresses, the real quality of her playing has ensured lasting critical as well as popular acclaim. Previn, whose fifth wife Mutter was, wrote a violin concerto for her, which they recorded.