The Man

A visionary & artist

Yehudi Menuhin was a rich enigma: a gentle spirit tied to an implacable will: a perfectionist who loved amateurs and young beginners; an ascetic who relished down-to-earth pleasures.

A visionary who got things done.

A man who could not forget, perhaps never quite came to terms with, the extraordinarily gifted child he had been and, in some ways, remained.

An artist who believed the music he played to be, quite literally, a form of human healing, out of which we might make peace with ourselves.

A timeline of his life

From child prodigy to one of the 20th century’s finest and most celebrated artists, Yehudi Menuhin’s legacy lives on. In 2016, the centenary of his birth was celebrated by many special events and concerts (see the timeline), a BBC Four documentary film Who's Yehudi, and a highly acclaimed Warner Classics boxed set The Menuhin Century.

1916
1930
1939
1957
1980
1999 +

The Prodigy


1916 - 1929
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1916


1918


1920


"When I began it was pure instinct. I had the knack, the gift, the will."

Yehudi Menuhin

1921


1923


"I was, in some ways, the pupil of Persinger’s abandoned dreams."

Yehudi Menuhin

1924


1925


"The lad, looking smaller than ever in his vast surroundings, filled them with his personality and his genius. The tremendous audience, much as it knew what to expect, was amazed and inflamed at his performance."

Alexander Fried

1926


1927


1928


"Bach he advised me to play strictly, for he said that however strong your emotional impulse may be, it should never destroy the basic pace nor twist the overall form of the piece from its architectural shape."

Yehudi on his teacher, Enesco

1929

Jeunesse dorée


1930 - 1938
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1931


"The way that boy plays my concerto is amazing."

Elgar to Delius

1932


1933


1935


1936 - 1937


1937


1938

War and Peace


1939 - 1956
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1939


1940


1941 - 1942


"I did not think that music could be played like that until long after the composer was dead"

Bartók

1943


"We request that you definitely cancel all arrangements for Menuhin concerts up to and including 13 October. His presence in Europe with fighting troops at this critical juncture of the war is essential in its effect upon their morale and most important."

General Eisenhower cables from Supreme Headquarters

1944


1945


"I had dreamt of conducting an orchestra since the age of eleven."

Yehudi Menuhin

1946


1947


1948


1949


"Precisely because I played in Berlin I wish to play in Israel. As to threats, they cannot put me off. If there are people who wish to hear me, I’ll come and play."

Cable from Menuhin to the Israeli impresario, Baruch Gillon.

1950


1951


1952


1954


1955


1956

Festivals and Festivities


1957 - 1979
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1957


"It has taken some years for the work of Bartók to command the respect and reverence they now receive. … Little known or unknown works have in my experience always acted as a stimulus to artist, audience and connoisseur alike."

Article on new music, London "Sunday Times"

1959


1963


1965


"To be present, as I have been, at a ‘chamber music’ recital by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, each goading the other to new heights of invention, is an experience more magical than almost any in the world. One is in the presence of creation."

Yehudi Menuhin

1966


1969


1970


"People would come to me when I was walking in the streets of Moscow and shove a little piece of paper in my hand surreptitiously, just telling me how much they appreciated it."

Yehudi Menuhin

1971


1972


1973


1975


1976


1977


1978


1979

Music's Ambassador to the World


1980 - 1999
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1980


1981


1982


"Anything that one wants to do really and one loves doing, one must do every day. It should be as easy to the artist and as natural as flying is to a bird. And you can't imagine a bird saying, ‘Well, I’m tired today. I’m not going to fly.’ "

Yehudi Menuhin

1983


1985


1987


1989


1991


1992


1993


1994


"with an excellent black choir. Before the audience would let us leave, the choir broke quite spontaneously into some of their own traditional songs"

Yehudi Menuhin

1995


1996


1997


1998


1999

After Menuhin's Death


1999 to Present Day
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1999


2000


2001


2002 - 2006


2003


2004


2006


2007


2008


2010


2012


2013–2016


2014


2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022