Totenberg, Roman
Totenberg, Roman
Totenberg, Roman, Polish-born American violinist and pedagogue; b. Lódź, Jan. 1, 1911. He studied violin with Mieczyslaw Michalowicz in Warsaw, Flesch in Berlin, and Enesco in Paris. In 1932 he won the Mendelssohn Prize in Berlin. In 1935-36 he toured Europe with Karol Szymanowski, giving violin-piano recitals; then emigrated to the U.S.; became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. In 1943-44 he taught at the Peabody Cons. of Music in Baltimore. In 1947 he was made chairman of the string dept. at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. He was head of the violin dept. at the Aspen (Colo.) School of Music (1950-60) and a teacher at the Mannes Coll. of Music in N.Y. (1951-57) before serving as prof, of music and chairman of the string dept. at Boston Univ. (1961-78). He then was director of the Longy School of Music (1978-85).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire