Overview
Biography
Baron Arthur Grumiaux (French: [gʁy'mjo]; 21 March 1921 – 16 October 1986) was a Belgian violinist.
Early life
Born in the Belgian town of Villers-Perwin, on 21 March 1921, Grumiaux was only three years old when his grandfather urged him to begin music studies. He entered the conservatoire in Charleroi at the age of six; the normal entry age was eleven. He studied violin and piano there until the age of eleven, when he graduated and moved to the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels to study violin.
Career
He variously has been described as having made his debut in Brussels at the age of 14, or in 1935, although his debut is more commonly said to have occurred in 1940. This performance was made in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic playing Mendelssohn's concerto.
Due to the German invasion of his homeland, he next played publicly after liberation in 1945 with the Allied military entertainment organisation,making his London debut later that year. In 1949 he was appointed professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatoire where he had once studied.He debuted in the United States in Boston, in 1951, and toured the United States in the following year.
In 1973 he was created a baron by King Baudouin of Belgium for his services to music.
Death
He died of a sudden stroke in Brussels in 1986 at the age of 65.
Recordings
Grumiaux had a long-standing relationship with Philips Records, lasting more than 20 years, and recordings are available from them of him performing works by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Michael Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Henryk Wieniawski, and Johan Svendsen.
A recording of Grumiaux's performance of one movement from Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, the "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3, is included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft, as a sample of the culture of Earth.
His violins
He owned both a Guarneri, the "Rose", made by Giuseppe Guarneri in 1744, and a Stradivarius, the "General Dupont", made in 1727.
