ABSTRACT
The great success of the Soviet violin school is partially ascribed to the fact that in the former Soviet Union, the best players were also teachers. The Odessa violin school, centered around the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine, was another influential hotbed for producing first-class violinists. Ukrainian violinist Pyotr Stolyarski was a pivotal figure in the establishment of Odessa’s branch of the Soviet school. Stolyarski used the strategy of psychophysical memorization extensively, which was one of the trademarks of the Soviet violin school. Abram Yampol’sky, who studied violin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with one of Auer’s assistants, Sergey Korguyev, brought a new level of artistic expertise to the Soviet violin school by incorporating innovative ideas into the traditional Russian violin school of Wieniawski and Auer. Konstantin Mostras graduated with honors from the Moscow Philharmonic School of Music in 1913. Yankelevich also nurtured generations of chamber and orchestral musicians and teachers.
