Evening star., 1939-09-03
Youth Named
ViOlinist
Ossy Renardy, 18,
Takes Rank as
Master Soloist

most outstanding personal success
of any soloist on this summers
Water Gate concerts, has been en-
gagged to appear with the National
Symphony Orchestra on the Sum-
day concert of March "a at Consti-
tuition Hall, Conductor Hans Kinder
announced today. Mr.. Renardy
thereby takes his place with the
previously announced Albert Spald-
ing as one Of the two violinists to
be heard as soloists with the Or
chestra during its coming winter
series.
violinists to be heard as soloists with
the orchestra during its coming win
ter series.
Although Renardy had made q
truly sensational American debut at
Town Hall, New York, late in 1897,
and was the veteran of two United
States concert tours. little was
known of him in Washington when
he arrived here for his first appear
ance with the National Symphony
Orchestra on the Water Gate con-
cert of July 26. However, once he
had stepped upon the stage and put
bow to strings, there was no doubt
in the mind of any one in the audi
ence that he was in the presence of
a master of the violin, and q great
master at that. The enthusiastic
response which greeted his playing
Of Paganinis Concerto in D
Major" was of the sort that is usu-
ally reserved for Benny Goodman
or Artie Shaw appearance.
Great Interpreter.
In spite Of his youth-he will be
just 10 when he appears with the
National Symphony Dorchester for
the second time in March-Renardy
is not only a true virtuoso but the
worlds greatest interpreter of Paga-
mini. Recently he recorded the COM
plete "a Paganini caprices, which
will be released for the first time
anywhere this fall by Columbia
Masterworks. In celebration of the
Paganini centenary this year, Rem
ardy has been chosen to make a
coast-to-coast series of concert ap-
pearances featuring the work of that
supreme composer of violin pyro-
technics. opening with a Carnegie
Hall concert late in October. Rem
ardy's appearance in Washington is
part Of that Nation wide tour.
AS to the youngsters background,
according to all musical tradition
Renardy has no right to be the fine
violinist he is. Born Oskar Reiss in
Vienna 1S years ago, he is the only
child Of waiter and a laundress.
But next door to the family Reiss
lived the family Pashkus, the scion
of which was Theodore, a young vio-
lin teacher 1t was Theodore Pash-
kus who first noticed the fascination
the 4-year-old Reiss boy found
in the music from a violin. And 1t
was Theodore Pashkus who not only
taught the little boy to play the
fiddle, but also tutored him in aca-
demic subjects and acted as adviser
and business manager as well.
The Italianizing of the Reiss boys
name came about because, when
Pashkus tried to get Oskar some
concert engagements in Vienna, the
local managers said, in effect, Let
him get reputation" So, as Ossy
Renardy, at age 13, Oskar Reiss
made his professional debut in a
variety show in Merano, Italy. The
change in name was to make Italian
audiences more sympathetic to a
Viennese unknown. And it was as
Ossy Renardy that, after getting a
reputation in Italy, he made his
Vienna debut in 1884. Renardy is
an American citizen now, and his
appearances in this country have
more than corroborated the reputa-
ton which preceded him here from
across the Atlantic.
World Artist.
The only other violinist to appear
as soloist on the 1939-40 series of
concerts at Constitution Hall will be
Albert Spalding, greatest of Ameri-
can violinists and one of the half
dozen great violinists in the world.
While Renardy's success story
breaks with tradition in that it gives
him non-musical parentage, it con-
forms to it in the poverty-stricken
circumstances in which he was born.
Not so, Spalding's. He was born
into well-to-do Chicago family
the same family that has made the
name Spalding synonymous with
sports equipment. 1t remained for
Albert Spalding to make it synony-
nous with great violin playing. But,
Spalding says, being born with
silver spoon in his mouth was no
help to him at the outset of his
career. It did help him to finance
his first concert appearances, but at