Michael Rabin: America's Virtuoso Violinist

by Anthony Feinstein

Overview

(Amadeus). In Michael Rabin: America's Virtuoso Violinist , Anthony Feinstein tells the poignant story of the life and career of one of history's greatest violinists. As a child prodigy, Rabin had the classical music world at his feet. Notable successes included a coveted EMI contract, recording the soundtrack for an Elizabeth Taylor movie, and guest appearances on the Milton Berle Show and the Bell Telephone Hour . Yet no sooner had Rabin taken his place alongside such illustrious colleagues as Heifetz, Milstein, and Stern than he abruptly and inexplicably disappeared from the concert stage. For three years, the public saw and heard little of him. In the mid-1960s, Rabin resurfaced and painstakingly began rebuilding a once-great career. Then one morning, the music world awoke to news of his sudden, mysterious death at age 35. For the first edition of this biography, Feinstein had unprecedented access to Rabin's private papers and medical history. Now he draws on additional material obtained from recent interviews with Rabin's colleagues, girlfriends, and management. The result is an added appreciation of Rabin's remarkable family, his cloistered upbringing, and a micromanaged career that ensured not only great success but also periods of deep despair. Michael Rabin: America's Virtuoso Violinist is more than a story of a great violinist. It is also the moving account of a man of rare talent who never stopped battling to find personal happiness on that fragile journey from wunderkind to adulthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781574671995
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Series:	Amadeus
Edition description:	Revised and Updated
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Anthony Feinstein (Toronto, Ontario) is a widely published author and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr. Feinstein's years of admiration for and study of Michael Rabin have led to this book, prefaced by articles in The Strad magazine.

Table of Contents

1 Nature and Nurture 1

2 Willie Spielberg's Little Half-Size Violin 13

3 Wunderkinder Never Cease 27

4 Carnegie Hall 39

5 In Pursuit of Perfection 53

6 Australia: Triumph and Trouble 67

7 Hollywood 85

8 The Grand Tour 103

9 First Love, Rebellion 113

10 Friendship, Love Lost 129

11 The Heights of Success 147

12 Calamity 161

13 A Career Resurrected 181

14 The Rabin Sound Falls Silent 203

15 Epilogue: With Time Comes Clarity 217

Acknowledgments 223

Notes 227

Michael Rabin Discography 241

Index 255