Georg Kulenkampff ranked among the most cherished violin virtuosos in Germany throughout the initial decades of the twentieth century while also guiding numerous emerging talents on the instrument. He presented the world premiere of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto and produced its first recording, and his accounts of the Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Glazunov, and Bruch violin concertos continue to stand among the most distinguished preserved performances, even though captured during the 1930s and the opening years of the 1940s. His recording activity overlapped with the Nazi era, and his untimely death from encephalitis has kept his name less familiar to later audiences than it might otherwise have become.
Raised in comfortable prosperity as the son of prosperous Bremen merchants, Georg Kulenkampff displayed an early fascination with music and received his initial violin at age six. He soon began lessons with Hans Kolkmeyer, concertmaster of the Bremen Orchestra, and subsequently with the ensemble's conductor Ernst Wendel. After further study with Von Auer in Dresden, and at Von Auer's urging, his parents supplied the twelve-year-old prodigy with a Stradivarius and enrolled him at the Berlin Conservatory.
Following World War I, Kulenkampff recovered from grave illness before assuming the post of concertmaster with the Philharmonic Society of Bremen. His recital and orchestral engagements expanded rapidly, prompting a move to Berlin where he joined the faculty of the city's conservatory. From the mid-1920s he stood as Germany's foremost violin virtuoso, appearing in concerts nationwide and across Europe while also broadcasting regularly.
In 1935 Kulenkampff established a trio alongside Edwin Fischer and Enrico Mainardi that remained active for the following thirteen years. He was likewise regarded as one of the era's most esteemed teachers; his pupils included the youthful Yehudi Menuhin, and his master classes and lectures were noted for their fervor, insight, and concentration.
Among the leading recording artists of his generation, Kulenkampff produced numerous documents from the 1930s and 1940s, among them the first recording of Robert Schumann's long-suppressed Violin Concerto, made in 1935 shortly after the premiere. The circumstances surrounding that premiere underscore the regard in which he was held in Germany. Schumann had planned to conduct the work himself in Düsseldorf in 1853 with Joseph Joachim as soloist, yet inadequate rehearsal time and the composer's declining health led instead to a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto. After further unsuccessful efforts to arrange a hearing, Joachim and Schumann's family agreed to withhold the piece as unworthy of the composer's legacy, stipulating that it remain unpublished until one hundred years after Schumann's death in 1856. In the 1930s two of Joachim's grandnieces renewed attempts to bring the concerto forward.
Those efforts reached fruition with Kulenkampff's performance in November 1937. Assisted by Paul Hindemith, whose own compositions had already been proscribed by the Hitler regime, Kulenkampff and Georg Schunemann completed revisions—some of which Schumann had initiated—to render the concerto more practical for performance.
Although Yehudi Menuhin, Kulenkampff's former pupil, was slated to give the world premiere in San Francisco under the publisher's auspices, the Nazi-controlled authorities required that the first performance occur in Germany and be entrusted to Kulenkampff as the nation's preeminent violinist and an Aryan. Kulenkampff himself attached no weight to such racial considerations; despite remaining in Germany for most of the Hitler years, he employed Fritz Kreisler's cadenza in his performances and recordings of the Beethoven concerto and featured the otherwise banned Felix Mendelssohn in 1935.
Kulenkampff relocated to Potsdam in 1940 and maintained an active concert schedule; notable recordings from this period include the Max Bruch Violin Concerto and a live account of the Sibelius Violin Concerto under Wilhelm Furtwangler. In 1944 he departed Germany for Switzerland on grounds of health and the anticipated collapse of the regime. Establishing himself in Lucerne, he resumed appearances in Germany immediately after the war. Among his noteworthy postwar recordings stands the Glazunov Violin Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, captured in March 1948. He also performed and recorded chamber music, including the Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 9 ("Kreutzer") and the Mozart Violin Sonata No. 40, both with the future conductor Sir Georg Solti at the piano. Kulenkampff contracted encephalitis in 1948 and died abruptly within days of what proved to be his final concert.
His playing combined clarity and lack of affectation with expressive warmth and tonal richness. The Schumann concerto remains, arguably, his finest preserved achievement, while his Beethoven Violin Concerto ranks among the most distinguished available.
Beethoven: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1; Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3; Violin Sonata No. 9 'Kreutzer' (Wilhelm Kempff: Complete Decca Recordings, Vol. 13)
