Ruggiero Ricci, a violin virtuoso who first shocked audiences at the age of 10 years with his mastery of Mendelssohn and was later transformed into a mature musician, the scope has reached the 19 Caprices of acrobatics century Paganini premieres of contemporary works, died Sunday at home in Palm Springs, California
His death was confirmed by his son, Gian-Franco.
Mr. Ricci has grown up in San Francisco, the son of an Italian immigrant and amateur trombonist, who insisted that their seven children to learn to play instruments. Mr. Ricci prefers the piano, but her parents had other plans.
"I was bribed with violins," he told The New York Times in 1976. "I woke in the morning and there would be another. I once had five violins under my bed."
At 6, Ruggiero went to classes with Louis Persinger, who also taught another district prodigy, Yehudi Menuhin.
"If not for Menuhin, I would not be here," said Ricci. "It's four years older than me, and everyone should think about miracles. But believe me, when you're a miracle, a parent is ambitious in the background."
She made her debut in San Francisco in 1928, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, and very soon on tour in New York and Europe. The critics were enthusiastic when Mendelssohn played in Manhattan in 1929.
"More of a young gentleman, who has played with speed and accuracy through these steps, and have been inflated by the press and soon disappeared forever," wrote Olin Downes in The Times. "But there are valid reasons to believe that heard the previous night and had the talent to mature in terms of physical force and poetic expression, taste, feeling and an admirable sense of proportion are the distinctive qualities the performance of last night. "
The article described Ruggiero 9 years. It was actually 11, but its promoters was shaving two years old to make it look even more precocious. It was not the only way that his identity had been manipulated.
His parents originally named Woodrow Wilson Rico, but then gave his name sounds Italian, because it seemed a better choice for a musical prodigy. During his lifetime he was called Roger.
"Until the year 1950 or 1960, his passport, he said 'Rich Wilson, also known as Ruggiero Ricci,'" said Gian-Franco Ricci.
In 1930, after Roger had moved to New York with Mr. Persinger and began to gain substantial salary for the operation, has become the center of a custody dispute highly advertising. Years before, his father, Peter Ricci, had custody of Roger and his brother George to an assistant of Mr. Persinger, Beth Lackey.
(George, called the birth of George Washington, he continued his studies to become a cellist.) At some point the boys ran away from Mrs. Lackey, Peter Ricci and later successfully fought to regain custody of Children. But his son did not trust his motives, and often said his father was trying to exploit.
As Ruggiero later in his teens, some critics have suggested that their technical skills was exceeding its capacity to interpret. However, it was precisely at this time that Mr. Ricci began to dominate the music that would later help him revive his career: the 24 Caprices of Paganini's works for solo violin and fire of daunting.
He played the pieces frequently during World War II, alone on stage in front of the soldiers, while he served as an "entertainment specialist" in the Army Air Force. After the war he became the first to register works only in 1947.
"I am forced in this direction, because no one had taken this path," said the Times. "I had to make a comeback."
He turned and almost always taught in the next five years, working at Indiana University, Juilliard and elsewhere, and performing a wide repertoire that included Paganini, as well as works by Bach and other composers .
In 1963, he performed the premiere of Alberto Ginastera Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, which commissioned the work for the opening of Lincoln Center this year. He made over 500 recordings. His last public performance was at the Smithsonian Institution in 2003.
Mr. Ricci was born on July 24, 1918, in San Francisco. His father had emigrated to Italy and worked as a miner in Colorado. His mother was born in the United States.
Mr. Ricci first two marriages ended in divorce.
In addition to Gian-Franco, the son of his second marriage, survivors include his wife, Julia, a sister, Emma Ricci, a first violinist of the Metropolitan Opera, two sons from his first marriage, Riana Muller and Roger, a His second daughter married, Paul Hopp, and several grandchildren.
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