Alexander Schneider

Abraham Alexander Schneider (October 21, 1908 – February 2, 1993) was a violinist, conductor and educator. Born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania, he later moved to the United States as a member of the Budapest String Quartet.

Early life Alexander (Sasha) was born Abram Sznejder. At 13, he almost died of tetanus after cutting his knee in an accident. The tetanus distorted his joints and recovery was long and painful. Sasha left Vilnius in 1924 and joined his brother Mischa Schneider in Frankfurt after securing a scholarship to study violin with Adolf Rebner, the principal violin tutor at the Hoch Conservatory.

Career In 1927, Alexander became leader (concertmaster) of an orchestra in Saarbrücken. It was at this point that he changed his name. The conductor wanted him as leader, but wanted a German-sounding name. Abram took Schneider as a surname because his brother Mischa had already chosen it, and Alexander appealed to him as a first name. In 1929, he was appointed leader of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra in Hamburg. In 1932, he lost this job as a result of the ongoing Nazi campaign against Jews, and soon had to leave Germany.

In 1934, the Nazis made threats to the quartet and they left Berlin for Paris the next day, never to return to Germany again – even on tour. When war broke out in 1939, they happened to be on tour in the United States. They all obtained permission to stay and from then on made it their base.

In Prades, Schneider studied with Pablo Casals and persuaded him to participate in the 1950 Prades Festival to honor the 200th anniversary of Bach's death. Under the auspices of the New School, Schneider and his manager, Frank Salomon, founded the New York String Orchestra Seminar, a year-end performance seminar for young string musicians in 1969. The musicians, in their teens and early 20s, are selected by audition, and those accepted pay no fee to take part in a intensive 10-day regimen of rehearsals, coaching sessions, workshops, and performances which culminates in an annual Christmas Eve concert at Carnegie Hall.

During the time Schneider also joined forces as the conductor of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra with the legendary Rudolf Serkin to record Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595 for Columbia Masterworks (ML 5013, 1957).

Schneider played with a number of other chamber groups, among them his own string group, and the Brandenburg Ensemble. In 1975, he accompanied pianist Arthur Rubinstein in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel.

Schneider founded the Washington Square Music Festival in 1953, a free alfresco concert series specializing in chamber music for the enjoyment and education of his Greenwich Village neighbors. Now an international festival, it continues with his mission.

Recognition Schneider received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988.

Death Schneider died of heart failure in Manhattan, New York City, at the age of 84.