Samuel Magad, long-serving concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, passed away on May 25 at his home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He was 94.
A native of Chicago, Magad first appeared with the CSO in 1944 at age 11, performing the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Music director Fritz Reiner appointed him to the violin section in in 1958, and in 1966 he was promoted to assistant concertmaster. In 1972, Georg Solti appointed Magad concertmaster. He served in the position for 35 years. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra released this remembrance.
In Richard Strauss’ autobiographical 1898 tone poem, Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 (“A Hero’s Life”), the solo violin depicts “The Hero’s Helpmate.” It is the voice of Strauss’ wife, the singer Pauline de Ahna. He described her as, “very complex, very feminine, a little perverse, a little coquettish, never like herself, at every minute different from how she had been a moment before.” We explored this work in a previous post.
Samuel Magad performs the violin solos on this Chicago Symphony recording with music director Daniel Barenboim. The performance was recorded at Orchestra Hall in September of 1990. The distinct sound and virtuosity of the CSO is on full display.
Recordings
- Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40, Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Amazon
Featured Image: photograph by Jim Steere