Luigi von Kunits (1870-1931)

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This violinist, conductor, composer and teacher was born in Vienna 150 years ago next month. When he was 11, Brahms asked him to play second violin in one of his string quartets, his own Violin Concerto was first performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and he became an influential and important figure who is said to have brought German music to Canada. In 1922 he formed what was to become the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Many of his manuscripts are held by the national library of Canada, but I have not yet been able to come to grips with their catalogue. I'll give it another go soon, though. In this biographical article there is a brief clip where he can be heard speaking.

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He was also a close associate of Victor Herbert for some years as concertmaster of both the Pittsburgh Orchestra (predecessor of the the present Pittsburgh Symphony) during Herbert's tenure as conductor there (1898-1904) and the first concertmaster of Victor Herbert's Orchestra, the ensemble Herbert independently formed after leaving Pittsburgh.