School of Stolyarsky
School of Stolyarsky (for gifted children) is a music school established in Odessa, Ukraine (former USSR) in 1933 by the initiation and vision of the eminent violin pedagogue Pyotr Stolyarsky. To be admitted to the school, a young child had to have a perfect pitch and go through a series of rigorous evaluations aimed at measuring her innate musical gift.
Fate willed that the fame of Pyotr Stolyarsky, a master violin pedagogue, should reach far beyond Odessa, the city in general, and the entire country. At the start of his career, Stolyarsky offered private violin lessons, which later became the Professor Stolyarsky Special Music School of Odessa.
Among his star pupils were David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, Samuil Furer, Boris Goldstein, Elizabeth Gilels (sister of pianist Emil Gilels and wife of the Soviet violinist Leonid Kogan), Igor Oistrakh, Mikhail Fikhtengoltz and Eduard Grach who was one of his last pupils. Russian composer Oscar Feltsman also studied in this school.
In the Soviet Union Stolyarsky's name was always associated with the special pedagogic method for professional instruction(s) in music for gifted children (from an early age). Stoliarsky had superb personal qualities of a master teacher, highest musical instincts and organizational talent which made it possible for him to attain maximum results. Stoliarsky is one of the founders of the Soviet violin school.
His students won top prizes among important competitions. In 1935 Wieniawski Competition in Warsaw; Ginette Neveu from France came first, David Oistrakh second, Henry Temianka won third, Boris Goldstein came in fourth and Josef Hassid from Poland received an honorary diploma.
In 1937, at one of the most prestigious international competitions of its time, the International Ysaye Competition, Stoliarsky students caused a sensation. Top prizes were garnered by David Oistrakh, Boris Goldshtein (Goldstein), Yelizaveta Gilels and Mikhail Fikhtengoltz. The Soviet Politburo was indeed riding the propaganda machine to its fullest.
The foundations of musical education laid down by Stolyarsky are to this day zealously guarded by his disciples and followers. In the 1950-1970s, after the professor's death, the Stolyarsky school gave a start in life to a new generation of brilliant musicians, among them Margarita Lekhter, Rudolf Lekhter, Mark Zinger, Zakhar Bron, Boris Bloch, Mikhail Vaiman (Novy Bug, 3 December 1926 – Leningrad, 28 November 1977), Evgeny Mogilevsky, Dora Schwarzberg, Pavel Vernikov, Karmella Tsepkolenko, Alexander Vinitsky, Arkady Shindelman, Alexander & Mark Peskanov and Gennady Filimonov. The school continues to operate today. Music is still heard today in the Stolyarsky School, where the child prodigies of today are trained to be the virtuosi of tomorrow.
References
- Roth, Henry (1997). Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century. Los Angeles, CA: California Classics Books. ISBN 1-879395-15-0
- В сб.: Музыкальное исполнительство, в. 6, М., 1970, с. 162—193; - Гринберг М., Пронин В., В классе П. С. Столярского
- «Советская музыка», 1972, № 3. - Ойстрах Д., Фурер С., Мордкович Л., О нашем учителе. (К столетию П. С. Столярского)
- Emil Gilels - A Portrait (Biography) by Prof. Dr. Elena Federovitch Ekaterinburg, 2007
