Kotek, (Eduard) Joseph (actually, Yosif Yosifovich)

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Kotek, (Eduard) Joseph (actually, Yosif Yosifovich)

Kotek, (Eduard) Joseph (actually, Yosif Yosifovich), Russian violinist and composer; b. Kamenets-Podolsk, Nov. 11, 1855; d. Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 4, 1885. He studied violin with Ferdinand Laub and composition with Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Cons., and later took violin lessons with Joachim in Berlin. He was a close friend of Tchaikovsky, and often served as mediator in financial matters between him and Nadezhda von Meck. He also worked over the solo part of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and played it with the composer at the piano, privately, in Clarens, Switzerland (April 3, 1878); however, he was reluctant to try it out in public performance despite Tchaikovsky’s urgings. He taught violin at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1878–82). He was stricken with tuberculosis at the age of 29, and Tchaikovsky made a special trip to Davos to visit before Kotek’s death.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire