Neveu, Ginette
Neveu, Ginette
Neveu, Ginette, brilliant French violinist; b. Paris, Aug. 11, 1919; d. in an airplane crash in San Miguel, Azores Islands, Oct. 28, 1949. She was a grandniece of Charles-Marie Widor. She studied with her mother, making her debut when she was 7 as soloist with the Colonne Orch. in Paris; after further studies at the Cons, there, she won the premier prix at age 11; then completed her training with Enesco and Flesch. She won the Wieniawski Competition (1935), and then embarked on an acclaimed career as a virtuoso, touring Poland and Germany that same year, the Soviet Union (1936), and the U.S. and Canada (1937). After the close of World War II, she made her London debut (1945); then appeared in South America, Boston, and N.Y. (1947). Her tragic death occurred on a flight to the U.S. for a concert tour; her brother, Jean-Paul, a talented pianist and her accompanist, also lost his life. Her performances were notable for their controlled and yet impassioned intensity, ably supported by a phenomenal technique.
Bibliography
M.-J. Ronze-Neveu, G. N.: La Fulgurante Carrière d’une grande artiste (Paris, 1952; Eng. tr., London, 1957).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire