Editing Norbert Brainin (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Norbert Brainin
|honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|1923|3|12|df=y}}
|birth_place = Vienna, Austria
|image = AmadeusQuartet1.gif
|caption = Brainin with the [[Amadeus Quartet]]
|background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
|genre = Classical
|instrument = Violin
|past_member_of = [[Amadeus Quartet]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|2005|4|10|1923|3|12|df=y}}
|death_place = London, England
}}

'''Norbert Brainin''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (12 March 1923 in Vienna – 10 April 2005 in London) was the first [[violin]]ist of the [[Amadeus Quartet]], one of the world's most highly regarded [[string quartet]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/11/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries Obituary: Norbert Brainin, The Guardian 11 April 2005]</ref>

Because of Brainin's [[Jewish]] origin, he was driven out of Vienna after [[Hitler]]'s [[Anschluss]] of 1938, as were Amadeus violinist [[Siegmund Nissel]] and violist [[Peter Schidlof]]. Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp. Like many Jewish [[refugee]]s, they had the misfortune of being confined by the British as "enemy [[Alien (law)|alien]]s" after reaching the UK. Brainin was released after a few months, but Schidlof remained in the camp, where he met Nissel. Finally Schidlof and Nissel were released, and the three were able to study with violin pedagogue [[Max Rostal]], who taught them free of charge.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} Brainin won the 1946 [[Carl Flesch International Violin Competition]], which Rostal co-founded.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Boris Schwarz |author2=Margaret Campbell |entry=Flesch, Carl |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.09814}}</ref>

It was through Rostal that they met cellist [[Martin Lovett]], and in 1947 they formed the Brainin Quartet, which was renamed the [[Amadeus Quartet]] in 1948. They became one of the most celebrated quartets of the 20th century; its members were awarded numerous honours, including:

* Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]], presented by the [[Elizabeth II|Queen]] (1960)
* Doctorates from the Universities of [[University of London|London]], [[University of York|York]], and Caracas
* The highest of all German awards, the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany|Grand Cross of Merit]]
* The [[Austrian Decoration for Science and Art|Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art]] (1974)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf | title = Reply to a parliamentary question | language = de | page=398 | access-date = 19 October 2012 }}</ref>

The quartet disbanded in 1987 on the death of Schidlof, whom the surviving members considered irreplaceable. Brainin continued to perform as a soloist, often with pianists [[Günter Ludwig]] and [[Maureen Jones]]. In 1992, he performed a [[benefit concert]] in Washington, D.C. for then-jailed presidential candidate [[Lyndon LaRouche]].<ref>Murphy, Caryle, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121105192248/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1294134.html "Fund-Raiser for LaRouche Draws Complaints at GU"], Washington Post, 12/07/1988</ref>

His instruments included the "Rode" [[Giuseppe Guarneri|Guarnerius del Gesu]] of 1734, the "Chaconne" Stradivarius of 1725 and the [[Gibson Stradivarius|"Gibson" Stradivarius]] of 1713.