A life of love and music

Yaltah Menuhin was born of Russian parents in San Francisco on 7th October 1921, the youngest of three extra-
ordinarily musical children. Yaltah was named after her mother, Marutha's, home
town in Crimea. At the age of three, she was already part of the rigorous regime imposed on her siblings: the family employed tutors for the children, and Yaltah had her first piano lessons from the
wife of the tutor in harmony and counter- point.
She was taken to Paris at the age of four when her brother, Yehudi and sister, Hephzibah went to study there. Marcel Ciampi, engaged to teach Hephzibah, initially refused to entertain the notion of teaching Yaltah at such a young age; however, Yaltah so impressed him with her spontaneous rendition of Schumann's Kinderszenen, that he agreed to take her on as well. Her taking piano lessons did not mean that her parents considered her - or for that matter, Hephzibah - to be capable of pursuing a career in music: Yaltah's mother in particular was firmly opposed to the idea that her daughters would follow in Yehudi's footsteps. Apart from Ciampi, she studied with Rudolf Serkin in Basel, Armando Silvestri in Rome and Carl Friedberg in New York.

One of Yaltah's earliest orchestral appearances was with Pierre Monteux and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, playing Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. Over the years Yaltah performed a wide repertoire. She played a pivotal role in the careers of numerous young composers, particularly during her stay in Los Angeles in the 1950's. She had a great love of chamber music and performed the sonata literature of the violin, viola and 'cello, as well as works for larger groups. Yaltah gave many first performances of works by Eric Zeisl, George Antheil, Ernst Krenek, Frank Martin, Louis Gruenberg, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Walter Piston. She recorded for Everest, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, SPA, Music Library and EMI-World Record Club.

Yaltah's tours took her from Alaska to New Zealand; from Texas to Switzerland. She appeared in duo recitals with the 'cellists Gabor Rejto, George Neikrug, Guy Fallot and Felix Schmidt; violinist Israel Baker; violists Michael Mann and Paul Doktor, and with Joel Ryce in duo-piano with whom she appeared widely in recital, in double-concerto's and in television specials in Paris, London and New York. The duo Menuhin/Ryce won the coveted Harriet Cohen International Music Award in 1962.

Yaltah and Joel were blissfully married for almost forty years. British audiences may recall the "Carnaval of the Animals" for the BBC, with the Menuhins and Joel Ryce, and the telecast of the Mozart Triple Concerto at Yehudi's 50th birthday concert from the Royal Festival Hall, London. Her recorded favourites include the "family" recording of the Mozart Triple Piano Concerto (Yaltah, Hephzibah and Jeremy at the piano, with Yehudi conducting) and the four-hand piano duets of Mozart with Joel.

The highlights of Yaltah's career include a performance for the Queen at Windsor Castle in 1973, when she played the Schubert Nocturno with Yehudi and Ross Poplin; the Mozart Double Piano Concerto with Hephzibah for the Willa Cather Centenary Celebrations in America, and a recital with Joel Ryce at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, when they played Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Her charity performances included evenings for the British Red Cross; the Organisation of Rehabilitation Training (ORT), Geneva; the Goulston Foundation, London; Pentonville Prison and for Friends of the Rose, Geneva.

Yaltah was a co-founder in 1965 (with Stefan Askenase and Johannis Wasmuth) and director of "Arts and Music", an international non-profit social project for the benefit of young artists and the arts in general. Marcel Marceau and Oskar Kokoschka were among its strongest supporters. "Arts and Music" - still active to this day - was housed in a beautiful old railway station at Rolandseck, near Bonn. She took a very keen interest in youth orchestras and played with the Brighton Youth Orchestra, also undertaking tours in Wales with Aelodau'r Gerddorfa, the all-Wales Youth Orchestra.
A gifted linguist, Yaltah wrote a poem each day of the year in one of six languages. At 13 years of age an anthology of her poetry, entitled Malgré l'Espace, was published privately. The anthology is currently held by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas.

There can be no doubt that Yaltah lived under the shadow of her more famous brother and sister; in spite of the fact that many, Yehudi included, considered her to be the most talented of the three Menuhins, she never quite managed to match the careers Yehudi and Hephzibah had. This did not lead to bitterness on Yaltah's part; she completely and unequivocally worshipped her siblings, and remained devoted to - even slightly in awe of - them for all her life.

Much like her brother, Yaltah was a wonderful facilitator, effortlessly and guilelessly bringing together people from all walks of life, musically and in friendship. Yaltah was surrounded by people from all walks of life, young and old, and her home was a haven to everybody. To quote Yehudi: "Yaltah is a ministering angel, handing out remedies, crutches, comfort to the ailing who come to her door, reaping the rewards in kindness and gratitude that life has otherwise denied her.".

Yaltah died at her home in London on 9th June, 2001; beautiful, spirited and independent to the very end, just a few days after giving her final recital at the Orwell Park School, Suffolk, of which she was an honorary patron and where she was a regular and much-loved guest. Her swansong proved to be the Chopin Preludes and the Debussy Preludes Book I.

Yaltah's last letter to us, written on the train from London to Suffolk, on her way to this concert, makes for grateful yet painful reading:

[the week before, we had lovingly and painstakingly transferred some of Yaltah and Joel's own recordings, which she had not been able to listen to for many years, from LP to CD]

" ... thank you for your magic transformation of long-unplayed music (.....)

you have restored so much happiness to this ancient world of mine (.....)

it is another lease on life ....."