OBITUARY:Erica Morini

Child prodigies who bring their gifts to adult maturity are rare. From her solo debut as a violinist at the age of nine Erica Morini enjoyed an uninterrupted international career of dazzling dimensions. When she emerged from semi-retirement in 1976 to celebrate the anniversary of her American debut, the New York Post critic wrote that her powers were undiminished. "Indeed, her tone, fingering, bowing, intonation, sense of structure and refined musicianship are still so masterly that it is hard to believe that she made her New York debut over 55 years ago."

Morini was born in Vienna in 1904 into a musical family of mixed Austrian and Italian origin. Her father, Oscar Morini, a pupil of Jacob Grun, ran a music school and, discovering that she had perfect pitch at the age of three, gave her her first violin lessons. After further study with Rosa Hochmann, she was accepted into Ottakar Sevcik's class at the Vienna Conservatoire, at the age of eight the youngest pupil ever to have been admitted. The following year she gave her first public concert and made her German debut under Artur Nikisch with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. From this point onwards she toured Europe with increasing success.

In 1917, the effects of the First World War prompted her family to emigrate to the United States, where she continued her concert career, but without attracting unusual attention. Then in 1921, at the age of 16, she made her New York debut at the Carnegie Hall playing concertos by Mozart, Vieuxtemps and Mendelssohn with Artur Bodansky conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The critics were lost for superlatives to describe her performance, and it was on this occasion that she was presented with the "Maud Powell" Guadagnini violin. Maud Powell was the first great American solo violinist who, in her will had bequeathed her fiddle to "the next great woman violinist".

Morini was invited to play all over the world, and feted wherever she went. She made her British debut at a Sunday concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1924 and it was so well received that she was invited again the following year, after which she became a frequent visitor. In 1968, on her last visit to Israel, she gave 12 concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to capacity audiences. The demand for tickets was so great that two extra concerts were sandwiched in and appropriately dedicated to the late Bronislav Huberman, one of the orchestra's founders. Only two hours after the announcement was made, the 3,000-seat auditorium in Tel Aviv was sold out.

Morini's enormous repertoire contained many of the much-neglected classics. She was of the opinion that too many violinists rush to play new works, overlooking the beauties of the older music. She played all the concertos of Spohr and would often quote his Gesangsscene as being a work that runs the entire gamut of technique.

Morini was one of the few female violinists who played without a shoulder- pad or rest. She had her own way of supporting the instrument with her neck and considered the direct contact made her feel at one with the instrument. She convinced many violinists to follow suit, and once, when she was coaching members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, eventually persuaded the entire section to abandon their shoulder-rests.

In 1936 she married a businessman, Felice Siracusano, and until her death lived in New York surrounded by treasures she had collected from all over the world. One of these was an embroidered linen handkerchief in a frame which was presented to her by the Music Society of Madrid. It is the handkerchief which Pablo Sarasate wore in his breast pocket every time he played. He bequeathed it to "the finest exponent of my Spanish Dances".

Morini had a vibrant personality and was particularly popular with the young players with whom she came in contact. As a violinist she was praised for her "soaring lyricism" as well as her dazzling technique. She would say: "Through my father I was lucky to have the benefit of his knowledge of the Grun and Joachim method for the right hand and Sevcik for the left." Once when asked about her earliest memories, she said, "I was born with music; it is like breathing."

Morini was passionately devoted to her beautiful Antonio Stradivari violin made in 1724, known as the "Davidoff", once owned by the great Russian cellist Karl Davidoff. Her father purchased it in 1925 for $10,000, and it is claimed today to be worth pounds 2.5m. She kept the instrument locked in a wardrobe in her Fifth Avenue apartment. When Morini was recently in hospital, Erica Bradford, a close friend, went to make sure the instrument was safe in its hiding-place, and found the violin had been stolen; all that remained was an empty case. She told the press that the violin was Morini's life; nothing meant more to her. Fortunately she never learnt of the loss.

Margaret Campbell

Erica Morini, violinist: born Vienna 5 January 1904; married 1938 Felice Siracusano; died New York 1 November 1995.