Ruggiero Ricci: Master of Paganini’s Caprices

Ruggiero Ricci (24 July 1918 – 5 August 2012) was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini. He was the first musician to record the complete 24 Caprices by Paganini in their original form, a feat he accomplished in 1947.

Early Life and Education

Ricci was born in San Bruno, California, to Italian immigrant parents who initially named him Woodrow Wilson Rich. His father taught him violin, and at age seven he began studying with Louis Persinger and Elizabeth Lackey. Persinger later became his piano accompanist for many recitals and recordings. His brother George was a cellist, and his sister Emma played violin with the New York Metropolitan Opera.

At age 10, Ricci gave his first public performance in San Francisco in 1928, playing works by Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps. He quickly established himself as a child prodigy, performing the Mendelssohn concerto with orchestra at age 11 and making a highly successful Carnegie Hall debut shortly after. In the 1930s, he studied in Berlin with Georg Kulenkampff, absorbing the German style of playing in the tradition of Adolf Busch, and also worked with Mishel Piastro and Paul Stassevich.

Career and Achievements

Ricci served in the US Army from 1942 to 1945 as an entertainment specialist. After returning to civilian life, he embarked on a 70-year solo career that included over 6,000 concerts across 65 countries and more than 500 recordings on every major label. His 1947 Decca recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices in their original form was groundbreaking, and he would go on to record the complete set four additional times over the following decades.

Beyond Paganini, Ricci recorded extensively from the classical and contemporary repertoire. In 1993, he recorded the Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra by Saint-Saëns. He also performed world premieres of violin concertos by Gottfried von Einem, Carlos Veerhoff, and Alberto Ginastera. Ricci taught at Indiana University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Juilliard, the University of Michigan, and the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, holding master classes throughout the United States and Europe.

He authored Left Hand Technique, a pedagogical volume for violin published by G. Schirmer. Ricci owned several precious instruments, including a Guarneri Del Gesù violin formerly owned by Bronisław Huberman, a Storioni, and others. On 18 September 1997, he recorded his fourth complete Paganini Caprices on Paganini’s own Guarneri, Il Cannone, which was loaned to him by the City of Genoa, Italy.

Notable Events and Milestones

In November and December 1964, Ricci performed a series of four concerts at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra, presenting 15 violin concertos over 30 days, each under a different conductor. The series spanned from 17 November to 16 December 1964 and featured works ranging from Bach and Vivaldi to Bartók and Stravinsky.

Ricci’s 1947 recording of the Paganini Caprices marked a watershed moment in violin recording history. He subsequently recorded the complete set in 1959, 1973, 1978, 1988, and 1998, with his 1998 version performed as his 80th birthday concert in Szeged, Hungary, featuring orchestral arrangements of the caprices.

Additional Resources

Ricci died of heart failure in August 2012 at his home in Palm Springs, California, at age 94. His legacy encompasses an extraordinary body of recordings, a teaching lineage spanning multiple continents, and a definitive interpretation of Paganini’s most demanding works. Readers seeking more detailed information about his life, recordings, and performances can consult his Wikipedia biography and other musical archives.

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