Andor Toth, world–renowned violinist and founding director of Chamber Music San Juans, has died.
Toth was 81, his daughter-in-law, Lynn, said. He had had a stroke and died Nov. 28 in Los Angeles, where he was living near his youngest son, Chris.
The family is planning a memorial service at the Valley Church. The maestro will be interred next to his wife, Louise, at the Valley Cemetery.
In a career that spanned more than six decades, Toth earned international celebrity as a soloist, concert artist, conductor and music educator.
During his career, Toth played his violin to comfort wounded soldiers on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini; formed several musical groups, most notably the Oberlin String Quartet; conducted symphonies in Cleveland, Denver and Houston; was founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and recorded for Vox, Decca and Electra.
Born in Manhattan in 1925, Toth began playing violin as a child and launched his career at 17 as solo violinist with the original Ballet Russe, while he was still a graduate student at Juilliard.
In 1942, Toth formed the Alma Trio with Adolph Baller and Gabor Rejto. At 19 in 1944, Toth performed for wounded Allied troops on the battlefields of Europe, a medical experiment with music therapy believed to calm wounded soldiers and aid in their recovery.
Following the war, Toth joined the NBC Philharmonic under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. Toth was one of the youngest members to ever join the philharmonic and was in the pit for the original Broadway performance of “West Side Story.”
In 1955, Toth formed the Oberlin String Quartet with violinist William Berman.
In the ensuing years, Toth performed with the New Hungarian String Quartet and briefly directed the Morrison Artists Series in the San Francisco Bay area.
Toth premiered Beethoven’s “Grobe Fuge Op. 133” in Carnegie Hall in New York on Feb. 16, 1975. Toth performed the number with the New Hungarian Quartet, accompanied by Richard Young, violin; Denes Koromzay, viola; and Toth’s son, Andor Toth Jr., on cello. Toth’s son became an accomplished musician in his own right, before dying unexpectedly in 2002.
In a Sept. 28, 1982 review in The New York Times, John Rockwell wrote of Toth’s first New York recital in four years, in the Abraham Goodman House.
“Mr. Toth’s principal virtue is his ability to invest even the most brilliant of passages with thoughtfulness; every phrase sounded shaped and considered, with a rich, ample tone. If, at times, in the Bartok and Saint-Saens (pieces) especially, this seemed purchased at the price of impulsiveness and excitement, the gains were still worth savoring — especially in this era of soulless virtuosity.
“… Mr. Toth is hardly one of those violinistic poets who wins one over despite an erratic technique; his intonation and articulation were secure in a way that was continually impressive yet never called undue attention to itself.”
In 1983, Toth co-founded the Stanford String Quartet with Stephen Harrison, performing until his retirement from Stanford University in 1989.
During his educational career, Toth taught at five major universities and is a professor emeritus at Stanford.
Toth also toured Europe in 1993, playing first violin with the Takacs String Quartet, before founding Chamber Music San Juans.
Shortly before his retirement, Toth said he had had a wonderful career “and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything. This has been the most amazing career I could have ever imagined. It’s been a marvelous experience.”
In a December 2005 story about Toth’s retirement, local entertainer RuthE Wells commented on performing on the local stage with Toth. “It was fun being a part of the ensemble. Andor is very much a perfectionist, but at his core he’s an educator.”
Wells also talked of how Toth discovered a musical prodigy as well.
Jonathan Chan, now 15 was discovered by Toth at age 9 during a musical competition that Toth was judging. Chan has performed several times at the San Juan Community Theatre since being discovered by Toth, and now lives in Vancouver, B.C.
Toth retired in December 2005 from Chamber Music San Juans and passed the musical direction to Patricia Kostek, a clarinetist from University of Victoria. Kostek had performed with Chamber Music San Juans for 12 years. At the time she inherited Toth’s leadership, she recalled being “a bit awestruck” by the fact that she was invited to play with such a renowned musical figure as Toth.
“His genius and artistry were cemented in my mind from having heard his many string quartet recordings, all of them a brilliant display of wonderful music-making and crystalline technique,” Kostek said at the time.
“I could hardly believe my good fortune. Musicians go to great length to perform with Andor Toth. He is a great, yet humble artist. Performing with Andor is like being guided down a path by an expert traveler, a Sherpa guide through the mountain of great classical masterworks.”
Kostek continued with her praise.
“He possesses an innate ability to inspire us to stretch beyond a good performance, to reach for a higher level of expression and communication. For Andor, it’s always about the music and not the role he plays. It’s about the journey, the excitement of creating music with friends.”
Toth’s retirement came shortly after his wife of 58 years, Louise, passed away. She was an internationally acclaimed soprano, a graduate of Julliard and, with her husband, performed chamber music, lieder and art song concerts in the U.S., South America, and major European capitals. She known for her first performances of contemporary composers solo works and operatic roles. She also taught voice and vocal diction at several colleges and universities, including Oberlin Conservatory.
In September 2002, their oldest son, Andor P. Toth, a cello professor at Oberlin Conservatory, passed away and the event took its toll on both parents.
The Toths’ second son, Tom, remembered his father as a devoted dad who gave up touring and took a teaching job at Stanford so he could spend more time with his family.
“He still traveled a good bit, but not all the time,” Tom said.
Tom said his father was not the type to throw a ball with his sons; he didn’t want to risk injuring his fingers. But he enjoyed sailing, briefly owned a boat that he didn’t get out on much, sold it and then “enjoyed fantasizing about sailing,” the son said. The concertmaster also enjoyed relaxing with a mystery or a non-fiction book.
“He is probably remembered best for chamber music. He is known throughout the world. He played solo, he was a concertmaster, he performed on every continent on the world except Antarctica. I don’t think there was a violinist with a better sound than him when he was at his peak.”
Anne Haskins, secretary of Chamber Music San Juans, remembers Toth for his sense of humor and gracious way. “He always opened the car door for you and he always picked up the tab at lunch,” she said. “He had a great gift of bringing people together.”
Toth is survived by his sons and their wives, Thomas M. and Lynn Toth, and Christopher F. and Abby Toth; and grandchildren, Daniel C. and Ruby R. Toth.
— Journal Editor Richard Walker contributed to this story.