Annette Kaufman

Annette Kaufman (1914–2016) was an American pianist and author, who was married to violinist Louis Kaufman.^[1]

Kaufman was born in Chicago in 1914 and raised in North Dakota, and was of Lithuanian Jewish descent. She studied piano from an early age and became an accomplished performer. Not yet quite an adult, she met Louis Kaufman, a violinist from Portland, Oregon, who had begun his career in vaudeville at age six. They married and lived together until Kaufman's death in 1994. Moving to Los Angeles in the early 1930s, they became part of the Hollywood musical world, Louis playing fiddle and acting as concertmaster in hundreds of classic films, from Gone with the Wind to Psycho. Shortly after World War II ended, the Kaufmans went to Europe where they stayed off and on for eight years, researching and performing the concerti of Vivaldi. After return to their home in Westwood, built-in 1935 by Lloyd Wright, they had a brief brush with the FBI, who wondered why they should have been away for so long – this was the McCarthy period. Regaining their place in the musical life of the town, they hosted string quartets and musical soirees in their living room, with Jascha Heifetz and even Charlie Chaplin playing on occasion.^[2][3][1]

Al morir, Louis Kaufman dejó unas memorias que Annette terminó: " A Fiddler's Tale: How Hollywood and Vivaldi Discovered Me" (La historia de un violinista: Cómo Hollywood y Vivaldi me descubrieron ), publicadas en 2003. Annette siguió participando activamente en la vida artística de Los Ángeles hasta su muerte. Coleccionistas de arte de toda la vida, ella y su esposo habían adquirido la mayor colección privada existente de pinturas de Milton Avery, pero evitaban las obras de Mark Rothko , amigo de la infancia y compañero de escuela de Louis , que no eran de su agrado. Al contemplar uno de sus lienzos casi completamente negros, Annette le preguntó a Mark qué significaba. "Annette", relataría ella que él le respondió, "les digo a los ricos coleccionistas de Nueva York que esto es lo que se ve cuando se aparta el velo del templo, y me pagan una fortuna por ello". Al acercarse el final de su larga vida, Annette legó su considerable colección de arte, libros, cartas y otros recuerdos a diversas bibliotecas e instituciones artísticas. Los solos de violín de su marido, llenos de un vibrato romántico ahora pasado de moda, siguen siendo un sello distintivo del "sonido de Hollywood" de aquella época. ^{[ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 1 ]}