Oskar Back

Oskar Back (9 June 1879 – 3 January 1963) was a noted Austrian-born Dutch classical violinist and pedagogue. He taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory for 42 years, and also had a significant earlier teaching career in Belgium.

Oskar Back was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Hungarian parents. He first studied with Jacob Grün at the Vienna Academy of Music, winning the Medal of Honour at age 16. He then went to Belgium for further study with Eugène Ysaÿe and César Thomson at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

Although he had a superb technique, he suffered from debilitating stage fright, which meant he was best suited to teaching. He only once ventured onto a public stage for a concerto performance, in Scheveningen on 17 January 1908, with the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra under .

He first taught at the Brussels Conservatory in 1898, initially deputising for César Thomson, who was frequently concertising. Later he was appointed to a teaching post in his own right. He married Maria Anthonia Vermeer in 1906. They had a son and a daughter. They divorced in 1923.

He left Belgium in 1919, as he had found life difficult there in the First World War as an Austro-Hungarian citizen amid occupying German forces. He settled in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he coached the violinists of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and even joined the orchestra himself on occasions. He taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1921 until his death in 1963. He also taught at the Rotterdam Conservatory, and had private students. In 1935 he became a Dutch citizen.

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