Ossy Renardy

Ossy Renardy (26 April 1920 – 3 December 1953) was an Austrian classical violinist, who made a major impression in Europe before migrating to the United States at age 17. There he made the world premiere integral recording of any version of the 24 Paganini Caprices. He became an American citizen and served in the US Army in World War II, giving almost 500 concerts for the troops. He returned to the concert stage after the war, but only five years into his adult career he was killed in a car crash in New Mexico, at the age of 33. He left a number of recordings.

Oskar Reiss was born in Vienna in 1920, to non-musical parents who worked as waiters. His violin teacher and possibly his biggest influence was the famous violin pedagogue Thedore Pashkus. He was first seen in public at age 11, and then joined a touring variety troupe for a season in Merano, Italy, beginning on 27 October 1933. On the basis that a name less Germanic-sounding than Oskar Reiss, and one more Italianate-sounding, would be highly desirable, his manager suggested Ossi Renardi. His performance of Schubert's A major Sonata and Paganini's D major concerto at the Merano Casino led to an extended tour of Italy. He returned to Vienna for more preparation, keeping his new name but modifying the spelling to Ossy Renardy. There he played at the Konzerthaus in May 1934, then returned to Italy, where in Milan he played under the baton of Victor de Sabata, who invited him to play with the Vienna Philharmonic. Then came his first tour of the Baltic countries, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, France and once again Italy.

Renardy went to the United Kingdom in 1937, in order to escape Nazi oppression. He visited the United States the same year. This came about after the wife of an American concert promoter heard Renardy on Italian radio. His New York debut was at The Town Hall on 8 January 1938, after first touring the mid-west states. His regular accompanist from this time onwards was Walter Robert (born Robert Walter Spitz, 1908, Trieste, d. 1999 Bloomington IN; Robert later had a long artistic association with Josef Gingold).

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