Vandaag is het 25 jaar geleden dat de Amerikaanse violist Louis Kaufman is overleden.

Hij was de eerste die een opname maakte van “De vier jaargetijden” van Vivaldi. He also made the premiere recording of Samuel Barber’s violin concerto. He was an accomplished violinist, playing chamber music with Pablo Casals, Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, when he was asked to play the soundtrack for Ernst Lubitsch’s movie The Merry Widow; this performance opened up a long career in performing soundtracks for Hollywood films, including such classics as Casablanca. Vaak leidde hij als concertmeester de violen op soundtracks, zoals die van “Gone with the wind”. Hij overleed in februari 1994 op 88-jarige leeftijd. He was possibly the most recorded musical artist of the 20th century. He played the soundtrack on as many as 500 movies and over 100 musical recordings.