Leon Sachs

Leon Sachs was born into the family of Boris Sachs – a laborer, a metalworker, a native of Riga – and Olga Sachs (maiden name – Reiman) – a housewife, a native of Vinnitsa. Boris and Olga had left Russia for US together with the first wave of emigration – in the end of the 19th century. They have settled in Detroit, where they met and wed. Like most of the young population of Detroit, the Sachs family loved sailing across the Detroit River, crossing to the opposite shore – to the city of Windsor (Canada) (nicknamed "The Rose City" for its parks and rose gardens along the river). One of those boat trips was undertaken by the young couple on an April weekend of 1918. Olga was expecting a child. Having moored to the Canadian shore, she felt unwell and consulted a doctor. Her firstborn son – Leon Sachs – was born on April 20, 1918.

Leon's musical talent became apparent at a young age. At 4 he started taking private violin lessons. The father worked at the Ford Motor Company. Yet the income was not sufficient to pay for Leon's violin tutor. The parents were in constant need, but they did everything possible to afford their son's music lessons. They even tried to hold a small laundromat business, but it went bankrupt. Working at the Ford Factory, Boris Sachs joined the USA Communist Party. In 1925 he responded to Lenin's call to American workers – an appeal to come and participate in the construction projects, helping build the young USSR. Leon was seven years old, when the entire family moved to Soviet Union's capital, where he has finally received a possibility to study music at no charge.

In 1925 he entered the A. and N. Rubinstein Brothers Musical College. Following the instruction of the Commissar of Enlightenment Anatoly Lunacharsky, Leon was given a special stipend for gifted children. Lev Zeitlin – the student and successor of the Russian violin school founder Leopold Auer – became Leon's first violin pedagogue. In 1932 Leon was transferred to a recreated group for precocious children at the Moscow Conservatory.

«Leva Sachs, a young violinist who recently graduated from a special children's music group, gave his first recital on May 16 at the Moscow Conservatory… The first concert showed Sachs as a serious and sufficiently accomplished musician, technically. A natural taste, rhythmic sense, fine finger work are Sachs' best qualities". (Leva Sachs, Young Violinist, Shows Talent. By A. Constant Smith. "Moscow Daily News", May 23, 1935).

In 1937 Leon Sachs was a freshman at the Moscow Conservatory, studying under the distinguished violinist and professor David Oistrakh (himself the student of the legendary violinist-pedagogue Petr Stoliarsky). In that year Leon Sachs participated in the First National USSR Competition of Violinists and became its laureate.

Upon graduation from the conservatory in 1941, Leon Sachs was drafted to the Red Army and served in the Red Army Central House Symphony Orchestra for three years. Working within this collective allowed him to widen his horizons and be directly introduced to the artistry of such outstanding conductors as Lev Steinberg, Oscar Fried, Kurt Sanderling and many others. It was there where he gained the invaluable experience of orchestra playing. And when offered to participate in the competition to the Operetta Theater Orchestra – after his demobilization in 1944 – Leon Sachs had easily secured the job of the principal violin.
It was then when Sachs met the love of his love – Muza Denisova. In 1943 the young pianist, a student of the Gnessin Institute (and later one of the leading pedagogues of the Gnessin Seven Year School) became Leon's wife. They had two children – Victor and Maria. Leon and Muza were tied for life by their devoted love to each other and to music.

From 1943 to 1946 Leon Sachs studied at the Moscow Conservatory graduate school under the guidance of Professor D. Oistrakh. The Borodin Quartet was created under the lead of violist Mikhail Teryan in 1944 within the frame of the chamber music class. Leon Sachs was one of the founding members of the group.

From 1945 onwards Sachs worked at the USSR Bolshoy Theater's Symphony Orchestra. And from 1964 until his death on August 20, 1977, he served as its principal violin. "The theater became a new and outermost music school for me" – Sachs used to say. – "The interaction with the leading figures of the conducting art – A. Pazovsky, N. Golovanov, A. Melik-Pashaev, V. Nebolsin, M. Zhukov – taught me to regard musical theater as the top achievement of performance art..." (The "Soviet Artist", November 1970).
Yet L. Sachs has never limited himself to orchestra work. He gave many concerts – both as a soloist and an ensemble performer, he made records. His musical horizons were incredibly wide: from ancient sonatas to the newest pieces of 20th century composers: Stravinsky, Messiaen, Hindemith, Shostakovich, Weinberg…

«We've all heard Leon Sachs' solo more than once, but every time one is struck by the unbelievable stability of his playing, the warm, soothing sound, the flawless «sniper» intonation and the high culture of his musical language. Let's thank him for that!» (Fuat Mansurov, the Bolshoy Theater Orchestra's conductor, «The Soviet Artist», November 1970).

From 1943 to 1977 – alongside giving numerous concerts – Leon Sachs was constantly teaching. He taught at the Gnessin Ten Year School and the Gnessin Seven Year School, at the Moscow Conservatory College, and at the Gnessin Institute.
He died on August 20, 1977, at the 34th kilometer of the Epidavros-Corinth Road, Greece (during the Bolshoy Theater's participation at the Athens Art Festival). He is buried at the Golovin Cemetery in Moscow together with his wife Muza Denisova.