Julius Conus
Julius Conus was a Russian violinist, composer, and music educator. Born in Moscow in 1869, he was the son of musician Edward Conus and the brother of Leo and George Conus. He studied violin at the Moscow Conservatory with Ivan Grzhimali, and studied counterpoint, fugue, and composition with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev. Pyotr Tchaikovsky encouraged him, and he was a close friend of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Conus graduated from the conservatory with a gold medal in 1888. The following year, he went to Paris to study with violinist and teacher Lambert Joseph Massart on Tchaikovsky’s recommendation. While in France, he gave solo concerts and worked with the Colonne Orchestra and the orchestra of the Grand Opera. From 1891 to 1893, he was concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra and appeared as a soloist in several American cities.
In 1893, Conus began teaching violin at the Moscow Conservatory and continued to perform. In 1894, he took part in the premiere of Rachmaninoff’s Elegiac Trio, alongside the composer and Alexander Brandukov. After leaving the conservatory in 1901, he taught at the Moscow Philharmonic Society’s Music and Drama School, served as concertmaster of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, organized a quartet and chamber-music gatherings, and continued his concert career.
Conus moved to France in 1919. He taught violin and music theory at the Russian Conservatory in Paris and worked as an editor for Serge Koussevitzky’s Russian Music Publishing House. He introduced a Lux engraving machine of his own invention, which Paris publishers used to print scores. He continued composing, including arrangements of Gregorian chants for a monastery, and worked on music for the ballet Icarus in 1933, based on a transcription of Edward Conus’s Rhythmic Studies. His friendship and correspondence with Rachmaninoff and Nikolai Medtner continued during his years abroad.
From 1938, Conus stayed with his niece at the Shchorsy estate near Novogrudok. He later moved to Moscow, where he taught at the Central Correspondence Music-Pedagogical Institute and wrote extensively, particularly for children. He also composed songs for chorus and orchestra and became a member of the Union of Composers of the USSR. He died in 1942 in Melenki.
His works include a violin concerto with orchestra (1896), a concerto for violin and string quartet (1942), chamber music for violin, and transcriptions of works by Tchaikovsky and Frédéric Chopin. Fritz Kreisler performed the orchestral violin concerto, which was praised for its memorable melodies and demands on the soloist’s technique. The work has remained in the repertoire of professional orchestras.
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