Ruggiero Ricci
Ruggiero Ricci (24 July 1918 – 5 August 2012) was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini.
Ruggiero Ricci

Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13876 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 · This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project. The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
- Born
- 1918. · San Bruno.
- Died
- 2012. · Palm Springs.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- music educator, violinist, editor and musician.
- Fields
- classical music.
- Teachers
- Louis Persinger and Georg Kulenkampff.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Ruggiero Ricci (24 July 1918 – 5 August 2012) was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini.
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Note VALÉORINE
Ruggiero Ricci (1918–2012) was an American editor, music educator and musician, among other activities. Born in San Bruno, the editor died in Palm Springs. Ruggiero Ricci worked for Indiana University, Juilliard School and Mozarteum University Salzburg, among others.
Genres include classical music. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q718368 · wikipedia · Ruggiero Ricci
In this article
Biography
Biography
He was born in San Bruno, California, the son of Italian immigrants who first named him Woodrow Wilson Rich. His brother was cellist George Ricci (1923–2010), originally named George Washington Rich. His sister Emma played violin with the New York Metropolitan Opera. His father first taught him to play the violin. At age seven, Ricci studied with Louis Persinger and Elizabeth Lackey. Persinger would become his piano accompanist for many recitals and recordings. Ricci gave his first public performance in 1928 at the age of 10 in San Francisco where he played works by Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps. He gained a reputation for being a child prodigy. At the age of 11, he gave his first orchestral performance, playing the Mendelssohn concerto, and soon after he had his highly successful debut at Carnegie Hall. In the 1930s Ricci studied in Berlin with Georg Kulenkampff, where he learned a "German style" of playing in the tradition of Adolf Busch. He also studied with Mishel Piastro and Paul Stassevich. He served in the US Army from 1942 until 1945, where he was an "entertainment specialist". In 1947, Ricci was the first violinist to record the complete 24 Caprices, Op. 1, by Paganini, in their original form. Ricci's first recording was on the Decca recording label. After his time in the military, he uncovered many pieces by 19th-century composers that he would perform solo. In 1993, he recorded the Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra by Saint-Saens. He also performed the world premieres of pieces by many contemporary composers, including the violin concertos by Gottfried von Einem, Carlos Veerhoff and Alberto Ginastera. Aside from performing over 6,000 concerts in 65 countries during his 70-year solo career, Ricci also made over 500 recordings, on every major label. He taught violin at Indiana University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the Juilliard School and the University of Michigan. He also taught at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Ricci held master classes in the United States and Europe. He wrote Left Hand Technique, a pedagogical volume for violin published by G. Schirmer. The Persian volume of this book is also published by Mohsen Kazemian, Iran. Ricci owned many precious instruments, including the Guarneri Del Gesù violin known as the ex-Bronisław Huberman of 1734, a Storioni, a Luiz Bellini, a Curtin & Alf, a David Bague and a couple of Regazzi. He played, on 18 September 1997, his fourth recording of the Paganini Caprices on Paganini's own Guarneri, Il Cannone, on loan to him by the City of Genoa, Italy. Ricci died of heart failure in August 2012 at his home in Palm Springs, California, aged 94.
Selected performances
Selected performances
With the aim of showcasing great masterpieces of violin concerto repertoire, Ricci, accompanied by members of the American Symphony Orchestra, performed 15 concertos over a series of four concerts at Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall, all in a span of 30 days, under a different conductor each time. 17 November 1964, Gerhard Samuel (1925–2008), conductor Bach – Violin Concerto in E major Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto Hindemith – Kammermusik No. 4 Prokofieff – Violin Concerto No. 2 1 December 1964, Ezra Rachlin, conductor Mozart – Violin Concerto No. 5 Bartók – Violin Concerto No. 2 Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto 8 December 1964, Jacques Singer, conductor Paganini – Violin Concerto No. 1 Stravinsky – Violin Concerto Brahms – Violin Concerto 16 December 1964, Igor Buketoff, conductor Vivaldi – Four Seasons (counts as 4 concertos) Beethoven – Violin Concerto Ricci reunited with Singer in Portland with the Oregon Symphony, and performed the Paganini, Stravinsky, and Brahms Concertos.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2012
Ruggiero Ricci died at Palm Springs.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
San Bruno.
Birth place
Palm Springs.
Death place
Paganini Caprices recordings
Ricci made the first complete recording of the 24 Caprices in their original version in 1947 in London. Ricci later made further recordings of the complete set, as stated below: 1947 | 2LPs | Decca LK.4025, Nos. 1–12; LXT.2588, Nos. 13–24 mono; 1950 reprint | 2LPs | London Decca LL.264, Nos. 1–12; LL.252, Nos. 13–24, mono (London, July 1947) 1959 | LP | Decca LXT.5569 mono / SXL.2194 stereo (Victoria Hall, Geneva, 1–9 April 1959) 1973 | LP | Vox Turnabout TV-S 34528 | plus premiere recording of Caprice d'adieu in E major, MS 68 (USA, 1973) 1978 | 2LP | Price-Less C–93042 (CD reprint: Price-Less D12179) | "Golden Jubilee" – recorded direct-to-disc at Soundstage Recording Studio, Toronto, Canada | plus Caprice d'adieu in E major, MS 68 plus Duo merveille in C major, MS 6 (Toronto, 1978) 1988 | CD | Radio Vaticana 061–003 / Biddulph LAW 016 | performed on Paganini's Guarneri del Gesù "Il Cannone" (Genova, 16–20 April 1988) 1998 | CD | Dynamic CDS244 | 80th Birthday Concert, live in Szeged Synagogue, Hungary | version for violin and orchestra by Laszlo Meszlény (Nos. 1–23) and Chris Nicholls (No. 24), based on the piano accompaniment composed by Robert Schumann (Hungary, 17 May 1998) 1982 | LaserDisc-NTSC | One Eleven, Ltd. URS-V-91610 | 69 mins. | BBC Scotland, Live television performance (p)1991 1987 | VHS-NTSC | Shar Products Company RR–1 (Michigan University, 10 January 1987) | unedited performance

For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Der 11 jährige Wundergeiger Ruggiero Ricci, spielt zum erstenmal vor einem grossen Publikum in der Philharmonie in Berlin! Der deutsche Dichter Gerhard Hauptmann und Gattin mit dem kleinen Wundergeiger.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13877 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 · This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project. The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation

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Aladár Székely · This image has been extracted from another file
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.As told by Julia Ricci, his wife: „Ruggiero died on August 5th, and because of Gianni's (Ruggiero's son, the Australian pianist) that gave the message to The Strad magazine from Australia, already a day after (on 6th), the mistake happened...“
- 2."Ruggiero Ricci dies at 94; violin virtuoso began as child prodigy" by Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 22 August 2012
- 3."Ruggiero Ricci obituary" by Anne Inglis, The Guardian, 7 August 2012
- 4."Ruggiero Ricci papers, 1890s–2013," Library of Congress;
- 5.George Ricci obituary , Allegro, vol. CX, No. 9, September 2010
- 6."Death of a violin legend: Ruggiero Ricci" – Definitive Paganini performer" , The Strad
- 7.*William Yardley, "Ruggiero Ricci Dies at 94; Prodigy Whose Violin Mastery Grew", The New York Times, 9 August 2012
- 8.Ruggiero Ricci. The Daily Telegraph. 9 September 2012.
- 9.The first recording of any version was that of the arrangement by Ferdinand David for violin and piano, made in 1940 by the Austrian-born Ossy Renardy.
- 10.William Yardley. Ruggiero Ricci, 94; violinist mastered wide range of music. The New York Times. 10 August 2012.
- 11."Ricci to Open Series of Four Concerts Nov. 17," New York Post, 6 December 1964, p. 68 (accessible via fultonhistory.com)
- 12."Conductor to Appear in N.Y. Experiments," The Oregonian, 6 December 1964, p. 128
- 13."Jacques Singer, Ricci To Reunite in Portland," The Oregonian, 22 August 1965, p. 83
- 14.LXT 2588 + LK 4025 – Paganini – 24 Caprices – Ruggiero Ricci
- 15.YouTube nNvnlP0igN8 Ruggiero Ricci plays Paganini Caprices Nos. 1–12 (1947 recording)
- 16.YouTube KFf6AmXGrJA Ruggiero Ricci plays Paganini Caprices Nos. 13–24 (1947 recording)
- 17.This process records the original sound direct to master discs without using a magnetic tape. Thus the full dynamic range and the original sound are fully preserved.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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