Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1918, July 24 | Born Woodrow Wilson Rich, San Bruno, California, to Peter and Emma Bacigalupi Rich |
| 1925 | Began violin studies with Louis Persinger and Elizabeth Lackey |
| 1927 | Earned Gold Medal at the Boys Achievement Club violin contest |
| 1928 | Gave first concert at San Francisco's Scottish Rite Hall; played works by Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps; took the stage name Ruggiero Ricci Became, with his brother Georgio (né George Washington Rich), the ward of Elizabeth Lackey Performed in first orchestral concert in San Francisco; played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64 |
| 1929, Nov. 29 | Made Carnegie Hall debut with a piano and violin program accompanied by Louis Persinger; program included Vieuxtemps' Fantasia appassionata, op. 35; Mozart's Violin Concerto no. 5 in A major, K. 219; and Paganini's Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, op. 6 |
| 1931, Sept. 8 | Returned, with brother Georgio, to guardianship of mother Emma Ricci |
| 1932 | Performed concerts in London, England; Berlin, Germany; and Budapest, Hungary on first European tour |
| 1938-2000s | Made over 500 recordings of concerti and solo pieces by Brahms, Paganini, Sarasate, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, and others |
| 1942 | Married Ruth Rink with whom he had three children: Riana, Rosalin, and Roger |
| 1942-1945 | Served in Army Air Corps as an Entertainment Specialist performing with military bands and in solo concerts |
| 1947 | Recorded Paganini's complete 24 Caprices for Solo Violin op. 1 unaccompanied and in their original version, the first violinist to do so |
| 1947-2003 | Presented over 5,000 concerts in 65 countries drawing from a repertoire of some 60 concerti and innumerable small pieces |
| 1952 | Presented the first United States performance of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Sonata for Solo Violin at Carnegie Hall |
| 1957 | Married Argentine actress Valma Rodriguez with whom he had two children: Gian-Franco and Paola |
| 1963 | Premiered Alberto Ginastera's Violin Concerto, op. 30 with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic |
| 1970 | Premiered Gottfried von Einem's Violin Concerto op. 33with Seiji Ozawa and the Vienna Philharmonic |
| 1970-1973 | Taught in the University of Indiana Music Department |
| 1971 | Edited a newly discovered manuscript of Paganini's Violin Concerto no. 4; gave its first United States performance |
| 1975-1990 | Taught at the Juilliard School |
| 1977, Oct. 9 | Presented the New York premiere of Paganini's Violin Concerto no. 6 at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra |
| 1977 Mar. | Invested as Cavaliere in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic |
| 1978 | Married Julia Whitehurst Clemenceau |
| 1979 | Published Four Paganini Encores for Solo Violin. New York: G. Schirmer |
| 1980s | Taught at the University of Michigan School of Music |
| 1980 | Published Encores for Solo Violin. New York: G. Schirmer |
| 1981 | Published Pablo de Sarasate for violin and piano. New York: G. Schirmer |
| 1984 | Published Niccolò Paganini: Cantabile and Waltz. Bristol, Conn.: Rarities for Strings Publications |
| 1988 | Published Left-Hand Violin Technique. New York: G. Schirmer |
| 1990-2003 | Served as violin professor at Mozarteum in Salzburg |
| 1997, Sept.18 | Recorded the Paganini Caprices on Paganini's own Guarneri, Il Cannone, on loan from the City of Genoa, Italy |
| 2001 | Released The Legacy of Cremona - Ruggiero Ricci plays 18 Contemporary Violins |
| 2002, Nov. 11 | Released 10 CD box set A Life for the Violin containing recordings from 1938 to 1995 |
| 2003, Oct. 12 | Gave last recital with Mayumi Seiler on violin and Lambert Orkis on piano for the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra Society to celebrate the donation of his Luiz Bellini violin |
| 2007, Dec. 4 | Received United States patent # 7,304,225 for "Devices for altering an acoustic property of stringed instruments, stringed instruments comprising same, and methods for altering an acoustic property of stringed instruments" |
| 2007 | Published, with Gregory H. Zayia, Ricci on Glissando: The Shortcut to Violin Technique. Bloomington: Indiana University Press |
| 2003-2008 | Edited musical compositions by Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Tarrega, Vieuxtemps, and others for Ovation Press |
| 2012, Aug. 5 | Died, Palm Springs, Calif. |