Isolde Menges

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A native of Sussex, UK, Isolde Menges (1893-1976) was an accomplished violinist who was most active in the first part of the 20th century. A student of Leopold Auer and Carl Flesch (4), she concertised widely, as soloist and with the Menges Quartet (founded by her in 1931) and Quintet, in locations such as Darmstadt (at 14 years of age), Liége, Wiesbaden, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and throughout England, Scotland, and the United States (1, 3).

Her Quartet gave a complete cycle of Beethoven quartets in Wigmore Hall in London in 1938, and another in Oxford.

She gave concerti with noted orchestras and conductors such as the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra conducted by Henry J. Wood), and London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bruno Walter, and the Royal Philharmonic Society (2). In 1916 she played the Brahms concerto and Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole with Ernest Bloch (5).

A major prize commemorates her at the Royal College of Music, where she taught.