Arthur Judson - Early Life

Early Life

Judson studied violin beginning at the age of eight, and continued his studies for one year as a teenager with the composer, conductor, violinist Max Bendix and the violinist Leopold Lichtenberg in New York. At the age of nineteen, he became the dean of the music department at Denison University, Granville, Ohio from 1900 to 1907. In 1903 at Denison, he performed the Richard Strauss Violin Sonata in what he called the first public performance in the United States. He returned to New York in 1907 to attempt a recital career. He also spent eight years on the staff of Musical America magazine, serving as advertising manager and critic. Disillusioned of a concert career (he said of this time "I was a good violinist, but no Kreisler or Heifetz"), Judson was pleased to be offered a lucrative management career.