Eduard Sõrmus

Eduard Sõrmus (German: Eduard Soermus) (July 9, 1878 — August 16, 1940) was an early 20th century Russian violinist. He was sometimes known as the Red Violinist (der rote Geiger).

Sõrmus was born of Estonia parents in Luunja, near Tartu, Estonia. He studied philosophy at the University of Tartu and in Saint Petersburg, and the violin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He became active in the Revolutionary movement and took part in the 1905 Russian Revolution. He began touring, giving violin recitals, in 1904. In 1906 he was forced to flee Russia, so he toured Europe giving recitals. After this he continued his studies with Henri Marteau in Berlin and Lucien Capet in Paris. Sõrmus spent World War I in Paris and London, after which he returned to Russia for a couple of years and then toured the continent again. One concert was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1934 where his wife, Virginia, played the pianoforte. He died (date uncertain) in a nursing home in Moscow whilst his wife, Virginia, was visiting family in England.

He was well known in the Labour Movement across the continent. Sõrmus gave a number of charity concerts, the proceeds of which went to help the poor, and children's concerts, at one of which, in 1923, he was even arrested.

In the 1920s, he was mainly active in Germany. There is a street named after him (Eduard-Soermus-Straße) in the city of Zwickau, Schumann's birthplace.

The 1912 Marc Chagall painting Der Geiger was inspired by Sõrmus.

Reference

• Harri Kõrvits, Eduard Soermus - Der Rote Geiger. Translated from the Russian by Christof Rüger. Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1978.