Education
Born in New York, he graduated in 1918 from the Institute of Musical Art in New York where he studied with Franz Kneisel.
Born in New York, he graduated in 1918 from the Institute of Musical Art in New York where he studied with Franz Kneisel.
In 1926 he was appointed concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, but resigned in 1940 to pursue a solo career. He toured extensively in Europe, appearing at the 1953 and 1954 Prades festivals, and in South America, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, Israel and Japan. He also played as a soloist with every important orchestra in the United States of America. Joseph Fuchs performed a series of recitals with pianist Artur Balsam in 1956 for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston.
A Ford Foundation grant in 1960 enabled him to commission Walter Piston’s Second Violin Concerto, the première of which he gave that year in Pittsburgh.
Fuchs died in Manhattan in 1997. He played the ‘Cádiz Stradivarius’ violin of 1722.
His style of playing was vigorous and large-scaled, with a masterful technique and a rich, warm tone. A clear example of all this may be heard in his recording of Stravinsky"s Duo Concertant (Decca, with Leo Smit).