Sol Babitz

Who is Sol Babitz?

Sol Babitz was an American violinist, teacher, writer and pioneer of historically informed performance.

His education included studies with Alexander Roman and Carl Flesch at the Berlin University of the Arts and with Marcel Chailley in Paris. Babitz was a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1933–37 under the conductor Otto Klemperer, and then played with the Twentieth Century Fox studio orchestra from 1946 until 1960. He worked with Igor Stravinsky on the Ojai Festivals in the 1950s, collaborated with him on an arrangement of Circus Polka, and played violin on a radio performance of Histoire du Soldat.

In 1948 he was a co-founder of the "Early Music Laboratory" in Los Angeles, investing considerable time in research into historical performance practice, especially the music of the 17th and 18th century. He also conducted research into historical instrumental techniques, e.g. for violin and harpsichord. He received grants for his research in the early 1960s from the Fulbright Foundation and the Ford Foundation.