There are not many personalities in the Hungarian culture who had such a clear and grandiose career abroad and made such a great impact on the art of the next generations. Leopold Auer, the talented son of a house painter from a town in Transdanubia, called Veszprém, became the teacher of the Conservatory of St. Petersburg, the solo violinist and counselor of the Russian tsar and the director and conductor of the Russian Music Association. When the revolution broke out in 1917, he left for America where he was received with a celebration due to big stars. His followers were world renowned violinists such as Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Efrem Zimbalist who all considered him as their master. He gave concerts at Carnegie Hall at the age of 80. He was buried in New York where a big scuffle broke out at his funeral. He considered himself Hungarian until the end of his life, while he became the part of the cultural heritage of mankind.
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