Gioconda de Vito

[1]) De Vito was born, one of five children, in the town of Martina Franca in southern Italy, to a wine-making family.

Her uncle, a professional violinist based in Germany, heard her attempting a concerto by Charles Auguste de Bériot when she was aged only eight, and decided to teach her himself.

This was very successful, and led to performances at the Edinburgh Festival and with fellow artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

A member of the audience later sent her a letter saying that he was no longer an atheist, because her playing of the slow movement had made him realise there must be a God.

During that concert, de Vito realised she had reached the pinnacle of her career, and decided to retire in another three years.

After informing the pope of her decision, Pius XII tried for an hour to dissuade her, saying she was far too young to retire so early, but to no avail.

De Vito never played in the United States, although Arturo Toscanini and Charles Munch repeatedly invited her to do so.

[2]) However, she did appear in Australia (1957 & 1960), Argentina, India, Israel and Europe; and in the Soviet Union, where she was juror for the first Tchaikovsky Violin Competition, at the invitation of David Oistrakh.

In 1949, de Vito married David Bicknell, an executive with EMI Records, and although she lived in Britain from 1951, her English was always rudimentary and she often required a translator.