Yosif Kotek

Yosif Kotek, in his full form Eduard Yosif Yosifovich Kotek, was a Russian violinist and composer born in Kamenets-Podol'sk, near Moscow, in 1855, and died in Davos in 1885. His reputation rests above all on his association with Tchaikovsky's circle, whom he got to know during his training at the Moscow Conservatory.

He studied the violin with Jan Hřimalý and music theory with Tchaikovsky. The director of the conservatory, Nikolai Rubinstein, recommended him in 1876 as resident violinist to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patron. The following year, Tchaikovsky dedicated his Valse-scherzo to him, and in 1878 he sought Kotek's advice on the technical difficulties of the solo part of his Violin Concerto. The two performed it privately, with piano accompaniment, in Clarens in April 1878. Kotek played it in public only once, in Moscow, in November 1882. He then took lessons with Joachim in Berlin and, in 1882, was appointed violin professor at the Hochschule für Musik in that city.

He left a number of studies, duets and pieces for violin that remained in the teaching repertoire for some years. His name endures chiefly for his role as performer and adviser in the genesis of Tchaikovsky's concerto.