David Oistrakh was undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. He was born in Odessa in the Ukraine in 1908. He began playing the violin at age 5. He studied violin at the Odessa Conservatory with P. S. Stolyarski. He graduated from the Odessa Conservatory in 1926. He made his Moscow debut in 1933 at age 25. He gave recitals throughout the Soviet Union and eastern Europe and in 1937 won first prize in the Eugène Ysaÿe violin competition. From 1934 he taught violin at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1942 he received the Stalin Prize. He toured extensively through Europe beginning in 1951, and across the United States in 1955.

Prokofiev maintained a close relationship with Oistrakh, some times collaborating with him on violin works. Most famously, Oistrakh, upon hearing the Flulte Sonata Op 94 for violin, coaxed Prokofiev to re-write it for violin and piano, which he did, resulting in the now famous Sonata for Violin and Piano No 2, Op. 94b.