A beautiful violinist who found love with a top surgeon has allegedly been beaten to death by him shortly after they started living together after a pointless row.

The recently divorced mother-of-three, who had dazzled on stage as a violinist and beauty queen, was found dead in her lover's Moscow flat after neighbours heard them arguing.

The body of gorgeous Natalia Maurer, 40, was later found on a sofa wrapped in a blanket in the flat on Dubninskaya Street in the Russian capital of Moscow on 3rd May.

She had suffered a brutal beating, and police later arrested 39-year-old eye surgeon Alexei Pashtayev on suspicion of her murder.

Natalia was well-known as a pop violinist after turning down the chance to perform in opera because the pain was too low, and she later formed a duet with her sister Vasilisa.

She married ballet soloist Artem Maurer, a performer with the same theatre, but the dream of starting a family together seemed like it would never happen after she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

Despite that, she went on to successfully have three children, Eva, David, and Abel, all born by cesarean section and defying the doctors that said she might not survive the pregnancies.

Although divorced, the former married couple continued to have a good relationship and her career was back on the tracks with her performing widely across events in Russia at concerts and festival where she met her new lover. 

The tragedy leaves Natalia’s three children without a mother and a respected surgeon facing life in prison over a fatal and pointless row.

The case is being treated as grievous bodily harm resulting in death through negligence, and Pashtayev has been remanded in custody by Moscow's Timiryazevsky District Court.

Locals said that the couple had only recently moved in together, and seemed happy and they were shocked at the news that the row they overheard had resulted in her violent death.

One friend said: "She was a creative person, constantly coming up with new projects, wanted to continue her activities and develop further. She was always worried about her children and loved ones."

Another close friend, Maria Romanova, said: "Natalia loved her children very much. She was involved in their lives outside the home, worked on their development, talked about their talents, about their future."

One resident said: "We heard shouting a few days ago, but didn’t think anything of it. I wish I had called someone."

Natalia was buried on 7th May.

The case is under further investigation.