From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jascha Heifetz
Background information
Born	February 2, 1901 Vilna, Lithuania, Russian Empire
Died	December 10, 1987 Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)	Classical
Occupation(s)	Pedagogue, violinist
Instrument(s)	Violin
Years active	fl. ca. 1910-1987
Label(s)	RCA Victor
Website	www.JaschaHeifetz.com
Notable instrument(s)
Violin Dolphin 1714 Stradivarius Heifetz-Piel 1731 Stradivarius Antonio Stradivari 1734 Carlo Tononi 1736 ex-David 1742 Guarneri

Jascha Heifetz (February 2, 1901 – December 10, 1987), a Lithuanian violin virtuoso, thought to be one of the greatest interpreters of the instrument.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Technique 2.2 Work 2.3 Musical reformation 2.4 Third Israel tour 3 Russian Defector 4 Later life 5 Family life 6 Miscellaneous 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Heifetz was born into a Jewish family in Vilna, Lithuania, then a part of the Russian Empire. There is controversy over his birth year, which is sometimes placed a year or two earlier to 1899 or 1900. His father Reuven Heifetz was a local violin teacher and served as the concertmaster of the Vilna Theatre Orchestra for one season before the theatre closed down. Jascha took up the violin when three years old and his father was his first teacher. At five he started lessons with Ilya D. Malkin, a former pupil of Leopold Auer. He was a child prodigy, making his public debut at seven, in Kovno, now Kaunas, Lithuania playing the Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn. In 1910 he entered the St Petersburg conservatory to study under Leopold Auer. He played in Germany and Scandinavia at twelve meeting Fritz Kreisler for the first time in a Berlin private house together with other noted violinists in attendance. Kreisler, after accompanying at the piano the 12-year-old Heifetz in a performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto, said to all present, "Now we can all break our fiddles across our knees." Heifetz visited much of Europe while still in his teens.

On October 27, 1917, Heifetz played for the first time in the United States; that evening's recital at Carnegie Hall became the stuff of legend. Fellow violinist Mischa Elman in the audience complained "Phew, it’s hot in here", whereupon Leopold Godowsky, in the next seat, imperturbably replied, “Not for pianists.” Heifetz remained in the country and became an American citizen in 1925. When he told admirer Groucho Marx he had been earning his living as a musician since the age seven, Groucho answered, "And I suppose before that you were just a bum."

Heifetz had an immaculate technique and expressive vibrato. From time to time, his near-perfect technique and conservative stage demeanor caused some to accuse him of being overly mechanical, even cold. Virgil Thomson called Heifetz' style of playing "silk underwear music," a term he did not intend as a compliment. Even so, most critics agree he infused his playing with feeling and reverence for the wishes of the composers. None have been able to surpass the extremely high standard of technique that Heifetz has set. His style of playing was highly influential in defining the way modern violinists approach the instrument. The vibrato is key to his style of playing. Heifetz possessed an exceptional vibrato, which complemented his extensive usage of portamento. Like Kreisler, he did not restrict vibrato to specific notes, heightening the emotional impact of his playing. Itzhak Perlman describes Heifetz's tone as "molten lava" because of its intensity. Because part of Heifetz's tonal makeup was from the strings he used, he was quite particular in the strings he used. Throughout his entire career he used a silver wound gut g-string, plain gut d and a-strings, and a Goldbrokat steel e-string. Heifetz believed by using gut strings the tone of the player was more "individual."

Heifetz made his first commercial recording on November 7, 1917. Throughout his career, he continued to record, almost always for RCA Victor. Heifetz often enjoyed playing chamber music. Various critics have blamed his limited success in chamber ensembles to the fact that his artistic personality tended to overwhelm his colleagues. Some notable collaborations include his 1940 recordings of trios by Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Brahms with cellist Emanuel Feuermann and pianist Arthur Rubinstein as well as a later collaboration with Rubinstein and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, with whom he recorded trios by Maurice Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and Felix Mendelssohn.

He recorded the Beethoven Violin Concerto in 1940 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini, and again in stereo in 1955 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch. A live performance of Heifetz playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, again with Toscanini and the NBC Symphony, has also been released.

Heifetz commissioned a number of pieces, perhaps most notably the Violin Concerto by Sir William Walton. He also arranged a number of pieces, such as Hora Staccato by Grigoraş Dinicu, a Romanian gypsy whom Heifetz is rumoured to have called the greatest violinist he had ever heard. Heifetz also played and composed for the piano; he performed mess hall jazz for soldiers at Allied camps across Europe during the Second World War, and under the alias Jim Hoyle he wrote a hit piano song, "When you make love to me, don't make believe".

After moving to the United States, Heifetz's style saw drastic reformation. Whereas the recordings of 1930-1945 depicted a typical neo-Romantic violinist of the Russian school, post-war recordings were more tempered, objective and aristocratic. He reduced the use of his portamento, and his vibrato was rationed into a searing tool which lent dramatic effect to his fiery sound. Furthermore, following the attack on his Third Israel Tour his bowing arm was greatly affected. He abandoned the high shoulder action of his prime, and new digital recordings evidenced a disintegration of the sound which critics likened to velvet. Some violinists, such as Itzhak Perlman, actually attributed this to Heifetz's inclination to request that the microphone be positioned quite close to the violin.

On his third tour to Israel in 1953, Heifetz included in his recitals the Violin Sonata by Richard Strauss. At the time, Strauss was considered by many to be a Nazi composer , and his works were unofficially banned in Israel along with those of Richard Wagner. Despite the fact that the Holocaust had occurred less than ten years earlier and a last-minute plea from the Israeli Minister of Education, the defiant Heifetz argued, "The music is above these factors....I will not change my program. I have the right to decide on my repertoire." Throughout his tour the performance of the Strauss Sonata was followed by dead silence.

Heifetz was attacked after his recital in Jerusalem outside his hotel by a man who struck blows to his right arm with an iron bar. As the attacker started to flee, Heifetz alerted his companions, who were armed, "Shoot that man, he tried to kill me." The assailant escaped and was never found. The incident made headlines in the press and Heifetz defiantly announced that he would not stop playing the Strauss. Threats continued to come, however, and he omitted the Strauss from his next recital without explanation. His last concert was cancelled after his right arm began to hurt. He left Israel and did not return until 1970.

The consensus within the Russian musical caste was that Heifetz and his teacher Leopold Auer were traitors to their home country. This was primarily due to the fact that they had emigrated from Russia to the US, Heifetz at a very young age. The Russians were inclined to brand any American collaboration as infidelity due to the political circumstances following World War II and the ensuing Cold War. Thus David Oistrakh was seen as a compatriot, whereas Heifetz a traitor. Heifetz also greatly criticized the Russian regime; he condemned the Tchaikovsky Competition for being biased against Western competitors. In fact, Oistrakh had come to Erick Friedman, Heifetz's star student, tried to persuade him to enter the Tchaikovsky Competition, of which he was the principal juror. It appears that Oistrakh had been officially 'instructed' to persuade him. Hearing this Heifetz strongly advised against it and warned, "You will see what will happen there". Needless to say, the real reason behind getting Friedman to Moscow was to embarrass Heifetz's most celebrated pupil. Oistrakh himself may have had personal designs; perhaps to lend additional lustre to Soviet violin pedagogy by discrediting that of these internationally acclaimed emigrés, or perhaps to advance the fledgling career of his son Igor who might profit from a poor showing by Friedman. In any case, Friedman was placed sixth in a contest which was evidently set-up to disadvantage Westerners. Josef Szigeti later informed Heifetz himself that he had given his student top scores.

After an only partially successful operation on his right shoulder in 1972 Heifetz ceased giving concerts and making records. Although his prowess as a performer remained intact and he continued to play privately until the end, his bow arm was affected and he could never again hold the bow as high as before.

Heifetz taught the violin extensively, first at UCLA then at the University of Southern California with his friend Gregor Piatigorsky. For a few years in the eighties he also held classes in his private studio at home in Beverly Hills. His teaching studio can be seen today in the main building of the Colburn school, where it is now used for masterclasses and stands as an inspiration to the students there. During his teaching career Heifetz taught, among others, Erick Friedman, Yuval Yaron, Elizabeth Matesky, Claire Hodgkins, Yukiko Kamei, Rudolf Koelman, Varujan Kojan, Sherry Kloss, Eugene Fodor, and Ayke Agus. He died Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

He owned both the 1714 Dolphin Stradivarius and the 1742 ex David Guarneri, del Gesù, the latter of which he preferred and kept until his death. The Guarneri is now in the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum, as instructed by Heifetz in his will, and may only be taken out and played "on special occasions" by deserving players. The instrument has recently been on loan to San Francisco Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik.^[1]

In 1989, Heifetz received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Heifetz was married in 1928 to the silent motion picture actress Florence Vidor, ex-wife of King Vidor), whose seven year old daughter, Suzanne, Heifetz adopted. The couple had two more children, Josefa (1930) and Robert (1932-2004) before divorcing in 1945. In 1947 Heifetz took a sabbatical during which he married Frances Spigelberg with whom he had another son, Joseph. The second marriage ended in divorce in 1962.

Heifetz's son Jay is a photographer, and as of 2006 is living in Australia. Heifetz's daughter, Josefa Heifetz Byrne, is a lexicographer, author of Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words (ISBN 0-246-11151-8).

Heifetz's grandson Danny Heifetz has played drums and percussion with Mr. Bungle, Dieselhed, and Link Wray.

Heifetz is first referenced in The Muppet Show where Rowlf the Dog opposite George Burns mentions "Oh listen, I can play any key, I'm another Jascha Heifetz" to which George replies "Jascha Heifetz played the violin", Rowlf then replies "Nobody will know the difference George". Heifetz is later referenced in The Muppet Movie when Rowlf the Dog, after being praised by Kermit the Frog for playing an impressive piece of music on the piano, shrugged modestly and replied, "I'm no Heifetz, but I get by." He was also mentioned by Data on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Ensigns of Command" as one of the violinists he studied prior to his concert in Ten-Forward aboard the USS Enterprise.

• Strauss and the Nazis

• Jascha Heifetz Official website
• Prominent People - Jascha Heifetz
• Site at Sony BMG Masterworks
• NPR Classical Music: Heifetz at War: Behind the Scenes, Near the Front
• Jascha Heifetz plays Paganini Caprice No. 24 - Clasical Video B&W