Violinist Yasha Heifetz: biography, creativity, life story and interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Yascha Heifetz is a violinist from God. He was called that for a reason. And fortunately, his recordings are in proper quality. Listen to this brilliant musician, enjoy his performances of Saint-Saens, Sarasate, Tchaikovsky and learn about his life. The memory of him must be kept.

Childhood

Iosif Ruvimovich (Yasha) Kheifets was born in Vilna, in the Russian Empire, in 1901. His father came to this city from Poland, and from the age of three he began to teach his son to hold the violin and the bow. And he himself was a self-taught musician and moonlighted at weddings and other holidays. The child was kissed by God: he gave him everything - hearing, musical memory, the desire to work and he alth. From the age of four, the best teacher in Vilna I. Malkin undertook to teach him. At the age of five, Yasha Kheyfets was already performing in public, and what a performance! The most sophisticated.

It was at a music school. In front of teachers and guests, the child played Singele's Pastoral Fantasy. How could such a baby penetrate the soul of the work without making technical mistakes? How was a child not afraid to stand in front of an adult demanding audience alone on stage?This can only be guessed at. At the age of eight, he already played the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy concerto with the orchestra.

At the St. Petersburg Conservatory

At the age of nine(!) Yasha Kheyfets is already studying at the conservatory. The Jewish community of Vilna gave money for moving and studying. A year later, he played for the first time in the Small Hall of the Conservatory. Then there was a performance at the Pavlovsky railway station and a tour to Odessa, Warsaw and Lodz. At the age of ten, Yasha recorded his first disc. Schubert and Dvorak sounded on it. He had concerts in Berlin, and then in Dresden, Hamburg and Prague. He was eleven years old, and the violin was not yet an adult, for the time being three quarters, but his playing struck with ease and virtuosity. And besides, all the critics noted that he himself interprets the works he performs. This is how Jascha Heifetz developed. The growth of performing skills went by leaps and bounds. In 1913, he became a practically established musician, and the whole family existed on his earnings. The First World War found him in Germany. It was with great difficulty that I managed to return to my homeland. And already in 1916, when he was on tour in Norway, he was invited to America. After driving across Russia to Vladivostok, the Heifetz family sailed to Japan and then to the United States.

America

His first performance on October 17, 1917 at Carnegie Hall was an indescribable success. All newspapers and critics enthusiastically wrote about his brilliant game. It was an absolute that any violinist should strive for, but the young musician himself was already perfect in everything. The sound of his instrument was unique, the technique of performancethe most complex passages were impeccable, the breadth of the melodic phrase seemed endless, its climaxes suddenly exploded. He became an American idol.

Two years later he managed to buy his first Stradivarius violin. Later, he got another violin by this master, and then by Guarneri. He played them for the rest of his life.

Adaptation in America was easy. Kheifets Yasha began to speak freely, bought a car, a boat, played tennis and began to devote less time to music. This immediately affected the quality of his game. But the young man quickly began to correct the shortcomings. The incredible violin still played. Jascha Heifetz became a United States citizen in 1925.

Marriage

In 1929 he got married. His wife was the American movie star Florence Artaud. In 1930, the young couple had a daughter, Joseph, and two years later, a son, Robert.

Tour activities

In the 1920s and 1930s, he traveled around the world with concerts. 1920 - London, 21st - Australia, 22nd - Britain, 23rd - East, 24th and 25th - England, 26th - South America and the Middle East. He was hardly at home, living in hotels during his travels.

He himself believed that he had visited the Moon twice - such was the length of his routes. In 1933 he played with the New York Philharmonic. And the conductor was the great Arturo Toscanini. He performed the violin concerto "Prophet", dedicated by the author to himself.

Relations with the Soviethomeland

Delicacy and tact, caution in statements allowed Kheyfets to maintain good relations with the Soviet government. In 1934, he traveled through fascist Germany to Moscow and Leningrad and refused to perform in the country where his debuts took place and where he was called the "Angel of the Violin" in his childhood. But in the USSR, he gave six concerts and met with students of the conservatory. With a deep understanding of his highest skill, Soviet critics reacted to the performance. The ease with which he overcame the technical difficulties of Paganini's 24th whim did not mislead anyone. Heifetz's game was called dazzling.

Private life

In 1938, Heifetz Jasha was first invited to shoot a film. He was just playing himself.

Two years later, he bought the family two houses. One was located near Los Angeles, in Beverly Hills, and the other was on the Pacific coast on the beaches in Malibu. Then he begins teaching at the University of Southern California. But the concert activity does not stop. He's going on tour in South America and of course he performed in hospitals during the war.

In 1945 Heifetz divorced his wife, and two years later he started a new family with Francis Spiegelberg.

The son Joseph was born in this marriage. In 1950, another film was made about Heifetz's meetings with students at the University of California.

Trip to Israel

In 1953, on tour in Israel, he included a work by a wonderful composer, but a German, Richard Strauss. He was asked notto perform this violin sonata by a "fascist" composer. However, Heifetz Jasha, a Jewish violinist, had a different opinion and did not change his program.

He began to receive letters with threats, to which the great violinist did not pay attention. After one of the concerts, a young man attacked him with an iron rod. Heifetz tried to save the priceless and beloved instrument from destruction, but he himself was injured. This extremist was never detained, although an investigation was carried out. The violinist's right hand hurt, and he did not come to Israel for a long twenty years.

In the United States

By the 60s, when the violinist entered what is called age, he reduced the number of touring performances. But he compensated for this by composing music for films, even wrote a popular light song, because he was a cheerful person. Heifetz also briefly conducted the orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1962, he divorced his wife, but did not remarry. By the age of 68, he stopped performing, stating that he had lost interest in concert activity and by 1972 he devoted himself entirely to teaching.

First taught students at universities, later, towards the age of eighty, gave private lessons at his home in Beverly Hills. He was a kind of teacher, very demanding and tough. Of particular note are the stories that for those who were late for the lesson, he closed the doors of his house, and they missed the lesson. From students, he demanded academic accuracy andtight suits. From girls - a minimum of cosmetics and jewelry. A dirty violin was not allowed at all. For violations, he took fines that went to help those in need. He brought up many outstanding performers.

His studio at Colnbury School is never empty. It is used for master classes. These walls, remembering a great performer, inspire students who study at the conservatory.

Mr Heifetz, as he preferred to be called, died of a stroke in 1987. He wished to be cremated and his ashes scattered over the ocean. He bequeathed Guarneri's violin to worthy performers who will play in the San Francisco Museum, where the instrument itself is located.

This concludes the description of the life path of such a great musician as Jascha Heifetz. His biography is filled with service to music, which was the core of his life.