Jascha Heifetz
(Establishing an unparalleled standard to which violinists around the world still aspire)
Turning Points
- took his first lessons from his father
- entered the local music school in Vilna at the age of five
- made his formal public debut at the age of eight
- Entered the violin class of Ionnes Nalbandian at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
- entered the violin class of Leopold Auer
- Samuel Chotzinoff became his accompanist
- Became a naturalized U.S. citizen
- A world tour took him to Spain, Egypt, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the United States, and Mexico
- Married the silent screen star Florence Vidor and adopted her daughter Suzanne
- Arpad Sándòr became his accompanist
- gave the last tour of Germany (just as Adolf Hitler became Chancellor).
- Emanuel Bay became his accompanist
- Helped to found the American Guild of Musical Artists and served as its first vice
president
- Gave benefit concerts for British War Relief and Russian War Relief, and participated in a
radio broadcast sponsored by the U.S. Treasury to support the sale of Defense Bonds.
- Gave USO concerts at military camps throughout the United States
- Divorce from Florence Vidor
- published two popular songs under the pseudonym Jim Hoyl with the lyricist became a hit
- Married Frances Spiegelberg
- Son Jay was born
- worked with Benjamin Britten on revisions to his violin concerto
- Returned to Israel for another tour and was attacked by a man wielding a metal pipe for
playing the violin sonata by Richard Strauss
- Brooks Smith became his accompanist.
- gave last extensive concert tour - through the United States, Canada, England, France,
Holland, Italy, and Switzerland.
- gave his last radio broadcast on “The Telephone Hour.”
- slipped on the floor and fractured his hip: a subsequent infection nearly killed him
- accepted an invitation from Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, to play at the Human Rights Day Concert in the UN General Assembly Hall
- divorced Frances Spiegelberg
- Gave his last concerts at Carnegie Hall
- Converted his Renault passenger car to an electric vehicle as part of an effort to combat
air pollution
- gave his final recital with Brooks Smith at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles,
which was recorded and issued by Columbia Records.
- popular songs were written under the pseudonym Jim Hoyl
- Gave last two public performances at USC
- A shoulder injury ended his public performing career
- continued to play chamber music with students and friends for the rest of his life.
- Stopped teaching at USC, but continued to teach privately
Achievements
-made his first public appearance in a student recital in December 1906,
-his professional debut at Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania in May
-graduated from the Vilnius Music School
-made his formal public debut at the age of eight in the nearby city of Kaunas
- Gave first full recital at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
- made first recordings for Zvukopis in Saint Petersburg
- only eleven years old, appeared for the first time in Berlin, which was then
one of the great musical centers of the world.
- gave first concerts in Prague
- public debut in Berlin took place four days later at the large hall of the
Hochschule für Musik. A sold out audience packed the 1,600 seat hall.
- U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall
- made his first acoustic recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company
- Canadian debut
- First concerts in England, Scotland, and France.
- First concerts in Australia and New Zealand.
- Isidor Achron became his accompanist; first concerts in China and Japan.
- made his first electric recordings for Victor in December.
- Embarked on a world tour in January that took him to the Netherlands,
Germany, Hungary, Austria, Monaco, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt,
Palestine, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Latvia
- awarded the Cross of the French Legion of Honor
- a world tour in January that took him to Spain, Egypt, India, Singapore,
Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the United States,
and Mexico
- wrote the first of many violin transcriptions (Ponce’s “Estrellita”)
- first concerts in Switzerland, Turkey, Romania, and Greece.
- gave the world premiere of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “The Lark” (which Heifetz
commissioned)
- made his first radio broadcast
- performed at the White House for President Herbert Hoover.
- made experimental long play recordings for the Bell Telephone Laboratory.
- Recorded his first complete sonata (by Richard Strauss) and concerto
(Mozart’s No. 5, K. 219)
- gave concerts in the Soviet Union for the first and only time since leaving
Russia
- gave first South American tour with concerts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru,
and Uruguay
- performed at the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt.
- Starred in the MGM movie, “They Shall Have Music”
- Gave first concerts in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad,
the British West Indies, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama,
- made the first of 54 appearances (through 1958) on the NBC radio program
“The Telephone Hour.”
- published two popular songs - “When You Make Love To Me (Don’t Make
Believe”)
- gave four nationwide radio performances on NBC’s “The Telephone Hour.”
- made first television appearance on NBC’s “The Telephone Hour.”
- Gave the premiere of the revised version of Ernest Bloch’s Violin Sonata No. 2
- gave last extensive concert tour - through the United States, Canada, England,
France, Holland, Italy, and Switzerland.
- Named a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.
- Taught first experimental master class at UCLA
- Appointed Regent’s Professor of Music at UCLA
- Won the first of three Grammy Awards (the others came in 1962 and 1964)
from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
-Appointed Professor of Music at the University of Southern California’s Institute
for Special Musical Studies where a series of his master classes were filmed
- made recordings in England
- Public Television aired the master class films
- filmed performances in Paris with Brooks Smith and the French National
Orchestra for an NBC television broadcast
- gave his final recital with Brooks Smith at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
in Los Angeles, which was recorded and issued by Columbia Records.
- Agreed to serve as an Honorary Vice President of the International
Castelnuovo-Tedesco Society.
-Transcribed two excerpts from Prokofiev’s Music for Children, Op. 65 which
he published in memory of Gregor Piatigorsky.
-Posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from
the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
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