LA JOLLA, California — Cesare Civetta, a native New Yorker, conductor of the Beethoven Festival Orchestra, has launched a series of programs on Zoom which are highly enlightening, artistic, and entertaining. The past two Sundays, Civetta presented a wonderful program on violinist Jascha Heifetz, whose name was often invoked as the standard of superior excellence.
Through a large selection of musical examples, we heard the emotional grandeur and technical perfection of this peerless artist. Many were Heifetz’s renditions of familiar music, the slow movement of the Brahms Concerto, the final movement of the Beethoven Concerto, the final movement of the Mendelssohn Concerto, the Prelude from Bach’s sonata for unaccompanied violin, #3. There were virtuoso shorter pieces like Wieniawski’s Scherzo Tarentelle, Sarasate’s Zapatos and Ziguenerweisen, and Hebrew Dance by Joseph Achron, one of Heifetz’s fellow natives from Lithuania and classmates from Leopold Auer’s class.
Both Heifetz and Achron were members of the Society for Jewish Folk Music in Russia and Heifetz would often perform the music of his fellow society composers. Hebrew Dance is one of the lesser known works by one of these composers which requires the highest technical ability to perform this virtuoso piece. Because those composers had the resources of the talented Jewish violinists in Auer’s class, they could write music of great difficulty, based on Jewish themes. Violinists such as Mischa Elman, Tosha Zeidel, Nathan Milstein, Efrem Zimbalist as well as Heifetz were all up for the task. Regrettably, few of these pieces are programmed these days, so it was welcome to hear this gem by Joseph Achron.
The many photos of Jascha Heifetz, from early childhood through the last years of his life gave extra depth to the presentation. We also had a glimpse into his personal life, his two marriages and his three children. Heifetz was credited for helping initiate the 911 emergency hotline and owned and operated an electric car long before other people. He is also shown giving many concerts for the American troops during WWII.
Interesting footage showed Heifetz teaching a master class. During the final years of his life, he devoted much of his time teaching a select group of talented students. My own sister, Zina Schiff, was one of those students, the youngest admitted at the time.
To access his next program this Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT, part 3 of a three-part series on the great African-American bass-baritone, Paul Robeson, RSVP to beethovennow@gmail.com.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com