Fiddler Yasha Kheifets: biography, creativity, life story and interesting facts

Yasha Kheifets is a violinist from God. It was not for nothing that they called it that. And the happiness that his records are brought in the proper quality. Listen to this genius musician, enjoy his performance of Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, Tchaikovsky and learn about his life. The memory of it must be kept.

Childhood

Joseph 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 began to teach his son to keep the violin and bow. And he himself was a self-taught musician and worked part time at weddings and other festivals. The child was kissed by God: he gave him everything - hearing, musical memory, desire to work and health. From the age of four, Vilnius I. Malkin, the best teacher, undertook to teach him. At five years old, Yasha Heifetz has already appeared in public, and what a kind! The most experienced. It was in a music school. Before the teachers and guests the child played "Pastoral fantasy" Singel. How could such a kid penetrate the soul of a work without making technical mistakes? How could a child not be afraid to stand alone on the stage in front of an adult demanding audience? This can only be guessed. At the age of eight, he was already playing the Mendelssohn-Bartholdi concert with the orchestra.

In the St. Petersburg Conservatory

At the age of nine (!) Yasha Heifetz is already at the conservatory. The money for moving and studying was given by the Jewish community of Vilna. A year later he first played in the Small Hall of the Conservatory. Then there was a performance at the Pavlovsk railway station and a tour to Odessa, Warsaw and Lodz. At the age of ten, Yasha recorded the first record. It sounded Schubert and Dvorak. He had concerts in Berlin, and then in Dresden, Hamburg and Prague. He was eleven years old, and the violin was not yet adult, for as long as three quarters, but his play was striking with ease and virtuosity. And, in addition, all critics noted that he himself interprets the works performed. This is how Yasha Kheifets developed. The growth of performing skills was not by the days, but by the hour. In 1913, he became a virtually established musician, and his family had a living. The First World War caught him in Germany. With great difficulty, I managed to return to my homeland. And already in 1916, when he was on tour in Norway, he was invited to America. Having traveled across Russia to Vladivostok, the Heifets family sailed to Japan, and then to the United States.

America

His first performance on October 17, 1917 in Carnegie Hall was held with indescribable success. All his newspapers and critics wrote enthusiastically about his brilliant game. It was an absolute, to which any violinist had to strive, but the young musician himself was already perfect in everything. The sound of his instrument was unique, the technique of performing the most complex passages was flawless, the breadth of the melodic phrase seemed endless, its culmination suddenly exploded. He became an American idol.

Two years later he managed to buy his first violin Stradivarius. Later he had another violin by this master, and then by Guarneri. On them he played his entire subsequent life.

Adaptation in America was easy. Heifetz Yasha began to talk 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. Still playing an incredible violin. Yasha Heifetz in 1925 became a citizen of the United States.

Marriage

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

Tour activity

In the 1920s and 1930s he traveled with concerts all over the world. 1920 - London, 21 years - Australia, 22nd - Britain, 23rd - East, 24th and 25th - England, 26th - South America and the Middle East. He hardly ever went home, living in hotels during his travels. He himself believed that he had twice visited the Moon - this was the length of his routes. In 1933 he played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. And the conductor was the great Arturo Toscanini. He performed a violin concert "The Prophet", dedicated to the author himself.

Relations with the Soviet Homeland

Delicacy and tact, caution in statements allowed Heifets 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 were held and where he was called "Angel of the Violin" as a child. But in the USSR he gave six concerts and met with students at the Conservatory. With a deep understanding of his highest skill, Soviet critics reacted to the execution. The ease with which he overcame the technical difficulties of the 24th caprice of Paganini did not lead anyone astray. Game Heifets called dazzling.

Personal life

In 1938, Heifetz Yasha was first invited to the film. He just played himself.

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

In 1945 Heifets divorces his wife, and two years later he creates a new family with Francis Spiegelberg. In this marriage the son Joseph was born. In 1950, another film was filmed about Heifetz's meetings with students at the University of California.

Trip to Israel

In 1953, on tour in Israel, he included the composition of a remarkable composer, but the German Richard Strauss. He was asked not to perform this violin sonata of a "fascist" composer. However, Heifetz Yasha, a Jewish violinist, was of a different opinion and did not change his program. To him began to come letters with threats, 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 protect the priceless and beloved instrument from destruction, but he himself was traumatized. This extremist was never detained, although an investigation was being conducted. The right hand of the violinist was sick, and he did not come to Israel for twenty years.

In the United States

By the 60's, when the violinist entered, as they say, at the age, he reduced the number of guest performances. But he compensated for that by composing music for movies, even wrote a popular easy song, because he was a cheerful person. Heifets also for some time conducted the orchestra in the Metropolitan Opera. In 1962, he divorced his wife, but did not become married again. By the age of 68, he had stopped speaking, saying that he had lost interest in concert activity and by 1972 had devoted himself entirely to teaching. First he taught students in universities, later, closer to eighty years, gave private lessons at home in Beverly Hills. He was a kind of teacher, very demanding and tough. Especially it is possible to allocate stories that for latecomers to a lesson he closed the doors of his house, and they missed the occupation. From the students, he demanded academic accuracy and strict suits. From girls - a minimum of cosmetics and jewelry. Dirty violin was not allowed at all. For violations he took fines, which went to the aid of those who needed. He brought up a lot of outstanding performers.

His studio at the Colnbury School is not empty. It is used for conducting master classes. These walls, remembering the great performer, inspire students who are engaged in the conservatory.

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

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