Jascha Heifetz

Jascha Heifetz was perhaps the foremost, certainly the most recorded, of those phenomenally gifted Jewish violinists who emerged from the Russian Empire in the first decades of the 20th century. His style, once fully formed, involved a rapid vibrato which created a singing yet focused tone, and his near-faultless intonation, phrasing and avoidance of emotional indulgence also became hallmark qualities. Born in Vilna (today Vilnius), then part of the Russian Empire, Heifetz received his first lessons from his father, a violinist in the city theatre. By the time he had entered the Vilna Music School, aged five, he had already performed in public. Heifetz enrolled at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1910, and was soon studying under its most eminent violinist, Leopold Auer. The following year, he gave his first public concert in the Imperial capital. With a letter of recommendation from Auer, Heifetz made his Berlin debut in 1912, his performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto reportedly impressing the celebrated Viennese violinist Kreisler. Heifetz equally impressed the great conductor Artur Nikisch on his return visit in 1914. After the First World War, Heifetz, in line with the more “objective” performance style increasingly favoured by the rise of Stravinsky-style neoclassicism, refined and reined in his romantic Russian style to the cool precision his playing became widely noted for. Yet he remained dedicated to his use of gut rather than steel strings, as he felt they gave his sound a more individual quality. Heifetz became an American citizen in 1925, settled in California, and enjoyed a long-term recording contract with RCA through which he built a sizeable discography. His early recordings of concertos, made mostly in Europe, were gradually complemented by ones made with American orchestras and in improved sound. Nonetheless, many of his earlier releases, despite their having been done in short takes required by 78 rpm discs, still compel attention for their unsurpassed mastery. Besides his renowned performances of such classic concertos as those by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, Heifetz also commissioned a number of new works including concertos by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Walton, and championed Korngold’s Concerto at a time when the composer was out of fashion because of his close association with Hollywood.