Augustin Hadelich is a German violinist born (in Cecina, Italy) on April
4, 1984. He is best known for a very
fast rise to stardom after winning the Indianapolis Violin Competition in
2006. It was virtually a clean sweep of
the competition since he also won special awards for the best performance in
the following categories: Romantic concerto, Classical concerto, Beethoven
sonata, Bach work, commissioned work, encore piece, Paganini caprice, and
sonata other than Beethoven. His reviews
have been full of superlatives since the beginning of his career and,
understandably, he has already appeared with most of the world’s top
orchestras. He soloed with the New York
Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York on October 18, 2012, playing the
Symphonie Espagnol by Edouard Lalo. He
had three times previously played with this orchestra, though not in New
York. He is not yet 29 years old. Hadelich began his violin studies at age 5 with
his father, a farmer who is also a cellist.
At the time, the family was living in Riparbella, Italy (in Tuscany –
Riparbella is about 30 miles south of Florence.) From about age 7, he studied (sporadically)
with, among other teachers, Uto Ughi in Siena for a few years. He eventually ended up in the Istituto
Mascagni in Livorno (Italy) from which he graduated. He was playing recitals in Europe during
this time, too. Later on, in Berlin, he
studied at the Academy of Music. From
there he came to the U.S and enrolled at Juilliard, studying with Joel
Smirnoff. Hadelich graduated from
Juilliard in 2007, a year after he won the Indianapolis competition. His discography is small but, by all
accounts, brilliant. He has recorded all
of Haydn’s violin concertos and Telemann’s fantasias for violin - rarely-heard
works. He also sometimes writes his own
cadenzas, something that few contemporary violinists do. Hadelich currently plays the Kiesewetter
Stradivarius (1723) but previously played the 1683 Gingold Stradivarius. One of his many YouTube videos is here. And here is another – yes, he is that
good!
Szymon Goldberg was a Polish
violinist born (in Wloclawek, Poland) on June 1, 1909. Although he became one of the youngest
concertmasters in history, he is best known for creating and leading the
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra for more than two decades. He began studying the violin at age 7 in
Warsaw. His teacher was Mieczyslaw
Mihalowicz. After a year, he went to
Berlin (in 1917) where he began lessons with Carl Flesch. At age 12, he made his debut playing a recital
in Warsaw (in 1921) but continued his studies with Flesch afterward. At age 15, he made his Berlin debut with the
Berlin Philharmonic, playing three concertos: the Paganini number one, the Hungarian
Concerto by Joachim, and the Bach E Major.
Only four other violinists that I know of have played three concertos in
one evening – Yehudi Menuhin and Raymond Cohen are among them. Goldberg embarked on several European tours
before settling down to become concertmaster of the Dresden Philharmonic at age
16, becoming one of the youngest concertmasters on record, though not the
youngest. He remained in Dresden until
1929, at which time he became concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. At the behest of the German government, he
was forced out of that orchestra in 1934.
He was 25 years old. During his
time in Berlin, he also played in a string trio, between 1930 and 1934, with
Paul Hindemith (violist) and Emmanuel Feuermann. After his dismissal from the Berlin
Philharmonic, Goldberg toured Europe and the Far East as a recitalist,
accompanied by Pianist Lili Kraus, from 1935 to 1940. He settled in London in the late 1930s and
continued to play and teach. In 1938, he
made his U.S. debut in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. He was 29 years old. While playing a recital in Java (Indonesia) in
1942, he was arrested by the Japanese government and interned in
prisoner-of-war camps until the end of the Second World War. He resumed his career after 1945, touring far
and wide. From 1951 until 1965, he was
on the faculty of the Aspen Music School (Aspen, Colorado, USA.) In 1955, he began his conducting career in
earnest by accepting the post of chief conductor of the Netherlands Chamber
Orchestra. Some sources give him credit
for founding this orchestra but others do not.
He led the orchestra from 1955 until 1977. From 1977 until 1979, he led the Manchester
Camerata. Eventually, he also guest
conducted the London Symphony, the BBC Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the
Boston Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
He also taught at Yale (1978-1982), Juilliard (1978-1980), the Curtis
Institute (1980-1981), and the Manhattan School of Music (1981-). Goldberg settled in Japan in 1987. He was 81 years old. In 1990, he was appointed conductor of the
New Japan Philharmonic (Tokyo, Japan) which he led until 1993. There are several audio files of Goldberg’s
playing on YouTube, one of which is here – it is a duo played with Paul
Hindemith on viola. He also recorded
many chamber music works which are easy to find on the internet. Goldberg died (in Japan) on July 19, 1993, at
age 84. Among his pupils are Ronan
Lefkowitz, Ruggero Allifranchini, Pamela Frank, and Fiona Simon. For many years, Goldberg played the Baron
Vitta Guarnerius, now owned by the Library of Congress, and the Liegnitz
Stradivarius (1711.)
Johnny
Frigo (John Virgil Frigo) was an Italian jazz violinist, bass player, painter, and
poet born (in Chicago, USA) on December 27, 1916. He began his violin studies at age 7 and
received only three years of formal instruction. Out of necessity, he later learned to play
bass - by 1942, he was playing bass and violin in Chico Marx’ orchestra. He was 26 years old. During the Second World War, he played in New
York with Al Haig and Kai Winding. He
later went to Europe, too - it was part of his military service. From 1945 until 1947, he toured with Jimmy
Dorsey’s band. Jimmy Dorsey was Tommy
Dorsey’s brother. Soon after, Frigo
formed a trio which included Herb Ellis on guitar and Lou Carter on piano which
performed and recorded in New York. He
later appeared in the film titled The Fabulous Dorseys. In 1951, he worked as a studio musician and
arranger in Chicago and led a band at a place called Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago’s
Bohemia. The trio (The Soft Winds Trio)
broke up in 1952. Between 1951 and 1974,
he also played with The Sage Riders, a country band which broadcast nationwide
from a radio station in Chicago – as did Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York
in the classical music realm. The show –
at various times - included the likes of Gene Autry, Rex Allen, Bill Haley, and
Andy Williams. Here’s one of their
videos. During his career, he played
with Mel Torme, Barbra Streisand, Charlie Byrd, Frank Sinatra, and Mahalia
Jackson, among other big-name artists. As
did Eddie South after he died, Frigo did not receive much recognition until
later in his career, after focusing once again on the violin and its jazz
potential. Frigo’s recordings can still
be found on the internet. His violin
sound has been compared to Stephane Grappelli’s. Frigo died on July 4, 2007, at age 90.
Paul Hindemith was a German violinist,
violist, teacher, composer, author, and conductor, born (in Hanau) on November
16, 1895. He is much better known as a
composer, though he spent much of his early life making a living as a violinist
and violist. He is one of several great
artists who played in dance bands and musical theatre groups – far removed from
the classical music arena - as a young man. Eugene Ormandy, Vasa Prihoda, Elias Breeskin, Alfredo Campoli, Theodore Thomas, Albert Sammons, Alma Rose', and Jacques Thibaud did the same thing. He began violin lessons with Eugene Reinhardt and Anna Hegner as a child
but later entered the Frankfurt Conservatory (Hoch Conservatory) in 1908. His violin teacher there was Adolf Rebner
(pupil of Jacob Grun and Martin Marsick.)
Hindemith also studied composition there with Arnold Mendelssohn and
Bernhard Sekles. In 1914, Hindemith
became assistant concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera. He was 19 years old. In 1915, he played the Beethoven concerto in
public although it is not known to me where or with whom. Two years later, he was made concertmaster of
the Frankfurt Opera. From 1914 onward, Hindemith
also played second violin in the Rebner String Quartet. Between 1918 and 1920, he served as a
musician – probably as a violinist - for the German military - World War One
was over by then. In 1921, he founded
his own String Quartet – the Amar String Quartet – in which he played
viola. He was 26 years old. He continued his activities with this quartet
until 1929. By 1923 he had resigned his
position with the Frankfurt Opera and was gaining fame as a composer - by 1927,
he was already teaching composition in the Advanced School for Music in
Berlin. In 1928, he wrote a film music
score for a film by Hans Richter. The score
was subsequently lost. On October 3, 1929,
he gave the world premiere of William Walton’s now-famous viola concerto after
Lionel Tertis refused it. Walton was on
the podium. Hindemith frequently toured
as a solo viola player, including several times in the U.S. Part of Hindemith’s history includes his
relationship to the infamous Nazi Party.
He was both denounced and embraced by the officials controlling anything
to do with art and propaganda at the time.
Between 1935 and 1937, he traveled to Turkey to help with that country’s
musical education programs. In 1935 also,
he quit his teaching position in Frankfurt – some sources call it an extended
leave. In 1938, he left Germany for
Switzerland – his wife was part-Jewish.
In 1940, he settled in the U.S.
He mostly taught at Yale and Harvard.
Hindemith also devoted much of his time to writing about his music
theory – or system - of composition. In
1953, he returned to Europe, settling once again in Switzerland. He took up numerous and frequent conducting
assignments, going as far as Japan with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1956. Among much other music, most of which has
been recorded, Hindemith wrote 8 operas, 3 ballets, 14 concertos (for various
instruments), 11 large-scale orchestral works, 7 string quartets, and 7 viola
sonatas. His most popular work is
probably the Symphonic Metamorphosis for orchestra on themes of CM von Weber. You can listen to it here. I’ve only played it once in my life. Hindemith died (in Frankfurt) on December 28,
1963, at age 68.
