MELBOURNE.- More than a century after his public debut, the name Jascha Heifetz continues to evoke awe and excitement among fellow musicians. In a performing career that spanned 65 years, he established an unparalleled standard of violin playing to which violinists around the world still aspire.
Mossgreen Australia has been entrusted with The Jascha Heifetz and Family Collection. This auction gives fans of Jascha Heifetz and lovers of classical music the opportunity to purchase pieces intimately associated with the great violinist, his circle and family. From portraits presented to him by admiring artists, gifts from the Russian Royal Family and grateful Orchestras, to performance clothing and inspirational artworks, this collection embraces the many facets of life in the Heifetz homes.
Private photo albums, correspondence, important documents and jewelry are accompanied by Heifetz’ personal Steinway piano, Lloyd Wright house plans, a fabulous Faberge photo frame and even some favourite tribal artifacts; all offered to the public for the very first time. An opportunity never to be repeated from the homes of the greatest violinist of the 20th century.
The day after the 19-year-old Heifetz’s London debut, George Bernard Shaw wrote him a now legendary letter. “If you provoke a jealous God by playing with such superhuman perfection,” Shaw warned, “you will die young. I earnestly advise you to play something badly every night before going to bed, instead of saying your prayers. No mortal should presume to play so faultlessly.”
Heifetz is widely considered to be one of the most profoundly influential performing artists of all time. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania — then occupied by Russia — on February 2, 1901, he became a U.S. citizen in 1925. Fiercely patriotic to his adopted country, he gave hundreds of concerts for Allied service men and women during World War II, including tours of Central and South America, North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, often playing from the back of a flatbed truck in dangerous conditions.
Proficient on virtually all stringed instruments, the piano, as well as many others including the accordion, Heifetz was a true musical genius.
In 1928, he published the first of dozens of acclaimed violin transcriptions. Many, including his arrangements of selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” are now part of the standard repertoire. Using the pseudonym Jim Hoyl, he even wrote a pop song that became a hit in 1946.
In his later years, Heifetz became a dedicated teacher in Southern California at both UCLA and USC, and a champion of causes he believed in. He led efforts to establish “911” as an emergency phone number, and crusaded for clean air. He and his students at the University of Southern California protested smog by wearing gas masks, and in 1967, he converted a Renault sedan into an all-electric vehicle that he drove to and from classes.
As a result of his vast recorded legacy, most of which was recently released by Sony Classics in a 103-CD collection, Heifetz’s violin playing is no less influential today than it was in his lifetime. To legions of musicians and other violinists, he remains, quite simply, “The King.”
