From: Krista Hanson

Thank you for this website, which I am, belatedly, seeing for the first time. Such a wonderful musician! I was a friend of Robert Heifetz, who took Russian from me, and of his wife Albina, with whom I would very much like to reestablish contact.

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From: Raphael Klayman

Hi - just came across your site - bravo!
Some questions:

1. I don't see your name and am actually wondering who you are.

2. I didn't know that there was a big debate about Heifetz' birth place, but I am aware of a debate about his birth year, with some thinking that it was actually 1899 and not 1901. What do you think about that?

3. I have, but haven't watched the documentary in a while. I seem to recall that at some point, H. is seen to teach a piece and to a girl which does not show up in the "complete" televised master classes that are currently on tape and DVD. Do you know about that, and whether more of the originally televised master classes might eventually be made coomercially available?

4. In your documentary here there are a couple of exquisite Heifetz excerpts here that I didn't recognize. Maybe you could tell me what they are. One comes in at c.7'30'' to c. 10'. The other is during the credits, c. 26'08".

Thanks!

1. For those interested, my name appears on the very first page in the "About" link
2. The question of his birth date is discussed in the appropriate pages
3. I think you might refer to Elizabeth Anne Matesky, a wonderful violinist, who studied with Heifetz and with Nathan Milstein. In the series she plays the Khachaturian violin concerto, a work Heifetz never recorded himself. She is the daughter of USC string educator and ASTA national president, Ralph Matesky. The entire masterclass series is available commercially, if you google it.
4.   a) Rachmaninov cello sonata, 3rd mvt. (violin arr. Heifetz)
      b) Korngold violin concerto, 2nd mvt.

AV.

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From: Eamon Heskin

Hello,
Spent a very rewarding Sunday afternoon on the site. "The Heifetz Muse" is a very interesting analysis, I have passed it on to my children with a strong message: "Read please, all of it."

My two children have been musically interested from very young. We are a secular family (mostly Christian history) so it is essential that they understand this tiny part of the history of the Jewish people in eastern Europe and how it has such an effect on much of our culture today. I found the analysis of Heifetz background really interesting in that it condensed much study and research into 10 minutes and yet remained clear.

Many thanks for the hard work which made something truly worthwhile.

Thank you for your kind words.

AV.

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From: Ariel

It could have been a very interesting and valuable site to the memory of the violinist Heifetz , but is so overladen with nonsense amounting to teen age gushings that it looses any effect it might have had … too bad. The nonsense from Klezmorin and Hazannut can elicit a benign smile if not out right laughter.

Thanks for your feedback. Obviously the site cannot, and does not, please everyone. So "for those who didn't like it, perhaps we'll catch you the next time". Failing that, feel free to peruse other Heifetz sites.

 AV.

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From: Gwen

Thank you. I very much enjoy your site. It's a treasure.

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From: Gerard

Greetings from Texas--I have enjoyed very much looking through your Heifetz site. I was wondering if you are aware of a book entitled Fiddler on the Hoof by Jaroslav Siskovsky.  Mr. Siskovsky was a fellow student with Heifetz of Leopold Auer's. He is in the photograph you have in your gallery of Heifetz's early days. Picture 35 of 41. Mr. Siskovsky is the person to the right of Heifetz in the back row. In his book, Siskovsky relates various stories of his interactions with Heifetz, both as students and later on as touring professional violinists. There is a picture taken in 1939 with both violinists and their respective Guarneri violins. The book was published in 1975 by Dorrance & Company. Thanks again for the magnificent website. Gerard

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From: Edward Morton

Hello!
Thank you for your Heifetz site.  I love it.  So much great music to enjoy. But I can't find a list of recording dates. Is this information available on the site?  I can see the complete discography information, but no dates.
Thank you, if this information is available anywhere.
:-)

Thanks for your feedback. In the 'Discography' link, all listed discographies can be perused from the 'Next' link on top of the page. The RCA - chronological is the fourth. Hope this helps.

 AV.

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From: Elena

I hope you wouldn’t [mind] me correcting something you wrote. The postcard you have here http://jaschaheifetz.org/debate.html was written not by Rubin Heifetz, but to him. It is addressed to Mr. Rubin Heifetz and family. The address given is  Vilna, Sofianya 3 apt. 40.  The Yiddish part expresses hope that Heifetz family had good Rosh Hashana, asks forgiveness before Yom Kippur (October 4 1908 seen on the postmark was Yom Kippur Eve), and wishes them a good year. The second part is in Russian - it was very rare for a Jew living in Vilna at that time to even know Lithuanian,  let alone write in it to another Jew. It reads as follows: ”Dear Iosifka, this card is for you as a musical person. Try to be as great as Beethoven was [I suppose there was a portrait of Beethoven on the other side of the card]. Regards to sisters. Your Bloch.” If I am not mistaken, it was common at that time and place for parents in non-religious or not very religious Jewish families to have Yiddish as their first language and for their children to have Russian as their first language.

Many thanks for your clarification. Literally all Jewish families at the time spoke Yiddish, regardless of the degree of religiousness. Children of very religious family continued to speak Yiddish (and some Hebrew) as they had been educated in the Heder and later Yeshiva. Somewhat more secular children went to general schools (if lucky to be admitted).

 

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