Bronisław Huberman

Infobox musical artist
Name = Bronisław Huberman

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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born = birth date|1882|12|19
Częstochowa, Poland
Died = death date and age|1947|06|16|1882|12|19
Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
Instrument = Violin
Genre = Classical
Occupation = Violinist, pedagogue
Years_active =
Notable_instruments = Violin
"Gibson; ex-Huberman" Stradivari 1713
"ex-Huberman" Guarneri del Gesù 1731
"Huberman; Kreisler" Stradivari 1733
"Consolo" Guarneri del Gesù 1733

Bronisław Huberman (19 December 1882 – 16 June 1947) was a Jewish Polish violinist. He was known for his individualistic and personal interpretations and was praised for his tone color, expressiveness, and flexibility. The "Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius" violin which bears his name was stolen and recovered twice during the period in which he owned the instrument.

Biography

Huberman was born in Częstochowa, Poland. In his youth he was a pupil of Mieczyslaw Michalowicz at the Warsaw Conservatory, and of Isidor Lotto in Paris. In 1892 he studied under Joseph Joachim in Berlin. Despite being only ten years old, he dazzled Joachim with performances of Louis Spohr, Henri Vieuxtemps, and the transcription of a Frederic Chopin nocturne. However, the two did not get along well, and after Huberman's fourteenth birthday he took no more lessons. In 1893 he toured Holland and Belgium as a virtuoso performer. Around this time the six year old Arthur Rubinstein saw one of Huberman's concerts. Rubinstein's parents invited Huberman back to their house and the two boys struck up what would become a lifetime friendship. In 1894 Adelina Patti invited Huberman to participate in her farewell gala in London, which he did, and in the following year he actually eclipsed her in appearances in Vienna. In 1896 he performed the violin concerto of Johannes Brahms in the presence of the composer, who was stunned by the quality of his playing.

In 1929 Huberman first visited Palestine and developed his vision of establishing classical music in the Promised Land. In 1933, during the Nazis' rise to power, Huberman declined invitations from Wilhelm Furtwangler to return to preach a "musical peace", but wrote instead an open letter to German intellectuals inviting them to remember their essential values. In 1936 he founded the "Palestine Orchestra", which gave its first performance on 26 December with Arturo Toscanini conducting. This laid the foundations of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which, however, was not established until 1948, a year after Huberman's death.

In 1937, a year before the Anschluss, Huberman left Vienna and took refuge in Switzerland. The following year, his career was nearly ended when he was involved in an airplane accident in Sumatra, in which his wrist and two fingers of his left hand were broken. After intensive and painful retraining he was able to resume performing. At the onset of the Second World War, Huberman was touring South Africa and was unable to return to his home in Switzerland until after the war. Shortly thereafter he fell ill from exhaustion and never regained his strength. He died in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland in 1947.

Before 1936, Huberman's principal instrument for his concerts was the 1713-vintage Stradivarius "Gibson", which was named after one of its early owners, the English violinist George Alfred Gibson. It was stolen twice, first time from Huberman's Vienna hotel room in 1919, but was quickly recovered by the Vienna Police within 3 days. The second time was in New York City and Huberman was never able to get it back. It was on February 28, 1936 during a concert at the Carnegie Hall, Huberman switched the Stradivarius "Gibson" he owned for over 40 years with his newly acquired Guarnerius violin in his dressing room during the intermission and went on to the second half of the concert. When he was playing Cesar Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major, his secretary, Miss Ida Ibbiken, noticed that the "Gibson" disappeared from the dressing room. It was snatched by a young New York nightclub musician, Julian Altman, who kept the violin for the next half century. After being convicted of child molestation in 1985, Altman made a deathbed confession to his wife, Marcelle Hall, that he had stolen the violin. The insurance company, Lloyd's of London, paid Huberman $US30,000 for the loss in 1936. Ironically, Julian Altman went on to become a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC and performed for Presidents and politicians with the stolen Stradivarius for many years. After Altman's death in 1985, Ms. Hall consulted experts who confirmed that the violin was indeed the Gibson Stradivarius. Two years later, she returned it to Lloyd's and collected a finder's fee of $US263,000. The instrument underwent a 9-month restoration by J&A Beare Ltd., in London.

In 1988, Lloyd's sold it for $US1.2 million to British violinist Norbert Brainin. In October 2001, the American violinist, Joshua Bell, purchased it for $4,000,000. "Normally someone in my situation with my income could not afford to own a Strad like this, but I was very lucky in my purchases of violins," Bell said. "I kind of worked my way up and managed."

Recordings

Huberman made several commercial recordings of large-scale works, among which are:
*Beethoven: Violin Concerto (w. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. George Szell) (Columbia Records, LX 509-13) (18-20 June 1934).
*Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata (no 9) (w. Ignaz Friedman, pno) (Columbia Records, C-67954/7D)
*Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole (omits 3rd movt.) (w. Vienna Philharmonic, cond. George Szell) (Columbia Records, C-68288/90D)
*Tchaikowsky: Violin Concerto (w. Berlin State Opera Orchestra, cond William Steinberg) (Columbia Records, C-67726/9D) (December 1928; originally for Odeon)
*Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto (2nd & 3rd movts) (w. Siegfried Schulze, pno) (Brunswick Records, PD-27242: acoustic)
*Also Bach Concerti 1 & 2, and Mozart Concerto 3.
*Several other large works exist in off-air broadcast recordings, including the Brahms concerto.

References

*Huberman, B, "Aus der Werkstatt des Virtuosen" (Heller, Leipzig 1912)
*R.T. Darrell, Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (Gramophone Shop, New York 1936).
*A. Eaglefield-Hull (Ed.), A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
*A. Tubeuf, 'L'archet au coeur d'or', Sleevenote, EMI reissue of Beethoven Concerto (vinyl c1985) Cat EMI/Pathe-Marconi PM 322.

External links

[http://www.huberman.info/ Bronisław Huberman biography]