Bronislaw Huberman
Bronislaw Huberman was a Polish violin virtuoso of Jewish origin and the founder of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, later the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He was born in Czestochowa in 1882, the son of Jakub Chaim Huberman, an assistant lawyer, and Aleksandra Goldman. His musical gifts attracted notice by the age of four; he received a violin at six and gave his first concert at seven.
Huberman briefly studied in Warsaw with Mieczyslaw Michalowicz and then Isidor Lotto. In 1892 he went to Berlin to study with Joseph Joachim, whose enthusiastic recommendation enabled the young violinist to give concert series at summer resorts. Anton Rubinstein heard one of these appearances and praised Huberman's playing as that of a genius. In September 1892 he performed at the International Music Exhibition in Vienna and was presented to Emperor Franz Joseph, who gave him enough money to acquire a fine violin.
After eight months in Berlin, Huberman began touring Belgium and the Netherlands in 1893. He later took lessons with Hugo Heermann in Frankfurt and Martin Marsick in Paris. In Paris, Count Zamoyski arranged a London tour for him, introduced him to Adelina Patti, and gave him a Stradivarius violin. Huberman appeared at Patti's farewell concert in Vienna in January 1895, playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto; the performance brought outstanding reviews and led to a contract for twelve Vienna recitals.
In Vienna during 1896, he played for Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, and Johannes Brahms, performing Brahms's own Violin Concerto before the composer. He subsequently toured the United States in 1896 and 1897, appearing at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera, and toured Russia in 1897–98. Following a three-year break from public performance devoted to study, he resumed his career and in 1903 was invited to Genoa to play Paganini's Il Cannone Guarnerius violin. He played the instrument there again in 1908 at a benefit concert for survivors of the Messina earthquake.
Huberman married the singer Elsa Galafres in 1910, and their son Johannes was born later that year. In 1912 he published Aus der Werkstatt des Virtuosen, translated as From the Virtuoso's Workshop. His later touring included 150 concerts in Russia, nine of them in St. Petersburg. After the First World War he performed in London, including an Albert Hall appearance with Nellie Melba, and lived in the United States from 1921 to 1923, giving concerts, touring with Richard Strauss, and making violin recordings for Brunswick Records.
In 1927 Huberman was a soloist, alongside Pablo Casals, in Vienna concerts marking the centenary of Beethoven's death. He also gave chamber performances in Hamburg and Berlin with Artur Schnabel and Gregor Piatigorsky. After signing with Columbia Records in 1928, he made the first recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. His recordings also included shorter works and, in 1930, a complete recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with the Polish pianist Ignacy Friedman.
Huberman first visited Palestine in 1929 and, during a later visit, developed plans for a symphony orchestra there. He undertook the organizational work and fundraising that led to the founding of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra gave its first concert on 26 December 1936 under Arturo Toscanini. Huberman continued to tour in Europe and the Americas, though an aircraft accident in October 1937 left him with a broken left arm and two broken fingers on his right hand, temporarily interrupting his playing.
During the Second World War he gave concerts in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, where he spent most of the war performing and making new recordings. He returned to Europe after the war for his final tour. His health declined in 1946, and he died at his villa on Lake Geneva in Corsier-sur-Vevey on 16 June 1947. His most admired interpretations included Bach's Chaconne, Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Kreutzer Sonata, and the violin concertos of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Szymanowski, and Karlowicz. He was also known for his own arrangements of Chopin's mazurkas and waltzes.