Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil was a Romanian pianist who held Swiss nationality from 1949. She was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Bucharest on 7 January 1895. Her career as a pianist extended from 1905 until her death in 1960.
Haskil studied piano in Vienna with Richard Robert and briefly studied with Ferruccio Busoni. At the age of ten she moved to Paris, where she began lessons with Joseph Morpain, a former pupil of Gabriel Fauré whom she regarded as a major influence. She entered the Paris Conservatory at the same age, enrolled under Alfred Cortot, and received most of her instruction from Lazare Lévy and Madame Giraud-Letarse. At fifteen, she completed her final examinations with a Premier Prix in both piano and violin.
After her studies, Haskil toured Europe as a soloist. Her career was repeatedly constrained by illness, scoliosis, stage fright, and financial hardship; in 1913 she wore a plaster corset in an attempt to halt the progression of her scoliosis. Her wider recognition came only after the Second World War, helped by a series of concerts in the Netherlands in 1949. She lived in Vevey from 1951 to 1960 and was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Her playing was associated with a pure tone, transparent texture, expressive inspiration, and finely shaped phrasing, qualities linked to her violin training. She was particularly admired in Classical and early Romantic repertoire, especially in Mozart, whose leading interpreter many listeners considered her to be. Her performances of Beethoven, Schumann, and Scarlatti were also praised.
Haskil was also an accomplished chamber musician. She performed with George Enescu, Eugène Ysaÿe, Pablo Casals, Joseph Szigeti, Géza Anda, and Isaac Stern. Her recordings with the violinist Arthur Grumiaux of Mozart's and Beethoven's violin sonatas became widely regarded as reference versions, and Grumiaux joined her for her final concert. As a soloist, she worked with conductors including Leopold Stokowski, Herbert von Karajan, Thomas Beecham, Georg Solti, John Barbirolli, George Szell, Otto Klemperer, Pierre Monteux, Ernest Ansermet, Charles Munch, Rafael Kubelík, and Ferenc Fricsay.
Haskil died in Brussels on 7 December 1960 from injuries sustained in a fall at Brussels-South railway station, shortly before a scheduled concert with Grumiaux. She was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. Since 1963, the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition has been held every two years in Vevey for young pianists from around the world; the city also has a street bearing her name and a plaque on her former home. A 70-minute documentary about her, Clara Haskil, the Mystery of the Interpreter, was released in 2017.