Famous Musicians of a Wandering Race. Biographical Sketches of outstanding figures of Jewish origin in the musical world

~_~

-!tl_~~_.:-"---\~-~-----~!;1

Famous Musicians of a

Wandering Race BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF OUTSTANDING FIGURES OF JEWISH ORIGIN IN THE MUSICAL WORLD

By

GDAL SALE SKI

NEW YORK

BLOCH PUBLISHING COMPANY 1927

PREFACE The author wishes to make clear at the very beginning that the words "Jew" and "Jewish" are not used in their religious or national sense. The method of approach is purely a racial one. He has isolated all these musicians into this one volume for the simple reason that all of them have in their veins that fire to which the Jewish prophets gave utterance in the time of Jerusalem's glory, He realizes that a number of those included in this volume, though reputed to be of Jewish origin, are now of a different faith. He is not concerned with their religion, past or present, but solely with their racial roots, as in the case of the Damrosch faluily. Dr. Leopold Damrosch, father of Walter J. and Frank H., was born of Jewish parents but later was baptized in the -Christian faith. Although attempts at recording the rich contribution of certain members of the Jewish race to the world's arts and culture have been made before, no book concerning itself exclusively with musicians of Jewish origin has, to the author's knowledge, ever been written. And yet it would seem that a race which has given to the world so many outstanding musicians, including practically every great pianist of the nineteenth century and of the present one, with the exception of such figures as Liszt, Paderewski, and a few others, certainly deserves a book to itself. The reader's convictiOll will strengthen itself on that subject when he glances through these pages and sees the imposing array of violinists, conductors, composers, etc. The author takes courage from the fact that similar books which have been and still continue to be published have found their readers, and as a rule have had to be published in many editions. He consequently feels that in compiling this volume he is filling a definite want. In any case, this book will, in part at least, be a distinct contribution to the critico-biographical literature of music, inasmuch as certain names and facts will here appear between covers for the first time. These facts and anecdotes have been carefully collected during the author's travels as soloist and as member of several large orchestral organizations of the world, either by direct contact with the personality described, or as first-hand inforlnation from members of the family, associating artists, etc. For the biographies of musicians now dead, the author used as a basis the newest and most reliable sources. In this book the author lays no claims to being exhaustive. For the purpose of this volume, he has concerned himself only with outvii