REVIEWS 535 Kopytova, Galina. Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia. Translated and edited by Dario Sarlo and Alexandra Sarlo. Russian Music Studies. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN, 2013. xxvi + 475 pp. Maps. Family tree. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Selected sources. Index.£29.99: $45.00. Many books have been written about Heifetz’s mature career in America but, unlike many prominent performers, he did not write memoirs and was generally reticent about his early years. They nonetheless provide a fascinating story, and Galina Kopytova has performed an excellent job in researching numerous archives in order to piece together an account that was first published in St Petersburg in 2004, and now appears in English, somewhat expanded and refined, for the first time. This well-illustrated book should interest many musicians and music lovers as well as offering a detailed portrait of the cultural, especially Jewish, life of Russia in the early twentieth century. It is unlikely to be superseded in the foreseeable future. Sometimes referred to as the greatest violinist of all time, Jascha Heifetz was born into a poor Jewish shoemaker’s family in Vilna (now Vilnius) then in the Pale of Settlement in 1901. His father Ruvin played the fiddle in restaurants and at social occasions. An early prodigy, Jascha began lessons at 3, and gave his first recital at 7. The ubiquitous antisemitism in Russia emerged very clearly when the prodigy was allowed to study at the St Petersburg Conservatory at the age of nine, with most of the fees and residence rights waived, but his father, who clearly needed to accompany the boy, had no such rights. The Director, Aleksandr Glazunov, however, already a victim of alcoholism, was admirably understanding of the situation, and arranged for Ruvin to enrol at the conservatory, despite his total ignorance of musical theory. This is just one of the many examples of the help given to Jascha in his early years by the people he met, Jews and non-Jews alike: prodigious talent almost always trumped racial prejudice. In the early years lack of money was a constant problem, though by the time Heifetz had reached the age of fifteen he was able to support his entire family on concert fees alone. Antisemitism, never far from the surface, however, intruded openly into cultural life in 1916 in the form of an ill-advised article by Emil Medtner (brother of the composer) who, amongst others, complained of the ‘harmful’ hegemony of Jewish musicians (pp. 343–45). Such unpleasant diatribes appear to have had no effect on Heifetz himself. Kopytova’s account of the violinist’s early years is immensely detailed, seemingly leaving no stone unturned. Many contemporary musicians, scholars and organizations mentioned in her narrative are given short biographies and potted histories, whilst documents such as letters, concert programmes, reviews of performances and articles on such subjects as Jewish musicians and SEER, 92, 3, JULY 2014 536 the exploitation of prodigies are given in the greatest detail, often verbatim. Descriptions of the cherubic golden curls and blue eyes of the young boy were given by reviewers ad nauseam, but few doubted that they were listening to an exceptionally talented young performer. An account of his childhood enthusiasm for cameras, bicycles, butterfly collecting and pressed flowers, amongst others, somewhat leaven the constant stream of adulation in reviews of his concerts and recitals. An important influence on Heifetz was the celebrated violinist, composer and teacher, Leopold Auer (1845–1930), who at first refused to teach the boy, handinghimontohisassistantIoannesNabaldian.By1911,however,herealized Heifetz’s amazing talent and took him on personally. While his contribution to the young fiddler’s musical development cannot be gainsaid, Auer’s fanatical approach to punctuality seems to have been adopted by his most famous pupil in later years. More substantially, Auer appears to have overlooked the potential disadvantages of teaching Heifetz an abridged version of the third movement of Chaikovskii’s Violin Concerto (which had, apparently, been approved by the composer himself), resulting in great confusion in the concert hall, as the orchestra was playing from Chaikovskii’s original score (pp. 330–31). Another major influence on Heifetz was Viktar Valter (1865–1935) who was the first to...
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May 1, 2015
Михаил Одесский 
