Uri Golomb called me two weeks ago and told me that he is flying to give a paper in a conference in Helsinki. I was very happy for him, but them he told me that also I am on the program. I had no idea what he was talking about. This says volumes about my memory (I have sent a proposal and forgot about it) and about my email account (did the three emails go into my spam mail or did I simply miss all of them?!).

So if you are heading to Helsinki I will be very glad to meet you!

Here is some information about the conference so that you can consider whether you want to come:

"Performance’s only life is the present. Performance cannot be saved, recorded, documented, or otherwise participate in the circulation of representation of representations [···]."

Peggy Phelan’s statement from the early 90s, slightly surprisingly reflecting Hegel’s aesthetics, emphasises the definitive "live" quality of performance as its ontology. Interestingly, both the concept of "live" and the diverse authorships around "saving", "recording", "documenting" and "representing" have recently been problematised in the versatile field of performance studies. In the current mediated world it seems to be more and more relevant to ask how far the ephemeral moment of the "present" actually reaches. How does one generate, define and redefine performance through the complex act of "documenting" - through recording, replaying, observing, theorising, writing and remembering? If the (hierarchical) difference between the "original" and the "representation" still casts a shadow on the study of performance, how, why and in whose interests does it have to be there?

The Embodiment of Authority Conference will be part of the recently formed international network of innovative discussion on the study of performance in the arts. One of the key aims is to look for common denominators, to link different trends in an area that seems to be developing into a major field of research in many countries. The social practices of performing, rehearsing, documenting and theorising, as well as the deconstruction of the creative process in performance, lie at the very heart of the conference.

For more information see http://www.embodimentofauthority.net/

Here is the program draft of the conference: http://www.embodimentofauthority.net/program/

The violinist Bronislaw Huberman is considered to be one of the greatest violinists in music history. Although his playing is controversial, there were few who did not recognize his greatness as a performer. There is very little academic research on Huberman and his playing. In this paper I will present materials from Huberman’s archive that was not discussed in the literature. I claim that people from different countries and periods conceptualized Huberman’s playing as something that is more than just playing. His performances and interpretations were considered to represent things that are transcendent or even metaphysical. The paper will analyze how important cultural figures, music critics and common listeners, perceived the technique of Huberman, his behavior on stage, his physical appearance, and how he interpreted the scores that he played. The presentation will include listening to historical recordings by Huberman.

Robert Lawrence wrote on 18 January 1943 for the New York Herald Tribune the following questions: ‘Does the playing of German masterworks presuppose the negation of the suavity and rich timbre contributed by the Russian School? Is a critic wrong or esthetically blunted in decrying a performance that offers playing strong in its fidelity to the music but almost naked in charm and virtuosity?’ Although Lawrence argues that Huberman is a ‘great musician’, he prefers not to evaluate his performance. Nevertheless, he concludes his review suggesting that those ‘who prefer a constant flow of tonal amenities would be disappointed.’

On 19 October 1942 Irving Kolodin of The New York Sun wrote: ‘Mr. Huberman’s "Chaconne", in mere physical terms, was a good deal more composed than his playing of the "Kreutzer" sonata. Here the surge of music too often force Mr. Huberman into sheer abuse of the violin, as counterpart to the sections in which he made it sing like a cultured angel." 

L. S. from the Winnipeg Free Press wrote on 18 February 1941: ‘Not to have heard Mr. Huberman would have been to miss a wonderful revelation in the Mendelssohn concerto, from example, of the tender unfolding of the phrase from within; on an instrument that in the language of the bible, became a living soul in the Bach Adagio and Fugue in G minor and the Andante in the Bach’s a Minor Sonata; of Handel performance (the sonata in D major) that seemed a dedication that all that was lovely on earth… The warmth beneath the easy melody could not be missed; the listeners could not help realizing the sum of human experiences that spoke out of this first work on the programme.’

The Cape Argus, 2 May 1940 wrote about a concert in Cape Town, South Africa. The review mentioned that many famous violinist visited the town, yet ‘few, if any, of these distinguished men have left behind them such a vivid sense of nobility and power as last night’s audience at the City Hall carried away at the conclusion of the Huberman recital. It was as if they themselves had taken part in a work of creation, so deep was the sense of fulfillment left by the music.’

            The reviewer wrote that when Huberman played the Cesar Frank sonata there was ‘a sense of religious awe and wonder in the music which was built up. Note by note, phrase by phrase, into a cathedral of intellectual sound.’ He continued that ‘Huberman’s profound and creative understanding of this deeply religious composer was one of the most moving episodes in the whole evening.’ Szymanowski’s ‘La Fontaine d’Arethuse’ ‘calls for infinitely subtle gradations of feeling and phrase, the culminating effect of which is one of mysterious beauty withdrawn from this world. Huberman played it magnificently’.

H. Brewster Jones of The Advertiser, Adelaide, Australia wrote on 4 August 1937: ‘Huberman seemed detached, aloof, in his playing of the Bach ‘Chaconne’. His beauty of tone and phrasing was something to revere at a distance rather then enter into. It had a classical purity and spiritual exaltation. It was as if Huberman was communicating with, in intimate fashion, the very innermost thoughts and feelings of the great composer, Bach; without making any concession whatsoever to what might be termed popular appeal.’ 

Carl Bronson wrote at The Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express of 16 April 1937: ‘the results of [Huberman’s] … magnificent musical ideals are overwhelming. His violinresponds to every whim, and these are many, as this very unusual Paganini draws from the wood and strings his celestial idioms… Strange to say, Huberman looks as did Brahm’s friend Remenyi and the concerto sounds more Hungarian than German. Merely coincidence, but very interesting.’

The following photo was taken at the Felicia Blumental Library at Tel-Aviv with the kind permission of the Library and Bronislaw Huberman Archive.

I need to add the name of the sculpture…

Note how the sculpture depicted Huberman looking to (or perhaps beyond) the sky. In many concert reviews, he was perceived as a musician who did not merely play music, but signified something that transcends music.

What do you think?

Do you know who made the sculpture? What do you think about it? Please comment below.

Related posts

Huberman in Scotland and Honolulu

Two antithesis reviews of Huberman

More newspaper clippings about Huberman’s violin playing

Bronislaw Huberman’s faith: the affect of events on the perception of performance

Reviews of Huberman by Neville Cardus, part II: technique and spirit

Huberman and the divine: concert reviews by Neville Cardus

Huberman and the Divine: letters from listeners

Huberman and the divine: report by Edmondo De Amicis

Max Brod on Bronislaw Huberman’s violin playing

Bronislaw Huberman: funding ideas

Today I had only one hour to sit in the Huberman Archive in Tel-Aviv. But I read two interesting newspaper clippings about Huberman’s performances:

The Argonaut, from San Francisco, California wrote on 3 April 1936 about Huberman’s ‘imperfect’ technique: "It is but natural, if not essential, that the utter submergence of self to the recreation of the composer’s message can not always result in a one hundred per cent technical performance – nor should it. We would rather hear an artist give his heart and soul to transmitting a master’s ideas and ideals than concentrate his mind upon exact placing of every note, the unchanging clarity of tone quality and the cold, methodical precision of approximate technical perfection. In other words, we prefer an artist of warmth of expression and intensity of emotional versatility to another who has technical precision but no depth of feeling."