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.

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.’

האיגוד הישראלי למוסיקולוגיה

הכנס השנתי  5-4 ביולי, 2010

הכנס השנתי של האיגוד הישראלי למוסיקולוגיה יתקיים בימים א’-ב’, 5-4 ביולי, באולם נבון באקדמיה למוסיקה ולמחול בירושלים בקמפוס גבעת-רם

1)      מוסיקה יהודית – מוקדש לזכר פרופ’ ישראל אדלר

2)      מוסיקה ישראלית אמנותית – מוקדש לזכר פרופ’ יוסף טל

3)      ניתוח מוסיקה טונלית – מוקדש לזכר ד"ר ארז רפופורט

4)      חקר הביצוע המוסיקלי

5)      חקר החינוך המוסיקלי

6)      מושבים פתוחים

1.             מושב הרצאות (Paper Session) – משך כל הרצאה לא יעלה על 20 דקות, בתוספת 10 דק’ לדיון ושאלות.
2.             דיון קבוצתי (Panel Session)

תקצירים של הצעות (עד 250 מילים) יש לשלוח בדוא"ל אל:

ד"ר בלה ברובר-לובובסקי This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , ד"ר רבקה אלקושי  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

פרס להרצאה מצטיינת של סטודנט/ית:

במטרה לעודד השתתפות של סטודנטים (עד 3 שנים מסיום הדוקטורט), מכריז האיגוד על הענקת פרס להרצאה המצטיינת בתחום המוסיקולוגיה או חקר החינוך המוסיקלי. . זהות מקבל הפרס תימסר במושב הנעילה של הכנס, ונוסח ההרצאה המצטיינת יפורסם ב"מנעד."

על סטודנטים המבקשים להציג את מועמדותם להגיש את הנוסח הסופי של הרצאתם לא יאוחר מה-15.06.2010.

תערוכת פרסומים:

גם השנה נקיים תערוכת פרסומים חדשים של חברי האיגוד – ספרים, מאמרים, פרוספקטים של ספרים שהתקבלו להוצאה וחומרים במדיה אלקטרוניים. על המעוניינים להציג את עבודתם להביאה עמם לכנס, שם תוצג בדוכן מיוחד (תהיה שמירה על המוצגים במהלך הכנס).

כל המרצים והמציגים בכנס חייבים להיות חברי האיגוד. הצטרפות לאיגוד כרוכה בתשלום דמי חבר בסך: 120 ₪ לשנה (רגיל), 90 (פנסיונר), 50 (סטודנט).

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.’ 

יום ג’, 23 בפברואר 2010, אולם קלרמונט, 19:30, אוניברסיטת תל אביב

פרופ’ משה צוקרמן (אוניברסיטת תל אביב):

"ראיתי מלאכים, פגשתי שדים" — מחלה ויצירתיות אצל רוברט שומאן

פרופ’ יהואש הירשברג (האוניברסיטה העברית):

"עולם הפיוט בלידר של שומאן"; "שומאן והפסנתר הרומנטי"

מחזור "שירי המלכה מריה סטיוארט" אופ. 135 (1852)

מבחר לידר לטקסטים של ריקרט, היינה ואחרים

הגר שרביט (מצוֿ־סופרן), דניאל בורוביצקי (פסנתר)

האיגוד הישראלי למוסיקולוגיה מודה לכל משתתפי הערב המופיעים ללא תמורה. הכנסות הערב מיועדות לפעילות האקדמית של האיגוד.

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

Glasgow Times, on 13 January 1937 wrote the following review on a concert with Szell and the Scottish Orchestra, under the subtitle ‘Human Outlook’: ‘Beethoven’s violin concerto is a great human work, and there is no living violinist with a more human outlook than Huberman … everything combined to provide us with a rare experience in our musical life.’

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."