Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia

6. Summer 1911: Concerts in Pavlovsk and Odessa

82 The Heifetzes spent their summer vacation at a dacha in Antakalnis, one of the twenty-six suburbs of Vilnius and a popular area during the summer. A local guidebook from the period described it as follows: “Heading along the bank of the Viliya to the Church of St. Peter and Paul, one can stop in the suburb of Antokol which stretches along the Viliya for almost three versts. Scattered hills to the right of the church are covered with beautiful green pine forests. Not far from there is the Sapezhinsky Garden and Palace . . .”1 The Heifetz family stayed at 9 PetropavlovskLane,inahousebelongingtoamannamedPyotrGuryanov. The Heifetzes were joined by their young cousin Anyuta SharfsteinKoch during their summer retreat. Some eight decades later in a phone conversation, Sharfstein-Kochremembered fondly her time with the Heifetz siblings in the hills outside Vilnius. Elza showed her the chickens laying eggs and Pauline took her up to Jascha’s room in the house: “He was busy at the table with all these dead butterflies. . . . I said to him, ‘Where did you get all those butterflies?’ And he said he’ll show me. And he went out and he was running with the net after the butterflies. Can you visualize it? Running after butterflies with a net!” Butterfly catching became a Summer 1911: Concerts in Pavlovsk and Odessa CHAPTER SIX 83 Summer 1911: Concerts in Pavlovsk and Odessa widespread and fashionable hobby during the beginning of the century, and one could often find children and adults alike running through the countryside with nets chasing the colorful insects. “And we went upstairs,” Sharfstein-Koch recalled, “and [Jascha] showed me he had a board—a cork board with pins and he took the butterflies and he was sticking them with pins. Then he said when they dry up, he putstheminaspecialbox—aglassbox,whichyouthenhanguponthewall. And that was a regular thing. He had a couple of boxes with various bugs and butterflies. It amused me for a while.” Sharfstein-Koch then added, “I was born in the city, so anything happening in the country was interesting to me (the chicken interested me more than the poor butterflies).”2 Butterfly catching gave Jascha an early connection with the world around him, stimulating a life-long appreciation for nature and the outdoors. Around this time, another phenomenon capturing the imagination of the public—not least that of a little boy—was aviation. The Wright brothers were becoming famous around the world for their winged creations, and the Frenchman Louis Blériot had made the channel crossing between France and England. In Russia, aviators such as Gakkel, Grigorovich, Slesarev ,andSteglauwerealsodevelopingoriginalaircraft.Famesurrounded the brave men who risked their lives to pilot these new flying contraptions. One popular Russian aviator named Sergei Utochkin held flight demonstrations in various Russian cities. Utochkin was an all-around athlete: a swimmer, fencer, wrestler, and boxer. Between May and June 1911, Utochkin showcased flights in the Baltic region, and he also appeared in Vilnius at the Hippodrome of the Racing Society in Antakalnis-Pospeshki, close to the Heifetz family’s summer residence. Local newspapers followed the events closely, and in Vilnius Utochkin completed his eighty-seventh and eighty-eighth flights—a record number at the time. For a generation of youth of Russia, including young Jascha, Utochkin became an idol. Meanwhile, Ruvin continued to take care of logistical matters related to Jascha’s career. Following the invitation to Jascha from London, which Ruvin turned down on account of the distance, another arrived in June, from the management of the Odessa Exhibit (Odessa Factory-Plant, Industrial -Artistic and Agricultural Exhibit). The Odessa Exhibit took place 84 Jascha Heifetz in 1910 and 1911, and was run by the local branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society and the Imperial Agricultural Society of the South of Russia, and it included outdoor symphonic concerts. Unsure of how to respondtotheOdessainvitation,RuvinturnedtoViktorValterforadvice: Vilna, 16 June 1911 Dear Honorable Viktor Grigoryevich! On June 14th I received a letter from Odessa, which I am sending to you. I am very grateful to you for your efforts on behalf of my son and I am turning to you with the request to advise me how to answer Mr. W. Israel, or would you be so kind as to write to him yourself, for it is impossible to go there for so small an honorarium, but at the same time, in my opinion, it is important to give...