Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia

12. Summer–Fall 1913: Loschwitz

221 Jascha Heifetz spent the summer of1913withLeopoldAuerinGermany ,forwhatwasthefirstinaseriesofsummervacations spent with his professor. For many years, Auer had spent his summers in England, but in 1912 he began to vacation in Loschwitz, a charming suburb of Dresden. Auer wrote warmly of these vacations: “Loschwitz was a delightful village flanked by a green hill on the bank of the Elbe. On one side we had a view of Dresden, on the other we could look out toward the green mountains of the Saxon Alps.”1 Spread along both banks of the Elbe, Dresden was known as the “German Florence”; its world-famous gallery housed a collection of paintings by great Flemish and Italian artists. Tourists traveled great distances to visit the city. Other attractions included Zwinger Palace, Dresden Castle, and several museums. Located just two miles from Dresden, Loschwitz was one of many resorts located in the valley and was surrounded by deep picturesque gorges, green forests, and mountain streams. Auer’svisittransformedLoschwitzintoaninternationalcolonyofviolin students just as it had London before 1912. Auer recalled that Loschwitz “hadinawaybecomeakindofviolincenter,andeveryhouseharboredone or more young aspirants to the concert stage. During the summers of 1913 Summer–Fall 1913: Loschwitz CHAPTER TWELVE 222 Jascha Heifetz and 1914 some thirty or forty from every land were gathered there, among them Kathleen Parlow, Isolde Menges, and two prodigies, Jascha Heifetz and Toscha Seidel.”2 Documents in the conservatory archives reveal the story of Seidel’s admission into Auer’s class. In August 1912, Tauba Seidel, originally from Brest, wrote from Odessa to the conservatory director requesting an entrance violin exam for her eleven-year-old son.3 In addition to the formal request, Seidel added: “Professor L. Auer listened to my son in Dresden a month ago and gave me a letter in which he certifies that he can accept him into his class. I will personally bring the letter and deliver it to your office.” Toscha and his mother had spent the summer of 1912 with Auer in Loschwitz. The fact that Seidel gives her son’s age as eleven is startling, since the birth certificate attached to the application indicates that he was actually thirteen (born OS November 4, 1899, to the meshchanin of BrestLitovsk ,ShmuilSeidel,andhiswifeTauba).Exaggeratingtheyouthfulness of a child prodigy was clearly a common practice. After Toscha Seidel and Heifetz both arrived in the United States, commentators took pleasure in discussing which of the two Auer students was actually older. Toscha’s first year in St. Petersburg proved difficult. Auer recalled that “Mme. Seidel and her son were obliged to live more than fifteen miles from the capital, in Finland, and, until she could obtain permission to reside in St. Petersburg, the mother had to make the two wearisome journeys every week in order to bring her son to my class in the Conservatoire.”4 Despite these difficulties, Toscha quickly became one of Auer’s top students, and for the second year in a row, Toscha was invited to spend the summer of 1913 with Auer in Loschwitz.5 In contrast to the Seidels, the five members of the Heifetz family were new to Loschwitz. Nevertheless, Jascha and his family quickly found an apartment to rent in the Neue-Rochwitz quarter at the edge of Loschwitz. The center of the little town consisted of two- and three-story, stone buildingsspreadaroundthebaseofahill .TheHeifetzessettledonHauptstrasse, which consisted of small wooden houses set throughout the thick forest. Further details about the Loschwitz trip emerge in a letter Ruvin wrote to Valter: 223 Summer–Fall 1913: Loschwitz 14 July 1913 Neue-Rochwitz near Dresden Hauptstrasse no. 8 for Heifetz Deeply Respected Viktor Grigoryevich! We received your letter to Professor Mr. Auer. We are very grateful that you are so supportive of us. We send our greetings to you and from the bottom of our hearts wish your children all the best. How is your health, dear Viktor Grigoryevich? How is everyone? We have settled in very well here. We don’t live too far from the professor. We were lucky to find a good little three-room apartment with a kitchen and conveniences. My wife keeps house just like at home. We also have a servant here, and it costs us no more than in Russia, and some things here are actually cheaper; overall we are glad that we came. Auer was very happy at our arrival and has worked with Jascha three times already. During this time Jascha has managed...