Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia

18. The First Half of 1916

328 The arrival of a new year brought with it another conservatory exam period. On January 20—Jascha’s fifteenth birthday— he successfully passed the mandatory viola class, and he received a 5 for both his written work and oral exam in the first level of required harmony.1 The commission for the harmony exam included the experienced theorist VasilyKalafatiandtwoyoungerpedagogues,SemyonBogatyrevandAleksandr Zhitomirsky, the latter an active member of the Society for Jewish Folk Music. For Jascha, the exam period culminated on January 27 with a concert in the Maly Hall, his second of the 1915–1916 season. Also in the Maly Hall shortly before Jascha’s concert, Nalbandian had performed a benefit concert for Armenian refugees, with the piano accompaniment of Emanuel Bay and the organ accompaniment of Jacques Handschin. A Siloti subscription concert held at the Mariinsky Theater around this time caused quite a stir in presenting the premiere of conservatory student Sergei Prokofiev ’sSuitefromAlaiLolli.Theperformanceofthisnewworkdividedaudience opinion, and as newspapers reported, Glazunov “pointedly walked out and returned to the hall only after the end of the piece.”2 Whether or The First Half of 1916 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 329 The First Half of 1916 notfifteen-year-oldJaschafullyunderstoodthesignificanceoftheseevents is unknown, but Prokofiev’s music expanded musical boundaries, flouting the established academic rules of harmony and counterpoint. Jascha’s solo concert on January 27 received excellent reviews, and he once again played without the presence of his professor, who during these days was on tour in Kiev. For the first time, Jascha played the popular Saint-Saëns Concerto no. 3, a piece Sarasate had premiered in Paris in 1881. Auer discussed the concerto with Saint-Saëns himself in Paris and often reminded his students of the composer’s wishes. After Jascha’s performance , the respected critic Karatygin wrote that “the Saint-Saëns was played magnificently.”3 Although Jascha performed this concerto several times over the coming months, heperformed it onlya few times asanadult and never recorded it. Jascha concluded his performance with his first public performances of Paganini Caprices nos. 13 and 20 (arranged by Kreisler). Karatygin continuedhisreview :“TotheadmirationMr.Heifetz’splayingarousedseveral years ago, a feeling of surprise is inescapably mingled: he played not only excellently, but considering his age, one might say supernaturally.” Karatygin noted that although the boy was growing older, the “element of wonder has in no way weakened.” Jascha’sthirdandfinalsoloconcertinPetrogradthatseasonwasnearly amonthaway,sotheHeifetzesscheduledaconcerttourofsouthernRussia for the intervening period. The family continued to rely solely on income fromJascha’sconcerts,andthusJaschasupportednotonlyhimself,butalso eight other family members, including also the Sharfsteins. The day after the Petrograd recital, Jascha departed for Moscow with his accompanist Isidor Achron and both of his parents. Anna Heifetz gradually became more involved in organizing and planning concerts; her personality suited the role somewhat better than Ruvin’s. Her internal strength and external calm had a disarming effect on entrepreneurs and officials; her appearance of detachment proved deceptive, since she was in fact very observant and quick-thinking. Her characteristic imperiousness was softened by her goodhearted sense of humor, which flowed from the same source of strength that allowed her to overcome myriad problems with a minimum 330 Jascha Heifetz of anguish. In later years, for example, when Jascha would arrive late for dinner, Anna would say something like “Well, let’s think, what’s the worst thatcouldhavehappened?—Jaschamighthavedied.Butnow—everyone’s at the table. Let’s have supper!”4 Anna maintained a firm and unwavering faith in her son’s destiny. On their journey away from St. Petersburg during the remainder of January and into February 1916, the Heifetzes stopped in Moscow and stayed once more at the luxurious Hotel Palace on Bibikovsky Boulevard. On January 30, Jascha performed in the magnificent Bolshoi Theater. Despite many disruptions that season, concerts continued to be organized: Artists of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, after performing in symphony concerts for the Philharmonic and the Russian Music Societies, find themselves in the current season “without symphony business” as a result of the suspension of the symphony concerts. But they have found a way out of this situation, and have organized their own symphony concerts in the Bolshoi Theater.5 These newly organized concerts were conducted by Vasily Safonov, with whom Jascha had worked two years earlier in Vienna. The Moscow concert at the Bolshoi was dedicated to the works of Tchaikovsky and included the symphonic poem The Storm, Symphony no. 6, and the violin concerto with Jascha as soloist...