Total Members Voted: 15
One particular witticism is remembered above all - indeed, it has been quoted so frequently that were Godowsky's music to lapse into total obscurity there would be a danger of his name being known solely by this anecdote. It concerns the American debut of Jascha Heifetz. As a result of this appearance, Heifetz became the instrumental sensation of wartime America, and for the next half century remained the unchallenged king of violinists. The Godowskys, true to fashion, had taken the young maestro under their wing on his arrival in New York and had welcomed him to their home. It was a friendship that lasted till Godowsky's death.At 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, 27th October 1917, Carnegie Hall was packed to the roof. In the audience were all the top string players and musicians of the city to hear the sixteen-year old violinist. Godowsky, together with Dagmar and violinists Frederic Fradkin and Mischa Elman were seated in their box. (Elman, like Heifetz, had been a child prodigy nurtured by Leopold Auer and had made his debut in New York in 1908 at the age of seventeen to enthusiastic, though not uncritical, acclaim.) Accompanied by Frank Sealy on the organ, Heifetz opened with Vitali's Chaconne, followed by Wieniawski's Concerto in D minor, Schubert's Ave Maria, some Mozart, plus Wilhelmj and Auer transcriptions and encore pieces with Andre Benoist at the piano. "The most breathtaking, the most crushing, the supremest genius of the violin that has confronted us in the past decade or perchance even more," wrote one critic. "The force and fervency of the general delight...were of the sort that make an event historic." And another: "There can be no question, even though one's judgement is based necessarily on only one recital, that Jascha Heifetz takes a place among the leading violinists of the world. Despite his extraordinary youth he already has acquired a mastery of his instrument that probably is not surpassed by any other living virtuoso."At the interval, Godowsky's party went out into the airless corridors behind their box. Elman wiped his brow, looked about and mumbled, "Phew, it's awful hot in there." "Not for pianists," Godowsky quickly rejoined.
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Topic: Getting Upstaged by a Kid 