Andreas Weißgerber

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Andreas Weißgerber (10 January 1900 – 26 December 1941), also known as Chanosch Ben Mosche Weißgerber, was an Austrian-Hungarian violinist.

Life[edit]

Weissgerber came from a Jewish[1] family with roots in Sagadora near Czernowitz in Bukovina; a place at the easternmost end of the k.u.k. Monarchy famous for its miracle rabbis.[2] The Weissgerbers settled in the Greek town of Volos (Βόλος), where Andreas was born on 10 January 1900,[3] shortly before they moved on to Smyrna, today's Turkish Izmir Andreas received his first violin lessons in Athens.[4]

A violin-playing prodigy, he performed in the major cities of the Ottoman Empire at the age of seven; he once played in Constantinople for the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who gave him five parrots as a reward. Weissgerber attended the music academies of Budapest and Vienna, most recently studying at the Musikhochschule in Berlin.[5] In Budapest, his teacher was Jenő Hubay (1858–1937), with whom also József Szigeti, Emil Telmányi, Jenő Ormándy and Paul Godwin had enjoyed lessons. In Berlin, it was Issay Barmas (1872–1946), a native of Odessa, who taught at the Stern Conservatory cf. Frick pp. 31–32; for example, the violinist and chapel director Dajos Béla also studied with Barmas.

In the 1920s, Weissgerber made concert tours through the Weimar Republic, during which the composer Rudolf Wagner-Régeny accompanied him at the piano. They took him to the smallest provincial towns.[5] He was also a popular guest on German radio stations.[6] Important artists of his time such as Lovis Corinth, Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt made portraits of Weissgerber. Their appearance in the contemporary illustrated press documented his popularity.[7]

With Eugen d'Albert at the piano, he made recordings for Odeon.[8] He also recorded for VOX. There, Karol Szreter[9] was his piano accompanist. He, his brother Joseph on cello and Claudio Arrau at the piano could be heard as the "Andreas Weißgerber-Trio".[10]

After the Machtergreifung by the Nazis, when he was only allowed to perform at events of the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden, he played for the label "Lukraphon", which was exclusively for Jewish artists.[11] The owner was called Moritz Lewin and had his business premises in Berlin at Friedrichstrasse 208 and Grenadierstrasse 28, cf. Lotz. There, Kurt Sanderling sat at the piano. As late as 1935, he gave a concert together with the pianist Richard Goldschmied (1880–1941) at the Jewish Cultural Association in Hamburg, at which works by Igor Stravinsky were performed, among others,[12] whose music was by then considered degenerate music.

In 1936, he followed his two years younger brother Joseph (1902–1954), who had played as principal cellist with the Dresden Philharmonic and had already left Germany in 1933,[13] to emigrate to Palestine. Both have been invited by Bronisław Huberman to play in the symphony orchestra of Palestine, later the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Weissgerber is considered a co-founder of this orchestra,[14] of which he became concertmaster.[15]

Weißgerber appeared in a short film Paganini in Venice in 1929.

A sound film, Shir Ivri (Hebrew Melody), (1935)[16] which was produced at this time with his participation for the Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde in Deutschland, had only recently been found among his brother's estate[17] and has since been re-released.[18]

The Riga native composer Marc Lavry wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra (op. 78) for Weissgerber with the movements Allegro Moderato (Marcia), Andante and Allegro Assai, which he performed with the Palestine Radio Symphony Orchestra on 20 June 1939.[19]

Weissgerber died of a heart attack on 26 December 1941 in Tel-Aviv aged 41.[20]

Recordings[edit]

For Odeon[edit]

  • 1921: Zigeunerweisen (Pablo de Sarasate)
  • 1923: Andante Sostenuto aus der C-dur Sonate (Mozart) (Odeon)
  • 1923: Scherzo und Rondo aus der Frühlingssonate (Beethoven)
  • 1923: Two movements (the Rondo is heavily cut) from Beethoven's Violin Sonata in F, Op 24
  • unknown year: Ungarische Tänze Nr. 2 and 5
  • unknown year: Csárdás / Hubay.

For Vox[edit]

  • Trio, B-Dur, op. 11 : Adagio / Beethoven
  • Trio, B-Dur, op. 11 : Thema mit Variationen / Beethoven.
  • Trio, B-Dur, op. 99 : Scherzo / Schubert.
  • Trio, Es-Dur, op. 99 : Scherzo / Fr. Schubert.

For Lukraphon[edit]

  • Hebräische Melodie (Achron)
  • Andantino (Martini)
  • Csárdás (Hubay)
  • Spanish danse from the opera La Vida Breve (Manuel de Falla)

Reissues[edit]

  • Horst J.P. Bergmeier, Ejal Jakob Eisler, Rainer E. Lotz: Vorbei. Dokumentation jüdischen Musiklebens in Berlin, 1933–1938. (Beyond Recall. A record of Jewish musical life in Nazi Berlin, 1933–1938). Bear Family, Holste-Oldendorf 2001, DNB-IDN 974923648.
  • CD “EUGEN D'ALBERT (1864–1932)” by Symposium Records, 4, Arden Close, Overstrand, North Norfolk NR27 0PH, U.K. (Symposium Catalogue No: 1146, Release Date: Aug 01, 1994, replaces CD1046) enthält von Weissgerber / D'Albert die Odeon-Aufnahmen Andante Sostenuto aus der C-dur Sonate (Mozart) und Scherzo und Rondo aus der Frühlingssonate (Beethoven), both from 1923.
  • Doppel-CD “The Centaur Pianist”: Eugen d'Albert, Complete Studio Recordings, 1910–1928. label: Arbiter ; Release date 28 February 2006; Katalognr.: 147; enthält auf CD 2 Aufnahmen mit Andreas Weissgerber: track 17 : Violin Sonata In C, K. 296: Andante Sostenuto (Mozart), track 18 : Violin Sonata In F, Op. 24: I. Scherzo (Beethoven), track 19 : Violin Sonata In F, Op. 24: II. Rondo (Beethoven)

Further reading[edit]

  • Friedrich Frick: Kleines Biographisches Lexikon der Violinisten. Vom Anfang des Violinspiels bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Books on Demand, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-3907-8.
  • "Künstler am Rundfunk" – Ein Taschen-Album der Zeitschrift Der deutsche Rundfunk, unseren Lesern gewidmet. Verlag Rothgiesser und Diesing, Berlin 1932.
  • Ronny Loewy : ‚Nur in geschlossenen Veranstaltungen vor Angehörigen der jüdischen Rasse‘. Palästina-Filme im Jüdischen Kulturbund 1935–1938. In Peter Zimmermann (ed.): Geschichte des dokumentarischen Films in Deutschland. Vol. 3: Peter Zimmermann, Kay Hoffmann (ed.): Drittes Reich (1933–1945). Reclam, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-15-010586-2, pp. 431–438.
  • Rainer E. Lotz, Axel Weggen: Discographie der Judaica-Aufnahmen. (Deutsche National-Discographie, Serie 6, vol. 1), Birgit Lotz, Bonn 2006, ISBN 3-9810248-2-6.
  • Barbara von der Lühe: Die Musik war unsere Rettung. Die deutschsprachigen Gründungsmitglieder des Palestine Orchestra.[21] (Schriftenreihe wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen des Leo-Baeck-Instituts, vol. 58). Verlag Mohr Siebeck, 1998, ISBN 3-16-146975-5.
  • Jascha Nemtsov: Der Zionismus in der Musik. Jèudische Musik und nationale Idee. (Jèudische Musik, Studien und Quellen zur jüdischen Musikkultur, vol. 6). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05734-9.
  • Gregor von Rezzori: "Memoiren eines Antisemiten". Ein Roman in fünf Erzählungen. Bertelsmann Verlag, 1979, ISBN 3-8205-3496-2.
  • Jonathan Scheiner: "La Cucaracha" im Synagogenkeller. Eine imposante Edition dokumentiert das musikalische Schaffen des Jüdischen Kulturbundes 1933–1938. Rezension über die Edition "Vorbei / Beyond Recall" bei Bear Family. (online at: leo-baeck.org)
  • Theo Stengel, Herbert Gerigk: Lexikon der Juden in der Musik. With a list of titles of Jewish works. Compiled by order of the Reichsleitung der NSDAP on the basis of official, party-officially examined documents. (Publications of the Institute of NSDAP zur Erforschung der Judenfrage, vol. 2). Bernhard Hahnefeld, Berlin 1941, DNB-IDN 362805148.
  • Robert Ullmann; Heidy Zimmermann, Eckhard John: Jüdische Musik? -Fremdbilder, Eigenbilder. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne 2006 (9 September 2008). "Jüdische Musik ist ein Produkt des 20. Jahrhunderts". Badische Zeitung. Retrieved 25 December 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Hartwig Vens: Total Recall. Review of the Vorbei / Beyond Recall. edition by Bear Family.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stengel-Gerigk sp. 312
  2. ^ The writer Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), himself born in Czernowitz, immortalised him in his "Memoirs of an Anti-Semite".
  3. ^ Stengel-Gerigk sp. 312 gives 'Volo'; cf. on the other hand picture postcard of 1913, Athens is mentioned as place of birth.
  4. ^ Andreas Weißgerber bei LexM (2009, updated 24 Jan. 2012)
  5. ^ a b cf. Von der Lühe p. 103.
  6. ^ cf. Taschen-Album "Künstler am Rundfunk" vol. 2, p. 134[1] Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine: The well-known violinist Andreas Weissgerber is a pupil of J. Barmas and became known through numerous concert tours and guest appearances at German radio stations.
  7. ^ cf. image at [2] from Der Querschnitt, 5 August 1925, H. 8
  8. ^ Another piano accompanist of Weissgerber on this label was the young Michael Raucheisen, cf. ODEON O-7295 (Matrix number xxB.6604 ) Csárdás (Jenö Hubay, op. 33, no. 5) Andreas Weissgerber, violin, Michael Raucheisen, piano; recorded in 1921 and O-7295 (Matrix number xxB 6608) Legend, by Henri Wieniawski op. 17, March 1921 [3].
  9. ^ cf. biography at [4] : "Szreter recorded prolifically, beginning with acoustic records made for the German Vox label in the early 1920s."
  10. ^ cf. details at on collectorsfrenzy p. 39
  11. ^ cf. Lotz et al
  12. ^ Goldschmied was deported to Łódź/Litzmannstadt in 1941 and has since been considered missing, cf. LexM [5] : "In a concert he gave on 24 Oct. 1935 together with the violinist Andreas Weissgerber, the programme included Igor Stravinsky."
  13. ^ He had come to Palestine in August 1933 and had settled in Haifa, cf. Von der Lühe p. 39.
  14. ^ cf. Von der Lühe p. 102 f.
  15. ^ Andreas Weißgerber im Taschenalbum "Künstler im Rundfunk" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine : Photo (vol. 2, p. 134)
  16. ^ Hebrew Melody on IMDb
  17. ^ Copy in the Filmmuseum, Munich: 243 m / 8' 54" ; 35mm, cf. cine-holocaust HEBREW MELODY / MANGINA IVRIT
  18. ^ siehe DVD bei Bergmeier, Horst J.P. / Eisler, Ejal Jakob / Lotz, Rainer E.: Vorbei. Dokumentation jüdischen Musiklebens in Berlin, 1933 – 1938, Hambergen 2001.
  19. ^ [6] : The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was composed for violinist Andreas Weissgerber – Lavry’s friend – who premiered it on June 20, 1939 with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Palestine
  20. ^ vgl. Von der Lühe p. 289.
  21. ^ Die Musik war unsere Rettung! : die deutschsprachigen Gründungsmitglieder des Palestine Orchestra on WorldCat

External links[edit]

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