André Gertler

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André Gertler (born July 26, 1907 in Budapest , † July 23, 1998 in Brussels ) was a Hungarian violinist and violin teacher.

Life

Training and first successes

His original name was Endre and grew up in Budapest as the son of a Jewish weaver. At the age of six he was accepted at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. His teachers were Jenő Hubay , Leo Weiner and Zoltán Kodály . In 1926 a concert tour took him to Belgium . In 1928 he emigrated to Brussels with letters of recommendation from his teachers and perfected his technique with Eugène Ysaÿe . The growing anti-Semitism in Hungary, which had already introduced a numerus clausus of 5% for Jews at its universities in 1921 , apparently also played a role in the decision to emigrate.

He got his first job as a silent film companion at the Eden cinema in Brussels. Numerous concert engagements followed in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France and Italy, invitations to Queen Elisabeth and chamber music evenings with, among others, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henri La Fontaine . In 1931 he and the young violinist Baumann u. a. the André Gertler Quartet, with whom he also completed several successful tours. In 1937 he was appointed as a juror in the newly founded Concours Reine Elisabeth and in 1952 as a juror at the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznan . There he met the first prize winner David Oistrakh , with whom he had a lifelong friendship.

Collaboration with composers

In 1938 he began working with Béla Bartók , whom he particularly valued. He made music with him and gradually recorded all the works that Bartók had written for violin, including the two violin concertos. His recording of the 44 duos together with Josef Suk is considered groundbreaking. He also maintained personal contact with other contemporary composers such as Igor Stravinsky , Darius Milhaud , Paul Hindemith and Karl Amadeus Hartmann and campaigned for their works.

Teaching and social engagement

In 1947 he became professor of violin at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. In 1954 he was also appointed to the Cologne University of Music and 10 years later he moved from there to the Hanover University of Music and Drama . He developed his own teaching method and was considered an extremely strict teacher. His students include Joshua Epstein , Carola Nasdala , Hedwig Pirlet-Reiners , André Rieu and Rudolf Werthen . Gertler was associate professor at the “Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth” in Brussels for more than 30 years. During the last ten years of his life, Gertler was still teaching master class students at his home in Uccle .

He was also involved in the Belgian-Hungarian Society after the war and was its president for 10 years.

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gertler, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Endre (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian violinist and violin teacher
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1998
Place of death Brussels