Josef Hassid

Josef Hassid (Chasyd) (born December 28, 1923 in Suwałki , Poland ; † November 7, 1950 in Epsom , England ) was a Polish violinist.

Life

Josef Hassid was born on December 28, 1923 in the Polish border town of Suwalki into a poor family of Polish Jews as the third of four children. His mother died of typhus when Joseph was ten . He was then raised by his father. After previous self-tuition, he became a student at the Chopin Music School in Warsaw at the age of ten . In 1935 he was one of the youngest participants in the first Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition for violinists, where he received a special prize.

Hassid came to London with his father in 1938 . The outbreak of World War II prevented the return to Poland . It was first presented to the London public in the autumn of 1940. There was a solo recital at Wigmore Hall and a concert recital with Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at Queens Hall. The memory failure Hassid had here is considered one of the first signs of the disease. Hassid was, in the judgment of many famous violinists, one of the most gifted talents in the history of violin playing. Due to a mental illness, Hassid disappeared forever from concert life shortly after he appeared on the international concert podium. A few years later he died under tragic circumstances. His only legacy consists of nine recordings of eight short pieces from the years 1939 and 1940, which impressively testify to his violin talent.

instrument

Josef Hassid played a violin made by the French violin maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume .

Recordings

• H. with Ivor Newton (piano) - La Capricieuse Op.17 - Elgar - 09/01/39
• H. with Gerald Moore (piano; also all other recordings) - La Capricieuse Op.17 - Elgar - 12/06/40
• Mélodie Op.42 No.3 Souvenir d'un lieu cher - Tchaikovsky - 12/06/40
• Zapateado Op.23 No.2: Danzas Espanolas No.6 - de Sarasate - 12/06/40
• Playera Op.23 No.1: Danzas Espanolas No.5 - de Sarasate - 06/28/40
• Caprice Viennois Op.2 - Kreisler - 29/11/40
• Hebrew Melody - trad.arr.Achron - 29/11/40
• Humoresque Op.101 No.7 - Dvorak arr. Kreisler - 29/11/40
• Thaïs: Méditation - Massenet - 29/11/40

Quotes

"A Heifetz is born every 100 years, a Hassid only every 200." ( Fritz Kreisler )

"Do everything you can to get well again as soon as possible. As great an artist as you owe it to the world to get active again. I am sure that your illness will pass and that you will soon look back on it like a nightmare. My interest in you is and will remain the same as before ... "( Carl Flesch in a letter dated June 6, 1943, translation from English)

literature

• Anthony Feinstein: Psychosurgery and the child prodigy: the mental illness of violin virtuoso Josef Hassid. In: History of Psychiatry. 1997, 55-60.