Jews Figure Prominently in List of Music Prodigi es in New Book
"In the Russian home ment subsidizes those who
where, Isaac Fishberg was show the most promise to
brought up, the musical in- study intensively either in Is-
struments played by the fa- rael or in fine conservatories
ther, and eventualy by 11 of and good private teachers of
the 13 children, were so other countries.
numerous that some of them
The author, a member of
were hung from hooks in the the faculty of the music de-
parlor ceiling.
partment at the University of
" 'From another house,' Bridgeport (Conn.), devotes
Fishberg once said, 'we an entire chapter to Felix
might all have turned into Mendelssohn. "Although the
glaziers or pawnbrokers. It's children were early baptized
no use trying to prove any- into the Protestant faith,"
thing about heredity in a she writes, "a strong Jewish
family that literally cut its ethic pervaded the Mendels-
sohn family life" in Berlin of
teeth on violins.' "
That was the family from the 18005.
It was a quite different
which Detroit's noted con-
certmaster Mischa Mischa- home into which Anton Ru-
koff stemmed. And it is one binstein was born in Russia
of the interesting accounts in 1829. Unlike Mendelssohn,
included in a new book, "Mu- "In his youth, Anton en-
sical Prodigies—Masters at dured anti-Semitism and ex-
an Early Age," by Renee B. perienced periods of extreme
Fisher (Association Press, poverty. Among his many ad-
ventures, he was once stopped
New York).
Mischakoff him s elf is
quoted as expressing doubt
that very many first-rate mu-
sicians would emerge in
modern times: "Kids are too
much in love with the ball
and the bat."
Some 230 pages are de-
voted to the careers of mu-
sical prodigies, many of
whom were J e w is h, and
studies of the factors that
contribute to such rare
genius. The foreword itself
is by one of the greatest
teeth on violins.' "
prodigies of our time, Yehudi
Menuhin, whose first violin
was sent to him at age 5 by
his grandmother, living in
Palestine.
Israel, which has produced
such young musicians as Dan-
iel Barenboim, Pinchas Zuk-
erman and Itzhak Perlman,
is described as having an
"enlightened policy" of en-
couraging talent, with peri-
odic competitions for chil-
dren. More than 100 scholar-
ships are awarded to those
deemed worthy of such en-
couragement. The govern-
at the Russian border at the
time of the European upris-
ings of 1848, suspected of be-
ing a spy. His music manu-
scripts were thought to be an
elaborate code containing
military secrets. Only by
playing the piano for the cus-
toms officials did he convince
them otherwise.'
Yet another prodigy with
a Detroit connection, Jaime
Laredo of Bolivia, is men-
tioned prominently. He is
married to former Detroit
pianist Ruth Meckler. At 18,
he was the youngest violinist
ever to win the international
Queen Elizabeth Competition
in Brussels.
Others mentioned include
Benny Goodman, one of 12
children of an impoverished
refugee from Russian anti-
Semitism, who went on to be-
come a key figure in Ameri-
can jazz; Rudolf Serkin and
Sheik of Araby Turns Out
to Be the Boy Next Door
Poor Planning
for Immigrants
Seen in Israel
ASHKELON (ZINS)—Poor
planning and lack of coordi-
nation in the provision of
housing and jobs is causing
difficulty in the absorption of
Russian immigrants.
As a result, the negative
views are already being
heard in Russia among po-
tential immigrants, accord-
ing to Dr. Meir Gelfond, at
a weekend seminar held here
on the Kfar Silver campus
under the auspices of the
ZOA Club. The ZOA Club is
comprised of members of the
Zionist Organization of Amer-
ica who have settled in Israel.
Dr. Gelfond, who was one
of the leaders of Moscow
Jewry, noted, "Too often
when there is housing there
are no jobs and when there
are jobs there is no housing."
This was the situation, he
claimed, for many Russian
immigrants who were ready
but unable to settle in the
Golan Heights or in the Ra-
fiah area.
Comparing Russian and
American immigrration, Dr.
Eugene Stollman, formerly of
Teaneck, N.J., a recent im-
migrant, said that Americans
generally had a more diffi-
cult time integrating in Is-
rael than the Russians, de-
spite the fact that the Ameri-
cans come with more finan-
cial means.
Steve Kaye and the
Newsweek Front Cover
his son Peter, both piano
prodigies in their respective
day; Mischa Elman and Ef-
rem Zimbalist, whose poor
parents sacrificed everything
for music lessons; and Lorin
Maazel, hailed by some as
the most successful child
conductor since Mendelssohn.
Of the latter, Mrs. Fisher
writes that he was placed in
the national spotlight after
two summers at the famous
National Music Camp in In-
terlochen.
Still a child, he was invited
by Toscanini to conduct the
NBC Symphony. "At the first
rehearsal the orchestra, out-
raged at what they consid-
ered an affront to their dig-
nity and musicianship, stared
at him in open defiance, all
the while sucking on lollipops
to emphasize their scorn.
Lorin faced them down, and
coolly began to rehearse. At
the very first purposely
wrong note, he stopped to
correct the player in such a
way that it became obvious
he had the whole score in his
head. From then on, even
more remarkable than his
completely mature approach
to the works, was his ability
to get along with the musi-
cians at rehearsal; he treat-
ed them as colleagues, and
his brisk efficiency and cour-
tesy made them forget his
age and respect him on per-
sonal as well as musical
terms."
Maazel, who is married to
Israeli concert pianist Israela
Margalit, became the young-
est conductor and the first
American ever to conduct at
Bayreuth, Germany, return-
ing in triumph to the U.S. at
age 32.
One reviewer hailed his re-
turn with the headlines "The
Former Prodigy Is Still Prod-
The Arab headdress was
bought in Israel. The robes
were supplied by a photo-
graphic agency. And the
bearded sheik wearing it all
for the cover of last week's
Newsweek magazine — is a
Jew.
Steve Kaye, a 33-year-old
Madison Avenue talent agent,
was helping his agency find
an authentic - Arab for the
cover story in Newsweek,
"Arab Oil Squeeze." The
agency had no luck, so Kaye
volunteered.
The fact that his brother
lives on a lEibutz near Jeru-
salem and his grandmother
is an ardent Zionist didn't
bother him, or, apparently
Newsweek. The end result igious." —C.D.
was to their mutual satisfac-
tion: he posed with arms
folded over gasoline pump,
at a station in Queens.
He said it took hours to
get just the right mean ex-
pression on his face.
His whole neighborhood in
Marlboro, N.J., was delight-
28635 Southfield
ed, said Kaye. And he sent
357-3266
a copy of the cover to his
Overnite Service
brother on Kibutz Yizrael.
Kaye said he would consid-
INVITATIONS
er it a step up to be photo-
graphed as an Israeli leader
—"maybe Moshe Dayan."
PASSPORT PHOTOS
2fors395
Papertique
20—Friday, Sept. 21, 1973
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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