Description

ELIAS BREESKIN (YEKATERINOSLAV, UKRAINE, 8. 11. 1896 – MEXICO, MEXICO CITY, 9. 05. 1969)

 

 

 

 

In 1903, shortly after Elias’ seventh birthday, his mother turned him over to a professional violinist in the local Conservatory in Cracow, Poland, for lessons. At the age of 8, he played Bach’s E major concerto, and was a sensation. During the next two years, he toured through Ukraine and western Russia, where he was also tutored by Leopold Auer, personal musician to the Czar. Young Elias was met with overwhelming responses to his violin playing. He was hailed as one of the greatest child prodigies ever. The family left Russia because of the Jewish massacre. They came to America and settled in Washington, DC where they already had relatives established. Before he left Russia, Elias in 1906 played for Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, with tremendous success. Family lore has it that the emperor gave him an enormous ring, with three rubies, directly from his finger. In USA he studied at the Juilliard School of Music. In the early part of the century, the best violin instructor in America was Franz Kneisel. Maestro Kneisel took on Elias as a pupil, and had enormous influence on his subsequent career. After nine years at Juilliard, Elias won the Loeb prize in 1915. A part of this prize was a concert at Carnegie Hall, which was extremely well received; the reviewers in the next day’s newspapers remarked on the warmth and purity of his tone, his technical abilities, and the sincerity and refinement of his playing. In 1917, Elias became a member of the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch. Others in the orchestra included future superstars Mischa Elman, Pablo Casals, and Joseph Hoffman. Elias received great reviews for his performance at the Aeolian Hall in February 1918. Elias won a place as Enrico Caruso’s accompanist for his tour in 1918. Elias and Adelyn settled down, and he became concertmaster of the Capitol Theatre Orchestra in New York. In 1925, he became the conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. In the 1940s he moved to Mexico and became an exclusive artist of the XEB Radio station in Mexico City, the oldest in the country composed scores for the Cinema of Mexico including the Cantinflas film Neither blood nor sand. He had a daughter there who became a famous entertainer and violinist herself, Olga Breeskin. In 1941, Anna, Gene, and John Breeskin joined Elias in Mexico City, where he had become musical director for XEW, the most important radio station in the country. In May 1945, Elias was arrested and taken to jail as a political prisoner due to his gambling debts and for being on the wrong side of the political process; he was sent to “las Islas Marías” (the equivalent of Devil’s Island), where his cellmate was Ramón Mercader, Leon Trotsky’s assassin. He was held there for almost a year. During this time his marriage ended. After Elias got out of jail, he married his third wife Lena Torres, with whom he had a daughter Olga and son Elias Junior, also an accomplished violinist. While in prison, before he was pardoned by the president of Mexico, Elias wrote La ciudad de los muertos based upon his experiences in prison. This was very favorably received when he performed it at The Palacio de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Elias, who never bothered to look about him when he was crossing the street, was hit by a car, and broke his hip. The hip was replaced, but he broke it again, and his deteriorating body could no longer house his strong spirit. He died in his sleep of pneumonia on Friday May 9, 1969, at the age of 73.

 

 

TRACKLIST

  

 

Canzonetta (D’Ambrosio) (p. Robert Gayler) Edison 80704 5804

Caprice Yankee Doodle (Vieuxtemps) Brunswick 13012B 13012-B

Cavatina (Raff) Brunswick 13012A 13012-A

From the canebreak (Gardener) (p. Josef Bonime) Brunswick 5126 7224

Hebrew melody and dance (Zimbalist) Brunswick 13023 3694

Minuet in G (Beethoven) (p. Rudolph Gruen) Brunswick 5090 3432

Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) (Foster) Virginia Rea (soprano) Brunswick 5119 3598

Serenade espagnole (Chaminade) Brunswick 13023 5145

Simple confession (Thomé) Brunswick 5126 7410

Souvenir Poetique (Fibich) (p. Rudolph Gruen) Brunswick 13005 3539

Träumerei (Schumann) Edison 2339