Description

EFREM ZIMBALIST (ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA, APRIL 21, 1889 – RENO, NEVADA, U.S., FEBRUARY 22, 1985)

 

 

 

 

He was a concert violinist, composer, teacher, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. Zimbalist was born in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the son of Jewish parents Maria (née Litvinoff) and Aron Zimbalist, who was a conductor. By the age of nine, Efrem Zimbalist was first violin in his father’s orchestra. At age 12 he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Leopold Auer. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1907 after winning a gold medal and the Rubinstein Prize, and by age 21 was considered one of the world’s greatest violinists. After graduation he debuted in Berlin (playing the Brahms Concerto) and London in 1907 and in the United States in 1911, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1912, he played the Glazunov Concerto in a concert marking Leopold Stokowski’s first appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra. He then settled in the United States. He did much to popularize the performance of early music. In 1917, he was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity’s Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He retired as a violinist in 1949, but returned in 1952 to give the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Gian Carlo Menotti, which is dedicated to him. He retired again in 1955. He served as a juror of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1962 and 1966. In 1928, Zimbalist began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was director of the school from 1941 to 1968. His pupils included such distinguished musicians as Aaron Rosand,Oscar Shumsky, Joseph Silverstein, Jascha Brodsky, John Dalley, Michael Tree, Felix Slatkin, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Harold Wippler, Leonid Bolotine, and Hidetaro Suzuki. His own compositions include a violin concerto, the American Rhapsody, a tone poem called Daphnis and Chloe, a Fantasy on themes from The Golden Cockerel by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and a piece called Sarasateana, for violin and piano. He also wrote an opera, Landara, which premiered in Philadelphia in 1956. Zimbalist married the famous American soprano Alma Gluck and they toured together for a time. Alma Gluck died in 1938. In 1943, having been a widower for five years, he married the Curtis Institute of Music’s founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter of publisher Cyrus Curtis, and 14 years his senior. He died in 1985, at the age of 95. His and Alma’s son, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and their granddaughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, both became popular actors.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Alabama (Spalding) Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 74443 C-16076 6-8-1915 Camden, New Jersey

Andantino (Reger) from 2nd Sonate Op. 42, Book 1 No. 2 Victor 64518 B-16077 6-8-1915 Camden, New Jersey

Angel’s Serenade (Braga) with Alma Gluck and Eugene Lutsky (piano) Victor 88434 C-12995 3-13-1913 Camden, New Jersey

Ave Maria (Bach-Gounod) with Alma Gluck and Eugene Lutsky (piano) Victor 88433 C-12975 3-8-1913 Camden, New Jersey

Chanson Hebraique (Ravel) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87276 B-20086 6-25-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Chant d’automne (Tchaikovsky) Victor 64577 B-17142 2-14-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Chant de la Veslemoy (Halvorsen) with Sam Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64737 B-20098 6-26-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Chant negre, op. 32, no. 1 (Kramer) Victor 64736 B-20096 6-26-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Der Spielmann (Hildach) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 88583 C-18936 12-27-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Élégie (Massenet) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Rosario Bourdon (piano) Victor 87101 B-11603 2-19-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Fiddle and I (Goodeve) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Rosario Bourdon (piano) Victor 88539 C-16079 6-7-1915 Camden, New Jersey

God be with you till we meet again (Tomer) Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87278 B-20674 9-18-1917 Camden, New Jersey. New Office Building Auditorium

Guitarrero (Drdla) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 1056 B-30524 7-22-1924 Camden, New Jersey

Gypsy love song (Herbert) Victor 1056 B-30522 7-22-1924 Camden, New Jersey

Harlequin’s serenade from Les millions d’Arlequin (Drigo) with P. Bianculli (mandolin) Victor 74467 C-17143 2-16-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Hatikva (Zionist Hymn, Hatikvoh) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87296 B-22232 9-11-1918 Camden, New Jersey

Hebräisches Lied und Tanz with Sam Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64455 B-11609 2-24-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Humoresque (Bowen) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 6451 C-28763 10-23-1923 Camden, New Jersey

Humoresque (Tor Aulin) with Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64241 B-11297 2-24-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Hungarian dance no. 20, D minor (Brahms) with Sam Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 74303 C-11298 2-24-1912 Camden, New Jersey

In the hour of trial (Hymn) (Montgomery-Lane) with Alma Gluck and Ralph Kinder (organist) Victor 87300 B-22230 9-12-1918 Camden, New Jersey

Irish Love Song Op. 22 (Lang) with Alma Gluck Victor 64346 B-12976 3-13-1913 New York, New York

Larghetto (Handel) Alexander Lambert (piano) Victor 64335 B-13193 4-24-1913 New York, New York

Le Bonheur est chose legere (Saint-Saëns) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 87209 B-15387 11-12-1914

Le cygne (Saint-Saëns) with Eugene Lutsky (piano) Victor 74338 C-12974 3-8-1913 Camden, New Jersey

Le Deluge Prelude (Saint-Saëns) with Francis Moore (piano) Victor 64827 B-22236 12-12-1918 Camden, New Jersey

Le Nil (Fernand-Leroux) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Rosario Bourdon (piano) Victor 88358 C-11601 2-19-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Légende, op. 17 (Wieniawski) with Eugene Lutsky (piano) Victor 74337 C-13036 3-29-1913 New York, New York

Long ago from four songs, Op. 56 (MacDowell) with Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64266 B-11296 2-24-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Madrigale (Simonetti) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 988 B-28765 10-23-1923 Camden, New Jersey

Massa’s in da cold, cold ground (Foster) with String Orchestra and Celesta Victor 64638 B-18933 12-27-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Menuett in G…Gavotte in D (Beethoven and Gossec) with Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 74444 C-16083 6-8-1915 Camden, New Jersey

My laddie Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 64183 B-10094 3-22-1911 Camden, New Jersey

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt (Tchaikovsky) with Alma Gluck (sopranol) Victor 87244 B-17184 2-17-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Old black Joe (Foster) Victor 64640 B-18934 12-27-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Old Black Joe (Foster) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Rosario Bourdon (piano) Victor 74442 C-16082 6-9-1915 Camden, New Jersey

Old folks at home (Foster) with Alma Gluck (soprano), Eugene Lutsky (piano) and Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 87196 B-12977 11-15-1914 New York, New York

Orientale (Cesar Cui) with Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64261 B-11295 11-22-1911 Camden, New Jersey

Petite sérénade (Goldstein) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 988 B-28764 10-23-1923 Camden, New Jersey

Polish dance (Zimbalist) Victor 64562 B-17172 2-16-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Romance orientale (Rimsky-Korsakov) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87287 B-20087 6-25-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka) Persian song Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 1154 BVE-34445 2-2-1926 Camden, New Jersey

Russian Dance (Zimbalist) with Emanuel Balaban (piano) Victor 64955 B-24907 1-24-1921 Camden, New Jersey

Salut d’amour (Elgar) with Harry Kaufman (piano) Victor 66101 B-25937 9-14-1922 Camden, New Jersey

Serenade (Moszkowski) Victor 64576 B-17153 2-14-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Serenade (Pierne) with Emanuel Balaban (piano) Victor 64936 B-23993 1-24-1921 Camden, New Jersey

Serenata, op. 40 (D’Ambrosio) Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 64710 B-20095 6-26-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Sicilienne Minuet (Efrem Zimbalist) Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 74280 C-11299 2-24-1912 Camden, New Jersey

Sing me to sleep (Green) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 88573 C-17834 6-10-1916 Camden, New Jersey

Song without words (Tchaikovsky) Harry Kaufman (piano) Victor 66119 B-26879 9-14-1922 Camden, New Jersey

Souvenir (Drdla) with Francis Moore (piano) Victor 64813 B-22233 12-12-1918 Camden, New Jersey

Spanish dance, op. 26, no. 7 (Sarasate) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 6451 C-28762 10-23-1923 Camden, New Jersey

Spring song Song without words op. 62. Nr. 6 (Mendelssohn) Victor 66034 B-25936 1-6-1922 Camden, New Jersey

Swedish Cradle Song (Folk song) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87566 B-22229 9-10-1918 Camden, New Jersey

The broken melody (Van Biene) Victor 74445 C-16078 6-9-1915 Camden, New Jersey

The lark (Glinka) Francis Moore (piano) Victor 74582 C-22235 12-12-1918 Camden, New Jersey

The lost chord (Sullivan) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 88593 C-20673 9-17-1917 Camden, New Jersey. New Office Building Auditorium

The Monotone (Cornelius) with Alma Gluck (soprano) and Samuel Chotzinoff (piano) Victor 87208 B-15392 11-15-1914 New York, New York

The Rosary (Nevin) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87237 B-15909 6-8-1915 Camden, New Jersey

Two folk songs of Little Russia with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 64727 B-20089 6-25-1917 Camden, New Jersey

Waltz in G flat (Chopin) Emanuel Bay (piano) Victor 1154 BVE-34446 2-2-1926 Camden, New Jersey

Wenn die Schwalben heimwarts zieh’n (Abt) with Alma Gluck (soprano) Victor 87236 B-15908 6-8-1915 Camden, New Jersey

 

Eugène Ysaÿe (composer)

Violin Sonata In G Minor Op 27 No 1 I Grave

Violin Sonata In G Minor Op 27 No 1 Ii Fugato

Violin Sonata In G Minor Op 27 No 1 Iii Allegretto Poco Schezoso

Violin Sonata In G Minor Op 27 No 1 Iv Finale Con Brio

Victor 16194 CS-042851 9/27/1939 New York, New York. Victor Studio 1 [155 E. 24th St.]

Victor 16194 CS-042852 9/27/1939 New York, New York. Victor Studio 1 [155 E. 24th St.]

Victor 16195 CS-042853 9/27/1939 New York, New York. Victor Studio 1 [155 E. 24th St.]

Victor 16195 CS-042854 9/27/1939 New York, New York. Victor Studio 1 [155 E. 24th St.]

 

Bach, J S: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV1043

Vivace

Largo ma non tanto

III. Allegro

Efrem Zimbalist, Fritz Kreisler

String Quartet (Howard Rattay (violin), Pasquale Bianculli (violin), John Fruncillo (viola), Rosario Bourdon (cello)

Walter B. Rogers (conductor)

Victor 76028, 76029, 76030, C-15560, C-15561, C-15562

1/4/1915 Camden, New Jersey