Efrem Zimbalist (April 21 .S. April 9 1889 – February 22, 1985) was a Russian and American concert

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and director of the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

Early life

Efrem Zimbalist was born on April 9, 1889, O.S., equivalent to April 21, 1889, in the Gregorian calendar, as reported in many newspaper obituaries, in the southwestern

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

city of

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, the son of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents Maria (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Litvinoff) and Aron Zimbalist (Цимбалист, ), 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 The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory () (formerly known as the Petrograd Conservatory and Leningrad Conservatory) is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty member ...

and studied under

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer (; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Auer was born in ...

. 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.

Career

After graduation he debuted in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(playing the Brahms Concerto) and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1907 and in the United States in 1911, with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

, when he gave the first American performance of the Glazunov Violin Concerto. In 1912, he played the Glazunov Concerto in a concert marking

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...

's first appearance with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. He then settled in the United States. He did much to popularize the performance of classical music in his adopted country. In 1917, he was elected as an honorary member of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (legally Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha, PMA, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity for men with a special interest ...

, the national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity's Alpha Chapter at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He retired as a violinist in 1949, but returned in 1952 to give the first performance of the Violin Concerto by

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer, libretto, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American ...

. He retired again in 1955. He served as a juror of the

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

in 1962 and 1966. Early in his career Zimbalist owned the "Titian"

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

violin. He purchased the violin while on a trip with friend and world renowned violinist

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin styl ...

for $33,000. At the time, around August 1923, the Titan was 208 years old, being created by

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinisation of names, Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', a ...

in 1715. It was ranked among the four finest violins in the world by European experts. The violin was later purchased by Felix M. Warburg as a quartet purchase that included "Viola Mac Donald" (1701), the "La Belle Blondine", and a recently restored (at the time) "Red" Stradivari, for $200,000. Mr. Warburg loaned all four to Sascha Jacobsen, Bernard Ocko, and

Louis Kaufman Louis Kaufman (May 10, 1905 – February 9, 1994) was an American violinist. He played on the soundtrack of as many as 500 movies and made over 100 musical recordings. He is also credited with reviving the music of Antonio Vivaldi with his re ...

, whose teacher was Franz Kneisel, as well as Marie Roemaet-Rosanov, a pupil of the great

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Aeolian Hall.

Curtis Institute

In 1928, Zimbalist began teaching at the

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He was its director from 1941 to 1968. His pupils included such distinguished musicians as Lynn Blakeslee, Aaron Rosand, Oscar Shumsky, Norman Carol, Toshiya Eto, Joseph Silverstein, Jascha Brodsky,

John Dalley John Dalley (born 3 March 1935) is an American violinist. He was raised in a musical family. His father was an orchestra conductor, violinist, composer, instrumental teacher, and music educator. His mother, from Bloomington, Illinois, was a celli ...

, Michael Tree, Felix Slatkin, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Harold Wippler, Leonid Bolotine, Takaoki Sugitani, Helen Kwalwasser, and Hidetaro Suzuki.

Compositions

His own compositions include a violin concerto, a piano concerto (1959), the ''American Rhapsody'', a

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement (music), movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. T ...

called ''

Daphnis and Chloe ''Daphnis and Chloe'' (, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus. Setting and style It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, whe ...

'', a Fantasy on themes from ''

The Golden Cockerel ''The Golden Cockerel'' ( ) is an opera in three acts, with a short prologue and an even shorter epilogue, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his last complete opera, before his death in 1908. Its libretto written by Vladimir Belsky, is derive ...

'' by

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

, a Fantasy on Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' (1936), and a piece called '' Sarasateana'', for viola and piano. He also wrote an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, ''Landara'', which premiered in 1956.

Dedications

Several composers dedicated their works to Zimbalist, including: *

František Drdla František Alois Drdla ( Germanized as Franz Drdla; 28 November 1868 – 3 September 1944) was a prominent Czech concert violinist and composer of light music. Biography Drdla was born in 1868 in Žďár nad Sázavou, in what is now the Czech ...

's ''Guitarrero'' * Victor Küzdő's ''Promenade Grotesque'' *

Cyril Scott Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...

's ''Tallahassee'' * Willem Willeke's ''Chant Sans Paroles''

Public life

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Spanish Democracy, chaired by Casals and founded by him in 1936.

Personal life

Zimbalist married the famous American

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Alma Gluck Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American lyric soprano. Biography Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Iași, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn. Gluck moved to the United States at a ...

and they toured together for a time. She died in 1938. In 1943 he married the Curtis Institute of Music's founder,

Mary Louise Curtis Bok Mary Louise Curtis (August 6, 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts – January 4, 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)Bok, Edward W. (1920) ''The Americanization of Edward Bok''. Lakeside Classics edition, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Chicago, Illinois ...

, daughter of publisher Cyrus Curtis and

Louisa Knapp Curtis Louisa Knapp Curtis (October 21, 1851 – February 25, 1910) (also known as Louisa Knapp) was an American columnist and the first editor of the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' from 1883 to 1889. It became one of the most popular magazines published in th ...

, and 13 years his senior. Although he continued to consider himself ethnically Jewish, he found himself attracted, along with his wife Alma, to Anglican Christianity, and they regularly attended the Episcopal Church in New Hartford. Efrem Jr. and Maria were both christened there, and the couple placed Efrem in an Episcopal boarding school in New Hampshire. Efrem Jr. later became active in evangelical circles and was one of the founders of

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...

.Malan, Roy (2004). Efrem Zimbalist: A Life. Amadeus Press. pp. 139–142. . He died in 1985, at the age of 95. His and Alma's son, Efrem Jr., and their granddaughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, both became popular actors, primarily in television. Efrem Jr. portrayed Dandy Jim Buckley in '' Maverick'' opposite

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

, and the lead characters in the television series ''

77 Sunset Strip ''77 Sunset Strip'' is an American private detective crime drama television series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long (from 1960 to 1961) and Edd Byrnes (billed as Edward Byrnes). Each epis ...

'' and '' The FBI''. Granddaughter Stephanie played the female lead in ''

Remington Steele ''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on NBC from October 1, 1982, ...

'' opposite

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

References

Further

* ''Efrem Zimbalist: A Life'' – by Roy Malan. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2004 * ''Great Masters of the Violin'' – by Boris Schwarz. Simon and Schuster, 1983

External links

*
Efram Zimbalist recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...

Streaming audio of Efrem Zimbalist recordings
from the

National Jukebox The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers copyright law t ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimbalist, Efrem 1889 births 1985 deaths Musicians from Rostov-on-Don People from Don Host Oblast Efrem Russian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Russian-Jewish descent Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism Russian male classical violinists American male violinists Curtis family Jewish American classical composers Jewish classical violinists Russian classical violinists American opera composers Russian male opera composers 20th-century Russian classical composers Soviet classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American classical violinists