ERICA ZEMAN
The Founding History of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra-a man’s change of attitude….
Two days ago, a sudden question appeared in my mind with regards to the founding history of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. As one who loves classical music, I decided to research where it all started. To my amazement I read that one man brought this orchestra into being.
My excitement intensified as I learned more about him.
Bronislaw Huberman born in Czestochova , Congress Poland (19. December 1882) soon left his Jewish family home to be educated at the Warsaw Conservatory as a violinist. With fourteenth years of age, he decided that his student years had come to an end, which had expanded in Warsaw, Paris and Berlin, the city in which he had been tutored by the Hungarian Jewish violinist Joseph Joachim.
Bronislaw travelled in his young years through the Netherland and Belgium, Great Britain and
Austria while gaining increasingly fame and attention with his virtuous play. Sources always refer to the quality of his classical repertoire and his long-term co-work with the German pianist Siegfried Schultze during the late 1920’s and the early 1930’s.
The latter were for him the years of changing from a mainly career focused man into a man concerned for his direct neighbours, his fellow musicians. Bronislaw was interested in politics after the sinister developments of World War I, but could sense and experience the political fragility thereafter.
In 1929 & 1931 Bronislaw visited British Mandate Palestine, which bears no connection to the present ‘Palestinian Gaza’ people. During his stay in the future Israel, he felt the unease of knowing that dark clouds were gathering upon the Jewish Communities in Europe. He expressed his vision for Jewish friends and musicians to form an Orchestra in Tel- Aviv.
Bronislaw knew in 1934 that the time was running out with the increasing Nazi harassment and the enactment of the antisemitic Nuernberg Laws in 1935. These laws excluded Jewish composers’ music from being played in theatres and concert halls, with the subsequent prohibition of Jewish musicians and artists to be part of the society and their cultural environment. The loss of dignity and nullification of supporting their families even a year before, by 1933, catapulted 8,000 Jewish artists and intellectuals into zero income,
(Bneibrith publication in January 2025). The Jewish German communities were in shock, resulting for many to choose suicide in their despair. Bronislaw spoke consistently against Hitler’s antisemitism and moved from Austria to Switzerland in 1937.
Is Europe presently not sliding into the same hatred towards Jewish life and creativity? Incidences in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the U.K, Belgium and Germany clearly show that Jewish people are either prohibited to enter shops, hindered to participate in football games or shouted down as musicians and entertainers. A ‘common baseline’ of hatred can only result in violence as it was a daily occurrence during the Nazi regime.
Back to Bronislaw Huberman:
Although Mandate Palestine sounded like the backwater of social entertainment, nevertheless, Polish, Austrian, Hungarian, German and Czechoslovakian musicians agreed with him after their audition to immigrate to the Land. From 1934 onwards Bronislaw insisted that the Yishuv’s leadership, such as Ben Gurion, aided him to obtain the necessary documents to enter British Mandate Palestine. Golda Meir persuaded Gurion relentlessly after she had a conversation with Bronislaw during a flight to the USA. At last, all documents were ready. Shortly after, the British Government decided to close the gates to Mandate Palestine, which forced Bronislaw into negotiations with the British authorities. It was altogether a seven-year long struggle, but nearly 1,000 musicians were able to make the journey and arrived in time. It was Bronislaw who took the financial responsibilities for Visas and all other necessities for the exiles to build a new life in future Israel.
The first concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was held in Tel Aviv on December 26th, 1936, with the conductor and anti-fascist Arturo Toscanini. He irritated Benito Mussolini and Hitler with his refusal to exclude the music of Jewish Composers and held concerts whenever these compositions were cancelled in other orchestras. Toscanini made his home in New York and gladly supported Bronislaw Huberman’s vision for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The first conductors of this orchestra were William Steinberg and Leo Kerstenberg, who both escaped in time the clutches of A. Hitler. After the war Lenoard Bernstein led many times the Israel Philharmonic as Laureate Conductor. My special appreciation is given to Zubin Metha, who held the position of Musical director for over forty years. (1977-2019) In 2011 the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra gave a concert in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Some hooligans attempted to disrupt this music venue with Anti-Israel slurs. Metha rounded the music up, and stood totally undisturbed and self- controlled in front of his orchestra until the cause of disruption were ushered out. His tall figure resembled for me a Prince, and a wall of protection between his players and the disturbers. The same protection and more Bronislaw Huberman lived with his determination to save lives. He passed away, a completely exhausted man on the 16th of June 1947. His Memory is a blessing!
Erica Zeman
remkabod@gmail.com
