Juliusz Wertheim

Juliusz Edward Wertheim (b. Warsaw, 24 September 1880; d. 6 May 1928), sometimes known as Jules Wertheim, was a Polish pianist, conductor and composer, a member of a prominent family, who had a significant influence on the career of Arthur Rubinstein.

Origins, training, career

Juliusz was born into a prominent Warsaw family of Jewish origin which had converted to Catholicism. The father of Juliusz, Piotr or Pierre Wertheim, was a step-brother of Carl Tausig and a successful banker in Warsaw, though also a short, eccentric and wrathful man. The mother, Aleksandra Klementyna, was the daughter of Ferdinand Leo, editor of the "Gazeta Polska", and she was a singer of some accomplishment. [Harvey Sachs, Arthur Rubinstein - A Life (Phoenix Paperback, London 1997), 57-66.] In 1893 Juliusz began to take piano lessons from Rudolf Strobl, who sent him on to Berlin to study composition with Heinrich Urban, and piano with Moritz Moszkowski and Heinrich Barth. He then returned to the Warsaw Conservatory to study theory under Zygmunt Noskowski, and graduated with a gold medal in 1901. He also received piano instruction from Józef Sliwiński. In 1915-1916 he was assistant conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic. For some years he became professor of instrumentation at the Warsaw Conservatory, and later lived independently as a composer in Berlin. By 1924 he had written and published 4 Symphonies, many piano works including sonatas and variations, and many songs (Simrock). [See Eaglefield-Hull, "A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians" (Dent, London 1924).]

Association with Arthur Rubinstein

The Wertheims maintained an important salon in Warsaw, and the young Arthur Rubinstein became drawn into it during the first decade of the 20th century, as also were Josef Hoffmann and Paweł Kochański. Rubinstein made various sexual conquests among women who had initially set their sights on the unattainable Wertheim. Rubinstein was drawn into the individual lives of the Wertheim family on terms of personal intimacy, and described these complicated relationships in his earlier autobiography, "My Young Years", referring to Piotr and Aleksandra Wertheim as 'Paul and Magdalena Harman'. [Harvey Sachs, "Arthur Rubinstein - A Life" (Phoenix Paperback, London 1997), 57-66.]

Rubinstein was deeply attracted by Wertheim's approach to the playing of Chopin's music, and stated later that he had largely drawn his own inspiration for playing Chopin from Wertheim's 'deep and intuitive understanding of his genius.' Considering the importance of Chopin's music in Rubinstein's career, and indeed of Rubinstein in the modern understanding of Chopin, that is a very large tribute. He performed Wertheim's "Fantasy" and Brahms's "First Piano Concerto", Wertheim himself conducting the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, in February 1904. [Sachs, ibid.] Despite this deep and intuitive understanding, Wertheim possessed a flawed and unreliable piano technique (as Zbigniew Drzewiecki, among others, observed): however he was able to encourage several young pianists, including Roman Jasiński, Bolesław Kon and Aleksander Kagan. [J. Methuen-Campbell, "Chopin Playing from the Composer to the Present Day" (Gollancz, London 1981), 103-104.]

Juliusz Wertheim died of a heart attack while conducting Wagner's "Meistersinger" Prelude with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in a broadcast concert, on 6 May 1928. [Harvey Sachs, Arthur Rubinstein - A Life (Phoenix Paperback, London 1997), 237.]

Notes

ources

* A Eaglefield-Hull, "A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians" (Dent, London 1924).
* J. Methuen-Campbell, "Chopin Playing from the Composer to the Present Day" (Gollancz, London 1981).
* Harvey Sachs, "Arthur Rubinstein - A Life" (Phoenix Paperback, London 1997), 57-66.
* A. Rubinstein, "My Young Years" (Jonathan Cape, London 1973).