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Ivry Gitlis
Ivry Gitlis at home (Paris, 2010)
Background information
Birth name	Yitzhak-Meir Gitlis
Born	(1922-08-25)25 August 1922 Haifa, Palestine Mandate (now Israel)
Died	24 December 2020(2020-12-24) (aged 98) Paris, France
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Violinist, pedagogue
Instrument	Violin
Years active	1937–2019

Ivry Gitlis (Hebrew: עברי גיטליס;‎ 25 August 1922 – 24 December 2020) was an Israeli virtuoso violinist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He performed with the world's top orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra.

Early life and education

Yitzhak-Meir (Isaac) Gitlis was born on 25 August 1922 in Haifa, Israel to Jewish parents Asher and Hedva Gitlis, who emigrated in 1921 from Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine.

Gitlis acquired his first violin when he was five years old and started lessons under Mme Velikovsky together with his friend Zvi Zeitlin. He then studied privately with Mira Ben-Ami, a pupil of Joseph Szigeti. When he was eight, she arranged for him to play for Bronisław Huberman, which prompted a fundraising campaign to allow him to study in France.

In 1933, he arrived with his mother in Paris and started to take lessons with Marcel Chailley, husband of the pianist Céliny Chailley-Richez. Being very close to their family, he was introduced to George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud. In that period, he decided to change his birth name (Isaac)) to Ivry. At 11, Gitlis (Jitlis) entered the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Jules Boucherit, and graduated in 1935.

From 1938 to 1940, his teachers included George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud in Paris and Carl Flesch in Spa, Belgium and later in London.

Career

World War II

In 1940, during World War II, he went to London where he first worked for two years in a war factory and was then assigned to the artists branch of the British Army. He gave numerous concerts for the Allied soldiers and in war factories. After the war he made his successful debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently played with the BBC and all other principal orchestras of Great Britain.

1950s

In 1951, as suggested by his teacher Alice Pashkus, he participated in the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris, where he took fifth place. During the preliminary stages of the competition, a rumor circulated that he had stolen a Stradivarius violin during the war, which caused a scandal on the day of the final. Six years after the fall of Hitler, being a Jew in France was still causing debate. In the same year, Gitlis made his debut in Paris, playing in a recital at the Salle Gaveau, sponsored by the music manager Marcel de Valmalète (9 July 1951).

In those years Ivry Gitlis already ranked with the foremost young masters of his instrument in the world. He started the study of the violin at the age of five. His debut was made shortly after that and he so impressed the noted virtuoso, Bronislaw Huberman, that he was sent to Paris to study. At the age of 11, the boy won first place among 150 competitors for admission to the Paris Conservatoire, and at 13, he got "Premier Prix" (graduated) at the Conservatoire. Gitlis continued his studies with such noted virtuosi as Georges Enesco, Jacques Thibaud and Theodore Pashkus, after which we embarked on a European concert tour. During the war, the youngster remained in London where he performed for the Armed Forces in hundreds of concerts. In the last few years he has been soloist with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Liverpool Philharmonic, etc. He has featured contemporary music on his program ranging from works of Bartok to Lennox Berkley, Ivor Walsworth and Hindemith, as well as continuing his programs of the music of the classics. Further tours of the European continent have strengthened critical belief that Ivry Gitlis was destined to become one of the world's greatest violinists. (text extracted from: Don Gabor archives, ©1950). In 1955 he moved to the United States where he met Jascha Heifetz. There he made several tours, managed by Sol Hurok, including those conducted by Eugene Ormandy (Tchaikovsky, in Philadelphia) and George Szell (Sibelius, on 15,16 and 18 December 1955 in New York). In Europe, between 1954 and 1955, he recorded for the Vox label concertos by Berg (Violin Concerto "To the memory of an angel", coupled with "Chamber Concerto" -Vox PL 8660- which was awarded a "Grand Prix du Disque" in 1954), Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky (Violin Concerto, coupled with "Duo Concertant") and with the conductor Jascha Horenstein, Bartók, Bruch and Sibelius. His recording of Bartók's 2nd Violin Concerto and Solo Violin Sonata -Vox PL 9020- received the "Best Record of the Year" award from the New York Herald Tribune in 1955.

1960s

In 1963, he was the first Israeli violinist to play in the Soviet Union. He gave a series of concerts under the cultural exchange program of the Soviet Union and Israel, starting in Vilnius (23 October 1963). His other concerts were given in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and Odesa.

In 1968, he participated in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus film project, performing "Whole Lotta Yoko" with Yoko Ono and The Dirty Mac.

Many composers were fascinated by his sound and way of playing, among whom René Leibowitz who dedicated his Violin Concerto, Op. 50 (1958) to him; Roman Haubenstock-Ramati with "Sequences" for Violin and Orchestra (1958); Bruno Maderna writing "Pièce pour Ivry" (1971), which Gitlis never recorded commercially, but recorded live in Paris on 25 May 1983; Yannis Xenakis with "Mikka", which Gitlis premièred in 1972; Charles Harold Bernstein with two works for solo violin, inspired by Gitlis, "Rhapsodie Israélienne" and "Romantic Suite" (1984).

1970s

In 1972, Gitlis founded the Festival de Vence, famous for its innovative programming. He was also the inspirer and organiser of the Saint André de Cubzac, Alfortville and Bonifacio Music Festivals.

In 1975, he undertook a dramatic role, as Hypnotist in François Truffaut's film, The Story of Adele H.

He often visited Japan, where he was very popular.

1990s

In 1990, Gitlis was designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. His stated aim was the "support of education and culture of peace and tolerance". He performed at the opening event of the International Bioethics Committee's 3rd session in 1995.

2000s

Ivry Gitlis was a commentator (along with Itzhak Perlman) on the DVD The Art of Violin (2000), which showcases violin performances and gives biographical details of many of the great violinists of the twentieth century.

In 2008, he became patron of the Paris-based association "Inspiration(s)", whose aim is to make classical music accessible to all. He was a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music.

He was a distinguished guest of the International Master Course for violinists and string players at Keshet Eilon Music Center.

Violins

At various stages in his career, Gitlis played on a 1699 Giovanni Battista Rogeri, which he sold to famed violin author Sidney Bowden, the 1737 "Chant du Cygne" Antonio Stradivari, and the 1740 "Ysaye" Guarneri del Gesù. Ivry Gitlis owned the 1713 "Sancy" Antonio Stradivari and a violin by Émile Marcel Français, Paris 1944 (won as a prize for the 1951 "Thibaud Competition").

Quotes

Dear young colleagues of the up-and-coming generation, please have the courage to be yourselves, to take risks and not be copies of your recordings or of others'. Practice your instrument in order to free yourself from any psycho-technical constraint, to be able to create when you play. Listen to your inner ear, which is connected directly to your heart and spirit, the one that tells you what you feel is you! And the one you don't feel isn't you. Remember that a beautiful "wrong" note by a Kreisler, a Thibaud, a Casals or a Callas is worth more than a thousand so-called "right" notes and that playing that is hygienically and clinically correct is not necessarily a sign of good health! Take heart! Good health to you!
(Ivry Gitlis – January 2007)

• "... don't be so polite with the music, it's like being in love!" (IG, during a masterclass, 31 October 2011)
• "Sheet music is a bunch of black marks; they have no significance ... I play violin, but in order to play well you have to be much more than a violin player. There is an entire world that lives together with it, like the currents in the ocean; and in any event, often I don't use sheet music at all, but improvise." (IG, October 2012)
• "... rubato is the art of playing in tempo..." (IG)
• (on answering the question: "what is your motto?") "... to be alive, to be aware, to hear, to know, to feel, to see, to love, to be loved a little bit sometimes." (IG, July 2011)

Family

Ivry Gitlis was married from 1959 to 1960 to American director and writer Sandra Hochman; also to French Actress France Lambiotte [de; fr], with whom he had one child, Raphaëlle; and until his death was married to German actress Sabine Glaser [de], mother of three of his four children, Nessie, David and Johnathan.

Since the end of the 1960s, Gitlis resided in Paris, France. He died there on 24 December 2020 at the age of 98.

Ivry Gitlis Edition - Rhine Classics

According to the Ivry Gitlis Edition page at the 'Rhine Classics' label website.

• RH-011 | 2CD | Ivry Gitlis 'the early years, birth of a legend'
• RH-019 | 9CD | Ivry Gitlis 'in memoriam' - inédits et introuvables
• RH-024 | 1CD | Ivry Gitlis plays Bach

Audio/video recordings

Sortable lists, in chronological order.

Commercial – official, studio and live releases

Filmography

References

Notes

2. Gitlis, L'Âme et la corde, p. 28 (2013)
3. Gitlis, L'Âme et la corde (2013)
4. Gitlis, L'Âme et la corde (2013)
5. Gitlis, L'Âme et la corde, p. 62 (2013)
6. In the context of French Conservatoires, first prize, second prize and so on are the same as A and B grades, i.e. the highest level. Winning first prize meant graduation.
7. Violinist Ivry Gitlis remembers George Enescu Archived 24 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, The Strad, 19 August 2013.
8. "Profile of Theodore and Alice Pashkus on Rudolf Bruil's 'The Remington Site'". Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
9. Gitlis, L'Âme et la corde, p. 152 (2013)
10. "Sibelius, 15,16,18 December 1955 in New York". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
11. Israeli Violinist Gives Successful Concerts in Soviet Cities, JTA Archive, 25 October 1963.
12. "Mikka - Catalog of works - Iannis Xenakis". iannis-xenakis.org. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018.
13. "Ivry Gitlis bio at Musicamundi.org". Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
14. ‘Debris violins’ pull at heartstrings, Instruments crafted from homes, trees washed away by tsunami at center of musical relay project – The Japan Times, 26 April 2012
15. Ivry Gitlis – UNESCO Celebrity Advocates | UNESCO.org Archived 11 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
16. "Ivry Gitlis | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
17. "Fellows and Honorary Members". Royal Northern College of Music.
18. Documented in handwritten letter dated 31 March 2008, from Bowden
19. "Cozio.com: Violin by Antonio Stradivari, 1737 (Swan, Chant du Cygne)". Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
20. "Cozio.com: Violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, 1740 (Ysaÿe)". Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
21. Gitlis – CD Booklet for the first release of Paganini's 24 Caprices (Philips, January 2007)
22. Gitlis – L'Âme et la corde, foreword (Buchet-Chastel, 2013)
23. Ben Zeev, Noam: "At 90, master violinist wants to bestow his knowledge onto a new generation" – Haaretz, 5 October 2012
24. Interview at the Verbier Festival, 2011
25. "Sandra Hochman - Biography". IMDb.
26. "France Lambiotte | Actress". IMDb.
27. "Israel's violin genius Gitlis dies at 98". 24 December 2020.
28. "Sabine Glaser | Actress". IMDb.
29. "Ivry Gitlis | Actor, Composer, Music Department". IMDb.
30. Israel's violin genius Gitlis dies at 98

Sources

• Gitlis, Ivry, L’Âme et la corde Archived 12 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine (2nd edition, Buchet-Chastel, Paris 2013) ISBN 978-2-283-02514-7 (FR)

Further reading

• Ben Zeev, Noam: "At 90, master violinist wants to bestow his knowledge onto a new generation", Haaretz, 5 October 2012
• Campion, Alexis: "Ivry Gitlis, esprit violon" Archived 24 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine, le JDD, 14 December 2013 (FR)
• Coppey, Nicole: Interview to Ivry Gitlis, "se créer au moment de créer" Revue musicale suisse, July/August 2008 (FR)
• Sánchez-Penzo, José: "The way famous instruments went" Archived 15 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, relevant well informed website
• Price, Jason: 94th birthday interview with violinist Ivry Gitlis about his incredible 60-year relationship with his Stradivari ‘Sancy’ violin, 1715 (10-minute video)
• Daily Telegraph: Obituary Ivry Gitlis 29 Dec 2020

External links

• Ivry Gitlis at IMDb
• Ivry Gitlis discography at Discogs
• Media related to Ivry Gitlis at Wikimedia Commons
• Portraits of Ivry Gitlis at the National Portrait Gallery, London

• 1922 births
• 2020 deaths
• Israeli classical violinists
• Male classical violinists
• Jewish classical violinists
• Jewish violinists
• Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners
• Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent
• Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
• Sportspeople from Haifa
• The Dirty Mac members
• UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors
• 21st-century classical violinists
• 21st-century Israeli male musicians