The (Unjustly Forgotten) Genius of Pianist Clara Haskil

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misbahulalam
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The (Unjustly Forgotten) Genius of Pianist Clara Haskil

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Many of the women who pursued careers in music during the turbulent 20th century led extraordinarily complex and exciting lives. As well as confronting the stereotypes that women artists have long faced, they often lived and worked in the midst of war. Despite their accomplishments, their names are not always known by the general public. Romanian pianist Clara Haskin is one of them. An expert musician, Haskin was one of the most outstanding solo performers of the 20th century. Who was Clara Haskin? Haskin was born in Bucharest in 1895 into a Sephardic Jewish family. She received her first piano lessons from her mother, Berthe Haskin.

From an early age, Haskin demonstrated excellent skills, including a capacity to reproduce musical works heard only once. Haskin's family, aware of her musical talent, decided that she should move to Vienna with one of her uncles when she was seven, and later to Paris, where she received lessons in piano and violin. Her time in the French capital marked the beginning of her successes. In 1910 she won first prize for piano in a competition organized by the Conservatoire de Paris, which was considered the best Phone Number List in the world at the time. She soon began to give concerts in France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Not about breaking news. Not about unfounded opinions. When she was 15, she met the Italian pianist and conductor Farruca Busoni in Zurich. Upon hearing her at one of her performances, he invited her to continue her studies under his tutelage in Berlin. Haskin declined – a decision she apparently regretted for the rest of her life. Overcoming adversity The outbreak of World War I in 1914 coincided with the loss of Haskin's mother, the arrest of her uncle and numerous health problems due to the deforming scoliosis she had been diagnosed with.

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After the end of the war, and a long period of immobilization in a plaster corset following surgery, she became increasingly active as a concert pianist. Portrait of a young Clara Haskin. Wikimedia Commons Although she continued to live in France, Switzerland became an important place for Haskin. There she found a climate favorable to her health, a friendly atmosphere and the beginning of admiration from the European public. In Vienna, the press hailed her as “a new star” after her concerts in 1923. The United States also fell at her feet. She achieved enormous success after her first tour in 1924, triumphing in New York and getting excellent reviews in the leading newspapers: “Clara Haskin, fresh from Paris, gave a remarkable demonstration of flying fingers in her first New York recital at Aeolian Hall” (New York Herald). Although critics were always enthusiastic about her performances, her letters exude a strong self-demanding and constant non-conformism..
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