M arc h 3 0, 1922
MUSICAL COURIER
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ERNA RUBINSTEIN, SKETCHED BY HERSELF,
The young Hungarian violinist, who made such a hit in her first American appearances, has other talents besides her musical gifts. This portrait of herself, an excellent likeness, is a pencil sketch made by Erna when she ions only fourteen years old. As a mere child she proved her ability in the dance and it was the rhythm of this art that first interested her
in the study of music.
tremendous whack on the hard ground, which laid her up for more than two weeks.
The Kind Nikisch.
It was on the way to Berlin later that the little girl made the acquaintance of the late Arthur Nikisch. They had to pass through Leipsic and as they drew into the station Mrs. Rubinstein said to Erna, “Do you know who lives here?”
“No,” said Erna, “who is it?”
“Arthur Nikisch,” answered her mother.
“Oh,” said Erna, “let’s get out, I want to play for him!”
As they had to wait for half an hour anyway, Mrs. Rubinstein, just to humor the little girl’s wish, telephoned to Nikisch, who happened to be at home.
“Erna Rubinstein?” said the famous and great-hearted conductor—a Hungarian himself. “Yes, I’ve heard all about her from friends in Vienna. Come up at once and play for me, I am free just now.”
So the baggage was hustled off the train, a hasty toilet made at a hotel and a cab taken for the Nikisch home.
“What would you like to play?” asked Dr. Nikisch.
Erna hesitated. “May I play a little of the first movement from the Brahms?” she asked. (Decidedly venture-
to find out if this were so they took little Erna, still not eight years old, to famous Prof. Jeno Hubay at Budapest, where he is now the head of the State Conservatory of Music. Hubay at once confirmed the opinion of the DeSrec-zin musicians and at Budapest she remained for four years studying with the master and very wisely not playing in public except at school concerts in all that time. The war came soon after she arrived at Budapest and in 1914 her father died.
“Nobody could have been kinder to us than Professor Hubay,” said Mrs. Rubinstein, “who was like a father to Erna after my husband died. In all those war years, when everyone was so pinched, he constantly took care that we did not suffer for lack of food or fuel, no matter how hard it was to obtain them.” As soon as the war was over she gave concerts in Budapest and Vienna, and at her very first appearance was recognized as of most unusual talent. Then she began to branch out into the world. She played in Czechoslovakia and played in Germany, but missed her first long tour in the latter country because just before she was leaving Budapest to go to Berlin she fell out of a swing and hit what is politely known as the end of her spine a
42
LITTLE ERNA RUBINSTEIN
KEEPS THEM ALL GUESSING
Sprightly and Vivacious, and Talented in Many Ways, the
Young Artist Especially Surprises One with Her Broad Knowledge and Skillful Musicianship—How She Met Nikisch—Says She Loves America
“Yes, she is little, and they keep her hair long, but I’ll bet she’s nearer twenty than fifteen,” said a listener in the next seat on the afternoon that Erna Rubinstein made her American debut, playing the Mendelssohn concerto with Willem Mengelberg and the Philharmonic Orchestra; but as a matter of fact Erna was only fifteen then, although she has had a birthday since she got here. Now she is sixteen, although by no means as grown up as most American girls at that age.
You would believe that if you could have seen three rather stout men—two interviewers and a manager—blocking the passage between the end of the bed and the piano in the room that Erna and her mother occupied at the Hotel Langdon. Erna had occasion to fetch something from the far end of the room and she vaulted over the bed; when she brought it back she vaulted over the bed again.
“Wait a moment,” said the manager, “I’ll get up.”
“No, no,” answered Erna, “it’s much more fun to jump, and she meant it, too, for she made a couple of extra over-the-bed trips that were not at all necessary—which before the interview was over proved that Erna is not twenty years old yet nor anywhere near it.
Now to get down to bare facts. Erna was born in a place called Hermannstadt, which is way up on the east edge of Hungary in the district called Siebenbürgen, a peculiar district in that Unitarians flourish there (the only section on the continent of Europe) almost as much as they do in Boston, Mass. She did not stay in Hermannstadt more than a few months, for she was taken to Debreczin, where Grandpapa Rubinstein had a factory. Debreczin is one of those places that changes its nationality every once in a while. Hungarian for centuries, after the war it tried being Roumanian for a while, and now, according to latest information, it is Hungarian again.
Lots of people think Erna must be Russian because her name is Rubinstein. As a matter of fact, this grandpapa who owned the factory was Russian, but his son, Ernas papa, was born in Hungary and was a Hungarian citizen, and her mamma was a native Hungarian. When Grandpapa Rubinstein died he left enough so that his son had nothing to do except manage the estate. Erna came naturally by her love of music. Papa played the violin a little and mamma had a fine contralto voice and studied at the Vienna Conservatory-only she was so nervous she never could sing in public.
When Erna was five years old it was decided that she should learn something, so she was sent to a Kloster, as they call the Catholic schools over there. The first thing she learned to do in the school, peculiarly enough, was to dance. She was the star dancer of the school. She used to appear in all the exhibitions and even went with a group of the pupils on little tours in the immediate vicinity. Two years she stayed in the Kloster, then the music-loving parents decided she should take up their favorite art. The question whether her instrument should be the violin or piano was decided in the favor of the former, first, because it called for less strength from the frail little girl, and second, because it was papa’s instrument. So when she was seven years old she began to study with a local teacher named Josef Fueredi. Incidentally, two of Josef’s brothers, also fiddlers—the Hungarian's have the habit very badly—are in New York at this moment.
Precocious.
It took her the whole of an hour to learn to read notes and four weeks after she began study she played at one of the pupils’ concerts. In those four weeks Erna had learned three pieces, but owing to the length of the program she was only allowed to play two of them. That caused considerable trouble. After she had finished the two, intensely satisfied with the applause that greeted her efforts, she made up her mind to play the third, and finally had to be carried off the platform in her accompanist’s arms, kicking, squirming and protesting because she was not allowed to display the whole of her repertory.
“The day after the concert,” said her mother, “Erna said a solemn farewell to eleven dolls who had figured in her life, earnestly assuring them that hereafter she would have no time for anything except for her. music—and that was pretty nearly true.”
Fueredi and other local musicians who knew assured her parents that she showed most unusual promise. In order
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