Books and DVDs
God’s Fiddler (DVD, 2011)
In this documentary about the legendary musician, we see vintage filmed performance clips of Jascha Heifetz and learn that he was the first truly modern violin virtuoso, the man about whom Itzhak Perlman said, “When I spoke with him, I thought, I can’t believe I’m talking with God.” This film portrays an artist for whom only perfection would do, a musical wunderkind who went on to set the standards for nearly a century. We get to know Jascha Heifetz through home movies and personal family photos taken from 1903-1987, a prestigious concert artist so well known in popular culture, his name became synonymous for greatness. The program includes interviews with the great violinists of his generation, and from many of his former students, although his son, Jay, not interviewed in the film, remembers the years of growing up with his father as being joyous and loving, not consistent with the conclusions drawn by the film and its sources.
They Shall Have Music (DVD, 2014)
Now available on DVD for the first time, Samuel Goldwyn brings the classics to the masses in this joyous musical celebration starring Jascha Heifetz, Andrew Leeds, Joel McCrea and Walter Brennan. Running away from home after his stepfather threatens him with reform school, young Frankie (Gene Reynolds) attends a concert by Jascha Heifetz that turns his life around. Stumbling upon a settlement house where free music lessons are given to the poor, Frankie studies the violin until the school’s financial woes inspire him to organize a benefit concert headlined by Heifetz to prevent the school from being closed. Highlighted by the greatest violinist of his time performing works of Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky, They Shall Have music remains one of Goldwyn’s proudest achievements, a 1939 Academy Award® nominee for Best Music (Scoring).
The Performance Style of Jascha Heifetz
by Dario Sarlo. Paperback or Hardcover, 284 pages.
Dario Sarlo contributes significantly to the growing field of analytical research into recordings and the history of performance style. With a focus on Heifetz and his under-acknowledged but extensive performances of Bach’s solo violin works (BWV 1001-1006), Sarlo investigates some of the most frequently performed works of the violin literature from the perspective of one of the most acclaimed performing musicians of all time.
Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia (Russian Music Studies)
by Galina Kopytova, Translated and Edited by Dario Sarlo & Alexandra Sarlo, Hardbound, 475 pages.
Based on interviews and historical records, this detailed biography traces the course of one of our generations greatest musicians from his earliest years and performances in Russia and Europe to his migration with his family to the United States in 1917.
Jascha Heifetz in South Africa
by Michael Brittan. Hardbound.
In this thoroughly-researched and illustrated book, Michael Brittan drills down into the Heifetz legend and legacy. At the same time, he brings to life the fascinating saga of the makings of Depression-era South Africa and its musical life, along with hints of what the future would hold. Against this backdrop, engaging narrative documents the never-published details of Heifetz both on and off the South African concert stage.
Heifetz As I Knew Him
by Ayke Agus. Paperback, 260 pages.
Ayke Agus met Heifetz as a violin student in his master class at the University of Southern California, and became his assistant. A sensitive and astute observer, Agus takes up where previous biographers left off; her book is a loving yet unblinking portrait of a master by his disciple.
Jascha Heifetz Through My Eyes
by Sherry Kloss. Paperback or Hardcover, 167 pages.
The violin master class of Jascha Heifetz was a fascinating mix of nationalities, personalities, and temperaments. Mr. Heifetz, the artist, the teacher, and the man, shared with his students a tradition which he was largely responsible for creating.
Over the course of eleven years, Sherry Kloss worked with Heifetz first as a student, and later as his teaching assistant, in the process learning many of the things the outside world longed to know about him.