Jascha Heifetz

An archive document on Jascha Heifetz, the violin virtuoso.

This documentary was found in the Agriculture department film archives and presents images of legendary violinist Jashcha Heifetz. He was born in 1899 in Vilnius, Lithuania, and acquired the American citizenship in 1925. The violinist is famous for his exemplary technique which he completed by his musical intuition: he could thus give an emotional charge to the most difficult virtuoso pieces.

The camera follows the musician in his preparation for a concert at the Carnegie Hall in 1952. He trains physically, like an athlete in order to master every move without hurting himself. Because of his perfectionist character, he endlessly listened to his disk to improve his interpretation. Heifetz even asked the director of the documentary to view a video of his rehearsal in slow motion, so that he could see his hands moving eight times slower.