born on August 11, 1919 in Paris
died (crashed) on October 28, 1949 over the Azores
French violinist
105th birthday on August 11, 2024
75th anniversary of her death on October 28, 2024
Biography
Ginette Neveu was a violinist whose expressiveness was unprecedented. Far ahead of her time, she played with a supreme ease that set the style for subsequent generations. She was a woman of austere beauty and high intelligence with a profound knowledge of music.
For some critics, her playing was not “feminine” enough. She said: “The most important thing for the artist is individuality, which must continue to develop.” Today we hear - on the few recordings that remain - a sonorous tone that borders on the aggressive yet is never harsh; we are heedful of her surprisingly delicate cantilena.
It is my belief that such artistic virtuosity renders the idea of a gender-specific style of playing moot. There is no better example of her brilliance than the live recording of Brahms' Violin Concerto that she performed under the conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (with the symphony orchestra of the then NWDR) on May 3, 1948 in the Hamburg Music Hall. It is the only live recording of a Neveu concerto; all of the other recordings are studio productions. It is far superior to the recording from August 1946 in London – in Hamburg, her incredible dynamism was matched by the conductor and the interaction of the two thus resulted in a performance that is second to none. Filled with a deep and intense passion for the espressivo, it is probably the most dramatic interpretation of this work that exists.
Neveu had an amazing career. She began playing the violin under the guidance of her mother at the age of five. Initially ignored in France, the nine-year-old caused a sensation in Berlin. At the age of eleven, she graduated from the Paris Conservatory. In 1931 she became a pupil of Carl Flesch. In 1935, aged just sixteen, she won first prize at the Wieniawski Competition in Warsaw - ahead of David Oistrakh, who was eleven years her senior.
A world career began, and was only briefly interrupted by the Second World War. It came to an abrupt end on October 28, 1949, when she died in a plane crash. Her brother Jean-Paul Neveu, who had accompanied her so often and so brilliantly on the piano, and Edith Piaf's great love, the former world boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, died in the crash as well.
At the end of October 1949, the 58-year-old Viennese Margarete Frömel committed suicide because Neveu had died. A newspaper article (first edition of the FAZ, Nov. 1, 1949) stated that the two had been friends.
What would have happened if ...? There is only one possible answer: Ginette Neveu was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.
(Text from 1993; updated 2005 by Luise F. Pusch; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2024)
Please consult the German version for additional information (pictures, sources, videos, bibliography).
Quotes
My child, you have been given a gift from God that I don't want to touch. All I can do is give you some technical advice. (Carl Flesch, her teacher from 1931 to 1935)
Ginette Neveu to her teacher George Enescu, who wants a certain bowing from her: “I bow what I understand, not what eludes me.”
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