Fembio Special: European Jewish Women
Clara Haskil
born on January 7, 1895 in Bucharest, Romania
died on December 7, 1960 in Brussels, Belgium
Romanian pianist
130th birthday on January 7, 2025
65th anniversary of her death on December 7, 2025
Biography
Is it possible to describe her brilliance? Perhaps it suffices to name her “gods”: Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann. There were many other more “minor gods” as well. Clara Haskil undoubtedly ranks among the greatest interpreters of Mozart.
At the age of ten she began to study with Alfred Cortot in Paris. She left the Paris Conservatoire at fifteen with a Premier Prix. A great career seemed to be in the offing. But there were obstacles.
For every musician, especially for such a sensitive pianist, a purgatory burns from the beginning of the performance until the end of the recital. It is hard to imagine how much inner strength Clara Haskil needed: she often did not know whether the audience applauded her out of pity or because of her performance. She was small in stature, with long arms and a deformed body. She had fallen ill at an early age and she would continue to suffer from numerous physical ailments throughout her life.
The young pianist played mainly chamber music, both with her compatriot Georges Enesco and with Pablo Casals and Eugène Ysaÿe. Yet obstacles remained, and it was not until the 1950s that Clara Haskil became more widely known. The many disk recordings available document the international acclaim she then enjoyed late in her career.
What exactly made her playing so special? Those who listened to her felt transported to another world, to a realm beyond space and time, life and death. This interpreter – at once empathetic and intelligent – never tried to outshine the composer or her partner. She never sought to be the center of attention; she was able to “submit” and become totally subordinate to the music. Yet the performances were marked throughout by her energy, vitality and strength. A wonderful example of this is her recording of Beethoven's complete violin sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux who – in an incredible miracle of inspiration – was transported by her to previously unattained heights!
The financial difficulties were over by the early 1950s, but her health problems remained. The terrible end to her life came following a fall on the station steps in Brussels; she died on December 7, 1960.
But she remains the greatest.
(Text from 1994; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2024. Please consult the German version for additional information, pictures, sources, videos, and bibliography.)
Quotes
After the frenetic applause had died down, Beethoven's Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3, was played with an all-encompassing and startling urgency that I had never heard before and do not expect to hear ever again. Particularly the Scherzo in 2/4 (played with gallows humor and relentless forward momentum) and the last movement, Presto con fuoco tarantella, which followed a Menuetto played most quietly, literally forced the audience onto the edges of their seats, an almost unbelievable feat of bravoura considering Clara Haskil's weakened physical condition. (Peter Feuchtwanger)
I often play the records that were made shortly before her death. Before I began rewriting this manuscript for the sixth time, I put on Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Clara Haskil at the piano and Markevitch conducting. To me, this is as close to the truth that a work of art can get, and it was a constant source of encouragement for me to finish this book. (Charlie Chaplin in his autobiography The Story of My Life, 1964)
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