Ossip Solomonovitch Gabrilowitsch
St. Petersburg, 1878 - 1936, Detroit
Graduating at age sixteen, in 1894 Gabrilowitsch was the first winner of the Rubinstein Prize. On the advice of Anna Essipoff, Theodor Leschetizky's former student and ex-wife, he went to Vienna for lessons with the master teacher Leschetizky. He made his formal debut in October 1896 in Berlin and was enthusiastically received. In 1905 he went to Berlin for study with the great Arthur Nikisch, one of the few conductors who taught the art of conducting.
In 1898 Gabrilowitsch had met Clara Clemens, daughter of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain). Clara was in Vienna studying piano with Leschetizky, and Gabrilowitsch was in the city to visit his former teacher. After a prolonged friendship and courtship, they were married in 1909 at her father's home in West Redding, Connecticut. They had one child.
The couple returned to Europe where from 1910 to 1914 Gabrilowitsch was conductor with the Munich Konzertverein, while continuing to perform in concerts. In 1914 they returned to the United States where he applied for American citizenship, which he gained in 1921. Gabrilowitsch continued playing recitals and appearing as soloist with orchestras, and in the 1917-1918 season he conducted a successful series of concerts in New York City with an orchestra assembled for the occasion. This led to his appointment as music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1918. He retained the post until his death (caused by intestinal cancer) in Detroit.
Gabrilowitsch was a brilliant and sensitive artist at the piano. He revered his teacher Leschetizky, saying that he taught his students not only about piano playing, but about life and living. He maintained that his own playing relied not on a Leschetizky "method," but on the individualism encouraged by his teacher. Gabrilowitsch said it was useless to imitate and that tradition needed to be looked into and verified. Those who heard him commented on Gabrilowitsch's poetic playing, beautiful tone, and exquisite taste. He gained much renown for a series of six historical concerts illustrating the concerto from Bach through Sergei Rachmaninoff. These concerts included three or four concertos in each concert, a feat seldom repeated by other pianists. In addition to these concerts, he also performed a series of solo recitals along the same lines. Both series were repeated through the years, lasting from 1912 until his declining health finally halted all musical activity in 1935. His repertoire included not only the standard literature (Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms), but also lighter works of his time as well as several of his own pieces.
In addition to his solo playing, Gabrilowitsch played many two-piano recitals with Harold Bauer and occasionally accompanied singers in recital (including his wife, who was a contralto).
Gabrilowitsch was the soloist in the initial concert of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in 1900 during the year of his first tour of the United States. More than a quarter-century later he shared the podium of this orchestra with Stokowski for two seasons, 1929-1931.
As conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Gabrilowitsch achieved great success. After only one year in the position, he was able to bring about the building of a new hall for the orchestra. The musicianship he had learned and practiced as a pianist was evident in his conducting. The tonal quality of the orchestra was always a central concern. He conducted from memory for two reasons: his imperfect eyesight made it difficult for him to follow the small notes in a score; perhaps more important, he maintained that knowing the score from memory freed one to make more beautiful music.
In addition to the standard symphonies, overtures, and concertos, Gabrilowitsch also included vocal masterworks in his concerts. The most outstanding of these were the superlative performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion given in Detroit and in New York. To his credit, Gabrilowitsch did not forget the composers of his adopted country, conducting works by John Alden Carpenter and his good friend Daniel Gregory Mason, among others.
As was true of so many performers of his time, Gabrilowitsch also composed a small body of works, including piano pieces, a few songs, a duo for cello and piano, and one orchestral work. When he assumed serious conducting responsibilities he stated that he was giving up composing because he could serve two masters, but not three.
A gentle man, Gabrilowitsch held strong convictions on human justice, personal responsibility, and fairness, and he did not hesitate to make his feelings known. Whether it was protesting the Pascist treatment of Arturo Toscanini or condemning lynching in Georgia, he spoke out eloquently for his beliefs. He was described as generous (he once conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for a whole season without pay in order to save the orchestra from financial failure), kind, and considerate, full of fun and wit, and possessed of the utmost integrity. His 25-year marriage was the center of his life, and this happy union balanced his inclination to pessimism and depression.
Although he never achieved the fame of Rubinstein or Leschetizky, or indeed, of many of his contemporaries, Gabrilowitsch was highly respected and admired by his colleagues and by all who heard him in concert.
Bibliography
The principal collections of Gabrilowitsch papers are in the Detroit Public Library and the Library of Congress. His personal collection of orchestra scores and parts was given to the New York Public Library. Items in this collection are scattered through the Music Division collection at the Lincoln Center Library of Performing Arts. Although it lacks scholarly documentation, much information may be gleaned from Clara Clemens, My Husband Gabrilowitsch (1938). See also Daniel G. Mason, "A Conversation on Music with Ossip Gabrilowitsch," Century Magazine 78 (May 1909): 112-19, and William Armstrong, "Individualism in Music," The Musician 22 (Sept. 1917): 652-53, for earlier assessments of the artist. Daniel G. Mason, Music in My Time (1938), is an important source especially for information about Gabrilowitsch's conducting. An obituary is in Musical America, 10 Oct. 1936.
Dale L. Hudson
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Citation:
Dale L. Hudson. "Gabrilowitsch, Ossip";
http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-00428.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Fri Aug 09 2013 14:51:49 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)
Copyright © 2000 American Council of Learned Societies.
found: Huneker, J.G. The development of piano music, 1915-16.
found: NUCMC data from Columbia Univ. Libraries, Bakhmeteff Archive (New York, N.Y.) for Committee for the Education of Russian Youth in Exile. Records, ca. 1914-1939 (Gabrilowitsch, Ossip, 1878-1936)
found: Baker, 8th ed. (Gabrilowitsch, Ossip (Salomonovich); b. Feb. 7, 1878, St. Petersburg; d. Sep. 14, 1936, Detroit; Russian-American pianist and conductor)
found: Information from 678 converted Dec. 19, 2014 (naturalized American)
Gabrilowitsch, Ossip, 1878-1936
Dates:
Birth 1878-02-07
Death 1936-09-14
Biographical notes:
Born Jan. 26, 1878 in St. Petersburg, the son of a well know jurist. At the age of 10 he was entered in the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study piano under Anton Rubenstein, later studied composition in Vienna under Glazunov and other. In 1896 made his public debut in Berlin and later Europe. Made his first appearance in America at Carnegie Hall, Nov. 12, 1900, and made six transcontinental tours. Met Clara Clemens daughter of Mark Twain when both were studying under Leschistky, and married in 1909. She was a central to and appeared frequently in concert with him. A daughter Nina was born in 1913. He was conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1918 until his death Sept. 14, 1936. In 1921 became an American Citizen. In 1924-30, 1930-31 alternated with Leopold Stokowski as director of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Received honorary degrees from Oberlin College, 1932 and Wayne Univ. in 1935. He was credited with making the Detroit Symphony Orchestra one of the best in the country and was considered one of the greatest pianists of his day. He was buried at Elmira, N.Y. in the Clemens family plot. (from B.H.C. Biography File) (blue index cards)
From the description of Ossip Gabrilowitsch papers, 1920-1937. (Detroit Public Library). WorldCat record id: 664584145
Clara Clemens (1874-1962) was the middle daughter of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain); she was married to Ossip Gabrilowitsch from 1909 until his death, in 1936; in 1944 she married the Russian-born conductor Jacques Samossoud.
From the description of Correspondence to Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel, ca. 1909-1943. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155863319
American pianist, conductor, and composer of Russian birth.
From the description of Typewritten letter signed, dated : Detroit, 12 September 1926, to Walter Damrosch, 1926 Sept. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577592
From the description of Typewritten letters signed (4) and telegrams (4), dated : Detroit, 1927-28, to George Engles, 1927 June 30 and 1927 July 5. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577595
From the description of Typewritten letters signed (6), autograph letters signed (4), and autograph postcard signed, dated : Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York, 1917-1933, to Harry Harkness Flagler (including one to Mrs. Flagler), 1917-1933. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577599
From the description of Autograph letter signed, dated : New York, 2 April 1933, to [Arturo Toscanini], 1933 Apr. 2. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577603
From the description of Autograph note signed, dated : [s.l.], 22 June 1924, to Robert Fuld, 1924 June 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270947826
From the description of Typewritten letter signed, dated : Detroit, 13 April 1933, to Mrs. Melbert B. Cary, 1933 Apr. 13. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577590
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