Pianist Clara Haskil – 130 years after birth

One of the great personalities of the music of the twentieth century was the pianist Clara Haskil from whose birth are 130 years (b. January 7, 1895, Bucharest, Romania-d. December 7, 1960, Brussel, the region of the capital Brussels, Belgium).

« If I sometimes seem absent, far, distant, it is because I follow a dream without rest » – Clara Haskil

Often, the destinies of exceptionally endowed people are marked by trials and drama, the exemplary way they go beyond constituting a good model for us all. The life of Pianist Clara Haskil is such an example.

He was a Romanian pianist, famous for the interpretation of the classic and romantic repertoire. Clara Haskil was especially appreciated for her concerts and recordings with Mozart pieces. Many consider it the best interpreter of Mozart of the time. It is also known for the interpretations of the works signed by Beethoven, Schumann and Scarlatti. Her name is kept alive by one of the largest piano competitions in the world, the international piano contest « Clara Haskil », from Vevey, Switzerland.

Born in Romania in a family of Romanian Jews (Sepharzi), he is forced, in the situation of the Romanian fascist regime, to take refuge in 1940 in France, from where due to racial persecutions, in 1942 he takes refuge in Switzerland, in Vedey, where he was naturalized as Swiss. Due to the discriminatory laws of Romania to those times, Clara Haskil did not have the right, as well as countless Romanians of Hebrew origin, although she was born in Romania, to Romanian citizenship.

At the age of 7, he goes to Vienna, where he takes piano lessons with Richard Robert. He also makes fast progress in 1905 – at the age of 10 – he gives her first public recital with different works from the creation of the great composers, which she executes without score. In the same year he registers at the Conservatory in Paris, where he becomes a student of the famous pianist Alfred Cortot. Clara Haskil had a great advantage-anatomically, to tell him-namely that she managed to include 12 flaps between the forefinger and her little finger.

He wins several interpretation competitions, but unfortunately, she is forced to interrupt her activity for several years, being immobilized in gypsum due to a spine disease. Only in 1921 he is able to reappear in public as a soloist in piano recitals or orchestral concerts, or accompanying prestigious musicians such as George Enescu, Pablo Casals, Eugène Ysaye, Dinu Lipatti. A new activity interruption occurs due to a tumor of the optical nerve, which had to be operated on.

Between 1909 and 1938, Clara Haskil will sing very little, in charity concerts, or in recitals at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Lausanne, Geneva, New York, London, Belgium, Philadelphia, alone or with Pablo Casals, George Enescu, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Isaye, Nikita

The true consecration with resounding successes knows it after the Second World War, when Clara Haskil appears playing piano concerts with the most renowned orchestras, under the baton of conductors like Leopold Stokowski or Thomas Beecham, Sergiu Celibidache or in Duo with famous instrumentalists such as violinist Grumiaux. Due to the exceptional interpretation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music, it is repeatedly requested to participate in the music festivals in Salzburg, where on January 27, 1956, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Great Composer, he successfully interprets the concert for piano and orchestra no. 20 in re minor.

The contemporaries admired the superlative way the art and human quality of Clara Haskil. When Clara sat down on the piano, « the music materialized coming from nowhere. Her arm seemed to slip over the keyboard without touch, like a stone that jumps on the surface of the water. Nothing seemed to start or end, everything became timeless « -Dinu Lipatti, her good friend, described her way of playing the piano as » summing of perfection on earth « , Wilhelm Backhaus called her art » the most beautiful thing on Earth « , and Tatyana Nikolayeva broke out. Rudolf Serkin nicknamed her the « perfect Clara ». Charlie Chaplin considered it a genius: « In my life I met three geniuses: Clara Haskil, Einstein and Winston Churchill. »

On December 6, 1960, accompanied by her sister Lili, arriving by train in Brussels for a concert tour, along with Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux, hinders and falls on the concrete platform, suffering a serious cranial trauma. In the first hours of the morning of December 7, it goes out of life, one month before turning 66. She was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.

The meeting of Clara Haskil with Dinu Lipatti, in the Polygnac Princess salon, at a musical evening, towards the end of 1935, took place in a period of the darkest in the life of the pianist. Thus, on a Friday afternoon, in which, as usual, the musical evening from the Polygnac Princess salon took place, Clara Haskil saw a timid young man, who fixed her with a penetrating, soft and expressive look of her black eyes and who addressed her in Romanian, Later this meeting, to Bernard Gavoty:

« It was Dinu Lipatti … what naturalness, how much kindness and generosity I was going to discover in this superior being! From that providential day, we saw each other every day-and the phones we gave us to each other, sometimes until midnight, they were also daily … As for the artist-Clara Haskil to Bernard Gavot said-the words cannot translate the intense emotion, the deep respect I tried before this musician. He gave you the impression that he feels guilty of having genius. « 

Clara Haskil was always pessimistic and, although she had begun to appear more often in public concerts or radio shows, she no longer believed that she could make a concert career. Dinu Lipatti always encouraged her, telling her that she is sure that her career will soon be launched. « No one calls me to sing … Paris doesn't love me » – Clara said sadly. However, each of his rare public appearances were as many triumphs. Dinu Lipatti was a witness to some of them, as for example, to the one he wrote in the newspaper Libertatea in Bucharest, as a correspondent of this newspaper:

« The concert in MI Bemol for Piano and Orchestra de Mozart, who I recently admired in the masterful interpretation of the well-known pianist Clara Haskil, convinced me even more, of the greatness and the extraordinary life included in the pages of this masterpiece. How wonderful interpreted by Clara Haskil, she competes in this concert. ”

The speech of Charles Chaplin, spoken a few months after Clara's disappearance, remains one of the best known appreciation: “I will be short. During my life I met three geniuses: one was Clara Haskil, the other was Professor Einstein, and the other was Sir Winston Churchill. «