One of the great
virtuoso violinists of the twentieth century, with a warm, sweet
tone. He was born in
Vilna in 1901, then in Russia (now in
Lithuania). He first performed in public at the age of five, then studied under
Leopold Auer at the
St Petersburg Conservatoire. After the
Russian Revolution he went to America, and became a citizen there in 1924. He died in 1987.
His first recording was in 1911, and his last was his farewell recital in Los Angeles in 1972. He commissioned William Walton's violin concerto, and also pieces from Erich Korngold and Miklos Rozsa.
Heifetz refused to cooperate with biographers. One, Tim Page, said there were not many events in his life but violin performance. "Friendships were uncommon and circumscribed, brought to an end, more often than not, by petty quarrels; there were two marriages, followed by two fairly nasty divorces."