UM professor researching Israeli orchestra

BANGOR – Phillip Silver of Bangor, pianist and associate professor of music at the University of Maine in Orono, has begun research through which he hopes to uncover the story behind the founding of the Israel Philharmonic.

Considered one of the best major symphony orchestras in the world, the 69-year-old Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra has an extraordinary history, according to Silver, who researches and performs music of the Holocaust era.

Founded in 1936 in Tel Aviv by Polish-born Jewish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, the orchestra was designed to draw some of the best Jewish musicians away from the Nazi threat and impending Holocaust in Europe. According to Silver, it worked.

Huberman invited 75 hand-picked musicians to join the orchestra in an undeveloped British-ruled territory that would become Israel in 1948. It was originally named the Palestine Orchestra.

The inaugural concert on Dec. 26, 1936, was conducted by the legendary Italian cellist and conductor Arturo Toscanini, director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1908 to 1915 and musical director of the New York Philharmonic from 1926 to 1938. Preparatory work prior to Toscanini’s arrival was done by William Steinberg, a great conductor in his own right.

What was initially characterized as an orchestra of soloists, the Palestine Orchestra crystallized over the first 10 years. Languages spoken by its members included German, Polish, Hungarian, Russian and Hebrew. When Israel became a recognized state in 1948, the orchestra was given its current name.

Though many well-known international musicians and conductors have been associated with the orchestra – including Michael Taube, George Singer, Mark Lavri, Paul Ben-Haim and Leonard Bernstein – the founding members of the orchestra are not so well-known. Silver’s research could be the first comprehensive study in English on the formation of the orchestra.

“I haven’t found extensive writings about this subject,” said Silver, who is using a semester sabbatical from the Orono campus to do the majority of the research. “This is a very complex story, one which goes beyond purely academic interests because of the incredible personal stories of the musicians and the traumatic circumstances of their lives.”

Silver recently returned from Israel where he began preliminary research on the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra through its current directors and archives. On a return trip to Israel in the fall, he hopes to interview the last surviving member of the original orchestra, flautist Uri Toeplitz.

Many of the musicians were refugees and former members of the Kulturbund Deutsche Juden – The Cultural Association of German Jews – formed in 1933 in Germany as a private venue for Jewish performers and artists after the Third Reich banned Jews from public employment a few years before the Holocaust. Silver wants to find as many individual stories about the original membership as possible.

“I want to know who the members were and where they came from. Where did the funding come from? What kind of cultural infrastructure was already established in 1936?” he asks. “I’m curious to know. … This seems to be the brainchild of one man, Bronislaw Huberman.”

While the years after the formation of the orchestra have produced an increasing amount of information, personal data on original members have been hard to find, Silver said.

“This was an orchestra that was formed out of desperation,” he said. “In order to save people’s lives, these people were brought from Europe to a small undeveloped country. The development and success of the orchestra is virtually a metaphor for the recent history of Israel.”

Whether his research results in a published paper or a book will depend upon what Silver is able to unearth. He is browsing letters, records and notes to assemble as many details as possible to help complete the biography of an orchestra.

“I recently discovered that during Toscanini’s second visit in 1938 to conduct the orchestra, one of the performances was broadcast live and just maybe someone preserved a tape of the concert,” Silver said. “This is one thing I’m going to be looking for on my next trip. It would be invaluable to know what this great ensemble sounded like in its infancy.”