The Nightingale's Sonata: The Musical Odyssey of Lea Luboshutz

by Thomas Wolf

Overview

*Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal*

A moving and uplifting history set to music that reveals the rich life of one of the first internationally renowned female violinists

Spanning generations, from the shores of the Black Sea to the glittering concert halls of New York, The Nightingale's Sonata is a richly woven tapestry centered around violin virtuoso Lea Luboshutz. Like many poor Jews, music offered an escape from the predjudices that dominated society in the last years of the Russian Empire. But Lea’s dramatic rise as an artist was further accentuated by her scandalous relationship with the revolutionary Onissim Goldovsky.

As the world around them descends in to chaos, between revolution and war, we follow Lea and her family from Russia to Europe and eventually, America. We cross paths with Pablo Casals, Isadora Duncan, Emile Zola and even Leo Tolstoy. The little girl from Odessa will eventually end up as one of the founding faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, but along the way she will lose her true love, her father, and watch a son die young. The Iron Curtain would rise, but through it all, she plays on.

Woven throughout this luminous odyssey is the story is Cesar Franck’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano.” As Lea was one of the first-ever internationally recognized female violinists, it is fitting that this pioneer was one of the strongest advocates for this young boundary-pushing composer and his masterwork.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643130675
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,074,897
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Thomas Wolf has had a distinguished career as musician, educator, consultant, author, and administrator. A member of the distinguished Luboshutz-Goldovsky Russian family of musicians, he has soloed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and is an accomplished flutist. He and his brother Andrew founded the Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine and he has served as the Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts. He is currently a principal with the consulting firm WolfBrown, and his clients including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Boston Symphony, and the British Museum. A graduate of Harvard University, he lives in Boston.

Table of Contents

Dramatis Personae ix

Introduction xvii

Prelude (1853 to 1885) 1

I The Music Begins-Allegretto ben moderato (1885 to 1903) 19

II The Tempest-Allegro (1903 to 1921) 79

III The Longest Journey-Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato (1921 to 1930) 175

IV Tragedies and Triumphs-Allegretto poco mosso (1930 to 1965) 251

The End of the Sonata (1965 to 2018) 307

Endnotes 331

Sources and Bibliography 341

Acknowledgments 351

Index 355

Editorial Reviews

04/29/2019

In this thoroughly researched biography, Wolf, a musician and arts consultant, writes of his grandmother Lea Luboshutz (1885–1965 ), one of the first internationally known female concert violinists. Detailing Luboshutz’s family life, relationships, and flight from revolutionary chaos in Russia to Europe and then the U.S., Wolf tells a fascinating tale of a Jewish woman surviving and ultimately thriving in a tumultuous time. Born in Odessa, Luboshutz survived a childhood of relative poverty. Her musical talents became apparent early in life, and by age 13 she was admitted to the Moscow Conservatory. Wolf writes evenhandedly about his grandmother, tracing her career on international concert tours to her first performance at Carnegie Hall in 1907. In 1921, following the Russian Revolution, Luboshutz emigrated to Berlin with her 13-year-old son Boris (“Lea held on to her precious Amati violin at all times. Boris was in charge of the fifty American dollars”). After a short time, they came to America, where Luboshutz obtained her famed violin, a Stradivarius named the Nightingale; performed César Franck’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano,” a piece that she championed; and became a founding faculty member of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Classical music fans will delight in this astute assessment of an influential performer and academic. (June)

Publishers Weekly

A tale of towering artistry and tantalizing scandal set against a backdrop of revolutions, czars, queens, and a glittering firmament of figures? Tolstoy, Gorky, Zola, Prokofiev, Koussevitzky, Casals, Heifetz, Stern, Ormandy, Hurok—who come alive in these pages to escort Lea Luboshutz to her overdue moment on the stage of musical history.”

Greg Dawson

"Beautifully and sensitively written, The Nightingale’s Sonata transcends the story of one family and enlightens the cultural history of our times.”

Loren Graham

"An Odessa-born violinist who became a mainstay of the Curtis Institute, Lea Luboshutz was unusual in many ways, not least her feminist independence. I was gripped by her single-mother resourcefulness and eye for the main chance. The story leaps off the page."

The Wall Street Journal - Norman Lebrecht

A beautifully written, exhaustively researched account of an extraordinary musician and human being—now a legend. For those of us who seek to ensure the future of music, the remarkable life journey of Lea Luboshutz carries a special resonance and inspiration.”

Roberto Diaz

"As vibrant, elegant and absolutely compelling as its extraordinary chief protagonist. This stunning book combines a family saga rich with struggle, passion, several kinds of love, and a story of performance art on the highest level. A tale that will entrance and inspire.”

Nina Tumarkin

"A gripping ride from old Russia to the new world that also guides the reader into an even richer odyssey: the journey inward and the excavation of the universal resilience of the human spirit."

Alexandra Silber

Fascinating, gripping, and truly moving.  I am proud and inspired to follow in Lea’s tradition of excellence as a pedagogue at the Curtis Institute of Music and as an artist.

Ida Kavafian

Wolf did extensive research and took great care in composing this compelling story of a celebrated artist and her extended family.

Booklist

Wolf did extensive research and took great care in composing this compelling story of a celebrated artist and her extended family.

Booklist