The death of Ida Haendel on July 1 at the age of 96 marks the end of an era, leaving Ivry Gitlis as the last surviving member of Carl Flesch’s renowned 1930s class. Haendel’s career, like Gitlis’s, was unconventional, marked by some eccentric choices.
Ida Haendel, originally Ida Hendel, was born on December 15, 1923, in Chelm, eastern Poland. At the age of three, she picked up her sister’s violin and played a song her mother had been singing. Her father Natan, who had his own musical ambitions thwarted by his father, a rabbi, became a quintessential prodigy-pushing parent. When Ida was six, the family moved to Warsaw, where she studied with Mieczysław Michałowicz, a student of Stanisław Barcewicz and Leopold Auer. Michałowicz also taught notable violinists like Szymon Goldberg, Roman Totenberg, and Josef Hassid. Despite Haendel’s critical remarks about Michałowicz in her memoir, Woman with Violin, he provided her with a solid foundation. By the age of nine, she had won a gold medal, and at ten, she received the Huberman Prize. She also placed seventh in the first Wieniawski Competition and made her debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic, performing Mozart’s A major.
Haendel moved to Paris to study with Joseph Szigeti but found his schedule too busy, leading her to study with Carl Flesch. Despite tensions between Natan Hendel and Flesch—especially when Natan sought George Enescu’s perspective for Ida—she followed Flesch to London. There, she changed her surname to Haendel and stayed with Flesch until 1939, when she became a British citizen. By this time, she had gained significant popularity, particularly at the Proms, where she would perform 68 times. During World War II, she played in factories, at the National Gallery, and for the troops, bolstering British morale.
Flesch’s teaching method focused on producing soloists, and Haendel was a prime example. She did not form any chamber groups and rarely collaborated with others, preferring to perform solo. Although she enjoyed playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with her student David Garrett, she generally avoided pieces requiring collaboration, such as the Beethoven ‘Triple’ and Bach or Brahms ‘Doubles’. She worked with accompanists rather than prominent pianists, though later in life she sometimes performed with Ronald Turini or Vladimir Ashkenazy. Her favorite sonatas included one by Mozart, three by Beethoven, two by Brahms, the Franck, Bartók’s Second, and Enescu’s Third. She frequently played Bach’s Chaconne and occasionally his G minor Sonata. Her repertoire also included Baroque transcriptions, Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, Szymanowski’s Mythes, Chausson’s Poème, Bartók’s Rhapsody No.1, Ravel’s Tzigane, and Stravinsky’s Divertimento.
Haendel’s childhood was marked by rigorous training and her father’s dominance, which impacted her personal life. She admitted in Paul Cohen’s 2004 documentary that she felt deprived of a normal childhood and never established a lasting relationship with a man, though she had a crush on conductor Sergiu Celibidache. In 1952, she moved to Montreal, a decision that seemed odd given her popularity in Britain. She later expressed feeling that Britain had little regard for those who lived there permanently. Despite maintaining a London apartment, she never fully settled in North America, even though she had been performing there since 1946. Haendel was particularly beloved in Israel, which she first visited in 1947 when it was still Palestine, and she enjoyed a good reputation across Europe, especially in the Netherlands and Prague, where she made some of her best recordings from 1957.
In an apparent bid to reclaim her lost youth, the petite Haendel often dressed flamboyantly, wearing girlish frills and stiletto heels long after they were fashionable. In the late 1960s, she even shaved five years off her age, despite the clear evidence of her true birthdate. This move backfired, drawing more media attention to her age.
Haendel excelled in concertos, especially after the death of her classmate Ginette Neveu. She surprised audiences with new concertos, moving beyond her staples of Beethoven and Brahms to perform Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Elgar, Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Mozart’s D major K218, and Sibelius. Sibelius himself praised her 1948 Finnish Radio performance, although he made similar compliments to other violinists. Her repertoire also included works by Khachaturian, Wieniawski, Bruch, Britten, Walton, Casella, Bloch, Bartók, and Dallapiccola’s Tartiniana Seconda. Though not an intellectual or philosopher, Haendel could sustain the lengthy Elgar and Reger concertos, as well as Allan Pettersson’s concerto, which she premiered and which lasted nearly an hour.
Her playing ranged from tonally pure to vibrant and expressive, always with a touch of portamento. Although her recordings were fewer than she deserved, her 1976 album of Baroque transcriptions showcases her tone beautifully. While many associate her with Sibelius, some prefer the more subdued interpretation of another Flesch pupil, Anja Ignatius. Her recordings of Brahms with Celibidache (1953) and Britten and Walton with Paavo Berglund (1977) are considered classics. Doremi’s series also includes excellent live recordings of Brahms, Enescu, and Franck with Turini.
Haendel played a 1696 Stradivarius for nearly 60 years, having previously used the 1726 ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Strad. She once remarked that before acquiring these instruments, she played on a German imitation of a Guarnerius, and no one noticed the difference. Her favorite bow was a Hill Fleur de Lys. Even in her later years, Haendel could still impress audiences. At a late recital at Wigmore Hall, her intonation was slightly off during the main program, but she played a solo transcription from Swan Lake perfectly in tune during the encores.
