# Johanna Martzy



## staxomega

As far as I could see we don't have a thread about her.

These are translations from an import CD of her Bach solo violin performances. (Thank you to proseedcake from Reddit)

These Bach pieces are available on a 5 CD set by EMI France. I find the performances very good, leaning towards romantic readings. Her tone is bordering on a hair on the strident side and it isn't helped by the very close mic'ing. Overall performances I wouldn't hold in reference level, but ones I would enjoy playing.

*Biography:*

Johanna Martzy (born in Timișoara, Romania, 26 October 1924, died in Zurich, 13 August 1979) was one of the most accomplished among the pupils of Jenő Hubay. She learnt the basics of violin playing at the age of six. From 1930, Hubay gave classes to her, and in 1932 she was admitted to the Budapest Conservatory. At sixteen she won the Remenyi Prize and at seventeen the Hubay Prize, and she obtained her final diploma from the Conservatory in 1942. The war hindered the progression of her career, and she used these years to expand her repertoire. She did, however, give some concerts in Budapest, notably with Mengelberg in 1943. In 1944, she sought to escape the country, but was interned in Austria until 1946. After Liberation, Martzy moved to Switzerland, and in 1947 won the Geneva Competition, leading to a contract with Deutsche Grammophon. She recorded Dvořák's Concerto with Fricsay and Mozart's Fourth Concerto with Jochum. In 1953, she made her London debut, and was signed by Walter Legge. In February of the following year, she recorded her first disc for His Master's Voice under the direction of Kletzki - Brahms's Concerto. This was followed by Mozart's Third Concerto with Sawallisch (now out of print), Mendelssohn's Concerto (twice, first with Sawallisch, now likewise out of print, and latterly with Kletzki), Beethoven's Romances with Kletzki, and the complete Sonatas and Partitas of Bach, along with Schubert's works for violin and piano, with Jean Antonietti. Her last recordings date from 1956. Walter Legge did not renew her contract: he had, in the meantime, signed the leading Russian players of the 20th century, David Oïstrakh and Leonid Kogan.

Martzy travelled to the United States in 1957 and enjoyed great success there, but in 1959 a distressing incident cast a shadow over her career: the musicians of the Czech Philharmonic refused to accompany her for a concert at the Edinburgh Festival. They accused her - and above all her first husband, Bela Czillery - of having supported the pro-fascist Hungarian regime of Admiral Horthy. Though Czillery had indeed collaborated with that regime, he had done so during the time when Martzy was under Austrian internment, which makes her innocent of the collaboration of which the Czech musicians had accused her. It does seem, moreover, that the members of the Czech Philharmonic may have been acting on orders from above: Martzy was, at that time, crusading vigorously against the Communist control of Hungary and Romania; she refused throughout her life to perform behind the Iron Curtain. In 1960, Martzy got married a second time, to the Swiss editor Daniel Tschudi, a long-time friend of hers who possessed a remarkable collection of antique violins. Her concert appearances grew progressively fewer, though she did not dedicate herself to teaching either. She spent her last ten years living a reclusive life on her sumptuous Glarus estate in Switzerland. It seems that by 1969 she no longer played even in private, for reasons still unknown.

Martzy's discs are extremely rare. The peak of her slight body of work is undoubtedly the full recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas made between June 1954 and March 1955. Martzy was the first woman to record the full collection; only Suzanne Leutenbacher (twice) and Stoïka Milanova have followed her, to which names we must add those of Viktoria Mullova, whose recording of the full collection is in progress, and Ida Haendel, who has lately completed hers.

Martzy's reading surprises listeners with its intense lyricism, allied to a purity of technique which magnifies and throws light upon the most complex polyphonies.


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## Pugg

Thank you for sharing this wonderful information , for others who have interest see recordings:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/search.php?searchString=Johanna+Martzy+&page=1


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## David Phillips

A wonderful violinist. Her 1950s Columbia long players of Schubert and Bach have become very collectable and obtain high prices on eBay.


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