Victor and Lillian Hochhauser

 

 

In the series of great impresarios, Victor and Lillian Hochhauser were and are among the greatest. They had a wonderful double act which served them admirably through unimaginable difficulties dealing with the Soviet Union from the mid-1950s on, modern Russia (sometimes even more difficult) and the People's Republic of China. Like Hurok, the Hochhausers made links between East and West through thick and thin.

Making money out of music is one of the most difficult things to achieve. On the one hand all orchestras, Festivals, Music societies and above all opera houses receive subsidies without which they could not exist. On the other hand, certain geniuses are able to make a good living - sometimes a very good living by  promoting the same activities of concerts, ballet and opera. Their achievements are not to be underestimated.

Victor and Lillian inspired the love and friendship of some of the greatest artists of their time: Menuhin, Oistrakh, Rostropovich. Victor's first concerts were with Richard Strauss conducting in London not long after the war. He even presented a concert with Furtwaengler about which he later felt ambivalent. he brought the Bolshoi Ballet to the West for the first time in 1956. Ulanova danced Juliet. Rozhdestvensky conducted 'Sleeping Beauty.' 

The Hochhauser Sunday Night concerts at the Albert Hall were their mainstay. They had these promotions down to a 'T'. They knew their audiences so well that they were able to guage when it was safe to programme the Dvorak 'New World' Symphony in place of the ever popular Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture 'With Canon and Mortar effects.' Otherwise known as 'Cannon and Mortal effects.'

These concerts were financially rewarding because they had built up an audience who filled the hall. Others attempting to copy their formula always fell flat on their faces.

A story I particularly like is this. Victor is said never to hire any soloist or conductor with a double barelled name (of which the musical world seems to abound) on the grounds that it took up too many column inches in his advertisements.

One of the Hochhauser promotions will stay with me and with everyone who heard it for the rest of our lives. Again in the Albert Hall (packed to the rafters), the programme was 

Bach - Concerto for 2 Violins

Beethoven- Violin Concerto

interval

Brahms - Violin Concerto.

Strange programme? Not when you have Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh. I believe they tossed a coin to see who would play and who would conduct what. It came about that Oistrakk played the Beethoven while Menuhin conducted and Menuhin played the Brahms while Oistrakh conducted. I think I remember correctly that Menuhin played Violin 1 in the Bach which was either conducted by both of them or unconducted.

All performances were great but what was so special about this concert was that it was not a competition. In fact at the interval, one felt anxious for Menuhin, so tremendous had been Oistrakh's playing of the Beethoven. It seemed impossible for Menuhins to reach that level especially as there had been rumours of his playing difficulties. In the event, Menuhin rose to the occasion to such a degree that it was impossible to say who was the greater of the two violinists. The conducting wasn't bad either.