It goes without saying this week, another historic broadcast – this time with Vasa Prihoda, violin and Maria Bergmann, piano.
They play Dvorak’s Sonatine for Violin and Piano opus 100 – recorded in the Musikstudio at Southwest German Radio, Baden-Baden on March 16, 1951.
Impossible to imagine this performance is over 70 years old, but it is. An astonishing and thoroughly engaging recording.
During the first 10 years of violin study, Vasa Příhoda studied with his father Alois Příhoda. Afterward, Prihoda attended the Prague Conservatory studying with Jan Mařák, a student of Otakar Ševčík. Vasa Příhoda made his concert debut at 13, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4.
At age 19, he toured Italy but was financially unsuccessful. Poverty-stricken, he joined the orchestra of the Café Grand’Italia in Milan. There, he was heard and discovered by chance by Arturo Toscanini, who arranged a benefit concert for him.
He later toured Argentina, Brazil, and the United States in 1920, and the USA again in 1921.
Vasa Příhoda gave concerts extensively all over the world and made a number of recordings when the industry was in its infancy. Unfortunately, some of his recordings were not well-produced resulting in poor sound quality (but certainly not this one!).
He married violinist Alma Rosé in 1930, but they divorced in March 1935 in Czechoslovakia. His second wife was also Jewish. He appeared in two films in 1936: A Woman Between Two Worlds and The Love of the Maharaja. During World War II he taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. As he had continued to perform in Germany and German-occupied territories after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, he was briefly charged with collaboration after the war, and censured by the Czech government.
He later taught at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, where his students included Friedrich Cerha. His students also included the cellist Jascha Silberstein. Vienna was his base of operations for many years though he taught in Prague, Munich, and Salzburg as well.
After 1950, he dedicated most of his time to teaching and he also composed small chamber works, which are no longer played. In 1946 he left Czechoslovakia with his family. He moved in 1946 to Rapallo in Italy and then, in 1948, to Turkey, taking Turkish nationality.
He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1956. This comeback was received most enthusiastically in Prague. He played recitals with pianist Alfred Holeček in the Rudolfinum Music Hall, and performed Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in Smetana Hall of the Municipal House during the Prague Spring Festival.
Vasa Příhoda composed his own cadenzas to all the concertos he played. Those for the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major have been recorded by Josef Suk. He gave his last concerts in April 1960 and died of heart disease on 26 July 1960, aged 59.
He also wrote a number of minor pieces, such as Slawische Melodie, Caprice and Sérénade, some of which he recorded.All: 16 pieces and one violonkoncert in c mol, opus 16.
Maria Bergmann first learned to play the piano self-taught . From the age of 12 she received piano lessons. With a scholarship, she studied piano at the Wiesbaden Conservatory .
Her first concert engagement as a pianist followed in 1936. In 1938 she was certified as a piano soloist by the Frankfurt Reich Broadcasting Chamber. Then she received her first broadcast engagement. At the request of Heinrich Strobel , head of the music department of Südwestfunk (SWF), which was founded in 1946, she became the SWR’s first female pianist on October 1, 1946.
She played live on numerous radio broadcasts and accompanied many well-known soloists on studio recordings. Her versatility, reliability and perfection made her very popular with conductors, including Karlheinz Stockhausen , Igor Stravinsky , Rafael Kubelík and Pierre Boulez . During her 36 years of professional activity, she recorded over 2000 pieces of music. In 1982 she retired.
On 24 April 1999. Maria Bergmann received in Ludwigsburg Palace , the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg .
On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Maria Bergmann gave a last public concert on February 15, 1998 as part of a festive matinée in the Hans-Rosbaud-Studio of the SWR in Baden-Baden. She died at the age of almost 84 on January 4, 2002 and found her final resting place in Baden-Baden.
Together with Vasa Prihoda on violin, this broadcast recital from Baden-Baden.
Enjoy.
