Jascha Horenstein

[1898-1973]

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"Jascha Horenstein was born in Kiev on 24 April 1898.  He was the first child born during his father Abraham’s marriage to third wife Marie Ettinger and was number thirteen of sixteen children for his father. The Horensteins were a well-to-do Jewish family. According to Horenstein scholar Misha Horenstein, the young Jascha received his first piano lesson from his mother and was exposed to a variety of music through various gatherings of the Jewish and Hassidic communities based in Kiev.

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In 1906, the family moved to Königsberg. Shortly thereafter, Jascha began lessons with Max Brode on the violin. The family remained in Königsberg until November 1911 when they relocated to Vienna. Jascha was enrolled in the Staatsgymnasium No.2 where he befriended a young Hanns Eisler, also a pupil at the school. Over the coming years, Horenstein would continue to study the violin under renowned violinist Adolph Busch as well as Karl Berla. In 1916 he gained entry into the Vienna Academy of Music where he began his studies in composition with Franz Schreker and harmony with Joseph Marx. It was this course of study that would eventually lead Horenstein to start another lifelong friendship with fellow Schreker student, composer Karol Rathaus."

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Excerpt from "Jascha Horenstein" by Dr Ryan Hugh Ross, ORT Music and the Holocaust website

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For more information, please visit:

 https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/jascha-horenstein/