University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Felix Khuner A VIOLINIST'S JOURNEY FROM VIENNA'S KOLISCH QUARTET TO THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY AND OPERA ORCHESTRAS With an Introduction by Tom Heimberg Interviews Conducted by Caroline Crawford in 1989-1990 Copyright 1996 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Felix Khuner dated December 7, 1989. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Felix Khuner, "A Violinist's Journey from Vienna's Kolisch Quartet to the San Francisco Symphony and Opera Orchestra," an oral history conducted in 1989-1990 by Caroline Crawford, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1996. Copy no. Felix Khuner, 1991. Photograph by Eliot Khuner Cataloging Information Khuner, Felix (1906-1991) Violinist A Violinist's Journey from Vienna's Kolisch Quartet to the San Francisco Symphony and Opera Orchestras, 1996, ix, 167 pp. Growing up in Vienna; performing in the Vienna Opera Orchestra; touring and performing with the Kolisch Quartet, 1925-1940; sponsorship of Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge; memories of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg; Nazism in Europe, and resettling in the U.S. in the 1940s; California String Quartet; teaching privately and at UC Berkeley; San Francisco Opera and Symphony orchestras, 1942-1983, recollections of conductors, performances. Introduction by Tom Heimberg, violist, San Francisco Symphony and Opera Orchestras . Interviewed 1989-1990 by Caroline Crawford. Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. TABLE OF CONTENTS- -Felix Khuner LIST OF DONORS i INTRODUCTION- -by Tom Heimberg iii INTERVIEW HISTORY- -by Caroline Crawford viii I EARLY YEARS: 1906-1926 1 Birth and Family 1 An Arranged Marriage 3 Music Lessons and Schooling 5 Anti-Semitism in Vienna 8 The Gymnasium and More About Music Studies 15 Musical Life in Vienna 20 Playing in the Vienna Opera Orchestra 24 Remembering Arnold Schoenberg 26 II THE KOLISCH QUARTET: 1926-1937 32 Vienna in the Twenties 32 Joining the Kolisch Quartet 3A Benar Heifetz and Jeno Lehner Join the Quartet 40 The Repertoire in the Twenties 42 Composers and the Quartet 50 Thoughts About Audiences 50 Performance Styles 52 Conductors and Musical Architecture 56 The Instruments 59 The Sponsorship of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and Quartet Administration 61 First Performances in the United States: 1935 62 III LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES: 1937-1942 64 Applying for a Visa 64 Disbanding the Kolisch Quartet 68 Getting the Family out of Vienna 71 Settling in Berkeley and Joining the Union 73 Finding Work in San Francisco: 1941 77 First Musical Impressions 79 Marriage and Family 81 Music in San Francisco 82 Serving in the U.S. Army 87 IV THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: 1942-1973 94 The Monteux Years 94 About Schlamperei 99 San Francisco Opera Conductors 101 Enrique Jorda and Programming 103 Josef Krips 105 The Musicians Union 107 Seiji Ozawa 109 Touring and Recording with the Orchestra 113 V THE SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ORCHESTRA: 1948-1983 115 Remembering Gaetano Merola and Kurt Herbert Adler 115 Thoughts About Opera 118 On Opera Production 120 Music Criticism 126 VI TEACHING VIOLIN 129 The Music Industry 129 The California String Quartet: 19A6 131 A Post at UC Berkeley: 1971 132 Thoughts About Teaching 135 Family, Pastimes, Friends 140 Thoughts on Musicianship 149 Advice to a Young Musician 155 TAPE GUIDE 158 APPENDICES 159 A. Schauer, John, "The Original Felix Khuner," San Francisco Opera. Summer Festival 1983 160 B. Early brochure of The California String Quartet 163 INDEX 166 LIST OF DONORS--Felix Khuner The Regional Oral History Office would like to express its thanks to the organizations and individuals whose encouragement and support have made possible the Felix Khuner Oral History Project PATRONS IN MEMORY OF ALBERT J. BROWN Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Mr. and Mrs. John B. Bates Martha Cooley Helen and Dick Bechtold Gret Mann Mr. and Mrs. James Bennett John and Barbara Rosston Margaret L. Block Marilyn Cook Robert V.R. Dalenberg Edwin J. Dapello SPONSORS Mr. and Mrs. Paul L. Davies, Jr. Orville L. and Ermina D. Dykstra Arnold Schoenberg Institute Jeanne H. Gianakos Willa Baum, in memory of Ruth Harbison, Carlson and Tune Teiser Janet Harding Robert Beck, in memory of Thomas E. Haven Catherine Harroun John Richard Hofmann, Jr. Edgar J. and Ida Braun John and Val Hopkins Katherine Field Caldwell Mrs . John James Chamber Music Fund Charles W. and Betty R. Jenkins Caroline Crawford, in memory of Virginia L. Jones Tita Cooley Edward S. Kotok Mr. and Mrs. Morley Farquar Stanley J. and Helen Madden Marion and Vernon Goodin Judy Paraventi and Kevin Jones Richard Goodman Toni Rembe Zaven Melikian Frank H. Roberts Betty Modley Kent M. and Margaret Murphy Roger Detlev Olshausen Sylvia Lee Rolnick San Francisco Chamber Orchestra James Ross Inc. Bernard Shapiro James H. Schwab ache r, Jr. Robert and Mary Jane Singleton Richard and Frances Stewart Thomas E. Sparks, Jr. Ruth Teiser, in memory of William J. Taylor Catherine Harroun Maryellen M. Tyler Melanie Waite Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Williams Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wong ii INTRODUCTION- -by Tom Heimberg "Felix said " This book is about Felix Khuner, and what Felix said. Gathered and selected from interviews with him, it contains many of his words, much of his wisdom and his wit. It gives a glimpse of him the way a printed score gives a glimpse of the music. Those of us who worked with him, who took coachings from him, who respected, liked, enjoyed and loved him, have memories that surround his words. We remember the vividness of his presence, the music of who he was. But words definitely went along with that music. Felix is often quoted in the musical world he inhabited. Downstairs near the orchestra pit in the War Memorial Opera House, backstage at Davies Symphony Hall, in carpools of musicians on their way to work, all around the Bay Area in string teaching studios or in living rooms set up for playing chamber music, whenever a story begins with "Felix said..." musicians know who is meant. And if someone present doesn't know, we tell him. Felix Khuner is too important to us to be forgotten. We welcome the chance to share memories of this unique and distinctive man who influenced us so muchas performer, teacher, colleague, colorful character, and good friend. During more than fifty years in the Bay Area, "Felix said"... a lot! His active, powerful mind was filled with memories, thoughts, and opinions which he expressed generously and energetically (sometimes, indeed, aggressively). His evaluations of music were based on deep knowledge. His appraisals of the musical world came out of long experience. His reminiscences of Europe, and of Viennese music and musicians from the period between the two World Warsa period which seemed to some of us like legends from a distant Golden time were for him a part of living personal memory. We listened to those memories with interest and gratitude. And his personal memories took on an extra aura for us, because of what we knew about his amazing musical memory. It was famous. Fabulous! Even people who didn't know him had heard of it. His years with the Kolisch String Quartet, playing the canon of Western quartet music by memory, gave his reputation an authority that pushed our respect toward awe. Or toward incredulity. Musicians new to the Bay Area found his reputation hard to believe. They looked for evidence. Felix had retired from the San Francisco Symphony by 1972, but he was still being engaged as an extra player and substitute. At the start of the year, young Barbara Riccardi, a new member of the orchestra, found herself sitting at the back of the second violin section next to an elderly man who clearly knew what he was doing. iii The program that week was especially challenging, and at one rehearsal some of the other young musicians who had recently Joined the orchestra gathered around Barbara during an intermission: "O.K., you can settle this once and for all.