Arthur Rubinstein, Jewish pianist

By the age of 15 he was already a renowned pianist, praised by Saint-Saëns, Paderewski and Max Bruch. By 19, he had gone on international tours and played with great success at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

Arthur Rubinstein was born in Łódz in 1887, the youngest of seven children of a Polish bourgeois family. He started playing piano when he was three years old and made his public debut at the age of 11 under the baton of great Hungarian Jewish violinist and conductor Joseph Joachim.

In 1932 Rubinstein married Aniela Młynarski, daughter of the conductor and founder of the Warsaw Philharmonic Emil Młynarski, in London. The Rubinstein couple had four children: Eva, Paul, Alina, and John.

In 1937 his triumphal tour of the United States with impresario Solomon Hurok made him known worldwide. “He was one of the most extraordinary personalities his century has seen.” (H. C. Schonberg, Pulitzer Prize and New York Times critic).

In the following years he gave concerts all over the world, made several recordings and worked with renowned musicians. However, it would take him 20 years to return to his native Poland, which he did not do until 1958.

There was great expectation in Poland. The concert of his return to Warsaw was a sell-out. The audience gave him the longest standing ovation in the country’s history, second only to Paderewski’s a few years earlier.

In 1938, in protest against the anti-Semitic laws imposed by Mussolini, Rubinstein cancelled his tour of Italy and, as we see in his telegram, returned the Duce the decoration of Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy. Signed "Arthur Rubinstein, pianiste juif"

In 1940, before the Germans entered Paris, Arthur Rubinstein moved to the United States, where he became a citizen in 1946.

During the German occupation of Paris, his books and paintings disappeared from his house.

After the Second World War, Rubinstein refused all concerts offered to him in Germany in protest against the anti-Semitism of the Nazi era. He only travelled there for unavoidable engagements and always left before nightfall.

The great pianist was always very close to Israel. He gave several charity concerts in the country. The photograph shows him at a concert in Tel Aviv in 1966.

In 1974 he created the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, one of the most prestigious in the world. It takes place every three years in Tel Aviv.

In 1969 the city of Jerusalem paid tribute to him with the creation of the “Arthur Rubinstein Forest”, planted by members and friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.