Gurvich Yaakov Aronovich (1881-1943)

Gurvich (Gurwitsch) Yaakov (Jakov) Aronovich (7 April [O.S. 17 April] 1881, Kyiv – 1943, Riga) — violinist and pedagogue.

Having studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin and with Adolf M. Hilf at the Leipzig Conservatory, Yaakov Gurvich launched his concert career in 1895 in Odesa. Between 1901 and 1911, he performed extensively throughout Russia, Germany, Poland and France, and was first documented in Riga in 1904.

From 1911, he taught at the Schule der Tonkunst, the music school of I. Blum in Riga, where he mentored numerous pupils. In 1921, he joined the faculty of the Jewish People’s Conservatory in Riga, also offering private tuition. Among his pupils were I. Abramis, M. Temko, T. Yegorkin, Ya. Levenson, M. Kremer and I. Brown.

In 1919, Gurvich served as the chair of the Music Department of the Riga Teachers’ Union. He continued to give recitals, performing Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas over three evenings, alongside collaborations with pianist Vina Berlin (1918), A. Sokolovski (1920) and his son, A. Gurvich (1929). His repertoire included the violin sonatas of César Franck and Richard Strauss, as well as the complete violin works of P. I. Tchaikovsky (1920). He organised chamber music evenings with V. Berlin and O. Vogelmann, presenting trios by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Fitelberg, Sinding, Napravnik and Rachmaninoff. He also performed Jewish liturgical music, notably at Hanukkah concerts at the Riga Jewish City Gymnasium in 1919 and 1920.

Yaakov Gurvich perished in the Riga Ghetto in 1943.

About:

  I. Brown Latv vijoļm att. 

  II.  J. Gurviča un Anni Sokolovskas sonatu cikla otrais vakars // J.Z. 1920. № 80