“There are many great violinists, but Heifetz, he is in a class by himself.”

These were the words of the Russian violinist David Oistrakh, Heifetz’s contemporary and oftentimes rival, but they could have been spoken by anyone who knows anything about classical music. To this day, Heifetz remains a larger-than-life phenomenon, widely considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest violinist of all time.

His technique was unrivaled. His left hand was agile and precise; his bow arm was meticulous and seemingly effortless. His playing—an ineffable alchemy of technique, tone and class—was direct, emotive and moved audiences to tears. Heifetz influenced generations of violinists and set almost unachievable standards that persist to this day.

Born in Vilnius in 1901, Heifetz was recognized early as a prodigy. He studied in St. Petersburg under the legendary Leopold Auer, debuting, at age eleven, with the Berlin Philharmonic, the youngest player to do so since Joachim. As an adolescent, he toured widely throughout Europe. Following the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, his family left Europe for America and that same year he made his debut at Carnegie Hall on October 27th.

Heifetz’s Carnegie debut is one of the great hallowed moments in the history of classical music. Critics praised the young musician as “a modern miracle” with “superhuman” playing that “[could only be compared] to the greatest virtuosi of the present and the past.” But the fact that a sixteen-year-old Russian boy took the entire North American musical establishment by storm was as much a statement about Heifetz as it was about America. In 1916, the stock market had its best year in history and the U.S. economy was flourishing. With its newfound riches, the United States was hungry for access to European culture and class.

One admirer of Heifetz was a young socialite named Rudolf Piel. The son of a successful Brooklyn brewer, Piel had aspired to be a violinist himself and his family owned a Stradivari violin, which he loaned to Heifetz after his debut at Carnegie Hall.

The fact that a sixteen-year-old Russian boy took the entire North American musical establishment by storm was as much a statement about Heifetz as it was about America. In 1916, the stock market had its best year in history and the U.S. economy was flourishing. With its newfound riches, the United States was hungry for access to European culture and class.

The Piel family was a classic success story of the American dream. Michael Piel, Rudolf’s father, was born into a family of farmers in the countryside outside of Düsseldorf in the north-west of Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1883 and started a brewery with his two brothers in Brooklyn, New York. Within a decade, the business was flourishing and by the end of the century, it had become a nation-wide success. The Piel family adapted quickly to their newfound fortune: they bought a large house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1903; sent their children to fancy schools; and purchased art and antiques during their annual trips to Europe.

In 1908, while on a trip to Germany, Michael Piel bought the a Stradivari violin from the Stuttgart dealer Emil Hamma for 25,000 German marks, then equivalent to $6,000^[1]. Hamma had altered the date on the violin’s label to 1711 to make it more valuable and had sold the violin with an enticing but thoroughly fictitious provenance placing it in the court of King Carlos III of Spain^[2].

The beer business, which had for so many years treated the Piel family so well, changed suddenly with the introduction of Prohibition in January 1920. Mrs. Piel, now a widow, and her adult sons and daughters struggled to adapt and diversify the business. Rudolf went to Ohio and bought apple orchards to make vinegar and cider. But that project failed and after two years, he dissolved the vinegar business and returned to New York.

Heifetz’s career, meanwhile, was on a rocketship. Within two years of his Carnegie debut, he had become the world’s highest-paid violinist ^[3]. He made his first tour of England and France in 1920. While in London that November, he visited the world-famous violin dealers W. E. Hill & Sons on Bond Street, who recognized Heifetz’s Stradivari and in fact had owned it several times in the late 19th century. William Ebsworth Hill, the founder of the firm, had bought the 1731 Stradivari at auction and had sold it twice to customers before it “unfortunately slipped through our hands and was sold to Emil Hamma.”^[4] The Hills also informed Heifetz that the violin dated from the last years of the maker’s career and that “the two last figures of the original label [had been] tampered with.”^[5]

Heifetz’s career, meanwhile, was on a rocketship. Within two years of his Carnegie debut, he had become the world’s highest-paid violinist.

In January of 1922, with the Piel business in difficulty, Heifetz had a chance to buy the Stradivari. John Friedrich, the New York violinmaker, had valued it at $12,000^[6], but ultimately, in May 1922, Heifetz succeeded in acquiring it for $9,000^[7]. Later that same year, Heifetz also acquired the 1740 Guarneri del Gesù that had belonged to the 19th century German violinist Ferdinand David. And for the next three decades—arguably the most important decades of his career—Heifetz travelled with both his 1731 Stradivari and his 1740 Guarneri and used them alternately for all his concerts and recordings.

Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time that the 1731 Stradivari had coupled-up with an important 1740 Guarneri. In the 1870s a wealthy English amateur violinist named Henry Benjamin Merton briefly owned this 1731 together with the 1740 ‘Ysaye’ Guarneri. It is fun to think that Heifez’s Stradivari once shared a case with the beloved violin of his rival, Isaac Stern.

For the next three decades—arguably the most important decades of his career—Heifetz travelled with both his 1731 Stradivari and his 1740 Guarneri and used them alternately for all his concerts and recordings.

In a letter preserved with the violin, Heifetz recounted many recordings he made with the 1731 Stradivari and drew particular attention to his recordings of the Brahms concerto with Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1939 and the Prokofiev second violin concerto with the same maestro and orchestra in 1937.

Heifetz collaborated with some of the most distinguished musicians of his time, forging legendary musical partnerships that enriched both his artistry and the broader classical music landscape. As a chamber musician, he performed extensively with pianist Artur Rubinstein and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, an ensemble which earned the nickname, the “Million Dollar Trio”. Heifetz produced definitive interpretations of the canonical violin concertos with some of the world’s finest conductors, including Sir Thomas Beecham, Arturo Toscanini, Fritz Reiner, and Charles Munch. These partnerships not only showcased Heifetz’s unparalleled technical mastery but also reflected his ability to elevate and refine ensemble playing at the highest artistic level.

Heifetz was a champion of contemporary composers, commissioning and premiering numerous important works. During the time that he owned the 1731 Stradivari, he premiered the Walton and Korngold concertos, both of which became staples of the repertoire.

In November 1950, after over thirty years, Heifetz sold the Stradivari. The sale was brokered by Benjamin Koodlach, Heifetz’s trusted violinmaker in Los Angeles, and Ernest Doring, the dealer and author. A fresh certificate from W. E. Hill & Sons accompanied the sale. The buyer was Sam Bloomfield, the President and Chief Engineer of the Swallow Airplane Company in Wichita, Kansas. Bloomfield was an enthusiastic amateur violinist and collector and owned a number of other great instruments including the ‘Lady Blunt’ Stradivari and the ‘Baron Heath’ del Gesù. In 1971 the ‘Heifetz, Piel’ was acquired by a passionate amateur violinist and attorney who owned it for over fifty years until he passed away in late 2024. The violin is presented for sale by his estate.

 

A magnificent late-period Stradivari

 

The ‘Heifetz, Piel’ Stradivari dates from the last decade of the maker’s life, but you would be forgiven for placing it earlier. The materials, the varnish, the archings and the exquisitely fine head all seem to point to an earlier period. W. E. Hill & Sons twice sold the violin in the 19th century, both times dating it to c. 1731. Hamma & Co sold it as 1711. But when Heifetz brought the violin to London in 1920, the Hills re-identified it correctly and conclusively as 1731.

There are powerful economic incentives to re-attribute Stradivari instruments to the maker’s Golden Period: historically, they fetch higher prices. But anyone who has studied the work of Stradivari knows that there are gems from all periods. There are exquisite early Stradivari, beautiful long-patterns, stunning decorated works made in the 1680s and monumental, breathtaking instruments created in the last decade of the maker’s life.

Anyone who has studied the work of Stradivari knows that there are gems from all periods. There are exquisite early Stradivari, beautiful long-patterns, stunning decorated works made in the 1680s and monumental, breathtaking instruments created in the last decade of the maker’s life.

Like most successful 18th century artists, Stradivari relied on the collaboration of assistants in his workshop and beginning in the 1690s, we can detect the participation of his sons, Francesco and Omobono, in his instruments. By the 1720s and 1730s, when the master was in his eighties and early nineties, the involvement of the sons became more evident and can be seen in certain details: a specific style of purfling corner, the cut of the head, quirks of the edgework and particular features of the soundholes. This is not to say that these instruments are any less “by Stradivari” than those that came before; even the greatest instruments from the maker’s Golden Period involve the assistance of workers other than just Antonio.

The ‘Heifetz, Piel’ shows the influence of Francesco in the fluid lines of its elegant and exquisitely carved scroll while the body of the instrument reveals the hand of Omobono in the setting of the purfling and the formation of the long, delicate, eyelash-like purfling mitres. The violin’s graceful soundholes seem to place it around 1710, but in fact, they hold a secret. Early in the 20th century they were modified slightly to hide a signature feature of Omobono’s work: short upper wings. Without changing much, a skillful restorer altered the thrust of the soundholes to make the ‘Heifetz, Piel’ seem like it was from the Golden Period. The Hills’ notes confirm that this work happened after 1880 but before Heifetz owned the violin in 1920.

The wood-choice and arching also seem to point the violin to an earlier period. Late Stradivari are often made with plain-ish maple that has wonderful acoustic properties but is not so flashy. And the arching of late Stradivari instruments is usually a complex fusion of full and flat, rising directly from the edge with minimal fluting. But the wood-choice and arching of the ‘Heifetz, Piel’, curiously, resemble Stradivari’s work from the 1710s and 1720s. Variations like this aren’t unusual; violins aren’t like automobiles where the headlights on the 2015 model are round and the 2016 are square. Like most makers, Stradivari’s style evolved gradually over time, and not always in a straight line.

Variations like this aren’t unusual; violins aren’t like automobiles where the headlights on the 2015 model are round and the 2016 are square.

The label of ‘Heifetz, Piel’ is original, but the last two digits of the date have been altered, first to date it earlier, then to put it back to 1731. Dendrochronology dates the latest ring to 1701 and found significant correlations with several other Stradivari instruments including the 1715 ‘Alard, Baron Knoop’ and the 1717 ‘Reiffenberg’.

Provenance

 

We learn from Arthur Hill that Luigi Tarisio sold this violin in 1836 to Pierre and Hippolyte Silvestre, dealers in Lyon, for 1,500 Francs.^[9] The Silvestre brothers subsequently sold it to the Lyonese violinist, instrument collector and bibliophile, Count Alexandre-Henri de Chaponay.

Around 1876, Count de Chaponay sold the violin back to the Silvestres’ nephew, Hippolyte Chrétien who then sold it to the Englishman Henry Benjamin Merton together with an Amati violin for a total price of 5,000 Francs.^[10]

Merton brought this violin to London and consigned it for sale at Foster’s auction house together with the 1740 ‘Ysaye’ Guarneri and the 1690 ‘Payne’ Stradivari.

William Ebsworth Hill bought the three violins at auction and sold the ‘Heifetz, Piel’ to John Clarke Crosthwaite McCaul (1831–1903), his friend and long-time customer. McCaul owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati violin, two Guadagnini violas and a Bergonzi. The ‘Heifetz, Piel’ was his most important acquisition and one of his last.

In 1879 the violin came back to Hills and was subsequently sold to Edmund Janson, a city banker, who lived at Speldhurst, Kent. Upon his death in 1906, his son sold the violin to the J & A Beare firm in London who in turn, sold it to Emil Hamma of Stuttgart. Two years later, Michael Piel purchased it from Hamma, possibly upon the advice of Louis Otto, a violinmaker and dealer from his native Düsseldorf.^[11]

The Piel family are reported to have owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati and a Guarneri.^[12] Rudolf Piel and his older brother, Otto Andrew, are recorded as violinists. Rudolf studied at Philips Andover and then Harvard and Columbia Universities.

The Piel family loaned the violin to Jascha Heifetz shortly after his Carnegie Hall debut in 1917. Five years later, Heifetz acquired the instrument from Rudolf Piel for $9,000 and held it for nearly thirty years until he sold it to Sam Bloomfield in 1950. In 1971, the violin was acquired by its most recent owner who passed away in 2024. The violin is presented for sale by his estate.