Although Johanna Martzy’s long association with VARA Radio at Hilversum began in 1948, the story really begins almost six years earlier. After being awarded the prize for violin at the Concours lnternational d’ Execution Musicale in Geneva in October 1947, Johanna managed to contact Johan Koning, a musicians’ agent based in The Hague. They had met once in Budapest in 1943, when Johanna, at the age of eighteen, had performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto under the direction of Willem Mengelberg. Koning was then Mengelberg’s agent, and was travelling with him. Mengelberg, a notoriously hard man to please, had been tremendously impressed with her, and five years later Koning had not forgotten the impact of that night’s performance. However, because he had continued to work throughout the war, Koning suffered an interdiction for two years, owing to his supposed collaboration with the occupying Germans. Men-gelberg was considerably less fortunate. The former leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra was denied work in Holland forever, and refusing to perform elsewhere, he went into exile in Switzerland where he died in 1951.

In 1948 Koning began again, introducing several new artists and re-establishing con-nections with many others, including Jean Antonietti, a young Dutch pianist of some national repute. Antonietti’s debut at the age of nineteen was with the Hague Residentie Orchestra in 1934. He appeared as soloist for many renowned conductors including Monteux and van Beinum, and accompanied artists such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Suzanne Danco, Henryk Szeryng and Pierre Fournier. At that time he wa< considered one of the foremost young pianists in the country. In the autumn of 1945, having had prior experience with Radio Free Europe, Antonietti was asked by the Netherlands Broadcasting Company to take charge of chamber music at Radio Hilversum, then still under reconstruction. After a year of state-run radio, the former broadcasting station, VARA, was reinstated, and when offered the position of Musical Director, Antonietti accepted. Koning immediately saw the valuable opportunity presented for his artists.

At his suggestion, Antonietti engaged Johanna for her first broadcast concert outside Switzerland. On October 4th 1948, Johanna performed her second live broadcast of the Tchaikovsky, with the HRO under Albert van Raalte. The first had been with Ansermet and L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva earlier the previous year.

Complimenting his duties with VARA, Antonietti continued his career as a pianist. As well as appearing as a soloist, he was also in the position to accompany some of Koning’s new artists. On February 25th 1949, three days after Johanna’s triumphant two-night debut with the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Antonietti and Johanna gave their first recital in the Concertgebouw’s Small Hall. lt proved to be a resounding critical success, ’(Johanna’s) is the soul of an aristocratic priestess of music....truly royal in idea and action. ’(Albert de Wal, 1.3.49). This marked the beginning of a partnership and friend-ship that would last nearly two decades. For Johanna Martzy, their collaboration also provided a lasting connection with VARA, with whom she continued to make numerous broadcasts over the years. She came to enjoy a considerable popular following in Hol-land, performing with all the major orchestras. Conductors were to include Kubelik, van Kempen, van Otterloo, Klemperer, Martinon, Dorati, Solti and the elder Krips. In addi-tion, there were the numerous recitals with Antonietti all over the country. The only other artist who could claim comparably prestigious engagements in such numbers was Clara Haskil, who, coincidentally, was also represented by Koning.

On December 12th 1949 Johanna performed a recital with Antonietti in the small town of Glarus in northern Switzerland. At the post-performance reception she was approached by a gentleman and his wife, who wished to pay their respects. He introduced himself as Daniel Tschudi, a local businessman. A brief conversation revealed that he was an amateur violin player who was not only interested in other players, but also keenly interested in the instruments themselves. He appeared to know what he was talking about. It also transpired that, as an influential member of the Glarus Concert and Performance Society, he was responsible for booking them that night. As their next engagement was not until the 14th, the duo accepted the Tschudis’ invitation to take lunch with them the following day.
The violin she was playing at the time was an instrument attributed to Tononi, bought by her mother from the Remenyi shop in Budapest when Johanna was fifteen. It was temperamental and difficult to play, frequently requiring the attentions of her luthier, Pierre Gerber, ’The Mayor of Lausanne’ as he is still affectionately known by the many renowned violinists whom he has served as violin doctor. At this time Daniel Tschudi s owned two particularly jine instruments – a Peter Guarneri of 1747 and a Carlo Bergonzi of 1733.

In 1936, Tschudi, twenty-eight year old heir to a publishing concern in Glarus, had bought the Bergonzi from Hug and Co. in Zurich. Of an artistic as well as a musical inclination, he had a deep appreciation of the art of violin making. In the illustrated booklet he lovingly published on the Bergonzi in 1942 (150 numbered copies), Daniel states that it was ’acknowledged as the finest example known’. Indeed it was one of the famed Luigi Tarisio’s six favorite violins, bought by Vuillaume in 1854. Not merely a delight to the eye, with its magnificent cherry-red varnish, it was also a delight to the ear. Tschudi’s other violin, the Guarneri, had belonged to the great Carl Flesch. Daniel had acted as its caretaker throughout the war until Flesch could safely collect it. When he died in Lausanne in October 1945, Daniel bought it from his widow.

On December 13th 1949, Daniel Tschudi showed his treasures to Johanna, presenting her somewhat prophetically, at the end of their day together, with a copy of the Bergonzi booklet. The following March, Johanna and Jean visited the Tschudis’ home again. This time Daniel had a proposal for her. Would she like to borrow the Guarneri on a semi- permanent basis7 Needless to say Johanna was thrilled, at least for a while. She was certainly overcome by Daniel’s generosity. Unfortunately, though the violin was fine for the occasional recital, it was too delicate an instrument to withstand Johanna’s powerful bowing in concerti. For such occasions she stuck with her Tononi. However, because of a freak accident whilst playing the Brahms in Luzerne on the 15th of December 1950, Johanna had cause to use the spare violin which Daniel had brought along – the Bergonzi. This violin was to become her favourite, the violin she would use on all her commercial recordings, and for the majority of her concerts. The Tononi became her spare, until 1956.
When the Hubermann ex Kreisler Stradivari of1733 appeared in Pierre Vidoudet’s Geneva shop in 1956, Pierre Gerber, believing it would suit Johanna well, recommended she try to buy it. Daniel promptly bought it for 120,000 Swiss Francs. However, though the Strad had a profound, deep, velvet tone, Johanna was never quite happy with it. It seems that again, she was just too strong for it. She always preferred the Bergonzi, which is indeed a fantastic instrument. Her strength was still a problem at times, and the violin often required attention, the soundpost needing regular adjustment. Needless to say, wherever Johanna Martzy toured much was made of the violins she carried, swaddled in velvet in their double case. Readers may be interested to note that, with the exception of the Tononi, all the above are featured in Hamma ’s book ’Italian -Violin Makers’.


Extracted from the forthcommg biography – Johanna Martzy – A Life in Words and Pictures
G.E.Armstrong 1997

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