Musicians - Josef Gusikov

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	Musicians - Josef Gusikov

Michal Josef Gusikov (also spelt Guzikow or Gusikow) (2 September 1806 - 21 October 1837) was a klezmer who gave the first performances of klezmer music to West European concert audiences on the 'wood and straw instrument' which he invented.

Gusikov and his instrument

Gusikov was born to a family of klezmer musicians in Shklov (now in Belarus). Originally brought up to play the flute, like his father, a weakness of the lungs forced him to seek a different specialisation. In 1831 he constructed what he called a wood and straw instrument, essentially a xylophone laid out like a cimbalom on a soundboard made from rolls of straw which allowed a loud resonance – perhaps sounding a little like a marimbaphone. On this instrument he developed an extraordinary virtuosity, and gave concerts in Moscow, Kiev and Odessa.

He was heard in a concert in Odessa by the Polish violinist Karol Lipinski, and with the support of Lipinski and the poet Lamartine undertook a concert tour of Western Europe, from 1835 onwards. The concerts, at which Gusikov appeared in traditional Jewish gabardine and was generally accompanied by his brothers on bass and violins, were an extraordinary success; in Paris he was so popular that a coiffure was named after him, imitating his payot. Gusikow played improvisations both on traditional Jewish and klezmer melodies and also on the popular opera tunes of the time. Other locations where he played included Frankfurt and Vienna.

Opinions of his music

Many professional Jewish musicians were highly impressed by Gusikov. Ferdinand Hiller wrote him a recommendation to Giacomo Meyerbeer. Felix Mendelssohn wrote to his family in 1836:

'I am curious to know whether Gusikow pleased you as much as he did me. He is quite a phenomenon; a famous fellow, inferior to no virtuoso in the world, both in execution and feeling; he therefore delights me more with his instrument of wood and straw than many with their pianofortes.'

Franz Liszt, on the other hand, was more dismissive, calling Gusikov a 'Paganini of the Boulevards' whose 'gift, one might say his genius' would have been better applied to 'inventing an agricultural instrument' whereas his 'talent, being misguided, has produced nothing but musical inanities.'

Gusikov attracted the admiration and friendship of the musicologist François-Joseph Fétis, who wrote a long article about him, based on their discussions in Brussels, in his musical dictionary.

Death

Exhausted by his tour, Gusikov died of tuberculosis in Aachen, his last days embittered by the theft of his precious instrument from his lodgings.

Only one piece of music written by Gusikov has survived, a setting of the Jewish hymn Shir Hama’alot (Psalm 126).

Sources

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ed. Stanley Sadie (1980), ‘Guzikow, Michal Jozef’
Francois-Joseph Fétis, ‘Biographie universelle des musiciens’ (in French), 2nd edition, Paris, 1870.
Franz Liszt, ‘Lettres d’un bachelier ès musique’, tr. Charles Suttori, London, 1989
Felix Mendelssohn, ‘Letters of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’, tr. Lady Wallace, London, 1883
Joachim Stuschewsky, ‘Haklezmorim, toledotayhem, orekh hahayim. v’yistrotayhem’ (in Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1959.

Gusikov, Josef Gusikov, Josef Gusikov, Josef

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