Josef Hassid

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Josef Hassid (December 28, 1923 - 1950) was a Polish violinist.

He was noted for his intense vibrato and temperance, causing Fritz Kreisler to say "A Heifetz violinist comes around every 100 years, a Hassid every 200." Furthermore pianist Gerard Moore called him "possibly the most incandescent prodigy after perhaps Yehudi Menuhin." He received an honorary diploma in the 1935 Wieniawski Competition in Warsaw and traveled to London in 1938 with his father, since his mother had died when Hassid was young. However, the start of World War II prevented their return to Poland. He performed in London (where he suffered from a memory lapse while playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto in Queen's Hall) and recorded for HMV; his great legacy to music is in the form of 9 recordings among which Achron's Hebrew Melody is notable. 2 of these recordings are the same piece; the second, later recording was made after undergoing roughly a year under Carl Flesch's teachings.

He was first placed in a psychiatric hospital in 1941 after suffering from a nervous breakdown at the age of 18. He was admitted again in 1943 and was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia. He was lobotomised in late 1950 and died at the age of 26.

Josef Hassid was one of several prodigies whose brilliant careers were short lived. Bruno Mosaingen's The Art of Violin commemorates Hassid.