Jan Hambourg

Hambourg, Jan

Jan Hambourg. Violinist, b Voronezh, Russia, 27 Aug (Julian Calendar, 8 Sep) 1882, d Tours, France, 29 Sep 1947. He studied with Émile Sauret and August Wilhelmj in London, Hugo Heermann in Frankfurt, Otakar Ševčík in Prague, and Eugène Ysaÿe in Belgium. His Berlin debut in 1905 initiated a notable career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He moved with his parents to Toronto and was head 1910-20 of the violin department at the Hambourg Conservatory, where his pupils included Jack Arthur, Ethel Evans, Broadus Farmer, Samuel Hersenhoren, and Luigi Romanelli. He left Canada in 1920 to pursue a solo career, living thereafter in New York, London, Paris, and, 1936-9, Sorrento, Italy. After his wife's death he returned to England. His last Canadian performance was given in 1935, when he toured with the original Hambourg Trio. A scholar of Bach, he published an edition of the sonatas and partitas for solo violin (Oxford University Press 1934) and violin arrangements of other music of Bach and Chopin.

See also Michael Hambourg (his father), and Boris Hambourg and Clement Hambourg (his brothers).