Yehudi Menuhin has, to my mind, shown even greater courage than his father. In this era, Zionism is infinitely stronger and more dangerous than when Moshe Menuhin spoke out. And also the father was one of several great liberal philosophical anti-Zionist Jews warning against Zionism. But Yehudi Menuhin stands virtually alone in his anti-Zionist stance, and this is certainly true in his field of music. In 1971, I had the opportunity of visiting with Yehudi Menuhin after a concert he gave with the Detroit symphony orchestra. I went backstage with a friend, Mrs. Dorothy Johnson, a wealthy, influential woman who supported the arts, especially the Detroit symphony. She personally knew Yehudi Menuhin and his wife Diana, formerly a British actress and ballet dancer. Both Menuhin and his wife were warm and gracious, with Diana being more talkative. Tall and attractive, she was outspoken and frank regarding the power of the Zionists to diminish the number of concerts her husband might give. Diana Menuhin said after it became known that Yehudi Menuhin felt there were two sides to the Middle East conflict, and especially after he gave a concert to aid Palestinian orphans, that his bookings dropped dramatically. Back then, I found it difficult to comprehend that anyone would cancel a performance of perhaps the greatest living violinist because of his not giving Israel his blind, total support. Now, however, a quarter of a century later, I reflect that in the ensuing years I have not personally seen Menuhin’s name listed as soloist at any U.S. concert hall.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 05:25:41 +0000
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