Photo: open source
There are melodies that don’t just sound – they embrace you, whisper the most intimate secrets of your soul into your ear and leave you with a warmth in your heart that never fades. Such was the voice of the violin of Ida Handel, a fragile woman with boundless strength in her hands and love in her eyes. Her music is not just notes, it is a whole world where tears and smiles, memories and dreams intertwine. For the readers of Time Ukraine Israel, I would like to tell you about this magician with a violin, whose talent has become a breath of fresh air for many generations.
The first chords of her fate
Imagine the small Polish town of Chłom in 1928. In a modest home that smells of her artist father’s paints and her mother’s pies, a girl, Ida, is born. She is only three when she picks up the violin for the first time. Not because adults wanted her to, but because her soul already knew that this was her destiny. Her small fingers touch the strings, and something so pure and tender sounds that even the birds outside the window become silent, listening.
At the age of five, she plays Beethoven in such a way that the jury of the Warsaw competition cannot believe their ears. At seven, she becomes the youngest star of the Wieniawski Competition. Her eyes shine, and the violin in her hands comes to life, like a friend who can laugh and cry with her. It was the beginning of not just a career, but a great love that would last a lifetime.
The melody that saved
Ida’s life was not easy. In 1937, when the shadows of war were closing in on Europe, her family fled to London. There, among the strange streets and unfamiliar voices, the violin became her home. During the Second World War, she played for those who had lost everything: for soldiers returning from the front, for families burying their loved ones. Her music was like a gentle hand stroking a cheek, like a quiet whisper: “Hold on, everything will pass”.
In the halls of London, where sirens were blaring, she would take her bow and play Bach or Mendelssohn. And people listened with bated breath. Her violin seemed to promise that the world could still be beautiful. Even when everything around her was trembling with fear, her melodies gave hope – fragile, but so necessary.
Ukraine and Israel: the strings of her heart
Ida’s roots stretched back to Eastern Europe, to the lands where klezmer tunes and Yiddish lullabies were once heard. In the 1960s, she set foot on Ukrainian soil in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa. Her concerts were like a homecoming: the audience cried and smiled, feeling something dear and long forgotten in her playing. Her violin seemed to sing about the old shtetls, about the joy and sadness that live in every Ukrainian soul.
And in Israel, she was greeted as a returning daughter. Her music was close to this people – a people who know how to love life against all odds. Ida played in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, and her melodies intertwined with the din of this land, becoming part of its heartbeat. For her, Ukraine and Israel were not just dots on a map – they were the strings on which she played her most tender song.
A woman who became music
Ida Handel did not just play – she lived in every sound. Her hands, thin and strong, could draw out the violin’s violent passion and Mozart’s crystal clarity. She performed for kings and ordinary people, in huge halls and small rooms. Jan Sibelius, impressed by her performance, said: “You have opened up my music as I dreamed.” And she just smiled – modestly, but with that warmth that warmed everyone around her.
Even in her 80s, she remained a young soul. Imagine this: Ida tries on her old concert dress, laughs like a girl, and says: “See, I can still do it.” Her life was a song – long, beautiful, full of love for people and for the violin, which became her second soul.
The last sound that never stops
On 30 June 2020, Ida passed away quietly in Miami – but her music has not stopped. It lives on in the recordings, in the memories of those who heard her live, in the hearts of those who are discovering her today. Her violin is not just an instrument, it is a voice that sings about everything that is precious: home, love, hope.
Close your eyes and imagine: evening, the soft rustle of leaves, and somewhere far away her melody sounds – gentle as a mother’s lullaby, strong as faith in tomorrow. Ida Handel left us her gift – music that embraces, that teaches us to love and remember. For Ukraine, for Israel, for the world, she will forever remain a violin that sings with the heart. So let’s listen to it and let its melody warm us forever.
Author:Marianna Nyzhnia
