Hephzibah Menuhin 1920-1981

After a long illness Hephzibah Menuhin Hauser died in London on 1 January 1981. Her
stepdaughter, Australian feminist Eva Cox, said: ‘It was my father Richard Hauser who made me responsible for the fate of the world, but it was my stepmother, Hephzibah Menuhin, who helped me to care about others. It was she, and my mother, who taught me that women should not be silent and complicit with unfair use of power, neither in the household nor in the wider world. That is one basis of my feminism.’ Her brother wrote of her: ‘Such was Hephzibah’s sensitivity that she did not need many words. She was an extraordinary instrument, almost an extension of myself.’ He dedicated his Carnegie Hall concert of 22 February 1981 to her memory. ‘History,’ said the New York Times reviewer, ‘hovered in the air.’

As a musician Hephzibah Menuhin was happiest in Mozart, although she covered a wide repertoire. Her recordings include Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet with members of the Amadeus Quartet, Mozart concertos with her brother conducting, trios with Yehudi and Maurice Gendron – their collaboration lasted 25 years – and sonatas with Yehudi.

The annual $8,000 Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Scholarship was established in 1980. It is awarded by a National Council to the Australian pianist aged between 18 and 25 years who gives the most outstanding performance at a competition held alternately in Melbourne and Sydney. It is administered alternately by the University of Melbourne Faculty of Music and the NSW State Conservatorium of Music. In 1988, Yehudi Menuhin presented a concert at Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall to raise funds for the Scholarship. The year before, Hephzibah’s younger sister, pianist Yaltah Menuhin, played at a memorial concert in the foyer of the Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall, where the principal soloist’s dressing room was named in Hephzibah’s honour.

In 1998 Curtis Levyproduced and directed Hephzibah, a poignant and profound documentary portrait of this extraordinary woman. It includes interviews with family members, an extraordinary collection of archival home movie footage, and Hephzibah’s letters read by Kerry Armstrong. The soundtrack features her performances, often with Yehudi. Hephzibah has won many awards.

At the time of her death in 2003, Melbourne musician and writer Glen Tomasetti was completing a biography of Hephzibah Menuhin. It remains unpublished.

Frank Van Straten, 2007