the Nightingale’s Sonata
Narrative Timeline
PLEASE NOTE: For characters whose names appear more than once, the first time the name appears, both the first and last names are provided in bold. Thereafter only one name is provided.
1795
Creation of the Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire
1853
César Franck begins writing a sonata for violin and piano but abandons it
1861
Emancipation of the serfs in Russia
1864
Zemstvo reforms allow limited self-government in the Russian provinces
1865
Birth of Onissim Goldovsky in Vilnius
1865
Birth of Katherine (“Gitel”) Katzman, Odessa (Lea’s mother)
1881
Gitel marries Saul Luboshutz
Reformist Tsar Alexander II assassinated by terrorists; pogroms follow
1885
Birth of Lea Luboshutz in Odessa to Gitel and Saul
1886
Franck completes the violin sonata and dedicates it to Eugène Ysaÿe who plays the first performance at his own wedding
Onissim spends the summer in Bryansk and is jailed for writing a letter critical of the authorities
1887
Birth of Anna Luboshutz (Lea’s sister)
Onissim graduates from Moscow Imperial University Law Faculty and begins practicing law
1888
Onissim meets Rashel Khin through legal work for her family
1890
Birth of Pierre Luboshutz (Lea’s brother)
1893
Lea begins violin studies with Emil Mlynarski in Odessa
1896
Gitel takes Lea to Moscow to study at the Moscow Conservatory
1900
Onissin marries Rashel
1903
Lea graduates from the Moscow Conservatory, winning the Gold Medal
Lea meets Onissim; they play the Franck sonata together; he agrees to become her patron
1904
Lea spends the summer in Belgium studying with Ysaÿe
Anna begins her cello studies at the Moscow Conservatory
1905
January: Tsarist troops massacre unarmed protesters in St. Petersburg, triggering uprisings across the Russian Empire
November–December: Onissim and Rashel decamp to Paris with Rashel’s son (Misha); Lea joins them
1906
Onissim, Rashel, Misha, and Lea return to Moscow
Onissim writes numerous important publications including Against the Death Penalty and The Jews of Moscow
1907
Onissim and Lea’s son Yuri Goldovsky is born
October: Lea goes on tour to New York appearing in Carnegie Hall; her performance schedule is cut short owing to her discovery that she is again pregnant
Pierre begins piano studies at the Moscow Conservatory
1908
Onissim and Lea’s second son, Boris Goldovsky, is born
Anna graduates from the Moscow Conservatory, winning a Gold Medal
1909
Onissim divides his residence between Rashel’s and Lea’s apartments
March: Onissim and Rashel go to London
The Luboshutz Trio plays concerts across Russia
1910
Anna and Lea play at Tolstoy’s memorial service in Moscow
1913
Onissim purchases a Moscow mansion as residence for him and Rashel in part to help save his marriage
Anna marries Nikolai Shereshevsky
1914
August: Germany declares war on Russia
1915
Anna and Nikolai’s twin children, Nadezhda and Sergei, are born
1917
February: Revolution breaks out in St. Petersburg
March: Tsar Nicolas II abdicates
October: Vladimir Lenin returns to St. Petersburg from exile
November: The Bolsheviks announced that they have seized power; they nationalize all banks and industry, as well as abolishing private property
December: The Bolshevik secret police, the CHEKA, is created; there are mass arrests of aristocrats, professionals, and non-Bolshevik political activists; Onissim called in for questioning
December: Onissim and Lea’s daughter, Irina Goldovsky, is born
1918
July: The Tsar and his family are murdered in Siberia
Lea, Pierre, and Boris play “workers’ concerts”
1919
Anna plays for Red Army units in the Russian Civil War
Lea takes Yuri, Boris, and Irina to Odessa to stay with her parents
1920
Anti-Bolshevik “White” forces are defeated by the Red Army in most of Russia
Lea brings Yuri and Boris back to Moscow; Gitel follows with Irina
1921
Onissim again called in for questioning; Lea and Onissim hatch a plan to leave Russia
Lea and Boris depart for Berlin on a concert tour with the idea that the rest of the family will follow when they can
1922
January: Lea and Boris debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and secure management with the Wolff & Sachs agency
1922
Death of Onissim in Moscow
Irina arrives in Berlin followed by Gitel and Saul
1923
Lea is discovered in an affair with Leonid Kreutzer; decides to move to Paris
Boris begins studies with Artur Schnabel
Yuri matriculates at Moscow University at the age of 16 and decides to stay in Russia
1924
January: Death of Lenin
Pierre joins the family in Paris
Lea appears with Fyodor Chaliapin at the Palais Garnier in Paris, plays Franck sonata; is invited to tour the United States by Sol Hurok who agrees to be her manager
1925
Lea meets Josef Hofmann aboard ship and they perform the Franck sonata
Death of Saul
Lea plays New York debut of Prokofiev violin concerto at Carnegie Hall with Ernst von Dohnanyi conducting
Lea begins touring with Hofmann
1926
Boris starts studying with Dohnanyi in Budapest
Pierre tours the United States with Efrem Zimbalist and others
1927
Lea plays the Franck Sonata at the Curtis Institute of Music with Hofmann and is asked to join the faculty
Lea plays the Franck sonata with Hofmann at Carnegie Hall
1928
Lea acquires the “Nightingale” Stradivarius with the confidential assistance of Aaron Naumberg
Irina arrives to reside permanently with Lea in the U.S.
Irina Goldovsky’s name anglicized to Irene
Gitel joins Lea to reside in the U.S. and take care of Irene
1929
Mary Curtis Bok begins to develop the Curtis Institute summer colony in Rockport, Maine
August: Stock market crash triggers the Great Depression
1930
Boris arrives in the United States and spends the summer with the family in Maine
1931
Boris enters the Curtis Institute of Music
Yuri is named an Assistant Professor at the Bauman Technical University in Moscow
Pierre tours the United States with Gregor Piatigorsky
Pierre marries his piano student Genia Nemenoff and they move permanently to New York
Birth of Dmitri Goldovsky (Lea’s first grandchild), the son of Yuri and Natalya Goldovsky, followed almost immediately by the death of Yuri in a mountain climbing accident
1932
Irene meets Walter (“Billy”) Wolf, a Philadelphia businessman, after one of Lea’s concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra
1933
Anna recognized as an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation
Irene marries Billy
Boris marries Margaret Codd, an opera singer who studied at the Curtis Institute
1935
Lea and Irene become U.S. citizens
1936
Pierre and Genia give their first duo-piano concert as Luboshutz & Nemenoff, beginning a long and successful joint career
1938
Summer: Genia’s parents, Aaron and Marie Nemenoff, visit from Paris
1939
Anna honored by the Moscow Philharmonic
September: World War II breaks out
1940
Boris invited by Serge Koussevitzky to join Tanglewood faculty in Boston Symphony Orchestra Berkshire Music Center summer program in Western Massachusetts
June: Death of Gitel
November: Lea performs the Beethoven triple concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra with two other female soloists
1941
Efrem Zimbalist becomes Director of the Curtis Institute
1942
Boris moves to Boston to work at Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, spending summers at Tanglewood
1943
Genia’s parents, Aaron and Marie, are rounded up in Paris and deported to Auschwitz where they are murdered
Birth of Andrew (“Andy”) Wolf (Irene’s son; Lea’s grandson)
1945
The Curtis Institute’s Rockport summer program closes; Lea purchases Mary-Lea Cottage in Rockport and spends the remaining summers of her life there
Birth of Thomas (“Tom”) Wolf (Irene’s son; Lea’s grandson)
November: Lea plays her final concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra
1946
Boris establishes the New England Opera Theatre
1947
Anna gives her final concert and retires
Lea retires from teaching and concertizing
1953
Nikolai Shereshevsky is arrested in Moscow on trumped-up charges of being involved in the “Doctors’ Plot” to murder Soviet leaders
March: Death of Stalin; Nikolai and others implicated in the “Doctors’ Plot” are released
1954
Lea plays a post-retirement recital with Boris at the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston
Boris wins a Peabody Award for his radio show
Dmitri and Natalya’s daughter, Marina Dmitrovna Goldovsky, born in Moscow, Lea first great grandchild
1955
February: Lea plays in public for the last time at an event celebrating her 70th birthday in Philadelphia accompanied by Boris
Soviet violinist David Oistrakh tours the United States and visits Lea, bringing news of Anna
1956
Irene suffers nervous breakdown
Boris, Pierre, and Genia tour with their Three-Piano Mozart Festival concerts
1960
Andy Wolf and Tom Wolf play their first joint recital
1961
Death of Nikolai
Tom and Andy Wolf establish the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine
1962
Tom debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Andy leaves Columbia University and is accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music by Rudolf Serkin
August: Andy plays his first performance of the Franck Sonata in Maine
1963
Andy debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Andy plays first concert in Carnegie Hall
1965
Death of Lea
1966
The Nightingale Stradivarius is sold to Lea’s pupil, Rafael Druian, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra
1967
Anna is honored with a public ceremony in Moscow, hosted by Mstislav Rostropovich
1971
Death of Pierre
Tom joins Boris’ opera company as flutist and touring manager
1975
Anna dies in Moscow
1976
Andy begins touring with major international artists leading to his association with violinist Isaac Stern
1977
Boris is named head of the Opera Department at the Curtis Institute of Music
1979
Boris publishes his autobiography, My Road to Opera
1983
Andy plays Franck sonata with Isaac Stern at Carnegie Hall
1984
January: Andy plays Franck sonata at White House with Isaac Stern
Boris retires
May: Andy diagnosed with a brain tumor
1985
January: Andy plays the Franck Sonata in Boston for the last time
December: Death of Andy
1989
Death of Genia
1990
Irene travels to Moscow and meets Goldovsky family members but does not locate the Luboshutz family
1992
Marya Fogel (Irene’s granddaughter) meets Anna Luboshutz and Nikolai Shereshevsky’s daughter (Nadezhda Pugachevich), granddaughter (Nina Yuriev), and great granddaughter, (Svetlana Kuzin) in Moscow
1995
Nina and Svetlana visit the Lubushutz-Wolf family in the United States
2001
Death of Boris
2002
Death of Billy
2010
Death of Irene
The Luboshutz family circa 1911
From left to right: Lea with Boris, Katherine (“Gitel”) with Yuri, Pierre, and Anna