Lev Aronson

Lev Zacharovitch Aronson (Lew Aronson, Lev Aronoff, Lev Aronov, Lev Arnoff, Lew Arnow, Lew Arnoff-Aramon, Lew Arnoff-Aronson; February 7, 1912 – November 12, 1988) was an Eastern European-American cellist and cello teacher.

Lev Aronson was born February 7, 1912, in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Aronson's parents, Zorach and Pessa, along with their first infant son, had moved to Germany in 1911 so Zorach could study tailoring at the Fachhochschule (School of Fashion) in Berlin. Zorach and Pessa's infant son died in 1911. Lev was born a few weeks before his father graduated from the Fachhochschule. About three weeks after Lev's birth, the family returned to their home in Mitava in the Courland region of the Russian Empire (presently Jelgava, Latvia).

Aronson's sister, Gerda, was born in 1914, the same year Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and World War I began. The Russian government, fearing that German and Yiddish-speaking Jews might be or become German spies, took action quickly. On April 18, 1915, the Decree of Expulsion was issued by Czarist Russia, and many Jews were forcibly moved to the interior of Russia. The Aronsons and many other Jews were deported on cattle cars to Voronezh, southeast of Moscow.

Aronson first heard the cello played by a child of a non-Jewish neighbor in Voronezh. Soon after this, a relative on his mother's side, Nikolai Arnoff, who was a professional cellist, came to Voronezh to give a concert and stayed with the Aronson family. He taught Lev how to hold the instrument and the bow. Lev's father bought him a small cello and arranged with a fellow immigrant, Aron Rafaelovitsch Rubinstein, to teach the child his first cello lessons. Lev was seven.

In 1920, the family was allowed to leave Voronezh, and they chose to move to Riga, Latvia. Lev attended school in Riga and continued to study cello. As a youth, he performed occasionally with the orchestra at silent movies. Aronson studied cello with Paul Berkowitz, a well-known physician and cellist in Riga.

Upon his graduation from high school at 16, Aronson moved to Berlin to study law. During his first semester he met a doctor who was an amateur cellist. The doctor, after hearing Aronson play, introduced him to Julius Klengel in Leipzig. Aronson began studying cello with Klengel and soon gave up law to focus on music. After a year with Klengel, Lev began his studies with Alfred von Glehn at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin. When von Glehn died, Gregor Piatigorsky took over his class. Piatigorsky was to become Aronson's life-long mentor and friend. Aronson began performing locally with three German friends in the Peters String Quartet in 1931.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Anti-Jewish violence in Germany and throughout Europe was on the rise. Aronson decided to change his name to Lev Arnoff, which sounded more Russian than Jewish in an attempt to escape attention and continue performing. Aronson found a patroness, Mrs. Daliba Jones, whom he met in Florence through American conductor Vladimir Shavitch, and began to build a successful performing career throughout Europe as a soloist. He won a competition in Russia. He made several recordings for the Bellacord Electro label. In 1937, he became principal cellist for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Libau. During the late 1930s, Aronson also began teaching cello in Riga, awakening a passion for education that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

German forces invaded and occupied Riga in June 1941. Aronson's cellos were confiscated. Aronson began work as a slave laborer for the Gestapo. The Jews were moved to a ghetto in the so-called Moscow suburb of Riga. Between November 29 and December 8, 1941, thousands of Jews living in the Riga Ghetto were taken to the Rumbula forest, shot, and buried in mass graves. Among them were Aronson's parents.