Drohobytsch, 1914-1996, Philadelphia
David Grunschlag (originally Grünschlag) was born on March 3rd, 1914 in Drohobytsch in today’s Ukraine. He was the eldest son of a traditional Jewish family. His father Moses Grünschlag had studied trumpet and piano in Vienna. David showed a talent for the violin and was accepted in Vienna’s New Conservatory as a child prodigy where he studied with Adolf Bak. Both of his younger sisters Toni and Rosi Grunschlag studied piano at Vienna’s Music Academy (today’s mdw), later becoming a famous piano duo in America. In 1928, Grunschlag was accepted by Bronisław Huberman as a pupil at Berlin’s Music Academy. In 1931, Grunschlag returned to Vienna to study with Franz Maierecker, Adolf Bak while continuing his studies with Huberman. He was offered a place in the Vienna Philharmonic on the condition he converted, a condition he would not accept. Instead, in 1934, Grunschlag became Concert Master of the Vienna Concert Orchestra (Wiener Konzertorchester). From 1936 to 1959, Grunschlag was violinist in Huberman’s Palestinian Orchestra (today the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) where he became one of the orchestra’s concertmasters. In 1959, Grunschlag came to America at the invitation of Leonard Bernstein and joined the New York Philharmonic on its European tour before accepting a position in Eugene Ormandy’s Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Grunschlag was chosen as soloist when performing under conductors such as Bernardino Molinary, Jacques Singer, Charles Munch, Ferenc Fricsay, Serge Koussevitzky etc. Grunschlag was active in Israel’s music scene and worked closely with the country’s new generation of composers, several of whom wrote works that he premiered. In 1996 David Grunschlag died in Philadelphia.
