Marc Lifschey

Marc Lifschey was born on June 16, 1926, in New York City. His father, Elias Lifschey, was a violist who was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.[2] Lifschey attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Marcel Tabuteau.[3] Lifschey played in the Buffalo Philharmonic for a short period of time before being appointed to principal oboe of the National Symphony Orchestra, a post which he held between 1948 and 1950.[2] After playing with the National Symphony Orchestra, Lifschey became first oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell.[4] Lifschey held this post from 1950 to 1965, with the exception of the 1959-1960 season, during which he played principal oboe for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. After leaving Cleveland because of a famous personality clash with Szell, Lifschey went to the San Francisco Symphony, where he was co-principal under Josef Krips before being appointed principal in his own right.[3]

With regard to this clash with Szell, Marcia Hansen Kraus (the wife of the just-departed 2nd oboist Felix Kraus) writes:

On January 4, 1965, the volcano erupted. During rehearsal on that morning, a prominent oboe solo in Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony gave Lifschey a chance to express his disdain for Szell, his colleagues, and whatever else bothered him that morning—probably a lousy reed. He deliberately played his solo a quartertone flat. Szell ignored him. Marc was, as usual, just being Marc. When the passage was repeated a few minutes later, however, Lifschey played it even more ferociously out of tune. This time Szell had to react. Continuing to put up with Lifschey’s insubordination in front of one hundred musicians would be a significant loss of face, a humiliation not to be endured. He stopped the music and addressed his principal oboist. “Now Marc what’s wrong with the pitch?” he asked, likely aware that Lifschey was looking for a chance to be obstreperous. “That’s the pitch I play. If you don’t like it, get yourself another boy,” Lifschey answered.

“Marc, if you can’t behave yourself go upstairs and hand in your resignation,” Szell said.

A hush fell over the orchestra as the players realized what was happening. In the silence that followed, Lifschey yanked the reed out of his oboe and held it aloft. Snapping it in two, he said, “I’ve taken s—t for fourteen years and that’s enough.” He then barged through the music stands, swearing under his breath, and stomped off stage. Szell called after him, “You leave now and you are never coming back.”

[5]

In 1984, William Redington Hewlett endowed the Edo de Waart chair for principal oboe, a seat which Lifschey occupied until his retirement from orchestra playing in 1986.[3]

Lifschey was also an established teacher who was a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Jacobs School of Music, part of Indiana University.[1]

Lifschey died at the age of 74 from a bone marrow disorder.