Guila Bustabo

Guila Bustabo (February 25, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was a prominent American concert and recital violinist.

Early life Guila Bustabo was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1916 as Teressina Bustabo. She began playing the violin at age two. At age three, she played privately for Frederick Stock, the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At age three, her family moved to Chicago so that she could study with Ray Huntington at the Chicago Musical College.

She made her Carnegie Hall concert debut at age fifteen, playing the Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2. A year later, she made her Carnegie Hall recital debut with Louis Persinger at the piano, to an audience that included Arturo Toscanini. At age eighteen, she toured England, continental Europe and Asia. That same year, she acquired a Guarneri del Gesu violin. Her acquisition of this rare instrument is variously attributed to help from a group of professional musicians including Toscanini, to Fritz Kreisler, Her association with the conductor Oswald Kabasta, if it was known to Patton, could not have helped Bustabo's case, as Kabasta was known to be an ardent Nazi. These charges, part of the denazification program, were later dropped. However, because of this situation a career in the US was essentially closed to her. She continued to perform in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s. At one point in her career, Bustabo was a Columbia Records artist. Columbia issued several Bustabo studio recordings of short violin recital pieces.

Teaching career and a "demotion" In 1964, Bustabo became professor of violin at the Innsbruck Conservatory, appearing occasionally in concert. During this time period, she sold her Guarneri del Gesu violin and purchased an apartment house in Innsbruck. Bipolar disorder forced her to retire from her position in 1970. She returned to the United States, accompanied by mother and husband, where she played for five years in the violin section of (and as occasional soloist with) the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Her medical care while in the U.S. was graciously provided by physician and friend, Dr.Ralph Tieszen, M.D. of Birmingham.

Guila Bustabo's 1948 marriage to Edison Stieg, an American military musician, ended in divorce in 1976. She outlived her mother by sixteen years, dying in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2002, aged 86.

Discography Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D major, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Willem Mengelberg conductor, recorded live in concert May 6, 1943, issued on Tahra CD TAH 640. Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, recorded live in concert, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Willem Mengelberg, conductor, October 27, 1940. Originally recorded on 78 rpm glass-based lacquer discs. Issued on Rococo LP 2029. Re-issued on Music and Arts CD- 780, “Willem Mengelberg Public Performances, 1938-1944.” Chausson, Poeme, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, "Gerd Rubahn", conductor. Released 1952 on LP Royale 1339. The violinist, if it is Bustabo, is listed under the pseudonym Karl Brandt. The origin of this recording is in doubt. The violinist is probably but not certainly Bustabo. "Gerd Rubahn" is a pseudonym used by Royale and related labels to disguise the sources of unauthorized publications. Dvorak, Violin Concerto in A minor, NWDR Sinfonieorchester, Hamburg, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conductor, recorded live in concert March 24, 1955, issued on Tahra CD TAH 640. Paganini, Violin Concerto in D major (ed./arr. August Wilhelmj), Berlin Stadtischen Orchestra, Fritz Zaun conductor, issued on LP Rococo 2031. Paganini, Violin Concerto in D major (ed./arr. August Wilhelmj) issued in 1952 on LP Royale 1339, the orchestra being misidentified as the "Berlin Symphony Orchestra" with "Gerd Rubahn", conductor. Bustabo is listed under the pseudonym "Karl Brandt". Pseudonymous issue of the April 1943 RRG (Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft) recording of Bustabo with the Orchester des Reichssenders München under Bertil Wetzelsberger. Sibelius, Violin Concerto, with the Berlin Stadtischen Orchestra, Fritz Zaun conductor. Reissued on LP Rococo 2031 with additional materials. Wolf-Ferrari, Violin Concerto, Munich Philharmonic, Rudolf Kempe conductor, live broadcast, Munich Herkulessaal, November 27, 1971, issued on A Classical Record CD. Various recital pieces by Sarasate, de Falla, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Kreisler, Rubenstein, Suk, Debussy, Pugnani, and Novacek, with Gerald Moore at the piano, which, together with the concerti by Sibelius, Paganini, Wolf-Ferrari and Nussio, were once available on the now-discontinued CD set “The Bustabo Legacy” on the A Classical Record label, ACR 37, issued 1993. Various recital pieces by Novacek, Mendelssohn, Kreisler, Sarasate and Paganini with Gerald Moore and Heinz Schröter at the piano, available on the CD Symposium 1301. Includes the first movement of the Paganini violin concerto No. 1, listed above, Fritz Zaun conducting. Various of the shorter works listed above were originally issued on Columbia label 78 rpm shellacs.