Eva Heinitz

Who was Eva Heinitz?

Eva Heinitz was a German musician, best known as a cellist but also highly acclaimed for her recordings on the viola da gamba. Heinitz, who was "half Jewish", left her native Berlin after the Nazis came to power, living first in France and later the United States, where she joined the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle in 1948.

Heinitz was considered for some time to be an authority on the viola da gamba, though it was a title she immensely disliked. Heinitz remained active late into her life, and continued teaching and giving occasional interviews until her death.

In 1931, in Berlin, she gave the premiere of the Cello Sonata by John Foulds.