The Beatles, Berlioz and a story of the Jewish world
Born in Bombay (later renamed Mumbai), India, on March 11, 1928, Eric Sargon grew up there, but then lived most of his life in London as an accomplished musician, playing for the late queen and recording with the Beatles. He made aliyah at the age of 91, and ended his days in Jerusalem, after a long illness, on January 9, 2025. Sargon’s 96 remarkable years, his travels around the globe, and encounters with great figures, made him an incredible witness to history, and gifted him with a most humane wisdom. His story offers insight into the breadth and diversity of the Jewish world.
The son of a mother from the Baghdadi community of Mumbai and a father from the more ancient community of Cochin (later, Kochi), the roots of which are said to come from the time of King Solomon and the 1492 Expulsion from Spain, Eric Sargon’s bloodline spoke to the journeys of the Sephardi and Mizrachi Diaspora.
His grandchildren, of which I am one, were always fascinated by his life in India with the diverse melting-pot of Mumbai, with the Jewish community there living peacefully alongside Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Zoroastrian Parsees. In fact, at the Cathedral and John Connon School, Sargon was a classmate of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who went on to become president of Pakistan.
In 2017, his great-nephew and film-maker Eliyahu Unger-Sargon, recorded a film of Eric and his sisters talking about their lives in India. It recorded the challenges he faced from an exacting father, the family tragedies that befell them with the loss of a sister to a fire, and the color and drama of life in pre-independence India.
In his incredible career playing viola with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Eric performed for the late Queen Elizabeth II at major concerts and travelled the world at a time when this was not at all common. He went behind the Iron Curtain to Soviet Russia on a good-will visit, and to the Far East. His favorite trip was to Hong Kong, because of all the exotic fruit he found to eat there.
Eric recorded with the Beatles, Lulu, and Eric Clapton. In an interview with The Times of Israel in 2019, he recalled how he “got out of his pajamas for the Beatles,” after being called to come into the studio around midnight to record a mystery piece. He never knew for sure what it was, because the session musicians were only given a fragment of the musical score, but he thinks it may have been “Hey Jude.”
His attempt to put more expression into the music was given short shrift by George Harrison, who, as Sargon recalls, “called over the box, ‘No expression!’ I don’t think he said please. Then I began to lose interest. I couldn’t enjoy the music.”
As a result of such experiences, Eric did not have much time for pop music, and it was what he described as “real” music — classical music — that was his passion. Perhaps his favorite was Berlioz’s symphony, “Harold in Italy,” which recounts the travels of the protagonist, with all the ups and downs of life. It is a composition that gives particular prominence to the viola, and Grandpa was always very excited to play it. In one particularly memorable concert, in the City of London, his viola’s A-string snapped mid-performance, but Eric played on regardless, combining two other strings to produce a similar note. I was in the audience, and it was incredible to watch him triumph through this adversity.
Eric combined musical virtuosity with a very gentle persona. His culinary creations were always a joy to all fortunate enough to experience them, particularly his signature curry and rice. Happiness for me was waking up at Grandpa and Grandma’s home in Edgware, London, to Grandpa Eric’s musical rehearsals, followed by lingering over a long breakfast with my siblings and cousins, followed by synagogue, games in the garden, and sumptuous feasts for lunch and dinner.
He was always looking forward — never backward. When I, as his grandson, picked him up from his home of some 60 years to accompany him on his aliyah flight in 2019, I remember the unsentimental way he locked his front door, as if it were no great thing. I asked him about this, and he emphasized the importance of focusing more on the next steps, rather than the last ones.
Living in the retirement community of Mediterranean Towers in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem, he was an instant hit, charming everyone he met. In the nearly six years he spent there, he became a fixture of their music program, performing with the choir at ceremonies, including the memorial for the anniversary of the October 7th atrocities. At his shiva, which ended this week, resident after resident told the family of his acts of kindness, including helping people in the wood-working class there. He was regarded as a true “English gentleman.”
Grandpa Eric was an adoring husband to our much-missed grandmother Florence, also from Mumbai, whom he had known of in India, but with whom he became reacquainted in London before marrying her there. He was a devoted father to his two daughters – my mother, Michelle Rosenberg, and my aunt, Sharon Horowitz – a doting Grandpa to all six of us grandchildren, and overjoyed with his 14 great-grandchildren. It was fitting that his last public performance was at the bat mitzvah of his eldest great-granddaughter Maya in November 2024.
He touched the lives of everyone he encountered and will be sorely missed by all who knew him. As for me? I am really proud to be able to call him my grandpa.
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(courtesy)