Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday Part 11

M. Thomson's command of all the technical resources of the violin is so great that he can play the most terrific pa.s.sages without sacrificing his tone or clearness of phrasing, and his octave playing almost equals that of Paganini himself. Yet he is lacking in personal magnetism, and is a player for the musically cultivated rather than for the mult.i.tude, though his technique fills the listener with wonder. He visited the United States in 1896, and was, like Marsick, compared with Ysaye, who at that time swept everything before him and carried the country by storm.

In 1897 Cesar Thomson left Liege, owing, it is said, to disagreements at the Conservatoire, and made his home at Brussels.

The greatest of Belgian violinists of to-day is Eugene Ysaye, who possesses that magnetism which charms alike the musician and the amateur, because of his perfect musical expression. He possesses the inexplicable and inexpressible something which takes cold judgment off its feet and leads criticism captive.

Ysaye was born at Liege in 1858, and, after studying at the conservatories of his native town under his father and at Brussels, entered that of Paris, where he completed the course in 1881, and immediately afterward started on a series of concert tours. Ysaye's eminence as a violinist has been gained by hard work. He did not burst meteor-like upon the world, but he earned his position in the violin firmament by ten years of concert touring, during which time he pa.s.sed successively through the stages of extreme sentimentality until he reached the "sea" of real sentiment.

It was in 1873 that Ysaye, after preparation given chiefly by his father, made his way to Brussels and sought out Wieniawski, then professor at the Conservatoire. Wieniawski was teaching, when a note was brought to him marked "private and important." The servant was told to show the bearer in, and Ysaye, then about fifteen years of age, timidly entered the room carrying his violin. After a little preliminary conversation which allowed the youth to tell his history, Wieniawski asked him what he would play, and in reply he placed on the piano desk a concerto of Vieuxtemps. The result of his performance was that he at once became a pupil of Wieniawski, with whom he remained some three years, during the period in which Vieuxtemps was recovering from his paralytic shock. In 1876 Vieuxtemps heard him at Antwerp, and through his influence the Belgian government was induced to grant Ysaye a stipend in order to allow him to pursue his studies at Paris. There he was the pupil of Ma.s.sart, who had also been the teacher of Wieniawski, Ysaye's master at Brussels. Vieuxtemps is said to have expressed the desire, while in Algiers during his latter years, to have Ysaye stay with him to play his compositions, but Ysaye was at that time in St.

Petersburg. When Vieuxtemps died and his remains were brought to Verviers, his birthplace, Ysaye carried in the procession the violin and bow of the virtuoso on a black velvet cushion fringed with silver.

When Ysaye first appeared in America he was a mature artist, the recognised leader of the Belgian school of violinists, the first professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatoire, and the possessor of many decorations and honours bestowed upon him by various royalties.

Before he had been in America a month he was acknowledged to be the greatest violinist who had visited this country for many years.

A man of large and powerful physique, he plays with a bold and manly vigour, and yet with exquisite delicacy. He is a master of phrasing and of all beauties of detail, has a wonderfully perfect technique, but that quality which places him at the head of all rivals is his musical feeling, his temperament. He has been compared to Rubinstein and to Paderewski. He inspires his hearers, or, as it was once expressed, very neatly, "he creeps up under your vest." He disarms criticism, and he seems to be more completely part of his violin and his violin of him than has been the case with any other player who has visited these sh.o.r.es for some years. He has given the greatest performance of the celebrated Bach chaconne ever heard in America. He has been declared to be not inferior to Joachim in his performance of this work, though he has not so broad a tone as the latter, nor as Wieniawski. He combines Sarasate's tenderness of tone and showy technique with more manliness and sincerity than Sarasate gives.

The student, perhaps, can learn more from Cesar Thomson than from Ysaye, but he will receive from the latter the greater inspiration.

Ysaye is noted, too, for sincerity of purpose and seriousness such as few of the virtuosi have possessed. He is free from all traits of charlatanism and trickery. Once, when in California, he was asked for an autograph copy of a few measures of his original cadenza to the Beethoven concerto (an embellishment which all violinists seem obliged to compose), but he declared that he did not like the idea of an original cadenza to Beethoven's work, that it was much better to omit it, as it formed no part of the concerto. "In original cadenzas by virtuosi," he said, "we find too much violin and too little music," for which confession from such an artist the world may be truly grateful.

When Ysaye came to America in 1894 he was prepared with a repertoire consisting of ninety-one pieces. Of these, fourteen were concertos, seventeen sonatas, and eleven were compositions of his own.

He made a second tour in America in 1898, when he confirmed the opinions already formed as to his wonderful qualities.

In March, 1899, he went to Berlin, which city he had not visited for several years, and appeared as soloist of the tenth Nikisch Philharmonic concert, when he played the E major concerto by Bach, and scored an overwhelming success. At the end of the concert he was recalled some fifteen times, and had completely exploded the idea so firmly held in Berlin, that the Belgians cannot play the cla.s.sics.

Of late years M. Ysaye has made his mark as a conductor, and has given a series of orchestral concerts in Brussels. He organised and managed this enterprise entirely by himself, without any guarantee fund, and the concerts were so successful, financially as well as artistically, that at the end of the season it was found that they had paid all expenses, and this, as all who know anything about the financial side of orchestral concerts, is a most remarkable showing.

Few, if any, artists have been made the recipients of more ridiculous adulation from women Paderewski perhaps being the only exception, and at the conclusion of his concerts scenes have been witnessed which are simply nauseating. This fashion is not confined, by any means, to the United States, for there are anecdotes from all countries ill.u.s.trative of the manner in which members of the fair s.e.x vie with each other in the effort to do the silliest things.

Ysaye has a home near the Palais de Justice in Brussels. He is married to the daughter of a Belgian army officer, and has several children. He is a man of much modesty, and is devoted to his family. As a violinist he may be considered to rank next to Joachim.

Carl Halir, who visited America in 1896, was born in 1859 at Hohenelbe in Bohemia, and was first taught by his father. He entered the conservatory at Prague at the age of eight, and remained there until he was fourteen, studying under Bennewitz, after which he went to Berlin and became a pupil of Joachim.

For some time he was a member of the Bilse orchestra, and then went to Konigsberg as concert-master, after which he held a similar position for three years at Mannheim, and then at Weimar, where he married the well-known singer, Theresa Zerbst.

On his first appearance, at the Bach festival at Eisenath, he played with Joachim the Bach double concerto, and was very successful. He has made concert tours throughout the greater part of Europe, and while in America he was recognised as a broad artist. He is no virtuoso in the ordinary sense of the word, but a cla.s.sical, non-sensational, well-educated musician, whose playing was not dazzling or magnetic, but delighted by its intellectuality. He has an even and sympathetic tone, and inspires the greatest respect as an artist and as a man, and, while other players may make greater popular successes, Halir stands on a high artistic plane which few can reach.

Franz Ondricek, who visited the United States also in 1896, was born at Prague in 1859, the same year as Halir, but is an artist of an entirely different stamp. In his early youth he was a member of a dance music band, and his father taught him to play the violin. It was not until he was fourteen years of age that he was able to enter the conservatory of his native town. Three years later he was sent, through the generosity of a wealthy merchant, to Paris, where he became a pupil of Ma.s.sart. He shared with Achille Rivarde the honour of the first prize at the Conservatoire, since which time he has been a wandering star, and has never sought any permanent engagement. His playing is marked by individuality and dash, but he does not show to the best advantage in the interpretation of the cla.s.sics.

Charles Martin Loeffler, who shares the first desk of the first violins in the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Mr. Kneisel, is a musician of the highest ability.

He was born in Muhlhausen, Alsace, in 1861. He enjoyed the advantages of instruction under Joachim, in Berlin, after which he continued his studies in Paris, with Ma.s.sart and Leonard, studying composition with Guiraud. While in Paris he was a member of Pasdeloup's celebrated orchestra, and was afterward appointed first violin and soloist in the private orchestra of Baron Derwies, at Nice, of which orchestra Cesar Thomson was also a member.

In 1880 Mr. Loeffler crossed the Atlantic, and took up his residence in New York, but the following year he was engaged as second concert-master and soloist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position which he has held ever since, and in which he has had opportunity to display his exceptional talents.

As a violinist he plays with largeness of style, boldness of contrast, and exquisite grace. He has a technique equalled by few, and his performances have been confined to music of the highest cla.s.s. Mr.

Loeffler has never made a tour of the country as a virtuoso, but as soloist of the orchestra he has been heard under the best conditions in most of the large cities of the United States, and has shown himself to be a virtuoso in the best sense of the word.

As a composer Mr. Loeffler is distinctly original and imaginative. His works are both poetical and musical, and they display high thought and exceptional knowledge. His compositions include a s.e.xtet, a quintet, and an octet, also a suite for violin and orchestra, "Les Veillees de l'Ukraine;" a concerto for violoncello, which has been played by Mr.

Alwyn Schroeder; a divertimento for violin and orchestra, and a symphonic poem, "La Mort de Tintagiles." Besides these large works he has written a number of songs, of which five are with viola obligato.

These works have been performed by the Kneisel Quartet and the Symphony Orchestra, the solo parts of the suite and divertimento by the composer himself, and they have gained for him a reputation as a gifted and scholarly tone artist.

One of the most promising young violinists of the century was a native of Brazil, Maurice Dengremont, who was born in Rio Janeiro, in 1867. He was the son of a French musician who had settled in Brazil, and who gave him his first lessons to such good effect that, when only eight years of age, he gave a concert, and the Brazilian orchestra was so delighted with his playing that its members presented him with a medal, to which the emperor added an imperial crown, as a recognition of his talent.

He now became a pupil of Leonard, and after three years' study he appeared in many concerts, travelling throughout Europe and England, and being received with enthusiasm. About 1880 he visited America, but his career ended shortly after, as he fell a victim to dissipation.

Dengremont was compared with Sarasate and Wilhelmj, but all that could be said about him was that he might have developed into a player of their rank. As it was, he disappointed his admirers, and died while still quite young.

Of the many violinists who have made their home in the United States there are few whose accomplishments better ent.i.tle them to a position among celebrated violinists than Mr. Franz Kneisel.

Mr. Kneisel was called to Boston to fill the position of concert-master of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885, and has held that place for fourteen years, during which time he has done much toward the cultivation of musical taste in America.

He was born in Roumania, of German parents, in 1865, and gained his musical education at Bucharest and at Vienna, where he studied under Grun and h.e.l.lmesberger. He then received the appointment of concert-master of the Hofburg Theatre Orchestra, after which he went to Berlin to fill the same position in Bilse's orchestra, following Halir, Ysaye, and Cesar Thomson.

When he was called to Boston, at the instance of Mr. Gericke, who was then the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, he was only twenty years of age. He played, on his first appearance as soloist, the Beethoven concerto, and was at once recognised as a violinist of remarkable ability.

Mr. Kneisel has never toured the country as a virtuoso, but has been heard in many of the great cities of America, as solo violinist with the Symphony Orchestra, and as first violin of the Kneisel Quartet.

He is a master of technique, and surmounts all difficulties with ease; his tone is pure, and, though not large, is satisfying, and in his interpretation of the great works he never attempts to enforce his personality upon the hearer,--in short, he is a true artist. As a conductor he has marked ability, and as a quartet player he has made a reputation which will live in the history of music in America, if not in the whole world.

Charles Gregorowitsch, who visited America in 1898, has risen in a very short time to a place among the leading violinists of the world.

He was born in 1867 at St. Petersburg, and, his talent making itself manifest in the usual manner, he was taught by his father until he was of an age to be sent to Moscow, where he studied until his fifteenth year, under Besekirskij and Wieniawski. From Moscow he was sent to Vienna, where he became a pupil of Dont, and finally he studied under Joachim in Berlin, where he gained the Mendelssohn prize.

Gregorowitsch was the last pupil of Wieniawski, and that master was so impressed with the great promise of the boy that on first hearing him he offered to take him as a pupil gratis. Few violinists have had the advantage which has fallen to the lot of Gregorowitsch, of receiving instruction from so many great teachers.

Gregorowitsch has travelled extensively throughout Europe, has been highly honoured in Russia, where the Czar granted him exemption from military service, and decorated by the King of Portugal. In London he made his first appearance in 1897, at the Queen's Hall Symphony concerts.

M. Gregorowitsch is remarkable for a large tone, and in the smoothness and finish of his playing he has been compared with Sauret and with Sarasate.

A far greater sensation was caused in America by Willie Burmester than by Gregorowitsch.

Burmester was born in Hamburg in 1869, and received his first instruction from his father. He owned his first violin when he was four years of age, and it came to him from a Christmas tree. This served to show the talent which he possessed, and the next year he received a better violin, and began to study in earnest.

When he was eight years old his father took him to Berlin to consult Joachim, who was, and is, regarded as the oracle for violinists. Joachim gave some encouragement to the parent, although he does not seem to have given much to the boy, who in consequence felt somewhat bitter. Four years later he was again taken to the Berlin Hochschule, to pa.s.s his entrance examination. On this occasion he received the recognition of the jury, and was admitted to the school, where he began a rigorous course of technical study. At the end of four years' study under Joachim he was refused a certificate, for some reason not stated, and he went to Helsingfors in Finland, where he worked according to his own ideas, which were to unlearn all he had studied, and begin afresh. During this period he worked with the greatest perseverance, practising nine or ten hours a day, and thus developed the wonderful technique which has astonished the world. For three years he continued this work, supporting himself meanwhile with a modest appointment which he had obtained.

Before he left Berlin he had worn down the end of his first finger to the nerve. This troubled him to such a degree that he had several operations for the purpose of removing it, but the result was not wholly satisfactory.

Emerging from his retirement in 1894, he went to Berlin again, and gave a recital in which he met with the most remarkable success. It was written at the time: "Mr. Burmester comes from an obscure town, unheralded, and, in the face of indifference, prejudice, and jealousy, conquered the metropolis off-hand. For nearly half an hour recall followed recall."

The following season he created an equal impression in London, and shortly afterward in America.

His technique has been described as "marvellous, almost diabolical."

Difficult pizzicato pa.s.sages and runs in thirds and tenths at top speed are but as child's play to him. His left hand pizzicato is marvellous, and he makes runs in single and artificial harmonics as quickly as most violinists can play an ordinary scale. He plays harmonics with a vibrato (Paganini played a double shake in harmonics), and his staccato volante is developed to an astounding degree of perfection.

When Burmester played in London his success was at once attributed to Joachim, and he resented it, in view of the fact that he had been denied his certificate and had narrowly escaped musical suffocation at the hands of that great master. He had already made the same statement in Berlin, referring to the fact of his retirement to Helsingfors, and the development which he had acquired there in solitude.