Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday Part 12

This announcement brought forth a deluge of letters from "pupils of Joachim," and in a couple of weeks Burmester wrote another letter stating that he did not know the Hochschule had as many pupils as those who had claimed Joachim as their teacher, and who were all unknown. "If one known pupil of Joachim," he wrote, "will appoint a meeting to interview me on the subject, I shall be glad to continue it." But the one known pupil did not come.

The complaint of Mr. Burmester, that the one idea at the Hochschule is technique, is not new by any means. In every school there are students with great talent, who find it difficult to subject themselves to the rigid discipline required by the teacher. It is the stumbling-block on which many fall. It is, nevertheless, a fact that without a solid technique the highest perfection in playing cannot be reached, and it is usually regarded as a hopeless case when the pupil antagonises the teacher. Many pupils are apt to try and run ahead of their technical ability, and do not find out their mistake until it is too late. The argument that Paganini was self-taught leads many a young violinist into error.

If Burmester is to be judged by his playing of the Beethoven concerto in Boston, good musicians will declare that Joachim was right in refusing the certificate, for while his technique was brilliant it appeared to lack foundation. Time may justify the stand which the young virtuoso has taken in opposition to his teacher, for he is still young and has time in which to develop. He has undoubted musical talent and great ability, but while he may be a celebrated violinist he can hardly yet be considered a great one, notwithstanding the furore which he caused in Berlin.

Burmester plays with una.s.suming simplicity and without cheap display. He is sincere, but without authority or distinction of style. His tone is warm and pleasing, but not large, his intonation is not always sure.

One of Burmester's earliest musical friends was Hans Von Bulow, and the friendship extended over a period of three and a half years, until Von Bulow went to Cairo shortly before his death.

Von Bulow had inaugurated a series of orchestral concerts in Berlin, and as they interfered with the Philharmonic series every effort was made to put a stop to them. Musicians were forbidden to play for Von Bullow, and many obstacles were placed in his way. Von Bullow's temperament was such as to intensify the hostility rather than succ.u.mb to it. Burmester was then only sixteen years old, but his sympathy was with Von Bullow, and he wrote a letter to him offering his services, and expressing his contempt for the injustice to which he was being subjected. Von Bullow invited him to attend the rehearsals, and printed the letter which he had received. Burmester accepted the invitation, and, going to the rehearsal, found vacant a seat amongst the first violins, which he took.

The rehearsal was about to commence when Von Bullow paused and asked, "Which of you gentlemen is Burmester?"

The young fellow approached Von Bullow, who had motioned him to come.

"Mr. Burmester," he said, "I have no desk in the first row to offer you or it would be yours. Gentlemen," he added, turning to the musicians, "I wish to introduce to you the guest of honour of my orchestra, Mr.

Burmester."

This was the beginning of a friendship, through which the young violinist showed unswerving loyalty, and it is now one of his greatest desires to reach a point of independence which will enable him to build a monument to Von Bulow's memory.

In 1893 a sensation was created in America by the visit of Henri Marteau, a young French violinist whose excellent playing and charming personality delighted all who heard him. Marteau was called "the Paderewski of the Catgut," and he met with a most cordial reception among musicians.

Marteau was born at Reims in 1874. His father was an amateur violinist and president of the Philharmonic Society of Reims. His mother was an accomplished pianist, a pupil of Madame Schumann. He therefore had every advantage in his early youth for the development of musical taste.

When he was about five years of age Sivori paid a visit to the family, and was so charmed with the little fellow that he gave him a violin, and persuaded his parents to let him become a professional violinist.

Marteau now began to take lessons of Bunzl, a pupil of Molique, but three years later he went to Paris, and was placed under Leonard. In 1884, when ten years of age, he played in public before an audience of 2,500 people, and in the following year he was selected by Gounod to play the obligato of a piece composed for the Joan of Arc Centenary celebration at Reims, which piece was dedicated to him.

In 1892 Marteau carried off the first prize for violin playing at the Paris Conservatoire, and Ma.s.senet, the celebrated French composer, wrote a concerto for him.

When Marteau played in Boston at the Symphony concerts he received twelve recalls, and immediately became the idol of the hour. The concerto selected was that in G minor by Bruch, and it was played without a rehearsal, a fact which reflects great credit on the orchestra, which was at that time conducted by Mr. Arthur Nikisch.

In the following year Marteau again visited America and brought with him a concerto composed for him by Dubois. This was played for the first time by the Colonne orchestra, with Marteau as soloist, at Paris, on November 28, 1894, and again on the following Sunday. It was next given at Ma.r.s.eilles on December 12th, and the next performances were at Pittsburg, Louisville, and Nashville during the second American tour.

Marteau's tone is large, brilliant, and penetrating. His technique is sure, and he plays with contagious warmth of sentiment and great artistic charm.

The violin which he used during his American tours was a Maggini, which once belonged to Maria Theresa of Austria. She gave it to a Belgian musician who had played chamber music with her in Vienna. He took it to Belgium, where at his death it became the property of Leonard, who, at his death, gave it to Marteau.

Alexander Petschnikoff, the son of a Russian soldier, is the latest violinist who has created a furore in Europe. When he was quite young his parents moved to Moscow, near which city he was born, and one day a musician of the Royal Opera House happened to hear the boy, who had already endeavoured to master the difficulties of the instrument, and he used his influence to get the lad into the conservatory. Petschnikoff now became a pupil of Hrimaly, and devoted himself to hard work, earning some money by teaching even at the age of ten.

In due course he won the first prize and the gold medal at the conservatory, and was then offered an opportunity to study in Paris, which he declined. For a time he earned his living by playing in a theatre orchestra, but fortune smiled upon him, and he became an object of interest to the Princess Ourosoff, who heard him play at a concert.

Her influence was exerted in his behalf, and he was soon noticed and courted by the n.o.bility. The princess also made him a present of a magnificent violin, which formerly belonged to Ferdinand Laub, and is said to be the most costly instrument in existence.

When he made his debut in Berlin, in 1895, his success was unprecedented, inasmuch as it covered four points,--the artistic, popular, social, and financial. He has created a furore wherever he has appeared, and has been recalled as many as sixteen times. So great has been his success that he is said to have received the highest honorarium for a single concert ever obtained by a violinist in Europe.

He is described as a man of commonplace appearance, with dull, expressionless eyes, sluggish movements, and slow, affected manner of speech. His technique is not astonishing, but he has a full, penetrating, sympathetic tone. There is no charlatanism or trickery in his playing, nor any virtuoso effects, but the charm of it rests in his glowing temperament, ideal conception, and wonderful power of expression. He has been regarded as phenomenal, because he can move the hearts of his hearers as few other violinists are able to do.

Petschnikoff has been given an introduction to America, through Mr. Emil Paur, by Theodor Leschetizky, couched in the most glowing terms, and is called by him "an artist of the very first rank and of inconceivable versatility."

One might prolong the list of violinists to a tremendous extent, and yet fail to mention all those of great merit. In England, John Dunn appears to be acquiring a great reputation. On the Continent, such names as Hubay, Petri, Rose are well known. In America, we have Leopold Lichtenberg, a good musician of admirable qualifications. Bernhard Listemann, now of Chicago, has done much toward forming musical taste in America, and was concert-master of the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the first few years of its existence. But s.p.a.ce does not permit of a mention of more than has been attempted, and a few pages must be given to lady violinists and to a few words about celebrated quartets.

CHAPTER X.

WOMEN AS VIOLINISTS.

During the past forty or fifty years the violin has become a fashionable instrument for ladies, and has become correspondingly popular as a profession for those who are obliged to earn a living.

Formerly, for many years, it seems to have been considered improper, or ungraceful, or unladylike,--the reasons are nowhere satisfactorily given, but the fact remains that until recently few women played the violin.

From the year 1610 until 1810 the list of those who played in public is extremely short, numbering only about twenty, and of these several were gambists.

That women did, once upon a time, play on the violin, or the corresponding string and bow instruments which were its ancestors, there is evidence.

On the painted roof of Peterborough Cathedral, in England, which is said to have been built in the year 1194 A.D., there is a picture of a woman seated, and holding in her lap a sort of viol, with four strings and four sound-holes. This seems to indicate that in very early days ladies sometimes played on stringed instruments, if only for their own amus.e.m.e.nt.

Among the accounts of King Henry VII., dated November 2, 1495, is the following item, "For a womane that singeth with a fiddle, 2 shillings."

Anne of Cleves after her divorce comforted herself by playing on a viol with six strings. Queen Elizabeth, also, amused herself not only with the lute, the virginals, and her voice, but also with the violin.

These, however, were amateurs, and the earliest professional violinist known was Mrs. Sarah Ottey, who was born about 1695, and who about 1721-22 performed frequently at concerts, giving solos on the harpsichord, violin, and ba.s.s viol. Previous to her there was one Signora Leonora Baroni, born at Mantua about 1610, but she played the theorbo and the viol di gamba.

The next is "La Diamantina," born about 1715, who is referred to by the poet Gray in 1740, when he was at Rome, as "a famous virtuosa, played on the violin divinely, and sung angelically."

Anne Nicholl, born in England about 1728, played the violin before the Duke of c.u.mberland at Huntley in 1746, and her granddaughter, Mary Anne Paton, also, who was better known as a singer and who became Lady Lenox, and afterwards Mrs. Wood, was a violinist.

The celebrated Madame Gertrude Elizabeth Mara, one of the greatest singers of her time, was a violinist when young. Her father took her to England, hoping by means of her playing to get sufficient money to give her a thorough musical education. She was then a mere child, and as she grew to womanhood her voice developed and she became one of the celebrities in the history of song. There is no doubt that the training in intervals which her practice on the violin gave her proved invaluable as an aid to her in singing. In later days several of the most celebrated singers have been also good violinists, as, for instance, Christine Nilsson and Marcella Sembrich.

Maddalena Lombardi Sirmen, born about 1735, had an almost European reputation toward the end of the eighteenth century. She visited France and England about 1760-61, and was so good a player that she was looked upon almost as a rival of Nardini. She will always be celebrated in history because of the letter which was written to her by Tartini, and which is not only one of the rarities of musical literature, but const.i.tutes also a valuable treatise on the use of the violin.

This letter, which has been printed in almost every book on the violin, would take up rather more s.p.a.ce than can be afforded in this sketch. It is admirably clear and is divided into three parts, the first giving advice on bowing, "pressing the bow lightly but steadily, upon the strings in such a manner as that it shall seem to _breathe_ the first tone it gives, which must proceed from the friction of the string, and not from percussion, as by a blow given with a hammer upon it,--if the tone is _begun_ with delicacy, there is little danger of rendering it afterwards either coa.r.s.e or harsh." The second section of the letter is devoted to the finger-board, or the "carriage of the left hand," and the last part to the "shake."

Maddalena Sirmen received her instruction first at the conservatory of Mendicanti at Venice, after which she took lessons from Tartini. She also composed a considerable quant.i.ty of violin music, much of which was published at Amsterdam. About 1782 she, emulating the example of Madame Mara, appeared as a singer at Dresden, but with comparatively small success.

Regina Sacchi, who married a noted German violoncellist named Schlick, was celebrated for her performances on the violin. She was born at Mantua in 1764, and educated at the Conservatorio della Pieta at Venice.

This lady was highly esteemed by Mozart, who said of her, "No human being can play with more feeling."

When Mozart was in Vienna, about 1786, Madame Schlick was also there, and solicited him to write something for the piano and violin, which they should play together at a concert. Mozart willingly promised to do so, and accordingly composed and arranged, _in his mind_, his beautiful sonata in B-flat minor, for piano and violin. The time for the concert drew near, but not a note was put upon paper, and Madame Schlick's anxiety became painful. Eventually, after much entreaty, she received the ma.n.u.script of the violin part the evening before the concert, and set herself to work to study it, taking scarcely any rest that night.

The sonata was played before an audience consisting of the rank and fashion of Vienna. The execution of the two artists was perfect and the applause was enthusiastic. It happened, however, that the Emperor Joseph II., who was seated in a box just above the performers, in using his opera-gla.s.s to look at Mozart, noticed that there was nothing on his desk but a sheet of blank paper, and, afterward calling the composer to him, said: "So, Mozart, you have once again trusted to chance," to which Mozart, of course, graciously acquiesced, though the emperor did not state whether he considered Mozart's knowledge of his new composition, or Madame Schlick's ability to play with him unrehea.r.s.ed, const.i.tuted the "chance."

The next virtuosa was a Frenchwoman, Louise Gautherot, who was born about 1760, and who played in London and made a great impression about 1780 to 1790, and about the same time Signora Vittoria dall' Occa played at the theatre in Milan. Signora Paravicini, born about 1769, and Luigia Gerbini, about 1770, were pupils of Viotti, and earned fame. The former made a sensation in 1799 by her performance of some violin concertos at the Italian Theatre at Lisbon, where she played between the acts.

Signora Paravicini attracted the attention of the Empress Josephine, who became her patroness and engaged her to teach her son, Eugene Beauharnais, and took her to Paris. After a time, however, the Empress neglected her, and she suffered from poverty. Driven to the last resource, and having even p.a.w.ned her clothes, she applied for aid to the Italians resident in Paris, and they enabled her to return to Milan, where her ability soon gained her both competence and credit. She also played at Vienna in 1827, and at Bologna in 1832, where she was much admired.

Catarina Calcagno, who has already been mentioned as a pupil of Paganini, was a native of Genoa, born about 1797, and had a short but brilliant career. She disappeared from before the public in 1816.

Madame Krahmer and Mlles. Eleanora Neumann, and M. Schulz all delighted the public in Vienna and Prague. Miss Neumann came from Moscow, and astonished the public when she had scarcely reached her tenth year.