Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday Part 14

In 1889 Marie Soldat married a lawyer named Roger, but did not retire from her profession. She is now known as Madame Soldat-Roger.

Gabrielle Wietrowitz was born a few years later, in 1866, at Laibach, and was also a pupil at the Musical Inst.i.tute at Gratz. Her father was a military bandsman who had some knowledge of the violin, which enabled him to give his daughter elementary instruction on that instrument.

After a few years he left Laibach to settle in Gratz, and Gabrielle took violin lessons from A. Geyer (some accounts say Caspar). On entering the Musical Union she made a sensation by playing brilliantly at a concert before a large audience. She was then eleven years of age, and from that time she made the most rapid progress, taking first prize at the annual trial concert. In consequence of her great promise Count Aichelburg, who was a member of the Directorate of the Musical Union, presented her with a valuable violin, and the Directorate a.s.signed her a yearly salary which enabled her to go to Berlin and enter the high school, where she became a pupil of Joachim in 1882.

At the high school her career was as brilliant as it had been in Gratz, for at the end of her first year she succeeded in capturing the Mendelssohn prize, which brought her 1,500 marks, and at the end of her third year she took it for a second time.

She remained at the high school three years, after which she began a splendid career by playing the concerto by Brahms at the St. Cecilia Festival at Munster. Then followed a series of concert tours, which resulted in securing her a reputation as one of the most brilliant stars amongst women.

Miss Wietrowitz plays with the most consummate ease the greatest works of the modern school. She has a powerful and brilliant tone, with sweet tenderness and sympathy, which appeal to the soul of the listener, and she confines her repertoire to the highest cla.s.s of musical compositions. She has recently succeeded Miss Emily Shinner as first violin in the quartet which that talented lady established in England.

The most recent star of Europe is Madame Saenger-Sethe, whose appearances are invariably followed by eulogies from the critics. In Berlin, when she appeared at the Singakademie, in November, 1898, where she was a.s.sisted by the Philharmonic Orchestra, one critic declared that no violin playing had been heard to compare with it during that season, with the exception of Burmester's performance of the Beethoven concerto.

"Such wealth and sensuous beauty of tone, such certainty of technique, such mental grasp of the work, and at the same time such all-conquering temperament have not been heard in Berlin at the hands of a female violinist during several years." After many recalls, she gave, as an encore, a rousing performance of a Bach sarabande.

Mlle. Irma Sethe was born on April 28, 1876, at Brussels, and such was her early apt.i.tude for music that at the age of five she was placed under a violinist of repute, named Jokisch, who in three months from the start taught her to play a Mozart sonata. Five years of hard study enabled her to appear at a concert at Marchiennes, when she played a concerto by De Beriot and the rondo capriccioso by Saint-Saens. The following year she played at Aix-la-Chapelle, and made such an impression that several offers of concert engagements were made, but were declined by her mother on the score of the child's health, and for three years after this she never appeared at a concert.

One summer, during the holidays, she met August Wilhelmj, who was charmed with her talent, and devoted his mornings for two months to giving her lessons daily. At the end of that time he emphasised his appreciation by making her a present of a valuable violin. She still continued her regular studies with Jokisch, until, acting on the advice of her friends, she obtained a hearing from Ysaye, and played for him Bach's prelude and fugue in G minor.

Ysaye at once recognised her immense ability, and advised her to enter the conservatoire at Brussels, which she did, with the result that in eight months she carried off the first prize, being then only fifteen years of age. She continued her studies for three more years, and was frequently employed as a subst.i.tute for Ysaye, as professor, to teach his cla.s.ses while he was absent on concert tours.

In 1894 she appeared with him at a number of important concerts, and shortly afterwards made her first concert tour, visiting many of the princ.i.p.al towns of Germany. In November, 1895, she made her first appearance in London, where she was p.r.o.nounced to be, with the exception of Lady Halle, the most remarkable lady violinist who had ever appeared before the public in England, and where her excellent technique, perfect intonation, warmth of feeling, and musical insight were highly, almost extravagantly, praised.

In August, 1898, Mlle. Sethe married Doctor Saenger, a _litterateur_, and professor of philosophy at Berlin, but she continues her career as a violinist, and has made several tours of Europe. She has been compared to Rubinstein, inasmuch as her remarkable musical temperament and irresistible impulsiveness carry her at times almost beyond the limits of her instrument, but these are the very qualities by which she captivates and carries away her hearers.

Among other European ladies who have made their mark as violinists, and whose stars are in the ascendant, may be mentioned Sophie Jaffe, who has been called the greatest of all women violinists, and Frida Scotta.

Although many years behind the continent of Europe in musical life, and with a musical atmosphere not nearly as dense as that found in almost any village of Italy, France, or Germany, America has contributed to the musical world many shining lights during the past few years. Mlle.

Urso has been claimed as an American violinist, though she was born in Europe and was a good violinist before she reached these sh.o.r.es, but in 1864, in New York, Anna Senkrah was born, who for a few years rivalled Teresina Tua.

The real name of Arma Senkrah was Harkness, which for professional purposes she "turned end for end," as the sailors would say, and dropped an "s." After Miss Harkness had been taught the elements of music by her mother, she went to Brussels to study under Wieniawski, and then to Paris, where she became a pupil of Ma.s.sart She is said also to have taken lessons of Vieuxtemps and of Arno Hilf.

In 1881 she won the first prize at the Paris Conservatoire, a feat which always stamps the winner "artist." From 1877 to 1880 Arma Senkrah travelled a great deal throughout Europe, and in 1882 she played, under her proper name, at the Crystal Palace, London. She was created, at Weimar, a chamber virtuoso, by the grand duke. Here she met and shortly afterwards married a lawyer named Hoffman, and disappeared from the concert platform.

New York has contributed other stars to the violin firmament, for Nettie Carpenter and Geraldine Morgan are names which have become well known.

Miss Carpenter went abroad at an early age, though not until she had appeared in concerts in her native city, and created considerable interest.

On going to Paris, she was successful in pa.s.sing the entrance examinations for the Conservatoire, and in 1884 won the first prize for violin playing. In 1882 she appeared in London at the promenade concerts, and again in 1884, when she confirmed the reputation which she had made two years previously, at the same concerts. From that time on she went through the usual routine of the concert violinist, with considerable success.

In 1894 she married Leo Stern, the violoncello player, but the union did not continue for long, Mr. Stern becoming about four years later the husband of Miss Suzanne Adams, the opera singer.

Miss Geraldine Morgan is the daughter of John P. Morgan, who was for some years organist of Old Trinity Church, New York. She studied in her native city under Leopold Damrosch, besides which she received much instruction from her father. Then she went to Leipzig, where she studied with Schradieck, after which she was the pupil in Berlin of Joachim, under whose guidance she remained eight years. She was the first American who ever gained the Mendelssohn prize.

Miss Morgan has made tours through the Continent and Great Britain, and had the honour of playing the Bach double concerto with Joachim at the Crystal Palace. In 1891 she appeared in New York under the auspices of Walter Damrosch.

A lady who holds a high position among the violinists of the world is Miss Maud Powell, who was born in Aurora, Ill., in 1868. Her father is American and her mother German. She began her musical education at the age of four, by taking piano lessons. At eight she took up the violin, and made such excellent progress that, when she was thirteen years old, she was taken to Leipzig, where she studied under Schradieck, and received her diploma in a year, playing also at one of the Gewandhaus concerts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAUD POWELL]

She next went to Paris, where she was the first selected out of eighty applicants for admission to the Conservatoire. In the following year she accepted an engagement for a tour in England, and had the honour of playing before the royal family. While in London Joachim heard her, and expressed his approval of her capabilities by inviting her to go to Berlin and become one of his pupils, which she accordingly did, and remained with him for two years.

In 1885 she made her debut in Berlin at the Philharmonic concerts, when she played the Bruch concerto, which she also played in Philadelphia later in the same year. Her performance in America brought her much praise, and she was declared to be a marvellously gifted woman, one who in every feature of her playing disclosed the instincts and gifts of a born artist, though she had not yet reached the heights of her ability.

Since that time she has gained in breadth, and has become a mature artist.

Miss Powell has appeared in the best concerts throughout America, and has gained a reputation second to no American violinist. By many she is declared to be the equal of Soldat and Wietrowitz in tone, technique, and interpretative power. She has an immense repertoire, and is also a student of literature. She also is said to have been the first to establish a female quartet in America.

The latest American lady violinist to gain honours abroad is Miss Leonora Jackson, who won the Mendelssohn state prize at Berlin, in 1898, and who has gained a great reputation by her performances before the most important musical organisations in Europe.

Miss Jackson was fortunate enough to attract the attention of Mrs.

Grover Cleveland, who admired her talent, and, with Mr. George Vanderbilt, sent her abroad. For two years she studied in Paris, and then went to Berlin, where she became a pupil of Joachim. In Berlin she made her debut in 1896, with the Philharmonic Orchestra, which was conducted by Joachim on that occasion. Shortly afterwards she was commanded by the Empress of Germany to play at the Royal Opera House, in Berlin, and she soon earned for herself a position amongst the best of the rising violinists of the day.

When she appeared in London, in 1898, she surprised and delighted the audience, displaying a fine tone, natural musical feeling, and complete technique. Few violinists can play with such quiet, intense sentiment.

Miss Jackson, though but twenty years of age, is already a veteran concert player, for she has appeared in many cities of Europe, and was already known in America before she went to Berlin. She played in July, 1899, before the Queen of England at Windsor Castle, and again in August at Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight.

The time has long since gone by when mere showy technique would earn a reputation for any violinist, male or female, and she who expects to be numbered with the great violinists must be first of all a musician, capable of interpreting the greatest works. If in addition to this she has "the divine spark," she will be truly great.

CHAPTER XI.

FAMOUS QUARTETS.

Quartet playing is at once the delight and the despair of the amateur, who finds no greater pleasure than an evening spent in endeavouring to unravel the intricacies of chamber music, nor any keener disappointment than the realisation that it is capable of far better interpretation.

For the professional there are many influences which cause him to hesitate before he launches forth upon the quicksands of public performance. The first necessity in professional quartet playing is the devotion of a large amount of time to the acquisition of a perfect ensemble. A quartet may be likened unto a family, in which the members learn to know one another by being brought up together, and few are the professionals who can sacrifice the time necessary for the acquisition of this perfect ensemble.

Apparently very little was done previous to the nineteenth century in the way of quartet concerts, but Baillot founded a series of quartet concerts in Paris, which were highly spoken of, and about the same time Schuppanzigh, an excellent violinist and teacher in Vienna, established a quartet which became famous. In this quartet Mayseder played, in his younger days, second violin. Mayseder was considered the foremost violinist in Vienna, but he never travelled as a virtuoso.

When Spohr went first to Leipzig and was unknown, he had to find a way by which he could attract attention to himself,--in those days the advertising agent was not much in evidence,--so that he might give a concert with a reasonable prospect of success. The rich merchants, to whom he had brought letters of introduction, knew nothing of him and received him coldly. "I was very anxious to be invited to play at one of their music parties in order to draw attention to myself," Spohr says in his autobiography, "and my wish was fulfilled, for I was invited to a grand party and asked to play something. I chose one of the loveliest of the six new quartets of Beethoven, with which I had often charmed my hearers in Brunswick. But after a few bars I already noticed that my accompanists knew not the music and were quite incapable of playing it.

This disturbed me, and my dismay increased when I observed that the a.s.sembled company paid little attention to my playing. Conversation became general, and ultimately so loud as almost to drown the music. I rose in the midst of the music, hurried to my violin case without saying a word, and was on the point of putting my instrument away. This made quite a sensation in the company, and the host approached me questioningly. I met him with the remark,--which could be heard everywhere,--'I have always been accustomed to be listened to with attention. As it has been otherwise here, I thought the company would prefer that I should stop.' The host did not know at first how to reply, and retired somewhat discomfited. As I made preparations for leaving, after having excused myself to the other musicians, the host came up and said, quite amicably: 'If you could but play something else, something more suitable to the taste and capacity of the company, you would find them an attentive and grateful audience.' It was clear to me before that I had chosen the wrong music in the first instance for such a company, and I was glad enough now to have an opportunity to change it. So I took up my violin again and played Rode's E flat quartet, which the musicians already knew and accompanied well enough. This time there was perfect silence, and the enthusiasm for my playing increased with each movement.

At the end of the quartet so much flattery was heaped upon me that I trotted out my hobby-horse,--the G variations of Rode. With this piece I made quite a sensation, and for the remainder of the evening I was the object of the most flattering attention."

This little episode shows that Beethoven was not fully appreciated, and it also shows that quartet playing was regarded at that time in an entirely different light from that in which we are accustomed to think of it to-day. We do not consider the first violinist a soloist and the rest merely his accompaniment, but each member of the quartet is practically of equal importance.

Lambert Joseph Ma.s.sart, the eminent teacher of Paris, is said to have been an excellent quartet player, and often, with his wife, an admirable pianist, he gave delightful chamber concerts.

Few violinists have been more closely a.s.sociated with quartet playing than Ferdinand David, in his way one of the most celebrated violinists.

Little is known of his early youth except that he was born at Hamburg in 1810, and was there at the time of the French occupation. It has been said that he played in a concert at ten years of age and at thirteen became a pupil of Spohr at Ca.s.sel. He made a concert tour with his sister, Madame Dulcken, and in 1827 entered the orchestra of the Konigstadt Theatre at Berlin. Here he became acquainted with Mendelssohn, with whom he was from that time on terms of the greatest intimacy. While in Berlin he was heard by a wealthy musical amateur named Liphart, who lived at Dorpat, and who maintained a private quartet. He engaged David, who eventually married his daughter, to lead this quartet, and for several years the young violinist remained in Dorpat, though he found opportunity to make some concert tours through the north of Europe.

When Mendelssohn was appointed conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipzig, he sent for David and made him concert master, which post he occupied from 1836. Seven years later the conservatory was founded by Mendelssohn, and David became professor of violin, in which position his influence became great and beneficial.

In Leipzig David established a quartet, which was one of the best, if not the very best, in its day, though it may have been surpa.s.sed later by the Florentine Quartet and those of Joachim, in London and Berlin, and possibly by Brodsky's later Leipzig quartet.

David died in 1873, beloved and respected, and will be remembered as one of the most refined musicians and admirable teachers of the century.

Josef h.e.l.lmesberger, one of the most brilliant violinists and noted teachers of Vienna, founded, in 1849, a quartet which achieved an immense reputation. His a.s.sociates were Heissler, Durst, and Schlesinger. h.e.l.lmesberger made a point of finding works of merit which had sunk into oblivion, but which were worthy of a hearing.