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diff --git a/15535-0.txt b/15535-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..084829b --- /dev/null +++ b/15535-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6500 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Violin Mastery, by Frederick H. Martens + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Violin Mastery + Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers + +Author: Frederick H. Martens + +Release Date: April 4, 2005 [EBook #15535] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIOLIN MASTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Peter Barozzi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + [Illustration: EUGÈNE YSAYE, with hand-written note] + + + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + + + _TALKS WITH MASTER VIOLINISTS AND TEACHERS_ + + + COMPRISING INTERVIEWS WITH YSAYE, KREISLER, + ELMAN, AUER, THIBAUD, HEIFETZ, HARTMANN, + MAUD POWELL AND OTHERS + + + BY + + FREDERICK H. MARTENS + + WITH SIXTEEN PORTRAITS + + + + + NEW YORK + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + _Copyright, 1919, by_ + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + * * * * * + + _All rights reserved, including that of translation + into foreign languages_ + + + + + FOREWORD + + +The appreciation accorded Miss Harriette Brower's admirable books on +PIANO MASTERY has prompted the present volume of intimate _Talks with +Master Violinists and Teachers_, in which a number of famous artists and +instructors discuss esthetic and technical phases of the art of violin +playing in detail, their concept of what Violin Mastery means, and how +it may be acquired. Only limitation of space has prevented the inclusion +of numerous other deserving artists and teachers, yet practically all of +the greatest masters of the violin now in this country are represented. +That the lessons of their artistry and experience will be of direct +benefit and value to every violin student and every lover of violin +music may be accepted as a foregone conclusion. + + FREDERICK H. MARTENS. + 171 Orient Way, + Rutherford N.J. + + + + + CONTENTS + PAGE + FOREWORD v + + EUGÈNE YSAYE The Tools of Violin Mastery 1 + + LEOPOLD AUER A Method without Secrets 14 + + EDDY BROWN Hubay and Auer: Technic: Hints + to the Student 25 + + MISCHA ELMAN Life and Color in Interpretation. + Technical Phases 38 + + SAMUEL GARDNER Technic and Musicianship 54 + + ARTHUR HARTMANN The Problem of Technic 66 + + JASCHA HEIFETZ The Danger of Practicing Too + Much. Technical Mastery and + Temperament 78 + + DAVID HOCHSTEIN The Violin as a Means of Expression + and Expressive Playing 91 + + FRITZ KREISLER Personality in Art 99 + + FRANZ KNEISEL The Perfect String Ensemble 110 + + ADOLFO BETTI The Technic of the Modern Quartet 127 + + HANS LETZ The Technic of Bowing 140 + + DAVID MANNES The Philosophy of Violin Teaching 146 + + TIVADAR NACHÉZ Joachim and Léonard as Teachers 160 + + MAXIMILIAN PILZER The Singing Tone and the Vibrato 177 + + MAUD POWELL Technical Difficulties: Some Hints + for the Concert Player 183 + + LEON SAMETINI Harmonics 198 + + ALEXANDER SASLAVSKY What the Teacher Can and Cannot Do 210 + + TOSCHA SEIDEL How to Study 219 + + EDMUND SEVERN The Joachim Bowing and Others: + The Left Hand 227 + + ALBERT SPALDING The Most Important Factor in the + Development of an Artist 240 + + THEODORE SPIERING The Application of Bow Exercises + to the Study of Kreutzer 247 + + JACQUES THIBAUD The Ideal Program 259 + + GUSTAV SAENGER The Editor as a Factor in "Violin + Mastery" 277 + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + Eugène Ysaye _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + Leopold Auer 14 + + Mischa Elman 38 + + Arthur Hartmann 66 + + Jascha Heifetz 78 + + Fritz Kreisler 100 + + Franz Kneisel 110 + + Adolfo Betti 128 + + David Mannes 146 + + Tivadar Nachéz 160 + + Maud Powell 184 + + Toscha Seidel 220 + + Albert Spalding 240 + + Theodore Spiering 248 + + Jacques Thibaud 260 + + Gustav Saenger 278 + + + + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + + + EUGÈNE YSAYE + + THE TOOLS OF VIOLIN MASTERY + + +Who is there among contemporary masters of the violin whose name stands +for more at the present time than that of the great Belgian artist, his +"extraordinary temperamental power as an interpreter" enhanced by a +hundred and one special gifts of tone and technic, gifts often alluded +to by his admiring colleagues? For Ysaye is the greatest exponent of +that wonderful Belgian school of violin playing which is rooted in his +teachers Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski, and which as Ysaye himself says, +"during a period covering seventy years reigned supreme at the +_Conservatoire_ in Paris in the persons of Massart, Remi, Marsick, and +others of its great interpreters." + +What most impresses one who meets Ysaye and talks with him for the +first time is the mental breadth and vision of the man; his kindness and +amiability; his utter lack of small vanity. When the writer first called +on him in New York with a note of introductio from his friend and +admirer Adolfo Betti, and later at Scarsdale where, in company with his +friend Thibaud, he was dividing his time between music and tennis, Ysaye +made him entirely at home, and willingly talked of his art and its +ideals. In reply to some questions anent his own study years, he said: + +"Strange to say, my father was my very first teacher--it is not often +the case. I studied with him until I went to the Liège Conservatory in +1867, where I won a second prize, sharing it with Ovide Musin, for +playing Viotti's 22d Concerto. Then I had lessons from Wieniawski in +Brussels and studied two years with Vieuxtemps in Paris. Vieuxtemps was +a paralytic when I came to him; yet a wonderful teacher, though he could +no longer play. And I was already a concertizing artist when I met him. +He was a very great man, the grandeur of whose tradition lives in the +whole 'romantic school' of violin playing. Look at his seven +concertos--of course they are written with an eye to effect, from the +virtuoso's standpoint, yet how firmly and solidly they are built up! +How interesting is their working-out: and the orchestral score is far +more than a mere accompaniment. As regards virtuose effect only +Paganini's music compares with his, and Paganini, of course, did not +play it as it is now played. In wealth of technical development, in true +musical expressiveness Vieuxtemps is a master. A proof is the fact that +his works have endured forty to fifty years, a long life for +compositions. + +"Joachim, Léonard, Sivori, Wieniawski--all admired Vieuxtemps. In +Paganini's and Locatelli's works the effect, comparatively speaking, +lies in the mechanics; but Vieuxtemps is the great artist who made the +instrument take the road of romanticism which Hugo, Balzac and Gauthier +trod in literature. And before all the violin was made to charm, to +move, and Vieuxtemps knew it. Like Rubinstein, he held that the artist +must first of all have ideas, emotional power--his technic must be so +perfected that he does not have to think of it! Incidentally, speaking +of schools of violin playing, I find that there is a great tendency to +confuse the Belgian and French. This should not be. They are distinct, +though the latter has undoubtedly been formed and influenced by the +former. Many of the great violin names, in fact,--Vieuxtemps, Léonard*, +Marsick, Remi, Parent, de Broux, Musin, Thomson,--are all Belgian." + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "Leonard". + + + YSAYE'S REPERTORY + +Ysaye spoke of Vieuxtemps's repertory--only he did not call it that: he +spoke of the Vieuxtemps compositions and of Vieuxtemps himself. +"Vieuxtemps wrote in the grand style; his music is always rich and +sonorous. If his violin is really to sound, the violinist must play +Vieuxtemps, just as the 'cellist plays Servais. You know, in the +Catholic Church, at Vespers, whenever God's name is spoken, we bow the +head. And Wieniawski would always bow his head when he said: 'Vieuxtemps +is the master of us all!' + +"I have often played his _Fifth Concerto_, so warm, brilliant and +replete with temperament, always full-sounding, rich in an almost +unbounded strength. Of course, since Vieuxtemps wrote his concertos, a +great variety of fine modern works has appeared, the appreciation of +chamber-music has grown and developed, and with it that of the sonata. +And the modern violin sonata is also a vehicle for violin virtuosity in +the very best meaning of the word. The sonatas of César Franck, d'Indy, +Théodore Dubois, Lekeu, Vierne, Ropartz, Lazarri--they are all highly +expressive, yet at the same time virtuose. The violin parts develop a +lovely song line, yet their technic is far from simple. Take Lekeu's +splendid Sonata in G major; rugged and massive, making decided technical +demands--it yet has a wonderful breadth of melody, a great expressive +quality of song." + +These works--those who have heard the Master play the beautiful Lazarri +sonata this season will not soon forget it--are all dedicated to Ysaye. +And this holds good, too, of the César Franck sonata. As Ysaye says: +"Performances of these great sonatas call for _two_ artists--for their +piano parts are sometimes very elaborate. César Franck sent me his +sonata on September 26, 1886, my wedding day--it was his wedding +present! I cannot complain as regards the number of works, really +important works, inscribed to me. There are so many--by Chausson (his +symphony), Ropartz, Dubois (his sonata--one of the best after Franck), +d'Indy (the _Istar_ variations and other works), Gabriel Fauré (the +Quintet), Debussy (the Quartet)! There are more than I can recall at +the moment--violin sonatas, symphonic music, chamber-music, choral +works, compositions of every kind! + +"Debussy, as you know, wrote practically nothing originally for the +violin and piano--with the exception, perhaps, of a work published by +Durand during his last illness. Yet he came very near writing something +for me. Fifteen years ago he told me he was composing a 'Nocturne' for +me. I went off on a concert tour and was away a long time. When I +returned to Paris I wrote to Debussy to find out what had become of my +'Nocturne.' And he replied that, somehow, it had shaped itself up for +orchestra instead of a violin solo. It is one of the _Trois Nocturnes_ +for orchestra. Perhaps one reason why so much has been inscribed to me +is the fact that as an interpreting artist, I have never cultivated a +'specialty.' I have played everything from Bach to Debussy, for real art +should be international!" + +Ysaye himself has an almost marvelous right-arm and fingerboard control, +which enables him to produce at will the finest and most subtle tonal +nuances in all bowings. Then, too, he overcomes the most intricate +mechanical problems with seemingly effortless ease. And his tone has +well been called "golden." His own definition of tone is worth +recording. He says it should be "In music what the heart suggests, and +the soul expresses!" + + + THE TOOLS OF VIOLIN MASTERY + +"With regard to mechanism," Ysaye continued, "at the present day the +tools of violin mastery, of expression, technic, mechanism, are far more +necessary than in days gone by. In fact they are indispensable, if the +spirit is to express itself without restraint. And the greater +mechanical command one has the less noticeable it becomes. All that +suggests effort, awkwardness, difficulty, repels the listener, who more +than anything else delights in a singing violin tone. Vieuxtemps often +said: _Pas de trait pour le trait--chantez, chantez_! (Not runs for the +sake of runs--sing, sing!) + +"Too many of the technicians of the present day no longer sing. Their +difficulties--they surmount them more or less happily; but the effect is +too apparent, and though, at times, the listener may be astonished, he +can never be charmed. Agile fingers, sure of themselves, and a perfect +bow stroke are essentials; and they must be supremely able to carry +along the rhythm and poetic action the artist desires. Mechanism +becomes, if anything, more accessible in proportion as its domain is +enriched by new formulas. The violinist of to-day commands far greater +technical resources than did his predecessors. Paganini is accessible to +nearly all players: Vieuxtemps no longer offers the difficulties he did +thirty years ago. Yet the wood-wind, brass and even the string +instruments subsist in a measure on the heritage transmitted by the +masters of the past. I often feel that violin teaching to-day endeavors +to develop the esthetic sense at too early a stage. And in devoting +itself to the _head_ it forgets the _hands_, with the result that the +young soldiers of the violinistic army, full of ardor and courage, are +ill equipped for the great battle of art. + +"In this connection there exists an excellent set of _Études-Caprices_ +by E. Chaumont, which offer the advanced student new elements and +formulas of development. Though in some of them 'the frame is too large +for the picture,' and though difficult from a violinistic point of view, +'they lie admirably well up the neck,' to use one of Vieuxtemps's +expressions, and I take pleasure in calling attention to them. + +"When I said that the string instruments, including the violin, subsist +in a measure on the heritage transmitted by the masters of the past, I +spoke with special regard to technic. Since Vieuxtemps there has been +hardly one new passage written for the violin; and this has retarded the +development of its technic. In the case of the piano, men like Godowsky +have created a new technic for their instrument; but although +Saint-Saëns, Bruch, Lalo and others have in their works endowed the +violin with much beautiful music, music itself was their first concern, +and not music for the violin. There are no more concertos written for +the solo flute, trombone, etc.--as a result there is no new technical +material added to the resources of these instruments. + +"In a way the same holds good of the violin--new works conceived only +from the musical point of view bring about the stagnation of technical +discovery, the invention of new passages, of novel harmonic wealth of +combination is not encouraged. And a violinist owes it to himself to +exploit the great possibilities of his own instrument. I have tried to +find new technical ways and means of expression in my own compositions. +For example, I have written a _Divertiment_ for violin and orchestra in +which I believe I have embodied new thoughts and ideas, and have +attempted to give violin technic a broader scope of life and vigor. + +"In the days of Viotti and Rode the harmonic possibilities were more +limited--they had only a few chords, and hardly any chords of the ninth. +But now harmonic material for the development of a new violin technic is +there: I have some violin studies, in ms., which I may publish some day, +devoted to that end. I am always somewhat hesitant about +publishing--there are many things I might publish, but I have seen so +much brought out that was banal, poor, unworthy, that I have always been +inclined to mistrust the value of my own creations rather than fall into +the same error. We have the scale of Debussy and his successors to draw +upon, their new chords and successions of fourths and fifths--for new +technical formulas are always evolved out of and follow after new +harmonic discoveries--though there is as yet no violin method which +gives a fingering for the whole-tone scale. Perhaps we will have to wait +until Kreisler or I will have written one which makes plain the new +flowering of technical beauty and esthetic development which it brings +the violin. + +"As to teaching violin, I have never taught violin in the generally +accepted sense of the phrase. But at Godinne, where I usually spent my +summers when in Europe, I gave a kind of traditional course in the works +of Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski and other masters to some forty or fifty +artist-students who would gather there--the same course I look forward +to giving in Cincinnati, to a master class of very advanced pupils. This +was and will be a labor of love, for the compositions of Vieuxtemps and +Wieniawski especially are so inspiring and yet, as a rule, they are so +badly played--without grandeur or beauty, with no thought of the +traditional interpretation--that they seem the piecework of technic +factories! + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"When I take the whole history of the violin into account I feel that +the true inwardness of 'Violin Mastery' is best expressed by a kind of +threefold group of great artists. First, in the order of romantic +expression, we have a trinity made up of Corelli, Viotti and Vieuxtemps. +Then there is a trinity of mechanical perfection, composed of Locatelli, +Tartini and Paganini or, a more modern equivalent, César Thomson, +Kubelik and Burmeister. And, finally, what I might call in the order of +lyric expression, a quartet comprising Ysaye, Thibaud, Mischa Elman and +Sametini of Chicago, the last-named a wonderfully fine artist of the +lyric or singing type. Of course there are qualifications to be made. +Locatelli was not altogether an exponent of technic. And many other fine +artists besides those mentioned share the characteristics of those in +the various groups. Yet, speaking in a general way, I believe that these +groups of attainment might be said to sum up what 'Violin Mastery' +really is. And a violin master? He must be a violinist, a thinker, a +poet, a human being, he must have known hope, love, passion and despair, +he must have run the gamut of the emotions in order to express them all +in his playing. He must play his violin as Pan played his flute!" + +In conclusion Ysaye sounded a note of warning for the too ambitious +young student and player. "If Art is to progress, the technical and +mechanical element must not, of course, be neglected. But a boy of +eighteen cannot expect to express that to which the serious student of +thirty, the man who has actually lived, can give voice. If the +violinist's art is truly a great art, it cannot come to fruition in the +artist's 'teens. His accomplishment then is no more than a promise--a +promise which finds its realization in and by life itself. Yet Americans +have the brains as well as the spiritual endowment necessary to +understand and appreciate beauty in a high degree. They can already +point with pride to violinists who emphatically deserve to be called +artists, and another quarter-century of artistic striving may well bring +them into the front rank of violinistic achievement!" + + + + + II + + + LEOPOLD AUER + + A METHOD WITHOUT SECRETS + + +When that celebrated laboratory of budding musical genius, the Petrograd +Conservatory, closed its doors indefinitely owing to the disturbed +political conditions of Russia, the famous violinist and teacher +Professor Leopold Auer decided to pay the visit to the United States +which had so repeatedly been urged on him by his friends and pupils. His +fame, owing to such heralds as Efrem Zimbalist, Mischa Elman, Kathleen +Parlow, Eddy Brown, Francis MacMillan, and more recently Sascha Heifetz, +Toscha Seidel, and Max Rosen, had long since preceded him; and the +reception accorded him in this country, as a soloist and one of the +greatest exponents and teachers of his instrument, has been one justly +due to his authority and preëminence. + +It was not easy to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Master anent his +art, since every minute of his time was precious. Yet ushered into +his presence, the writer discovered that he had laid aside for the +moment other preoccupations, and was amiably responsive to all +questions, once their object had been disclosed. Naturally, the first +and burning question in the case of so celebrated a pedagogue was: "How +do you form such wonderful artists? What is the secret of your method?" + + [Illustration: LEOPOLD AUER, with hand-written note] + + + A METHOD WITHOUT SECRETS + +"I know," said Professor Auer, "that there is a theory somewhat to the +effect that I make a few magic passes with the bow by way of +illustration and--_presto_--you have a Zimbalist or a Heifetz! But the +truth is I have no method--unless you want to call purely natural lines +of development, based on natural principles, a method--and so, of +course, there is no secret about my teaching. The one great point I lay +stress on in teaching is never to kill the individuality of my various +pupils. Each pupil has his own inborn aptitudes, his own personal +qualities as regards tone and interpretation. I always have made an +individual study of each pupil, and given each pupil individual +treatment. And always, always I have encouraged them to develop freely +in their own way as regards inspiration and ideals, so long as this was +not contrary to esthetic principles and those of my art. My idea has +always been to help bring out what nature has already given, rather than +to use dogma to force a student's natural inclinations into channels I +myself might prefer. And another great principle in my teaching, one +which is productive of results, is to demand as much as possible of the +pupil. Then he will give you something! + +"Of course the whole subject of violin teaching is one that I look at +from the standpoint of the teacher who tries to make what is already +excellent perfect from the musical and artistic standpoint. I insist on +a perfected technical development in every pupil who comes to me. Art +begins where technic ends. There can be no real art development before +one's technic is firmly established. And a great deal of technical work +has to be done before the great works of violin literature, the sonatas +and concertos, may be approached. In Petrograd my own assistants, who +were familiar with my ideas, prepared my pupils for me. And in my own +experience I have found that one cannot teach by word, by the spoken +explanation, alone. If I have a point to make I explain it; but if my +explanation fails to explain I take my violin and bow, and clear up the +matter beyond any doubt. The word lives, it is true, but often the word +must be materialized by action so that its meaning is clear. There are +always things which the pupil must be shown literally, though +explanation should always supplement illustration. I studied with +Joachim as a boy of sixteen--it was before 1866, when there was still a +kingdom of Hanover in existence--and Joachim always illustrated his +meaning with bow and fiddle. But he never explained the technical side +of what he illustrated. Those more advanced understood without verbal +comment; yet there were some who did not. + +"As regards the theory that you can tell who a violinist's teacher is by +the way in which he plays, I do not believe in it. I do not believe that +you can tell an Auer pupil by the manner in which he plays. And I am +proud of it since it shows that my pupils have profited by my +encouragement of individual development, and that they become genuine +artists, each with a personality of his own, instead of violinistic +automats, all bearing a marked family resemblance." + +Questioned as to how his various pupils reflected different phases of +his teaching ideals, Professor Auer mentioned that he had long since +given over passing final decisions on his pupils. "I could express no +such opinions without unconsciously implying comparisons. And so few +comparisons really compare! Then, too, mine would be merely an +individual opinion. Therefore, as has been my custom for years, I will +continue to leave any ultimate decisions regarding my pupils' playing to +the public and the press." + + + HOURS OF PRACTICE + +"How long should the advanced pupil practice?" Professor Auer was asked. +"The right kind of practice is not a matter of hours," he replied. +"Practice should represent the utmost concentration of brain. It is +better to play with concentration for two hours than to practice eight +without. I should say that four hours would be a good maximum practice +time--I never ask more of my pupils--and that during each minute of the +time the brain be as active as the fingers. + + + NATIONALITY VERSUS THE CONSERVATORY SYSTEM + +"I think there is more value in the idea of a national conservatory than +in the idea of nationality as regards violin playing. No matter what his +birthplace, there is only one way in which a student can become an +artist--and that is to have a teacher who can teach! In Europe the best +teachers are to be found in the great national conservatories. Thibaud, +Ysaye--artists of the highest type--are products of the conservatory +system, with its splendid teachers. So is Kreisler, one of the greatest +artists, who studied in Vienna and Paris. Eddy Brown, the brilliant +American violinist, finished at the Budapest Conservatory. In the Paris +Conservatory the number of pupils in a class is strictly limited; and +from these pupils each professor chooses the very best--who may not be +able to pay for their course--for free instruction. At the Petrograd +Conservatory, where Wieniawski preceded me, there were hundreds of free +scholarships available. If a really big talent came along he always had +his opportunity. We took and taught those less talented at the +Conservatory in order to be able to give scholarships to the deserving +of limited means. In this way no real violinistic genius, whom poverty +might otherwise have kept from ever realizing his dreams, was deprived +of his chance in life. Among the pupils there in my class, having +scholarships, were Kathleen Parlow, Elman, Zimbalist, Heifetz and +Seidel. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin mastery? To me it represents the sum total of accomplishment on +the part of those who live in the history of the Art. All those who may +have died long since, yet the memory of whose work and whose creations +still lives, are the true masters of the violin, and its mastery is the +record of their accomplishment. As a child I remember the well-known +composers of the day were Marschner, Hiller, Nicolai and others--yet +most of what they have written has been forgotten. On the other hand +there are Tartini, Nardini, Paganini, Kreutzer, Dont and Rode--they +still live; and so do Ernst, Sarasate, Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski. +Joachim (incidentally the only great German violinist of whom I +know--and he was a Hungarian!), though he had but few great pupils, and +composed but little, will always be remembered because he, together with +David, gave violin virtuosity a nobler trend, and introduced a higher +ideal in the music played for violin. It is men such as these who always +will remain violin 'masters,' just as 'violin mastery' is defined by +what they have done." + + + THE BACH VIOLIN SONATAS AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS + +Replying to a question as to the value of the Bach violin sonatas, +Professor Auer said: "My pupils always have to play Bach. I have +published my own revision of them with a New York house. The most +impressive thing about these Bach solo sonatas is they do not need an +accompaniment: one feels it would be superfluous. Bach composed so +rapidly, he wrote with such ease, that it would have been no trouble for +him to supply one had he felt it necessary. But he did not, and he was +right. And they still must be played as he has written them. We have the +'modern' orchestra, the 'modern' piano, but, thank heaven, no 'modern' +violin! Such indications as I have made in my edition with regard to +bowing, fingering, _nuances_ of expression, are more or less in accord +with the spirit of the times; but not a single note that Bach has +written has been changed. The sonatas are technically among the most +difficult things written for the violin, excepting Ernst and Paganini. +Not that they are hard in a modern way: Bach knew nothing of harmonics, +_pizzicati_, scales in octaves and tenths. But his counterpoint, his +fugues--to play them well when the principal theme is sometimes in the +outer voices, sometimes in the inner voices, or moving from one to the +other--is supremely difficult! In the last sonatas there is a larger +number of small movements--- but this does not make them any easier to +play. + +"I have also edited the Beethoven sonatas together with Rudolph Ganz. He +worked at the piano parts in New York, while I studied and revised the +violin parts in Petrograd and Norway, where I spent my summers during +the war. There was not so much to do," said Professor Auer modestly, "a +little fingering, some bowing indications and not much else. No reviser +needs to put any indications for _nuance_ and shading in Beethoven. He +was quite able to attend to all that himself. There is no composer who +shows such refinement of _nuance_. You need only to take his quartets +or these same sonatas to convince yourself of the fact. In my Brahms +revisions I have supplied really needed fingerings, bowings, and other +indications! Important compositions on which I am now at work include +Ernst's fine Concerto, Op. 23, the Mozart violin concertos, and +Tartini's _Trille du diable_, with a special cadenza for my pupil, +Toscha Seidel. + + + AS REGARDS "PRODIGIES" + +"Prodigies?" said Professor Auer. "The word 'prodigy' when applied to +some youthful artist is always used with an accent of reproach. Public +and critics are inclined to regard them with suspicion. Why? After all, +the important thing is not their youth, but their artistry. Examine the +history of music--you will discover that any number of great masters, +great in the maturity of their genius, were great in its infancy as +well. There are Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Rubinstein, d'Albert, Hofmann, +Scriabine, Wieniawski--they were all 'infant prodigies,' and certainly +not in any objectionable sense. Not that I wish to claim that every +_prodigy_ necessarily becomes a great master. That does not always +follow. But I believe that a musical prodigy, instead of being regarded +with suspicion, has a right to be looked upon as a striking example of a +pronounced natural predisposition for musical art. Of course, full +mental development of artistic power must come as a result of the +maturing processes of life itself. But I firmly believe that every +prodigy represents a valuable musical phenomenon, one deserving of the +keenest interest and encouragement. It does not seem right to me that +when the art of the prodigy is incontestably great, that the mere fact +of his youth should serve as an excuse to look upon him with prejudice, +and even with a certain degree of distrust." + + + + + III + + + EDDY BROWN + + HUBAY AND AUER: TECHNIC: + HINTS TO THE STUDENT + + +Notwithstanding the fact that Eddy Brown was born in Chicago, Ill., and +that he is so great a favorite with concert audiences in the land of his +birth, the gifted violinist hesitates to qualify himself as a strictly +"American" violinist. As he expresses it: "Musically I was altogether +educated in Europe--I never studied here, because I left this country at +the age of seven, and only returned a few years ago. So I would not like +to be placed in the position of claiming anything under false pretenses! + + + HUBAY AND AUER: SOME COMPARISONS + +"With whom did I study? With two famous masters; by a strange +coincidence both Hungarians. First with Jenö Hubay, at the National +Academy of Music in Budapest, later with Leopold Auer in Petrograd. +Hubay had been a pupil of Vieuxtemps in Brussels, and is a justly +celebrated teacher, very thorough and painstaking in explaining to his +pupils how to do things; but the great difference between Hubay and Auer +is that while Hubay tells a student how to do things, Auer, a +temperamental teacher, literally drags out of him whatever there is in +him, awakening latent powers he never knew he possessed. Hubay is a +splendid builder of virtuosity, and has a fine sense for phrasing. For a +year and a half I worked at nothing but studies with him, giving special +attention to technic. He did not believe in giving too much time to left +hand development, when without adequate bow technic finger facility is +useless. Here he was in accord with Auer, in fact with every teacher +seriously deserving of the name. Hubay was a first-class pedagog, and +under his instruction one could not help becoming a well-balanced and +musicianly player. But there is a higher ideal in violin playing than +mere correctness, and Auer is an inspiring teacher. Hubay has written +some admirable studies, notably twelve studies for the right hand, +though he never stressed technic too greatly. On the other hand, Auer's +most notable contributions to violin literature are his revisions of +such works as the Bach sonatas, the Tschaikovsky Concerto, etc. In a way +it points the difference in their mental attitude: Hubay more concerned +with the technical educational means, one which cannot be overlooked; +Auer more interested in the interpretative, artistic educational end, +which has always claimed his attention. Hubay personally was a _grand +seigneur_, a multi-millionaire, and married to an Hungarian countess. He +had a fine ear for phrasing, could improvise most interesting violin +accompaniments to whatever his pupils played, and beside Rode, Kreutzer +and Fiorillo I studied the concertos and other repertory works with him. +Then there were the conservatory lessons! Attendance at a European +conservatory is very broadening musically. Not only does the individual +violin pupil, for example, profit by listening to his colleagues play in +class: he also studies theory, musical history, the piano, _ensemble_ +playing, chamber-music and orchestra. I was concertmaster of the +conservatory orchestra while studying with Hubay. There should be a +national conservatory of music in this country; music in general would +advance more rapidly. And it would help teach American students to +approach the art of violin playing from the right point of view. As it +is, too many want to study abroad under some renowned teacher not, +primarily, with the idea of becoming great artists; but in the hope of +drawing great future commercial dividends from an initial financial +investment. In Art the financial should always be a secondary +consideration. + +"It stands to reason that no matter how great a student's gifts may be, +he can profit by study with a great teacher. This, I think, applies to +all. After I had already appeared in concert at Albert Hall, London, in +1909, where I played the Beethoven Concerto with orchestra, I decided to +study with Auer. When I first came to him he wanted to know why I did +so, and after hearing me play, told me that I did not need any lessons +from him. But I knew that there was a certain 'something' which I wished +to add to my violinistic make-up, and instinctively felt that he alone +could give me what I wanted. I soon found that in many essentials his +ideas coincided with those of Hubay. But I also discovered that Auer +made me develop my individuality unconsciously, placing no undue +restrictions whatsoever upon my manner of expression, barring, of +course, unmusicianly tendencies. When he has a really talented pupil the +Professor gives him of his best. I never gave a thought to technic while +I studied with him--the great things were a singing tone, bowing, +interpretation! I studied Brahms and Beethoven, and though Hubay always +finished with the Bach sonatas, I studied them again carefully with +Auer. + + + TECHNIC: SOME HINTS TO THE STUDENT + +"At the bottom of all technic lies the scale. And scale practice is the +ladder by means of which all must climb to higher proficiency. Scales, +in single tones and intervals, thirds, sixths, octaves, tenths, with the +incidental changes of position, are the foundation of technic. They +should be practiced slowly, always with the development of tone in mind, +and not too long a time at any one session. No one can lay claim to a +perfected technic who has not mastered the scale. Better a good tone, +even though a hundred mistakes be made in producing it, than a tone that +is poor, thin and without quality. I find the Singer _Fingerübungen_ are +excellent for muscular development in scale work, for imparting the +great strength which is necessary for the fingers to have; and the +Kreutzer _études_ are indispensable. To secure an absolute _legato_ +tone, a true singing tone on the violin, one should play scales with a +perfectly well sustained and steady bow, in whole notes, slowly and +_mezzo-forte_, taking care that each note is clear and pure, and that +its volume does not vary during the stroke. The quality of tone must be +equalized, and each whole note should be 'sung' with a single bowing. +The change from up-bow to down-bow and _vice versa_ should be made +without a break, exclusively through skillful manipulation of the wrist. +To accomplish this unbroken change of bow one should cultivate a loose +wrist, and do special work at the extreme ends, nut and tip. + +"The _vibrato_ is a great tone beautifier. Too rapid or too slow a +_vibrato_ defeats the object desired. There is a happy medium of +_tempo_, rather faster than slower, which gives the best results. Carl +Flesch has some interesting theories about vibration which are worth +investigating. A slow and a moderately rapid _vibrato, from the wrist_, +is best for practice, and the underlying idea while working must be +tone, and not fingerwork. + +_Staccato_ is one of the less important branches of bow technic. There +is a knack in doing it, and it is purely pyrotechnical. _Staccato_ +passages in quantity are only to be found in solos of the virtuoso type. +One never meets with extended _staccato_ passages in Beethoven, Brahms, +Bruch or Lalo. And the Saint-Saëns's violin concerto, if I remember +rightly, contains but a single _staccato_ passage. + +"_Spiccato_ is a very different matter from _staccato_: violinists as a +rule use the middle of the bow for _spiccato_: I use the upper third of +the bow, and thus get most satisfactory results, in no matter what +_tempo_. This question as to what portion of the bow to use for +_spiccato_ each violinist must decide for himself, however, through +experiment. I have tried both ways and find that by the last mentioned +use of the bow I secure quicker, cleaner results. Students while +practicing this bowing should take care that the wrist, and never the +arm, be used. Hubay has written some very excellent studies for this +form of 'springing bow.' + +"The trill, when it rolls quickly and evenly, is a trill indeed! I never +had any difficulty in acquiring it, and can keep on trilling +indefinitely without the slightest unevenness or slackening of speed. +Auer himself has assured me that I have a trill that runs on and on +without a sign of fatigue or uncertainty. The trill has to be practiced +very slowly at first, later with increasing rapidity, and always with a +firm pressure of the fingers. It is a very beautiful embellishment, and +one much used; one finds it in Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, etc. + +"Double notes never seemed hard to me, but harmonics are not as easily +acquired as some of the other violin effects. I advise pressing down the +first finger on the strings _inordinately_, especially in the higher +positions, when playing artificial harmonics. The higher the fingers +ascend on the strings, the more firmly they should press them, otherwise +the harmonics are apt to grow shrill and lose in clearness. The majority +of students have trouble with their harmonics, because they do not +practice them in this way. Of course the quality of the harmonics +produced varies with the quality of the strings that produce them. First +class strings are an absolute necessity for the production of pure +harmonics. Yet in the case of the artist, he himself is held +responsible, and not his strings. + +"Octaves? Occasionally, as in Auer's transcript of Beethoven's _Dance of +the Dervishes_, or in the closing section of the Ernst Concerto, when +they are used to obtain a certain weird effect, they sound well. But +ordinarily, if cleanly played, they sound like one-note successions. In +the examples mentioned, the so-called 'fingered octaves,' which are very +difficult, are employed. Ordinary octaves are not so troublesome. After +all, in octave playing we simply double the notes for the purpose of +making them more powerful. + +"As regards the playing of tenths, it seems to me that the interval +always sounds constrained, and hardly ever euphonious enough to justify +its difficulty, especially in rapid passages. Yet Paganini used this +awkward interval very freely in his compositions, and one of his +'Caprices' is a variation in tenths, which should be played more often +than it is, as it is very effective. In this connection change of +position, which I have already touched on with regard to scale playing, +should be so smooth that it escapes notice. Among special effects the +_glissando_ is really beautiful when properly done. And this calls for +judgment. It might be added, though, that the _glissando_ is an effect +which should not be overdone. The _portamento_--gliding from one note to +another--is also a lovely effect. Its proper and timely application +calls for good judgment and sound musical taste. + + + A SPANISH VIOLIN + +"I usually play a 'Strad,' but very often turn to my beautiful +'Guillami,'" said Mr. Brown when asked about his violins. "It is an old +Spanish violin, made in Barcelona, in 1728, with a tone that has a +distinct Stradivarius character. In appearance it closely resembles a +Guadagnini, and has often been taken for one. When the dealer of whom I +bought it first showed it to me it was complete--but in four distinct +pieces! Kubelik, who was in Budapest at the time, heard of it and wanted +to buy it; but the dealer, as was only right, did not forget that my +offer represented a prior claim, and so I secured it. The Guadagnini, +which I have played in all my concerts here, I am very fond of--it has a +Stradivarius tone rather than the one we usually associate with the +make." Mr. Brown showed the writer his Grancino, a beautiful little +instrument about to be sent to the repair shop, since exposure to the +damp atmosphere of the sea-shore had opened its seams--and the rare and +valuable Simon bow, now his, which had once been the property of +Sivori. Mr. Brown has used a wire E ever since he broke six gut strings +in one hour while at Seal Harbor, Maine. "A wire string, I find, is not +only easier to play, but it has a more brilliant quality of tone than a +gut string; and I am now so accustomed to using a wire E, that I would +feel ill at ease if I did not have one on my instrument. Contrary to +general belief, it does not sound 'metallic,' unless the string itself +is of very poor quality. + + +PROGRAMS + +"In making up a recital program I try to arrange it so that the first +half, approximately, may appeal to the more specifically musical part of +my audience, and to the critics. In the second half I endeavor to +remember the general public; at the same time being careful to include +nothing which is not really _musical_. This (Mr. Brown found one of his +recent programs on his desk and handed it to me) represents a logical +compromise between the strictly artistic and the more general taste:" + + + PROGRAM + + I. Beethoven . . . . . Sonata Op. 47 (dedicated to Kreutzer) + + II. Bruch . . . . . . Concerto (G minor) + + III. (a) Beethoven . . . . Romance (in G major) + (b) Beethoven-Auer . . Chorus of the Dervishes + (c) Brown . . . . . Rondino (on a Cramer theme) + (d) Arbos . . . . . Tango + + IV. (a) Kreisler . . . . La Gitana + (Arabo-Spanish Gipsy Dance of the 18th Century) + (b) Cui . . . . . . Orientale + (c) Bazzini. . . . . La Ronde des Lutins + + +"As you see there are two extended serious works, followed by two +smaller 'groups' of pieces. And these have also been chosen with a view +to contrast. The _finale_ of the Bruch concerto is an _allegro +energico_: I follow it with a Beethoven _Romance_, a slow movement. The +second group begins with a taking Kreisler novelty, which is succeeded +by another slow number; but one very effective in its working-up; and I +end my program with a brilliant virtuoso number. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"My own personal conception of violin mastery," concluded Mr. Brown, +"might be defined as follows: 'An individual tone production, or rather +tone quality, consummate musicianship in phrasing and interpretation, +ability to rise above all mechanical and intellectual effort, and +finally the power to express that which is dictated by one's imagination +and emotion, with the same natural simplicity and spontaneity with which +the thought of a really great orator is expressed in the easy, +unconstrained flow of his language.'" + + + + + IV + + + MISCHA ELMAN + + LIFE AND COLOR IN INTERPRETATION. + TECHNICAL PHASES + + +To hear Mischa Elman on the concert platform, to listen to him play, +"with all that wealth of tone, emotion and impulse which places him in +the very foremost rank of living violinists," should be joy enough for +any music lover. To talk with him in his own home, however, gives one a +deeper insight into his art as an interpreter; and in the pleasant +intimacy of familiar conversation the writer learned much that the +serious student of the violin will be interested in knowing. + + + [Illustration: MISCHA ELMAN, with hand-written note] + + + MANNERISMS IN PLAYING + +We all know that Elman, when he plays in public, moves his head, moves +his body, sways in time to the music; in a word there are certain +mannerisms associated with his playing which critics have on occasion +mentioned with grave suspicion, as evidences of sensationalism. Half +fearing to insult him by asking whether he was "sincere," or whether his +motions were "stage business" carefully rehearsed, as had been implied, +I still ventured the question. He laughed boyishly and was evidently +much amused. + +"No, no," he said. "I do not study up any 'stage business' to help out +my playing! I do not know whether I ought to compare myself to a dancer, +but the appeal of the dance is in all musical movement. Certain rhythms +and musical combinations affect me subconsciously. I suppose the direct +influence of the music on me is such that there is a sort of emotional +reflex: I move with the music in an unconscious translation of it into +gesture. It is all so individual. The French violinists as a rule play +very correctly in public, keeping their eye on finger and bow. And this +appeals to me strongly in theory. In practice I seem to get away from +it. It is a matter of temperament I presume. I am willing to believe I'm +not graceful, but then--I do not know whether I move or do not move! +Some of my friends have spoken of it to me at various times, so I +suppose I do move, and sway and all the rest; but any movements of the +sort must be unconscious, for I myself know nothing of them. And the +idea that they are 'prepared' as 'stage effects' is delightful!" And +again Elman laughed. + + + LIFE AND COLOR IN INTERPRETATION + +"For that matter," he continued, "every real artist has some mannerisms +when playing, I imagine. Yet more than mannerisms are needed to impress +an American audience. Life and color in interpretation are the true +secrets of great art. And beauty of interpretation depends, first of +all, on variety of color. Technic is, after all, only secondary. No +matter how well played a composition be, its performance must have +color, _nuance_, movement, life! Each emotional mood of the moment must +be fully expressed, and if it is its appeal is sure. I remember when I +once played for Don Manuel, the young ex-king of Portugal, in London, I +had an illustration of the fact. He was just a pathetic boy, very +democratic, and personally very likable. He was somewhat neglected at +the time, for it is well known and not altogether unnatural, that +royalty securely established finds 'kings in exile' a bit embarrassing. +Don Manuel was a music-lover, and especially fond of Bach. I had had +long talks with the young king at various times, and my sympathies had +been aroused in his behalf. On the evening of which I speak I played a +Chopin _Nocturne_, and I know that into my playing there went some of my +feeling for the pathos of the situation of this young stranger in a +strange land, of my own age, eating the bitter bread of exile. When I +had finished, the Marchioness of Ripon touched my arm: 'Look at the +King!' she whispered. Don Manuel had been moved to tears. + +"Of course the purely mechanical must always be dominated by the +artistic personality of the player. Yet technic is also an important +part of interpretation: knowing exactly how long to hold a bow, the most +delicate inflections of its pressure on the strings. There must be +perfect sympathy also with the composer's thought; his spirit must stand +behind the personality of the artist. In the case of certain famous +compositions, like the Beethoven concerto, for instance, this is so well +established that the artist, and never the composer, is held responsible +if it is not well played. But too rigorous an adherence to 'tradition' +in playing is also an extreme. I once played privately for Joachim in +Berlin: it was the Bach _Chaconne_. Now the edition I used was a +standard one: and Joachim was extremely reverential as regards +traditions. Yet he did not hesitate to indicate some changes which he +thought should be made in the version of an authoritative edition, +because 'they sounded better.' And 'How does it sound?' is really the +true test of all interpretation." + + + ABSOLUTE PITCH THE FIRST ESSENTIAL OF A + PERFECTED TECHNIC + +"What is the fundamental of a perfected violin technic?" was a natural +question at this point. "Absolute pitch, first of all," replied Elman +promptly. "Many a violinist plays a difficult passage, sounding every +note; and yet it sounds out of tune. The first and second movements of +the Beethoven concerto have no double-stops; yet they are extremely +difficult to play. Why? Because they call for absolute pitch: they must +be played in perfect tune so that each tone stands out in all its +fullness and clarity like a rock in the sea. And without a fundamental +control of pitch such a master work will always be beyond the +violinist's reach. Many a player has the facility; but without perfect +intonation he can never attain the highest perfection. On the other +hand, any one who can play a single phrase in absolute pitch has the +first and great essential. Few artists, not barring some of the +greatest, play with perfect intonation. Its control depends first of all +on the ear. And a sensitive ear finds differences and shading; it bids +the violinist play a trifle sharper, a trifle flatter, according to the +general harmonic color of the accompaniment; it leads him to observe a +difference, when the harmonic atmosphere demands it, between a C sharp +in the key of E major and a D flat in the same key. + + + TECHNICAL PHASES + +"Every player finds some phases of technic easy and others difficult. +For instance, I have never had to work hard for quality of tone--when I +wish to get certain color effects they come: I have no difficulty in +expressing my feelings, my emotions in tone. And in a technical way +_spiccato_ bowing, which many find so hard, has always been easy to me. +I have never had to work for it. Double-stops, on the contrary, cost me +hours of intensive work before I played them with ease and facility. +What did I practice? Scales in double-stops--they give color and variety +to tone. And I gave up a certain portion of my regular practice time to +passages from concertos and sonatas. There is wonderful work in +double-stops in the Ernst concerto and in the Paganini _Études_, for +instance. With octaves and tenths I have never had any trouble: I have a +broad hand and a wide stretch, which accounts for it, I suppose. + +"Then there are harmonics, flageolets--I, have never been able to +understand why they should be considered so difficult! They should not +be white, colorless; but call for just as much color as any other tones +(and any one who has heard Mischa Elman play harmonics knows that this +is no mere theory on his part). I never think of harmonics as +'harmonics,' but try to give them just as much expressive quality as the +notes of any other register. The mental attitude should influence their +production--too many violinists think of them only as incidental to +pyrotechnical display. + +"And fingering? Fingering in general seems to me to be an individual +matter. A concert artist may use a certain fingering for a certain +passage which no pupil should use, and be entirely justified if he can +thus secure a certain effect. + +"I do not--speaking out of my own experience--believe much in methods: +and never to the extent that they be allowed to kill the student's +individuality. A clear, clean tone should always be the ideal of his +striving. And to that end he must see that the up and down bows in a +passage like the following from the Bach sonata in A minor (and Mr. +Elman hastily jotted down the subjoined) are absolutely + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +even, and of the same length, played with the same strength and length +of bow, otherwise the notes are swallowed. In light _spiccato_ and +_staccato_ the detached notes should be played always with a single +stroke of the bow. Some players, strange to say, find _staccato_ notes +more difficult to play at a moderate tempo than fast. I believe it to be +altogether a matter of control--if proper control be there the tempo +makes no difference. Wieniawski, I have read, could only play his +_staccati_ at a high rate of speed. _Spiccato_ is generally held to be +more difficult than _staccato_; yet I myself find it easier. + + + PROPORTION IN PRACTICE + +"To influence a clear, singing tone with the left hand, to phrase it +properly with the bow hand, is most important. And it is a matter of +proportion. Good phrasing is spoiled by an ugly tone: a beautiful +singing tone loses meaning if improperly phrased. When the student has +reached a certain point of technical development, technic must be a +secondary--yet not neglected--consideration, and he should devote +himself to the production of a good tone. Many violinists have missed +their career by exaggerated attention to either bow or violin hand. Both +hands must be watched at the same time. And the question of proportion +should always be kept in mind in practicing studies and passages: +pressure of fingers and pressure of bow must be equalized, coordinated. +The teacher can only do a certain amount: the pupil must do the rest. + + + AUER AS A TEACHER + +"Take Auer for example. I may call myself the first real exponent of his +school, in the sense of making his name widely known. Auer is a great +teacher, and leaves much to the individuality of his pupils. He first +heard me play at the Imperial Music School in Odessa, and took me to +Petrograd to study with him, which I did for a year and four months. And +he could accomplish wonders! That one year he had a little group of four +pupils each one better than the other--a very stimulating situation for +all of them. There was a magnetism about him: he literally hypnotized +his pupils into doing better than their best--though in some cases it +was evident that once the support of his magnetic personality was +withdrawn, the pupil fell back into the level from which he had been +raised for the time being. + +"Yet Auer respected the fact that temperamentally I was not responsive +to this form of appeal. He gave me of his best. I never practiced more +than two or three hours a day--just enough to keep fresh. Often I came +to my lesson unprepared, and he would have me play things--sonatas, +concertos--which I had not touched for a year or more. He was a severe +critic, but always a just one. + +"I can recall how proud I was when he sent me to beautiful music-loving +Helsingfors, in Finland--where all seems to be bloodshed and confusion +now--to play a recital in his own stead on one occasion, and how proud +he was of my success. Yet Auer had his little peculiarities. I have read +somewhere that the great fencing-masters of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries were very jealous of the secrets of their famous +feints and _ripostes_, and only confided them to favorite pupils who +promised not to reveal them. Auer had his little secrets, too, with +which he was loth to part. When I was to make my _début_ in Berlin, I +remember, he was naturally enough interested--since I was his pupil--in +my scoring a triumph. And he decided to part with some of his treasured +technical thrusts and parries. And when I was going over the +Tschaikovsky _D minor concerto_ (which I was to play), he would select a +passage and say: 'Now I'll play this for you. If you catch it, well and +good; if not it is your own fault!' I am happy to say that I did not +fail to 'catch' his meaning on any occasion. Auer really has a wonderful +intellect, and some secrets well worth knowing. That he is so great an +artist himself on the instrument is the more remarkable, since +physically he was not exceptionally favored. Often, when he saw me, he'd +say with a sigh: 'Ah, if I only had your hand!' + +"Auer was a great virtuoso player. He held a unique place in the +Imperial Ballet. You know in many of the celebrated ballets, +Tschaikovsky's for instance, there occur beautiful and difficult solos +for the violin. They call for an artist of the first rank, and Auer was +accustomed to play them in Petrograd. In Russia it was considered a +decided honor to be called upon to play one of those ballet solos; but +in London it was looked on as something quite incidental. I remember +when Diaghilev presented Tschaikovsky's _Lac des Cygnes_ in London, the +Grand-Duke Andrew Vladimirev (who had heard me play), an amiable young +boy, and a patron of the arts, requested me--and at that time the +request of a Romanov was still equivalent to a command--to play the +violin solos which accompany the love scenes. It was not exactly easy, +since I had to play and watch dancers and conductor at the same time. +Yet it was a novelty for London, however; everybody was pleased and the +Grand-Duke presented me with a handsome diamond pin as an +acknowledgment. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"You ask me what I understand by 'Violin Mastery'? Well, it seems to me +that the artist who can present anything he plays as a distinct +picture, in every detail, framing the composer's idea in the perfect +beauty of his plastic rendering, with absolute truth of color and +proportion--he is the artist who deserves to be called a master! + +"Of course, the instrument the artist uses is an important factor in +making it possible for him to do his best. My violin? It is an authentic +Strad--dated 1722. I bought it of Willy Burmester in London. You see he +did not care much for it. The German style of playing is not calculated +to bring out the tone beauty, the quality of the old Italian fiddles. I +think Burmester had forced the tone, and it took me some time to make it +mellow and truly responsive again, but now...." Mr. Elman beamed. It was +evident he was satisfied with his instrument. "As to strings," he +continued, "I never use wire strings--they have no color, no quality! + + + WHAT TO STUDY AND HOW + +"For the advanced student there is a wealth of study material. No one +ever wrote more beautiful violin music than Haendel, so rich in +invention, in harmonic fullness. In Beethoven there are more ideas than +tone--but such ideas! Schubert--all genuine, spontaneous! Bach is so +gigantic that the violin often seems inadequate to express him. That is +one reason why I do not play more Bach in public. + +"The study of a sonata or concerto should entirely absorb the attention +of the student to such a degree that, as he is able to play it, it has +become a part of him. He should be able to play it as though it were an +improvisation--of course without doing violence to the composer's idea. +If he masters the composition in the way it should be mastered it +becomes a portion of himself. Before I even take up my violin I study a +piece thoroughly in score. I read and reread it until I am at home with +the composer's thought, and its musical balance and proportion. Then, +when I begin to play it, its salient points are already memorized, and +the practicing gives me a kind of photographic reflex of detail. After I +have not played a number for a long time it fades from my memory--like +an old negative--but I need only go over it once or twice to have a +clear mnemonic picture of it once more. + +"Yes, I believe in transcriptions for the violin--with certain +provisos," said Mr. Elman, in reply to another question. "First of all +the music to be transcribed must lend itself naturally to the +instrument. Almost any really good melodic line, especially a +_cantilena_, will sound with a fitting harmonic development. Violinists +of former days like Spohr, Rode and Paganini were more intent on +composing music _out of the violin_! The modern idea lays stress first +of all on the _idea_ in music. In transcribing I try to forget I am a +violinist, in order to form a perfect picture of the musical idea--its +violinistic development must be a natural, subconscious working-out. If +you will look at some of my recent transcripts--the Albaniz _Tango_, the +negro melody _Deep River_ and Amani's fine _Orientale_--you will see +what I mean. They are conceived as pictures--I have not tried to analyze +too much--and while so conceiving them their free harmonic background +shapes itself for me without strain or effort. + + + A REMINISCENCE OF COLONNE + +"Conductors with whom I have played? There are many: Hans Richter, who +was a master of the baton; Nikisch, one of the greatest in conducting +the orchestral accompaniment to a violin solo number; Colonne of Paris, +and many others. I had an amusing experience with Colonne once. He +brought his orchestra to Russia while I was with Auer, and was giving a +concert at Pavlovsk, a summer resort near Petrograd. Colonne had a +perfect horror of 'infant prodigies,' and Auer had arranged for me to +play with his orchestra without telling him my age--I was eleven at the +time. When Colonne saw me, violin in hand, ready to step on the stage, +he drew himself up and said with emphasis: 'I play with a prodigy! +Never!' Nothing could move him, and I had to play to a piano +accompaniment. After he had heard me play, though, he came over to me +and said: 'The best apology I can make for what I said is to ask you to +do me the honor of playing with the _Orchestre Colonne_ in Paris.' He +was as good as his word. Four months later I went to Paris and played +the Mendelssohn concerto for him with great success." + + + + + V + + + SAMUEL GARDNER + + TECHNIC AND MUSICIANSHIP + + +Samuel Gardner, though born in Jelisavetgrad, Cherson province, in +Southern Russia, in 1891, is to all intents and purposes an American, +since his family, fleeing the tyranny of an Imperialistic regime of +"pogroms" and "Black Hundreds," brought him to this country when a mere +child; and here in the United States he has become, to quote Richard +Aldrich, "the serious and accomplished artist," whose work on the +concert stage has given such pleasure to lovers of violin music at its +best. The young violinist, who in the course of the same week had just +won two prizes in composition--the Pulitzer Prize (Columbia) for a +string quartet, and the Loeb Prize for a symphonic poem--was amiably +willing to talk of his study experience for the benefit of other +students. + + + CHARLES MARTIN LOEFFLER AND FELIX WINTERNITZ AS TEACHERS + +"I took up the study of the violin at the age of seven, and when I was +nine I went to Charles Martin Loeffler and really began to work +seriously. Loeffler was a very strict teacher and very exacting, but he +achieved results, for he had a most original way of making his points +clear to the student. He started off with the Sevčik studies, laying +great stress on the proper finger articulation. And he taught me +absolute smoothness in change of position when crossing the strings. For +instance, in the second book of Sevčik's 'Technical Exercises,' in the +third exercise, the bow crosses from G to A, and from D to E, leaving a +string between in each crossing. Well, I simply could not manage to get +to the second string to be played without the string in between +sounding! Loeffler showed me what every good fiddler _must_ learn to do: +to leap from the end of the down-bow to the up-bow and _vice versa_ and +then hesitate the fraction of a moment, thus securing a smooth, +clean-cut tone, without any vibration of the intermediate string. +Loeffler never gave a pupil any rest until he came up to his +requirements. I know when I played the seventh and eighth Kreutzer +studies for him--they are trill studies--he said: 'You trill like an +electric bell, but not fast enough!' And he kept at me to speed up my +tempo without loss of clearness or tone-volume, until I could do justice +to a rapid trill. It is a great quality in a teacher to be literally +able to _enforce_ the pupil's progress in certain directions; for though +the latter may not appreciate it at the time, later on he is sure to do +so. I remember once when he was trying to explain the perfect +_crescendo_ to me, fire-engine bells began to ring in the distance, the +sound gradually drawing nearer the house in Charles Street where I was +taking my lesson. 'There you have it!' Loeffler cried: 'There's your +ideal _crescendo_! Play it like that and I will be satisfied!' I +remained with Loeffler a year and a half, and when he went to Paris +began to study with Felix Winternitz. + +"Felix Winternitz was a teacher who allowed his pupils to develop +individuality. 'I care nothing for theories,' he used to say, 'so long +as I can see something original in your work!' He attached little +importance to the theory of technic, but a great deal to technical +development along individual lines. And he always encouraged me to +express myself freely, within my limitations, stressing the musical side +of my work. With him I played through the concertos which, after a time, +I used for technical material, since every phase of technic and bowing +is covered in these great works. I was only fifteen when I left +Winternitz and still played by instinct rather than intellectually. I +still used my bow arm somewhat stiffly, and did not think much about +phrasing. I instinctively phrased whatever the music itself made clear +to me, and what I did not understand I merely played. + + + KNEISEL'S TEACHING METHODS + +"But when I came to Franz Kneisel, my last teacher, I began to work with +my mind. Kneisel showed me that I had to think when I played. At first I +did not realize why he kept at me so insistently about phrasing, +interpretation, the exact observance of expression marks; but eventually +it dawned on me that he was teaching me to read a soul into each +composition I studied. + +"I practiced hard, from four to five hours a day. Fortunately, as +regards technical equipment, I was ready for Kneisel's instruction. The +first thing he gave me to study was, not a brilliant virtuoso piece, but +the Bach concerto in E major, and then the Viotti concerto. In the +beginning, until Kneisel showed me, I did not know what to do with them. +This was music whose notes in themselves were easy, and whose +difficulties were all of an individual order. But intellectual analysis, +interpretation, are Kneisel's great points. A strict teacher, I worked +with him for five years, the most remarkable years of all my violin +study. + +"Kneisel knows how to develop technical perfection without using +technical exercises. I had already played the Mendelssohn, Bruch and +Lalo concertos with Winternitz, and these I now restudied with Kneisel. +In interpretation he makes clear every phrase in its relation to every +other phrase and the movement as a whole. And he insists on his pupils +studying theory and composition--something I had formerly not been +inclined to take seriously. + +"Some teachers are satisfied if the student plays his _notes_ correctly, +in a general way. With Kneisel the very least detail, a trill, a scale, +has to be given its proper tone-color and dynamic shading in absolute +proportion with the balancing harmonies. This trill, in the first +movement of the Beethoven concerto--(and Mr. Gardner jotted it down) + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +Kneisel kept me at during the entire lesson, till I was able to adjust +its tone-color and _nuances_ to the accompanying harmony. Then, though +many teachers do not know it, it is a tradition in the orchestra to make +a _diminuendo_ in the sixth measure, before the change of key to C +major, and this _diminuendo_ should, of course, be observed by the solo +instrument as well. Yet you will hear well-known artists play the trill +throughout with a loud, brilliant tone and no dynamic change! + +"Kneisel makes it a point to have all his pupils play chamber music +because of its truly broadening influence. And he is unexcelled in +taking apart structurally the Beethoven, Brahms, Tschaikovsky and other +quartets, in analyzing and explaining the wonderful planning and +building up of each movement. I had the honor of playing second violin +in the Kneisel Quartet from September to February (1914-1915), at the +outbreak of the war, a most interesting experience. The musicianship +Kneisel had given me; I was used to his style and at home with his +ideas, and am happy to think that he was satisfied. A year later as +assistant concertmaster in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I had a +chance to become practically acquainted with the orchestral works of +Strauss, d'Indy and other moderns, and enjoy the Beethoven, Brahms and +Tschaikovsky symphonies as a performer. + + + TECHNIC AND MUSICIANSHIP + +"How do I regard technic now? I think of it in the terms of the music +itself. Music should dictate the technical means to be used. The +composition and its phrases should determine bowing and the tone quality +employed. One should not think of down-bows or up-bows. In the Brahms +concerto you can find many long phrases: they cannot be played with one +bow; yet there must be no apparent change of bow. If the player does not +know what the phrase means; how to interpret it, how will he be able to +bow it correctly? + +"And there are so many different _nuances_, especially in _legato_. It +is as a rule produced by a slurred bow; yet it may also be produced by +other bowings. To secure a good _legato_ tone watch the singer. The +singer can establish the perfect smoothness that _legato_ calls for to +perfection. To secure a like effect the violinist should convey the +impression that there is no point, no frog, that the bow he uses is of +indefinite length. And the violinist should never think: 'I must play +this up-bow or down-bow.' Artists of the German school are more apt to +begin a phrase with a down-bow; the French start playing a good deal at +the point. Up or down, both are secondary to finding out, first of all, +what quality, what balance of tone the phrase demands. The conductor of +a symphonic orchestra does not care how, technically, certain effects +are produced by the violins, whether they use an up-bow or a down-bow. +He merely says: 'That's too heavy: give me less tone!' The result to be +achieved is always more important than the manner of achievement. + +"All phases of technical accomplishment, if rightly acquired, tend to +become second nature to the player in the course of time: _staccato_, a +brilliant trick; _spiccato_, the reiteration of notes played from the +wrist, etc. The _martellato_, a _nuance_ of _spiccato_, should be played +with a firm bowing at the point. In a very broad _spiccato_, the arm +may be brought into play; but otherwise not, since it makes rapid +playing impossible. Too many amateurs try to play _spiccato_ from the +arm. And too many teachers are contented with a trill that is merely +brilliant. Kneisel insists on what he calls a 'musical trill,' of which +Kreisler's beautiful trill is a perfect example. The trill of some +violinists is _invariably_ brilliant, whether brilliancy is appropriate +or not. Brilliant trills in Bach always seem out of place to me; while +in Paganini and in Wieniawski's _Carnaval de Venise_ a high brilliant +trill is very effective. + +"As to double-stops--Edison once said that violin music should be +written only in double-stops--I practice them playing first the single +notes and then the two together, and can recommend this mode of practice +from personal experience. Harmonics, where clarity is the most important +thing, are mainly a matter of bowing, of a sure attack and sustaining by +the bow. Of course the harmonics themselves are made by the fingers; but +their tone quality rests altogether with the bow. + + + EDISON AND OCTAVES + +"The best thing I've ever heard said of octaves was Edison's remark to +me that 'They are merely a nuisance and should not be played!' I was +making some records for him during the experimental stage of the disk +record, when he was trying to get an absolutely smooth _legato_ tone, +one that conformed to Loeffler's definition of it as 'no breaks' in the +tone. He had had Schubert's _Ave Maria_ recorded by Flesch, MacMillan +and others, and wanted me to play it for him. The records were all +played for me, and whenever he came to the octave passages Edison would +say: 'Listen to them! How badly they sound!' Yet the octaves were +absolutely in tune! 'Why do they sound so badly?' I inquired. + +"Then Edison explained to me that according to the scientific theory of +vibration, the vibrations of the higher tone of the octaves should be +exactly twice those of the lower note. 'But here,' he continued, 'the +vibrations of the notes all vary.' 'Yet how can the player control his +fingers in the _vibrato_ beyond playing his octaves in perfect tune?' I +asked. 'Well, if he cannot do so,' said Edison, 'octaves are merely a +nuisance, and should not be played at all.' I experimented and found +that by simply pressing down the fingers and playing without any +_vibrato_, I could come pretty near securing the exact relation between +the vibrations of the upper and lower notes but--they sounded dreadful! +Of course, octaves sound well in _ensemble_, especially in the +orchestra, because each player plays but a single note. And tenths sound +even better than octaves when two people play them. + + + WIRE AND GUT STRINGS + +"You ask about my violin? It belonged to the famous Hawley collection, +and is a Giovanni Baptista Guadignini, made in 1780, in Turin. The back +is a single piece of maple-wood, having a broadish figure extending +across its breadth. The maple-wood sides match the back. The top is +formed of a very choice piece of spruce, and it is varnished a deep +golden-red. It has a remarkably fine tone, very vibrant and with great +carrying power, a tone that has all that I can ask for as regards volume +and quality. + +"I think that wire strings are largely used now-a-days because gut +strings are hard to obtain--not because they are better. I do not use +wire strings. I have tried them and find them thin in tone, or so +brilliant that their tone is too piercing. Then, too, I find that the +use of a wire E reduces the volume of tone of the other strings. No +wire string has the quality of a fine gut string; and I regard them only +as a substitute in the case of some people, and a convenience for lazy +ones. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin Mastery? Off-hand I might say the phrase stands for a life-time +of effort with its highest aims unattained. As I see it the achievement +of violin mastery represents a combination of 90 per cent. of toil and +10 per cent. of talent or inspiration. Goetschius, with whom I studied +composition, once said to me: 'I do not congratulate you on having +talent. That is a gift. But I do congratulate you on being able to work +hard!' The same thing applies to the fiddle. It seems to me that only by +keeping everlastingly at it can one become a master of the instrument." + + + + + VI + + + ARTHUR HARTMANN + + THE PROBLEM OF TECHNIC + + +Arthur Hartmann is distinctly and unmistakably a personality. He stands +out even in that circle of distinguished contemporary violinists which +is so largely made up of personalities. He is a composer--not only of +violin pieces, but of symphonic and choral works, chamber music, songs +and piano numbers. His critical analysis of Bach's _Chaconne_, +translated into well-nigh every tongue, is probably the most complete +and exhaustive study of "that triumph of genius over matter" written. +And besides being a master of his own instrument he plays the _viola +d'amore_, that sweet-toned survival, with sympathetic strings, of the +17th century viol family, and the Hungarian _czimbalom_. Nor is his +mastery of the last-named instrument "out of drawing," for we must +remember that Mr. Hartmann was born in Maté Szalka, in Southern Hungary. +Then, too, Mr. Hartmann is a genial and original thinker, a +_littérateur_ of no mean ability, a bibliophile, the intimate of the +late Claude Debussy, and of many of the great men of musical Europe. Yet +from the reader's standpoint the interest he inspires is, no doubt, +mainly due to the fact that not only is he a great interpreting +artist--but a great artist doubled by a great teacher, an unusual +combination. + + [Illustration: _Photo by E.F. Foley, N.Y._ ARTHUR HARTMANN, + with hand-written note] + +Characteristic of Mr. Hartmann's hospitality (the writer had passed a +pleasant hour with him some years before, but had not seen him since), +was the fact that he insisted in brewing Turkish coffee, and making his +caller feel quite at home before even allowing him to broach the subject +of his visit. And when he learned that its purpose was to draw on his +knowledge and experience for information which would be of value to the +serious student and lover of his art, he did not refuse to respond. + + + WHAT VIOLIN PLAYING REALLY IS + +"Violin playing is really no abstract mystery. It's as clear as +geography in a way: one might say the whole art is bounded on the South +by the G string, on the North by the E string, on the West by the +string hand--and that's about as far as the comparison may be carried +out. The point is, there are definite boundaries, whose technical and +esthetic limits may be extended, and territorial annexations made +through brain power, mental control. To me 'Violin Mastery' means taking +this little fiddle-box in hand [and Mr. Hartmann suited action to word +by raising the lid of his violin-case and drawing forth his beautiful +1711 Strad], and doing just what I want with it. And that means having +the right finger on the right place at the right time--but don't forget +that to be able to do this you must have forgotten to think of your +fingers as fingers. They should be simply unconscious slaves of the +artist's psychic expression, absolutely subservient to his ideal. Too +many people reverse the process and become slaves to their fingers. + + + THE PROBLEM OF TECHNIC + +"Technic, for instance, in its mechanical sense, is a much exaggerated +microbe of _Materia musica_. All technic must conform to its +instrument.[A] The violin was made to suit the hand, not the hand to +suit the violin, hence its technic must be based on a natural logic of +hand movement. The whole problem of technical control is encountered in +the first change of position on the violin. If we violinists could play +in but one position there would be no technical problem. The solution of +this problem means, speaking broadly, the ability to play the +violin--for there is only one way of playing it--with a real, full, +singing 'violin' tone. It's not a question of a method, but just a +process based on pure reason, the working out of rational principles. + +[Footnote A: This is the idea which underlies my system for ear-training +and absolute pitch, "Arthur Hartmann's System," as I call it, which I +have published. A.H.] + +"What is the secret of this singing tone? Well, you may call it a +secret, for many of my pupils have no inkling of it when they first come +here, though it seems very much of an 'open secret' to me. The finished +beauty of the violin 'voice' is a round, sustained, absolutely smooth +_cantabile_ tone. Now [Mr. Hartmann took up his Strad], I'll play you +the scale of G as the average violin student plays it. You see--each +slide from one tone to the next, a break--a rosary of lurches! How can +there be a round, harmonious tone when the fingers progress by jerks? +Shifting position must not be a continuous movement of effort, but a +continuous movement in which effort and relaxation--that of dead +weight--alternate. As an illustration, when we walk we do not +consciously set down one foot, and then swing forward the other foot and +leg with a jerk. The forward movement is smooth, unconscious, +coordinated: in putting the foot forward it carries the weight of the +entire body, the movement becomes a matter of instinct. And the same +applies to the progression of the fingers in shifting the position of +the hand. Now, playing the scale as I now do--only two fingers should be +used-- + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +I prepare every shift. Absolute accuracy of intonation and a singing +legato is the result. These guiding notes indicated are merely a test to +prove the scientific spacing of the violin; they are not sounded once +control of the hand has been obtained. _They serve only to accustom the +fingers to keep moving in the direction in which they are going_. + +"The tone is produced by the left hand, by the weight of the fingers +plus an undercurrent of sustained effort. Now, you see, _if in the +moment of sliding you prepare the bow for the next string, the slide +itself is lost in the crossing of the bow_. To carry out consistently +this idea of effort and relaxation in the downward progression of the +scale, you will find that when you are in the third position, the +position of the hand is practically the same as in the first position. +Hence, in order to go down from third to first position with the hand in +what might be called a 'block' position, another movement is called for +to bridge over this space (between third and first position), and this +movement is the function of the thumb. The thumb, preceding the hand, +relaxes the wrist and helps draw the hand back to first position. But +great care must be taken that the thumb is not moved until the first +finger will have been played; otherwise there will be a tendency to +flatten. In the illustration the indication for the thumb is placed +after the note played by the first finger. + +"The inviolable law of beautiful playing is that there must be no +angles. As I have shown you, right and left hand coördinate. The fiddle +hand is preparing the change of position, while the change of strings is +prepared by the right hand. And always the slides in the left hand are +prepared by the last played finger--_the last played finger is the true +guide to smooth progression_--just as the bow hand prepares the slides +in the last played bowing. There should be no such thing as jumping and +trusting in Providence to land right, and a curse ought to be laid on +those who let their fingers leave the fingerboard. None who develop this +fundamental aspect of all good playing lose the perfect control of +position. + +"Of course there are a hundred _nuances_ of technic (into which the +quality of good taste enters largely) that one could talk of at length: +phrasing, and the subtle things happening in the bow arm that influence +it; _spiccato_, whose whole secret is finding the right point of balance +in the bow and, with light finger control, never allowing it to leave +the string. I've never been able to see the virtue of octaves or the +logic of double-stops. Like tenths, one plays or does not play them. But +do they add one iota of beauty to violin music? I doubt it! And, after +all, it is the poetry of playing that counts. All violin playing in its +essence is the quest for color; its perfection, that subtle art which +hides art, and which is so rarely understood." + +"Could you give me a few guiding rules, a few Beatitudes, as it were, +for the serious student to follow?" I asked Mr. Hartmann. Though the +artist smiled at the idea of Beatitudes for the violinist, yet he was +finally amiable enough to give me the following, telling me I would have +to take them for what they were worth: + + + NINE BEATITUDES FOR VIOLINISTS + +"Blessed are they who early in life approach Bach, for their love and +veneration for music will multiply with the years. + +"Blessed are they who remember their own early struggles, for their +merciful criticism will help others to a greater achievement and +furtherance of the Divine Art. + +"Blessed are they who know their own limitations, for they shall have +joy in the accomplishment of others. + +"Blessed are they who revere the teachers--their own or those of +others--and who remember them with credit. + +"Blessed are they who, revering the old masters, seek out the newer ones +and do not begrudge them a hearing or two. + +"Blessed are they who work in obscurity, nor sound the trumpet, for Art +has ever been for the few, and shuns the vulgar blare of ignorance. + +"Blessed are they whom men revile as futurists and modernists, for Art +can evolve only through the medium of iconoclastic spirits. + +"Blessed are they who unflinchingly serve their Art, for thus only is +their happiness to be gained. + +"Blessed are they who have many enemies, for square pegs will never fit +into round holes." + + + ARRANGING VERSUS TRANSCRIBING + +Arthur Hartmann, like Kreisler, Elman, Maud Powell and others of his +colleagues, has enriched the literature of the violin with some notably +fine transcriptions. And it is a subject on which he has well-defined +opinions and regarding which he makes certain distinctions: "An +'arrangement,'" he said, "as a rule, is a purely commercial affair, into +which neither art nor æsthetics enter. It usually consists in writing +off the melody of a song--in other words, playing the 'tune' on an +instrument instead of hearing it sung with words--or in the case of a +piano composition, in writing off the upper voice, leaving the rest +intact, regardless of sonority, tone-color or even effectiveness, and, +furthermore, without consideration of the idiomatic principles of the +instrument to which the adaptation was meant to fit. + +"A 'transcription,' on the other hand, can be raised to the dignity of +an art-work. Indeed, at times it may even surpass the original, in the +quality of thought brought into the work, the delicate and sympathetic +treatment and by the many subtleties* which an artist can introduce to +make it thoroughly a _re-creation_ of his chosen instrument. + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "subleties". + +"It is the transcriber's privilege--providing he be sufficiently the +artist to approach the personality of another artist with reverence--to +donate his own gifts of ingenuity, and to exercise his judgment in +either adding, omitting, harmonically or otherwise embellishing the work +(_while preserving the original idea and characteristics_), so as to +thoroughly _re-create_ it, so completely destroying the very sensing of +the original _timbre_ that one involuntarily exclaims, 'Truly, this +never was anything but a violin piece!' It is this, the blending and +fusion of two personalities in the achievement of an art-ideal, that is +the result of a true adaptation. + +"Among the transcriptions I have most enjoyed making were those of +Debussy's _Il pleure dans mon cœur_, and _La Fille aux cheveaux de +lin_. Debussy was my cherished friend, and they represent a labor of +love. Though Debussy was not, generally speaking, an advocate of +transcriptions, he liked these, and I remember when I first played _La +Fille aux cheveaux de lin_ for him, and came to a bit of counterpoint I +had introduced in the violin melody, whistling the harmonics, he nodded +approvingly with a '_pas bête ça!_' (Not stupid, that!) + + + DEBUSSY'S POÈME FOR VIOLIN + +"Debussy came near writing a violin piece for me once!" continued Mr. +Hartmann, and brought out a folio containing letters the great +impressionist had written him. They were a delightful revelation of the +human side of Debussy's character, and Mr. Hartmann kindly consented to +the quotation of one bearing on the _Poème_ for violin which Debussy had +promised to write for him, and which, alas, owing to his illness and +other reasons, never actually came to be written: + + "Dear Friend: + + "Of course I am working a great deal now, because I feel + the need of writing music, and would find it difficult + to build an aeroplane; yet at times Music is ill-natured, + even toward those who love her most! Then I take my + little daughter and my hat and go walking in the Bois de + Boulogne, where one meets people who have come from afar + to bore themselves in Paris. + + "I think of you, I might even say I am in need of you + (assume an air of exaltation and bow, if you please!) As + to the _Poème_ for violin, you may rest assured that I + will write it. Only at the present moment I am so + preoccupied with the 'Fall of the House of Usher!' They + talk too much to me about it. I'll have to put an end to + all that or I will go mad. Once more I want to write it, + and above all _on your account_. And I believe you will + be the only one to play the _Poème_. Others will attempt + it, and then quickly return to the Mendelssohn Concerto! + + "Believe me always your sincere friend, + + "CLAUDE DEBUSSY." + +"He never did write it," said Mr. Hartmann, "but it was not for want of +good will. As to other transcriptions, I have never done any that I did +not feel instinctively would make good fiddle pieces, such as +MacDowell's _To a Wild Rose_ and others of his compositions. And +recently I have transcribed some fine Russian things--Gretchaninoff's +_Chant d'Automne_, Karagitscheff's _Exaltation_, Tschaikovsky's +_Humoresque_, Balakirew's _Chant du Pechêur_, and Poldini's little +_Poupée valsante_, which Maud Powell plays so delightfully on all her +programs." + + + + + VII + + + JASCHA HEIFETZ + + THE DANGER OF PRACTICING TOO MUCH. + TECHNICAL MASTERY AND + TEMPERAMENT + + +Mature in virtuosity--the modern virtuosity which goes so far beyond the +mere technical mastery that once made the term a reproach--though young +in years, Jascha Heifetz, when one makes his acquaintance "off-stage," +seems singularly modest about the great gifts which have brought him +international fame. He is amiable, unassuming and--the best proof, +perhaps, that his talent is a thing genuine and inborn, not the result +of a forcing process--he has that broad interest in art and in life +going far beyond his own particular medium, the violin, without which no +artist may become truly great. For Jascha Heifetz, with his wonderful +record of accomplishment achieved, and with triumphs still to come +before him, does not believe in "all work and no play." + + [Illustration: JASCHA HEIFETZ, with hand-written note] + + + THE DANGER OF PRACTICING TOO MUCH + +He laughed when I put forward the theory that he worked many hours a +day, perhaps as many as six or eight? "No," he said, "I do not think I +could ever have made any progress if I had practiced six hours a day. In +the first place I have never believed in practicing too much--it is just +as bad as practicing too little! And then there are so many other things +I like to do. I am fond of reading and I like sport: tennis, golf, +bicycle riding, boating, swimming, etc. Often when I am supposed to be +practicing hard I am out with my camera, taking pictures; for I have +become what is known as a 'camera fiend.' And just now I have a new car, +which I have learned to drive, and which takes up a good deal of my +time. I have never believed in grinding. In fact I think that if one has +to work very hard to get his piece, it will show in the execution. To +interpret music properly, it is necessary to eliminate mechanical +difficulty; the audience should not feel the struggle of the artist with +what are considered hard passages. I hardly ever practice more than +three hours a day on an average, and besides, I keep my Sunday when I +do not play at all, and sometimes I make an extra holiday. As to six or +seven hours a day, I would not have been able to stand it at all." + +I implied that what Mr. Heifetz said might shock thousands of aspiring +young violinists for whom he pointed a moral: "Of course," his answer +was, "you must not take me too literally. Please do not think because I +do not favor overdoing practicing that one can do without it. I'm quite +frank to say I could not myself. But there is a happy medium. I suppose +that when I play in public it looks easy, but before I ever came on the +concert stage I worked very hard. And I do yet--but always putting the +two things together, mental work and physical work. And when a certain +point of effort is reached in practice, as in everything else, there +must be relaxation. + + + THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VIRTUOSE TECHNIC + +"Have I what is called a 'natural' technic? It is hard for me to say, +perhaps so. But if such is the case I had to develop it, to assure it, +to perfect it. If you start playing at three, as I did, with a little +violin one-quarter of the regular size, I suppose violin playing becomes +second nature in the course of time. I was able to find my way about in +all seven positions within a year's time, and could play the Kayser +_études_; but that does not mean to say I was a virtuoso by any means. + +"My first teacher? My first teacher was my father, a good violinist and +concertmaster of the Vilna Symphony Orchestra. My first appearance in +public took place in an overcrowded auditorium of the Imperial Music +School in Vilna, Russia, when I was not quite five. I played the +_Fantaisie Pastorale_ with piano accompaniment. Later, at the age of +six, I played the Mendelssohn concerto in Kovno to a full house. +Stage-fright? No, I cannot say I have ever had it. Of course, something +may happen to upset one before a concert, and one does not feel quite at +ease when first stepping on the stage; but then I hope that is not +stage-fright! + +"At the Imperial Music School in Vilna, and before, I worked at all the +things every violinist studies--I think that I played almost everything. +I did not work too hard, but I worked hard enough. In Vilna my teacher +was Malkin, a pupil of Professor Auer, and when I had graduated from the +Vilna school I went to Auer. Did I go directly to his classes? Well, +no, but I had only a very short time to wait before I joined the +classes conducted by Auer personally. + + + PROFESSOR AUER AS A TEACHER + +"Yes, he is a wonderful and an incomparable teacher; I do not believe +there is one in the world who can possibly approach him. Do not ask me +just how he does it, for I would not know how to tell you. But he is +different with each pupil--perhaps that is one reason he is so great a +teacher. I think I was with Professor Auer about six years, and I had +both class lessons and private lessons of him, though toward the end my +lessons were not so regular. I never played exercises or technical works +of any kind for the Professor, but outside of the big things--the +concertos and sonatas, and the shorter pieces which he would let me +prepare--I often chose what I wanted. + +"Professor Auer was a very active and energetic teacher. He was never +satisfied with a mere explanation, unless certain it was understood. He +could always show you himself with his bow and violin. The Professor's +pupils were supposed to have been sufficiently advanced in the technic +necessary for them to profit by his wonderful lessons in +interpretation. Yet there were all sorts of technical _finesses_ which +he had up his sleeve, any number of fine, subtle points in playing as +well as interpretation which he would disclose to his pupils. And the +more interest and ability the pupil showed, the more the Professor gave +him of himself! He is a very great teacher! Bowing, the true art of +bowing, is one of the greatest things in Professor Auer's teaching. I +know when I first came to the Professor, he showed me things in bowing I +had never learned in Vilna. It is hard to describe in words (Mr. Heifetz +illustrated with some of those natural, unstrained movements of arm and +wrist which his concert appearances have made so familiar), but bowing +as Professor Auer teaches it is a very special thing; the movements of +the bow become more easy, graceful, less stiff. + +"In class there were usually from twenty-five to thirty pupils. Aside +from what we each gained individually from the Professor's criticism and +correction, it was interesting to hear the others who played before +one's turn came, because one could get all kinds of hints from what +Professor Auer told them. I know I always enjoyed listening to Poliakin, +a very talented violinist, and Cécile Hansen, who attended the classes +at the same time I did. The Professor was a stern and very exacting, but +a sympathetic, teacher. If our playing was not just what it should be he +always had a fund of kindly humor upon which to draw. He would +anticipate our stock excuses and say: 'Well, I suppose you have just had +your bow rehaired!' or 'These new strings are very trying,' or 'It's the +weather that is against you again, is it not?' or something of the kind. +Examinations were not so easy: we had to show that we were not only +soloists, but also sight readers of difficult music. + + + A DIFFICULTY OVERCOME + +"The greatest technical difficulty I had when I was studying?" Jascha +Heifetz tried to recollect, which was natural, seeing that it must have +been one long since overcome. Then he remembered, and smiled: +"_Staccato_ playing. To get a good _staccato_, when I first tried seemed +very hard to me. When I was younger, really, at one time I had a very +poor _staccato_!" [I assured the young artist that any one who heard him +play here would find it hard to believe this.] "Yes, I did," he +insisted, "but one morning, I do not know just how it was--I was +playing the _cadenza_ in the first movement of Wieniawski's F♯ minor +concerto,--it is full of _staccatos_ and double stops--the right way of +playing _staccato_ came to me quite suddenly, especially after Professor +Auer had shown me his method. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin Mastery? To me it means the ability to make the violin a +perfectly controlled instrument guided by the skill and intelligence of +the artist, to compel it to respond in movement to his every wish. The +artist must always be superior to his instrument, it must be his +servant, one that he can do with what he will. + + + TECHNICAL MASTERY AND TEMPERAMENT + +"It appears to me that mastery of the technic of the violin is not so +much of a mechanical accomplishment as it is of mental nature. It may be +that scientists can tell us how through persistency the brain succeeds +in making the fingers and the arms produce results through the infinite +variety of inexplicable vibrations. The sweetness of tone, its +melodiousness, its _legatos_, octaves, trills and harmonics all bear +the mark of the individual who uses his strings like his vocal chords. +When an artist is working over his harmonics, he must not be impatient +and force purity, pitch, or the right intonation. He must coax the tone, +try it again and again, seek for improvements in his fingering as well +as in his bowing at the same time, and sometimes he may be surprised +how, quite suddenly, at the time when he least expects it, the result +has come. More than one road leads to Rome! The fact is that when you +get it, you have it, that's all! I am perfectly willing to disclose to +the musical profession all the secrets of the mastery of violin technic; +but are there any secrets in the sense that some of the uninitiated take +them? If an artist happens to excel in some particular, he is at once +suspected of knowing some secret means of so doing. However, that may +not be the case. He does it just because it is in him, and as a rule he +accomplishes this through his mental faculties more than through his +mechanical abilities. I do not intend to minimize the value of great +teachers who prove to be important factors in the life of a musician; +but think of the vast army of pupils that a master teacher brings +forth, and listen to the infinite variety of their _spiccatos_, +octaves, _legatos_, and trills! For the successful mastery of violin +technic let each artist study carefully his own individuality, let him +concentrate his mental energy on the quality of pitch he intends to +produce, and sooner or later he will find his way of expressing himself. +Music is not only in the fingers or in the elbow. It is in that +mysterious EGO of the man, it is his soul; and his body is like his +violin, nothing but a tool. Of course, the great master must have the +tools that suit him best, and it is the happy combination that makes for +success. + +"By the vibrations and modulations of the notes one may recognize the +violinist as easily as we recognize the singer by his voice. Who can +explain how the artist harmonizes the trilling of his fingers with the +emotions of his soul? + +"An artist will never become great through mere imitation, and never +will he be able to attain the best results only by methods adopted by +others. He must have his own initiative, although he will surely profit +by the experience of others. Of course there are standard ways of +approaching the study of violin technic; but these are too well known to +dwell upon them: as to the niceties of the art, they must come from +within. You can make a musician but not an artist! + + + REPERTORY AND PROGRAMS + +"Which of the master works do I like best? Well, that is rather hard to +answer. Each master work has its own beauties. Naturally one likes best +what one understands best, I prefer to play the classics like Brahms, +Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, etc. However, I played Bruch's G +minor in 1913 at the Leipzig Gewandhouse with Nikisch, where I was told +that Joachim was the only other violinist as young as myself to appear +there as soloist with orchestra; there is the Tschaikovsky concerto +which I played in Berlin in 1912, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra +with Nikisch. Alsa Bruch's D minor and many more. I played the +Mendelssohn concerto in 1914, in Vienna, with Safonoff as conductor. +Last season in Chicago I played the Brahms concerto with a fine and very +elaborate _cadenza_ by Professor Auer. I think the Brahms concerto for +violin is like Chopin's music for piano, in a way, because it stands +technically and musically for something quite different and distinct +from other violin music, just as Chopin does from other piano music. The +Brahms concerto is not technically as hard as, say, Paganini--but in +interpretation!... And in the Beethoven concerto, too, there is a +simplicity, a kind of clear beauty which makes it far harder to play +than many other things technically more advanced. The slightest flaw, +the least difference in pitch, in intonation, and its beauty suffers. + +"Yes, there are other Russian concertos besides the Tschaikovsky. There +is the Glazounov concerto and others. I understand that Zimbalist was +the first to introduce it in this country, and I expect to play it here +next season. + +"Of course one cannot always play concertos, and one cannot always play +Bach and Beethoven. And that makes it hard to select programs. The +artist can always enjoy the great music of his instrument; but an +audience wants variety. At the same time an artist cannot play only just +what the majority of the audience wants. I have been asked to play +Schubert's _Ave Maria_, or Beethoven's _Chorus of Dervishes_ at every +one of my concerts, but I simply cannot play them all the time. I am +afraid if program making were left altogether to audiences the programs +would become far too popular in character; though audiences are just as +different as individuals. I try hard to balance my programs, so that +every one can find something to understand and enjoy. I expect to +prepare some American compositions for next season. Oh, no, not as a +matter of courtesy, but because they are really fine, especially some +smaller pieces by Spalding, Cecil Burleigh and Grasse!" + +On concluding our interview Mr. Heifetz made a remark which is worth +repeating, and which many a music lover who is _plus royaliste que le +roi_ might do well to remember: "After all," he said, "much as I love +music, I cannot help feeling that music is not the only thing in life. I +really cannot imagine anything more terrible than always to hear, think +and make music! There is so much else to know and appreciate; and I feel +that the more I learn and know of other things the better artist I will +be!" + + + + + VIII + + + DAVID HOCHSTEIN + + THE VIOLIN AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION + AND EXPRESSIVE PLAYING + + +The writer talked with Lieutenant David Hochstein, whose death in the +battle of the Argonne Forest was only reported toward the end of +January, while the distinguished young violinist, then only a sergeant, +was on the eve of departure to France with his regiment and, as he +modestly said, his "thoughts on music were rather scattered." Yet he +spoke with keen insight and authority on various phases of his art, and +much of what he said gains point from his own splendid work as a concert +violinist; for Lieutenant Hochstein (whose standing has been established +in numerous European as well as American recitals) could play what he +preached. + + + SEVČIK AND AUER: A CONTRAST IN TEACHING + +Knowing that in the regimental band he was, quite appropriately, a +clarinetist, "the clarinet in the military band being the equivalent of +the violin in the orchestra"--and a scholarship pupil of the Vienna +_Meisterschule_, it seemed natural to ask him concerning his teachers. +And the interesting fact developed that he had studied with the +celebrated Bohemian pedagog Sevčik and with Leopold Auer as well, two +teachers whose ideas and methods differ materially. "I studied with +Sevčik for two years," said the young violinist. "It was in 1909, when a +class of ten pupils was formed for him in the _Meisterschule_, at +Vienna, that I went to him. Sevčik was in many ways a wonderful teacher, +yet inclined to overemphasize the mechanical side of the art. He +literally _taught_ his pupils how to practice, how to develop technical +control by the most slow and painstaking study. In addition to his own +fine method and exercises, he also used Gavinies, Dont, Rode, Kreutzer, +applying in their studies ideas of his own. + +"Auer as a teacher I found altogether different. Where Sevčik taught his +pupils the technic of their art by means of a system elaborately worked +out, Auer demonstrated his ideas through sheer personality, mainly from +the interpretative point of view. Any ambitious student could learn much +of value from either; yet in a general way one might express the +difference between them by saying that Sevčik could take a pupil of +medium talent and--at least from the mechanical standpoint--make an +excellent violinist of him. But Auer is an ideal teacher for the greatly +gifted. And he is especially skilled in taking some student of the +violin while his mind is still plastic and susceptible and molding +it--supplying it with lofty concepts of interpretation and expression. +Of course Auer (I studied with him in Petrograd and Dresden) has been +especially fortunate as regards his pupils, too, because active in a +land like Russia, where musical genius has almost become a commonplace. + +"Sevčik, though an admirable teacher, personally is of a reserved and +reflective type, quite different from Auer, who is open and expansive. I +might recall a little instance which shows Sevčik's cautious nature, the +care he takes not to commit himself too unreservedly. When I took leave +of him--it was after I had graduated and won my prize--I naturally (like +all his pupils) asked him for his photo. Several other pupils of his +were in the room at the time. He took up his pen (I was looking over +his shoulder), commenced to write _Meinem best_.... And then he stopped, +glanced at the other pupils in the room, and wrote over the _best_ ... +he had already written, the word _liebsten_. But though I would, of +course, have preferred the first inscription, had Sevčik completed it, I +can still console myself that the other, even though I value it, was an +afterthought. But it was a characteristic thing for him to do! + + + THE VIOLIN AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION + +"What is my idea of the violin as a medium of expression? It seems to me +that it is that of any other valid artistic medium. It is not so much a +question of the violin as of the violinist. A great interpreter reveals +his inner-most soul through his instrument, whatever it may be. Most +people think the violin is more expressive than any other instrument, +but this is open to question. It may be that most people respond more +readily to the appeal made by the violin. But genuine expression, +expressive playing, depends on the message the player has to deliver far +more than on the instrument he uses as a means. I have been as much +moved by some piano playing I have heard as by the violin playing of +some of the greatest violinists. + +"And variety, _nuance_ in expressive playing, is largely a matter of the +player's mental attitude. Bach's _Chaconne_ or _Sicilienne_ calls for a +certain humility on the part of the artist. When I play Bach I do it +reverentially; a definite spiritual quality in my tone and expression is +the result. And to select a composer who in many ways is Bach's exact +opposite, Wieniawski, a certain audacious brilliancy cannot help but +make itself felt tonally, if this music is to be played in character. +The mental and spiritual attitude directly influences its own mechanical +transmission. No one artist should criticize another for differences in +interpretation, in expression, so long as they are justified by larger +concepts of art. Individuality is one of the artist's most precious +possessions, and there are always a number of different angles from +which the interpretation of an art work may be approached. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin mastery? There have been only three violinists within my own +recollection, whom I would call masters of the violin. These are +Kubelik (when at his best), Franz von Vecsey, Hubay's pupil, whom I +heard abroad, and Heifetz, with his cameo-like perfection of technic. +These I would call masters of the violin, as an instrument, since they +have mastered every intricacy of the instrument. But I could name +several others who are greater musicians, and whose playing and +interpretation, to say nothing of tone, I prefer. + + + TONE PRODUCTION: RHYTHM + +"In one sense true violin mastery is a question of tone production and +rhythm. And I believe that tone production depends principally upon the +imaginative ear of the player. This statement may seem somewhat +ambiguous, and one might ask, 'What is an imaginative ear?' My ear, for +instance, demands of my violin a certain quality of tone, which varies +according to the music I am playing. But before I think of playing the +music, I already know from reading it what I want it to sound like: that +is to say, the quality of the tone I wish to secure in each principal +phrase. Rhythm is perhaps the greatest factor in interpretation. Every +good musician has a 'good sense of rhythm' (that much abused phrase). +But it is only the _great_ musician who makes so striking and +individual an application of rhythm that his playing may be easily +distinguished by his use of it. + +"There is not much to tell you as regards my method of work. I usually +work directly upon a program which has been previously mapped out. If I +have been away from my violin for more than a week or two I begin by +practicing scales, but ordinarily I find my technical work in the +programs I am preparing." + +Asked about his band experiences at Camp Upton, Sergeant Hochstein was +enthusiastic. "No violinist could help but gain much from work with a +military band at one of the camps," he said. "For instance, I had a more +or less theoretical knowledge of wind instruments before I went to Camp +Upton. Now I have a practical working knowledge of them. I have already +scored a little violin composition of mine, a 'Minuet in Olden Style' +for full band, and have found it possible by the right manipulation to +preserve its original dainty and graceful character, in spite of the +fact that it is played by more than forty military bandsmen. + +"Then, too," he said in conclusion, "I have organized a real orchestra +of twenty-one players, strings, brass, wood-wind, etc., which I hope is +going to be of real use on the other side during our training period in +France. You see, 'over there' the soldier boys' chances for leave are +limited and we will have to depend a good deal on our own selves for +amusement and recreation. I hope and believe my orchestra is not only +going to take its place as one of the most enjoyable features of our +army life; but also that it will make propaganda of the right sort for +the best music in a broad, catholic sense of the word!" + +It is interesting to know that this patriotic young officer found +opportunities in camp and in the towns of France of carrying out his +wish to "make propaganda of the right sort for the best music" before he +gave his life to further the greater purpose which had called him +overseas. + + + + + IX + + + FRITZ KREISLER + + PERSONALITY IN ART + + +The influence of the artist's personality in his art finds a most +striking exemplification in the case of Fritz Kreisler. Some time before +the writer called on the famous violinist to get at first hand some of +his opinions with regard to his art, he had already met him under +particularly interesting circumstances. The question had come up of +writing text-poems for two song-adaptations of Viennese folk-themes, +airs not unattractive in themselves; but which Kreisler's personal +touch, his individual gift of harmonization had lifted from a lower +plane to the level of the art song. Together with the mss. of his own +beautiful transcript, Mr. Kreisler in the one instance had given me the +printed original which suggested it--frankly a "popular" song, clumsily +harmonized in a "four-square" manner (though written in 3/4 time) with +nothing to indicate its latent possibilities. I compared it with his +mss. and, lo, it had been transformed! Gone was the clumsiness, the +vulgar and obvious harmonic treatment of the melody--Kreisler had kept +the melodic outline, but etherealized, spiritualized it, given it new +rhythmic _contours_, a deeper and more expressive meaning. And his rich +and subtle harmonization had lent it a quality of distinction that +justified a comparison between the grub and the butterfly. In a small +way it was an illuminating glimpse of how the personality of a true +artist can metamorphose what at first glance might seem something quite +negligible, and create beauty where its possibilities alone had existed +before. + +It is this personal, this individual, note in all that Fritz Kreisler +does--when he plays, when he composes, when he transcribes--that gives +his art-effort so great and unique a quality of appeal. + +Talking to him in his comfortable sitting-room in the Hotel +Wellington--Homer and Juvenal (in the original) ranked on the piano-top +beside De Vere Stackpole novels and other contemporary literature called +to mind that though Brahms and Beethoven violin concertos are among his +favorites, he does not disdain to play a Granados _Spanish Dance_--it +seemed natural to ask him how he came to make those adaptations and +transcripts which have been so notable a feature of his programs, and +which have given such pleasure to thousands. + + + [Illustration: FRITZ KREISLER, with hand-written note] + + + HOW KREISLER CAME TO COMPOSE AND ARRANGE + +He said: "I began to compose and arrange as a young man. I wanted to +create a repertory for myself, to be able to express through my medium, +the violin, a great deal of beautiful music that had first to be adapted +for the instrument. What I composed and arranged was for my own use, +reflected my own musical tastes and preferences. In fact, it was not +till years after that I even thought of publishing the pieces I had +composed and arranged. For I was very diffident as to the outcome of +such a step. I have never written anything with the commercial idea of +making it 'playable.' And I have always felt that anything done in a +cold-blooded way for purely mercenary considerations somehow cannot be +good. It cannot represent an artist's best." + + + AT THE VIENNA CONSERVATORY + +In reply to another query Mr. Kreisler reverted to the days when as a +boy he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. "I was only seven when I +attended the Conservatory and was much more interested in playing in the +park, where my boy friends would be waiting for me, than in taking +lessons on the violin. And yet some of the most lasting musical +impressions of my life were gathered there. Not so much as regards study +itself, as with respect to the good music I heard. Some very great men +played at the Conservatory when I was a pupil. There were Joachim, +Sarasate in his prime, Hellmesberger, and Rubinstein, whom I heard play +the first time he came to Vienna. I really believe that hearing Joachim +and Rubinstein play was a greater event in my life and did more for me +than five years of study!" + +"Of course you do not regard technic as the main essential of the +concert violinist's equipment?" I asked him. "Decidedly not. Sincerity +and personality are the first main essentials. Technical equipment is +something which should be taken for granted. The _virtuoso_ of the type +of Ole Bull, let us say, has disappeared. The 'stunt' player of a former +day with a repertory of three or four bravura pieces was not far above +the average music-hall 'artist.' The modern _virtuoso_, the true concert +artist, is not worthy of the title unless his art is the outcome of a +completely unified nature. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"I do not believe that any artist is truly a master of his instrument +unless his control of it is an integral part of a whole. The musician is +born--his medium of expression is often a matter of accident. I believe +one may be intended for an artist prenatally; but whether violinist, +'cellist or pianist is partly a matter of circumstance. Violin mastery, +to my mind, still falls short of perfection, in spite of the completest +technical and musical equipment, if the artist thinks only of the +instrument he plays. After all, it is just a single medium of +expression. The true musician is an artist with a special instrument. +And every real artist has the feeling for other forms and mediums of +expression if he is truly a master of his own. + + + TECHNIC VERSUS IMAGINATION + +"I think the technical element in the artist's education is often unduly +stressed. Remember," added Mr. Kreisler, with a smile, "I am not a +teacher, and this is a purely personal opinion I am giving you. But it +seems to me that absolute sincerity of effort, actual impossibility +_not_ to react to a genuine musical impulse are of great importance. I +firmly believe that if one is destined to become an artist the technical +means find themselves. The necessity of expression will follow the line +of least resistance. Too great a manual equipment often leads to an +exaggeration of the technical and tempts the artist to stress it unduly. + +"I have worked a great deal in my life, but have always found that too +large an amount of purely technico-musical work fatigued me and reacted +unfavorably on my imagination. As a rule I only practice enough to keep +my fingers in trim; the nervous strain is such that doing more is out of +the question. And for a concert-violinist when on tour, playing every +day, the technical question is not absorbing. Far more important is it +for him to keep himself mentally and physically fresh and in the right +mood for his work. For myself I have to enjoy whatever I play or I +cannot play it. And it has often done me more good to dip my finger-tips +in hot water for a few seconds before stepping out on the platform than +to spend a couple of hours practicing. But I should not wish the student +to draw any deductions from what I say on this head. It is purely +personal and has no general application. + +"Technical exercises I use very moderately. I wish my imagination to be +responsive, my interest fresh, and as a rule I have found that too much +work along routine channels does not accord with the best development of +my Art. I feel that technic should be in the player's head, it should be +a mental picture, a sort of 'master record.' It should be a matter of +will power to which the manual possibilities should be subjected. +Technic to me is a mental and not a manual thing. + + + MENTAL TECHNIC: ITS DRAWBACK AND ITS ADVANTAGE + +"The technic thus achieved, a technic whose controlling power is chiefly +mental, is not perfect--I say so frankly--because it is more or less +dependent on the state of the artist's nervous system. Yet it is the one +and only kind of technic that can adequately and completely express the +musician's every instinct, wish and emotion. Every other form of technic +is stiff, unpliable, since it cannot entirely subordinate itself to the +individuality of the artist." + + + PRACTICE HOURS FOR THE ADVANCED STUDENT + +Mr. Kreisler gives no lessons and hence referred this question in the +most amiable manner to his boyhood friend and fellow-student Felix +Winternitz, the well-known Boston violin teacher, one of the faculty of +the New England Conservatory of Music, who had come in while we were +talking. Mr. Winternitz did not refuse an answer: "The serious student, +in my opinion, should not practice less than four hours a day, nor need +he practice more than five. Other teachers may demand more. Sevčik, I +know, insists that his pupils practice eight and ten hours a day. To do +so one must have the constitution of an ox, and the results are often +not equal to those produced by four hours of concentrated work. As Mr. +Kreisler intimated with regard to technic, practice calls for brain +power. Concentration in itself is not enough. There is only one way to +work and if the pupil can find it he can cover the labor of weeks in an +hour." + +And turning to me, Mr. Winternitz added: "You must not take Mr. Kreisler +too seriously when he lays no stress on his own practicing. During the +concert season he has his violin in hand for an hour or so nearly every +day. He does not call it practicing, and you and I would consider it +playing and great playing at that. But it is a genuine illustration of +what I meant when I said that one who knew how could cover the work of +weeks in an hour's time." + + + AN EXPLANATION BY MR. WINTERNITZ + +I tried to draw from the famous violinist some hint as to the secret of +the abiding popularity of his own compositions and transcripts but--as +those who know him are aware--Kreisler has all the modesty of the truly +great. He merely smiled and said: "Frankly, I don't know." But Mr. +Winternitz' comment (when a 'phone call had taken Kreisler from the room +for a moment) was, "It is the touch given by his accompaniments that +adds so much: a harmonic treatment so rich in design and coloring, and +so varied that melodies were never more beautifully set off." Mr. +Kreisler, as he came in again, remarked: "I don't mind telling you that +I enjoyed very much writing my _Tambourin Chinois_.[A] The idea for it +came to me after a visit to the Chinese theater in San Francisco--not +that the music there suggested any theme, but it gave me the impulse to +write a free fantasy in the Chinese manner." + +[Footnote A: It is interesting to note that Nikolai Sokoloff, conductor +of the San Francisco Philharmonic, returning from a tour of the American +and French army camps in France, some time ago, said: "My most popular +number was Kreisler's _Tambourin Chinois_. Invariably I had to repeat +that." A strong indorsement of the internationalism of Art by the actual +fighter in the trenches.] + + + STYLE, INTERPRETATION AND THE ARTISTIC IDEAL + +The question of style now came up. "I am not in favor of 'labeling' the +concert artist, of calling him a 'lyric' or a 'dramatic' or some other +kind of a player. If he is an artist in the real sense he controls all +styles." Then, in answer to another question: "Nothing can express music +but music itself. Tradition in interpretation does not mean a +cut-and-dried set of rules handed down; it is, or should be, a matter +of individual sentiment, of inner conviction. What makes one man an +artist and keeps another an amateur is a God-given instinct for the +artistically and musically right. It is not a thing to be explained, but +to be felt. There is often only a narrow line of demarcation between the +artistically right and wrong. Yet nearly every real artist will be found +to agree as to when and when not that boundary has been overstepped. +Sincerity and personality as well as disinterestedness, an expression of +himself in his art that is absolutely honest, these, I believe, are +ideals which every artist should cherish and try to realize. I believe, +furthermore, that these ideals will come more and more into their own; +that after the war there will be a great uplift, and that Art will +realize to the full its value as a humanizing factor in life." And as is +well known, no great artist of our day has done more toward the actual +realization of these ideals he cherishes than Fritz Kreisler himself. + + + + + X + + + FRANZ KNEISEL + + THE PERFECT STRING ENSEMBLE + + +Is there a lover of chamber music unfamiliar with Franz Kneisel's name? +It may be doubted. After earlier European triumphs the gifted Roumanian +violinist came to this country (1885), and aside from his activities in +other directions--as a solo artist he was the first to play the Brahms +and Goldmark violin concertos, and the César Franck sonata in this +country--organized his famous quartet. And, until his recent retirement +as its director and first violin, it has been perhaps the greatest +single influence toward stimulating appreciation for the best in chamber +music that the country has known. Before the Flonzaley was, the Kneisels +were. They made plain how much of beauty the chamber music repertory +offered the amateur string player; not only in the classic +repertory--Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr; in Schubert, Schumann, +Brahms; but in Smetana, Dvořák and Tschaikovsky; in César Franck, +Debussy and Ravel. Not the least among Kneisel's achievements is, that +while the professional musicians in the cities in which his organization +played attended its concerts as a matter of course, the average music +lover who played a string instrument came to them as well, and carried +away with him a message delivered with all the authority of superb +musicianship and sincerity, one which bade him "go and do likewise," in +so far as his limitations permitted. And the many excellent professional +chamber music organizations, trios, quartets and _ensembles_ of various +kinds which have come to the fore since they began to play offer +eloquent testimony with regard to the cultural work of Kneisel and his +fellow artists. + + [Illustration: FRANZ KNEISEL, with signature] + +A cheery grate fire burned in the comfortable study in Franz Kneisel's +home; the autographed--in what affectionate and appreciative +terms--pictures of great fellow artists looked down above the book-cases +which hold the scores of those masters of what has been called "the +noblest medium of music in existence," whose beauties the famous quartet +has so often disclosed on the concert stage. And Mr. Kneisel was +amiability personified when I asked him to give me his theory of the +perfect string _ensemble_, and the part virtuosity played in it. + + + "THE ARTIST RANKS THE VIRTUOSO IN CHAMBER MUSIC" + +"The artist, the _Tonkünstler_, to use a foreign phrase, ranks the +virtuoso in chamber music. Joachim was no virtuoso, he did not stress +technic, the less important factor in _ensemble_ playing. Sarasate was a +virtuoso in the best sense of the word; and yet as an _ensemble_ music +player he fell far short of Joachim. As I see it 'virtuoso' is a kind of +flattering title, no more. But a _Tonkünstler_, a 'tone-artist,' though +he must have the virtuoso technic in order to play Brahms and Beethoven +concertos, needs besides a spiritual insight, a deep concept of their +nobility to do them justice--the mere technic demanded for a virtuoso +show piece is not enough. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY IN THE STRING QUARTET + +"You ask me what 'Violin Mastery' means in the string quartet. It has an +altogether different meaning to me, I imagine, than to the violin +virtuoso. Violin mastery in the string _ensemble_ is as much mastery of +self as of technical means. The artist must sink his identity completely +in that of the work he plays, and though the last Beethoven quartets are +as difficult as many violin concertos, they are polyphony, the +combination and interweaving of individual melodies, and they call for a +mastery of repression as well as expression. I realized how keenly alive +the musical listener is to this fact once when our quartet had played in +Alma-Tadema's beautiful London home, for the great English painter was +also a music-lover and a very discriminating one. He had a fine piano in +a beautifully decorated case, and it was an open secret that at his +musical evenings, after an artist had played, the lid of the piano was +raised, and Sir Lawrence asked him to pencil his autograph on the soft +white wood of its inner surface--_but only if he thought the compliment +deserved_. There were some famous names written there--Joachim, +Sarasate, Paderewski, Neruda, Piatti, to mention a few. Naturally an +artist playing at Alma-Tadema's home for the first time could not help +speculating as to his chances. Many were called, but comparatively few +were chosen. We were guests at a dinner given by Sir Lawrence. There +were some fifty people prominent in London's artistic, musical and +social world present, and we had no idea of being asked to play. Our +instruments were at our hotel and we had to send for them. We played the +Schubert quartet in A minor and Dvořák's 'American' quartet and, of +course, my colleagues and myself forgot all about the piano lid the +moment we began to play. Yet, I'm free to confess, that when the piano +lid was raised for us we appreciated it, for it was no empty compliment +coming from Sir Lawrence, and I have been told that some very +distinguished artists have not had it extended to them. And I know that +on that evening the phrase 'Violin Mastery' in an _ensemble_ sense, as +the outcome of ceaseless striving for coördination in expression, +absolute balance, and all the details that go to make up the perfect +_ensemble_, seemed to us to have a very definite color and meaning. + + + THE FIRST VIOLIN IN THE STRING QUARTET + +"What exactly does the first violin represent?" Mr. Kneisel went on in +answer to another question. "The first violin might be called the +chairman of the string meeting. His is the leading voice. Not that he +should be an autocrat, no, but he must hold the reins of discipline. +Many think that the four string players in a quartet have equal rights. +First of all, and above all, are the rights of the composer, Bach, +Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert,--as the case may be. But from the +standpoint of interpretation the first violin has some seventy per cent. +of the responsibility as compared with thirty per cent. for the +remaining voices. In all the famous quartet organizations, Joachim, +Hellmesberger, etc., the first violin has been the directing instrument +and has set the pace. As chairman it has been his duty to say when +second violin, viola and 'cello were entitled to hold the floor. +Hellmesberger, in fact, considered himself the _whole_ quartet." Mr. +Kneisel smiled and showed me a little book of Hellmesberger's Vienna +programs. Each program was headed: + + HELLMESBERGER QUARTET + + with the assistance of + + MESSRS. MATH. DURST, CARL HEISSLER, + CARL SCHLESINGER + +"In other words, Hellmesberger was the quartet himself, the other three +artists merely 'assisted,' which, after all, is going too far! + +"Of course, quartets differ. Just as we have operas in which the alto +solo _rôle_ is the most important, so we have quartets in which the +'cello or the viola has a more significant part. Mozart dedicated +quartets to a King of Prussia, who played 'cello, and he was careful to +make the 'cello part the most important. And in Smetana's quartet _Aus +meinem Leben_, the viola plays a most important rôle. Even the second +violin often plays themes introducing principal themes of the first +violin, and it has its brief moments of prominence. Yet, though the +second violin or the 'cellist may be, comparatively speaking, a better +player than the first violin, the latter is and must be the leader. +Practically every composer of chamber music recognizes the fact in his +compositions. He, the first violin, should not command three slaves, +though; but guide three associates, and do it tactfully with regard to +their individuality and that of their instruments. + + + "ENSEMBLE" REHEARSING + +"You ask what are the essentials of _ensemble_ practice on the part of +the artists? Real reverence, untiring zeal and punctuality at +rehearsals. And then, an absolute sense of rhythm. I remember +rehearsing a Volkmann quartet once with a new second violinist." [Mr. +Kneisel crossed over to his bookcase and brought me the score to +illustrate the rhythmic point in question, one slight in itself yet as +difficult, perhaps, for a player without an absolute sense of rhythm as +"perfect intonation" would be for some others.] "He had a lovely tone, a +big technic and was a prize pupil of the Vienna Conservatory. We went +over this two measure phrase some sixteen times, until I felt sure he +had grasped the proper accentuation. And he was most amiable and willing +about it, too. But when we broke up he pointed to the passage and said +to me with a smile: 'After all, whether you play it _this_ way, or +_that_ way, what's the difference?' Then I realized that he had stressed +his notes correctly a few times by chance, and that his own sense of +rhythm did not tell him that there were no two ways about it. The +rhythmic and tonal _nuances_ in a quartet cannot be marked too perfectly +in order to secure a beautiful and finished performance. And such a +violinist as the one mentioned, in spite of his tone and technic, was +never meant for an _ensemble_ player. + +"I have never believed in a quartet getting together and 'reading' a +new work as a preparation for study. As first violin I have always made +it my business to first study the work in score, myself, to study it +until I knew the whole composition absolutely, until I had a mental +picture of its meaning, and of the interrelation of its four voices in +detail. Thirty-two years of experience have justified my theory. Once +the first violin knows the work the practicing may begin; for he is in a +position gradually and tactfully to guide the working-out of the +interpretation without losing time in the struggle to correct faults in +balance which are developed in an unprepared 'reading' of the work. +There is always one important melody, and it is easier to find it +studying the score, to trace it with eye and mind in its contrapuntal +web, than by making voyages of discovery in actual playing. + +"Every player has his own qualities, every instrument its own +advantages. Certain passages in a second violin or viola part may be +technically better suited to the hand of the player, to the nature of +the instrument, and--they will sound better than others. Yet from the +standpoint of the composition the passages that 'lie well' are often not +the more important. This is hard for the player--what is easy for him +he unconsciously is inclined to stress, and he must be on his guard +against it. This is another strong argument in favor of a thorough +preliminary study on the part of the leading violin of the construction +of the work." + + + THE FIRST VIOLIN IN CHAMBER MUSIC VERSUS + THE ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR + +The comparison which I asked Mr. Kneisel to make is one which he could +establish with authority. Aside from his experience as director of his +quartet, he has been the _concert-meister_ of such famous foreign +orchestras as Bilse's and that of the _Hofburg Theater_ in Vienna and, +for eighteen years, of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in this country. He +has also conducted over one hundred concerts of the Boston Symphony, and +was director of the Worcester Music Festivals. + +"Nikisch once said to me, after he had heard us play the Schumann A +minor quartet in Boston: 'Kneisel, it was beautiful, and I felt that you +had more difficulty in developing it than I have with an orchestral +score!' And I think he was right. First of all the symphonic conductor +is an autocrat. There is no appeal from the commands of his baton. But +the first violin of a quartet is, in a sense, only the 'first among +peers.' The velvet glove is an absolute necessity in his case. He must +gain his art ends by diplomacy and tact, he must always remember that +his fellow artists are solo players. If he is arbitrary, no matter how +right he may be, he disturbs that fine feeling of artistic fellowship, +that delicate balance of individual temperaments harmonized for and by a +single purpose. In this connection I do not mind confessing that though +I enjoy a good game of cards, I made it a rule never to play cards with +my colleagues during the hours of railroad traveling involved in keeping +our concert engagements. I played chess. In chess the element of luck +does not enter. Each player is responsible for what he does or leaves +undone. And defeat leaves no such sting as it does when all may be +blamed on chance. In an _ensemble_ that strives for perfection there +must be no undercurrents of regret, of dissatisfaction--nothing that +interferes with the sympathy and good will which makes each individual +artist do his best. And so I have never regretted giving cards the +go-by!" + + + HINTS TO THE SERIOUS VIOLIN STUDENT + +Of late years Mr. Kneisel's activity as a teacher has added to his +reputation. Few teachers can point to a galaxy of artist pupils which +includes such names as Samuel Gardner, Sascha Jacobsen, Breskin, Helen +Jeffry and Olive Meade (who perpetuates the ideals of his great string +_ensemble_ in her own quartet). "What is the secret of your method?" I +asked him first of all. "Method is hardly the word," he told me. "It +sounds too cut-and-dried. I teach according to principles, which must, +of course, vary in individual cases; yet whose foundation is fixed. And +like Joachim, or Leschetiszky, I have preparatory teachers. + + + THE GENERAL FAULT + +"My experience has shown me that the fundamental fault of most pupils is +that they do not know how to hold either the bow or the violin. Here in +America the violin student as a rule begins serious technical study too +late, contrary to the European practice. It is a great handicap to begin +really serious work at seventeen or eighteen, when the flexible bones +of childhood have hardened, and have not the pliability needed for +violin gymnastics. It is a case of not bending the twig as you want the +tree to grow in time. And those who study professionally are often more +interested in making money as soon as possible than in bending all their +energies on reaching the higher levels of their art. Many a promising +talent never develops because its possessor at seventeen or eighteen is +eager to earn money as an orchestra or 'job' player, instead of +sacrificing a few years more and becoming a true artist. I've seen it +happen time and again: a young fellow really endowed who thinks he can +play for a living and find time to study and practice 'after hours.' And +he never does! + +"But to return to the general fault of the violin student. There is a +certain angle at which the bow should cross the strings in order to +produce those vibrations which give the roundest, fullest, most perfect +tone [he took his own beautiful instrument out of its case to illustrate +the point], and the violin must be so held that the bow moves straight +across the strings in this manner. A deviation from the correct attack +produces a scratchy tone. And it is just in the one fundamental thing: +the holding of the violin in exactly the same position when it is taken +up by the player, never varying by so much as half-an-inch, and the +correct attack by the bow, in which the majority of pupils are +deficient. If the violin is not held at the proper angle, for instance, +it is just as though a piano were to stand on a sloping floor. Too many +students play 'with the violin' on the bow, instead of holding the +violin steady, and letting the bow play. + +"And in beginning to study, this apparently simple, yet fundamentally +important, principle is often overlooked or neglected. Joachim, when he +studied as a ten-year-old boy under Hellmesberger in Vienna, once played +a part in a concerto by Maurer, for four violins and piano. His teacher +was displeased: 'You'll never be a fiddler!' he told him, 'you use your +bow too stiffly!' But the boy's father took him to Böhm, and he remained +with this teacher for three years, until his fundamental fault was +completely overcome. And if Joachim had not given his concentrated +attention to his bowing while there was still time, he would never have +been the great artist he later became. + + + THE ART OF THE BOW + +"You see," he continued, "the secret of really beautiful violin playing +lies in the bow. A Blondin crossing Niagara finds his wire hard and firm +where he first steps on it. But as he progresses it vibrates with +increasing intensity. And as the tight-rope walker knows how to control +the vibrations of his wire, so the violinist must master the vibrations +of his strings. Each section of the string vibrates with a different +quality of tone. Most pupils think that a big tone is developed by +pressure with the bow--yet much depends on what part of the string this +pressure is applied. Fingering is an art, of course, but the great art +is the art of the bow, the 'art of bowing,' as Tartini calls it. When a +pupil understands it he has gone far. + +"Every pupil may be developed to a certain degree without ever +suspecting how important a factor the manipulation of the bow will be in +his further progress. He thinks that if the fingers of his left hand are +agile he has gained the main end in view. But then he comes to a +stop--his left hand can no longer aid him, and he finds that if he wants +to play with real beauty of expression the bow supplies the only true +key. Out of a hundred who reach this stage," Mr. Kneisel went on, rather +sadly, "only some five or six, or even less, become great artists. They +are those who are able to control the bow as well as the left hand. All +real art begins with phrasing, and this, too, lies altogether in the +mastery of bow--the very soul of the violin!" + +I asked Mr. Kneisel how he came to write his own "Advanced Exercises" +for the instrument. "I had an idea that a set of studies, in which each +single study presented a variety of technical figures might be a relief +from the exercises in so many excellent methods, where pages of scales +are followed by pages of arpeggios, pages of double-notes and so forth. +It is very monotonous to practice pages and pages of a single technical +figure," he added. "Most pupils simply will not do it!" He brought out a +copy of his "Exercises" and showed me their plan. "Here, for instance, I +have scales, trills, arpeggios--all in the same study, and the study is +conceived as a musical composition instead of a technical formula. This +is a study in finger position, with all possible bowings. My aim has +been to concentrate the technical material of a whole violin school in +a set of _études_ with musical interest." + +And he showed me the second book of the studies, in ms., containing +exercises in every variety of scale, and trill, bowing, _nuance_, etc., +combined in a single musical movement. This volume also contains his own +cadenza to the Beethoven violin concerto. In conclusion Mr. Kneisel laid +stress on the importance of the student's hearing the best music at +concert and recital as often as possible, and on the value and incentive +supplied by a musical atmosphere in the home and, on leaving him, I +could not help but feel that what he had said in our interview, his +reflections and observations based on an artistry beyond cavil, and an +authoritative experience, would be well worth pondering by every serious +student of the instrument. For Franz Kneisel speaks of what he knows. + + + + + XI + + + ADOLFO BETTI + + THE TECHNIC OF THE MODERN QUARTET + + +What lover of chamber music in its more perfect dispensations is not +familiar with the figure of Adolfo Betti, the guiding brain and bow of +the Flonzaley Quartet? Born in Florence, he played his first public +concert at the age of six, yet as a youth found it hard to choose +between literature, for which he had decided aptitude,[A] and music. +Fortunately for American concert audiences of to-day, he finally +inclined to the latter. An exponent of what many consider the greatest +of all violinistic schools, the Belgian, he studied for four years with +César Thomson at Liège, spent four more concertizing in Vienna and +elsewhere, and returned to Thomson as the latter's assistant in the +Brussels Conservatory, three years before he joined the Flonzaleys, in +1903. With pleasant recollections of earlier meetings with this gifted +artist, the writer sought him out, and found him amiably willing to talk +about the modern quartet and its ideals, ideals which he personally has +done so much to realize. + +[Footnote A: M. Betti has published a number of critical articles in the +_Guide Musical_ of Brussels, the _Rivista Musicale_ of Turin, etc.] + + + THE MODERN QUARTET + +"You ask me how the modern quartet differs from its predecessors?" said +Mr. Betti. "It differs in many ways. For one thing the modern quartet +has developed in a way that makes its inner voices--second violin and +viola--much more important than they used to be. Originally, as in +Haydn's early quartets, we have a violin solo with three accompanying +instruments. In Beethoven's last quartets the intermediate voices have +already gained a freedom and individuality which before him had not even +been suspected. In these last quartets Beethoven has already set forth +the principle which was to become the basis of modern polyphony: '_first +of all_ to allow each voice to express itself freely and fully, and +_afterward_ to see what the relations were of one to the other.' In +fact, no one has exercised a more revolutionary effect on the quartet +than Beethoven--no one has made it attain so great a degree of +progress. And surely the distance separating the quartet as Beethoven +found it, from the quartet as he left it (Grand Fugue, Op. 131, Op. +132), is greater than that which lies between the Fugue Op. 132, and the +most advanced modern quartet, let us say, for instance, Schönberg's Op. +7. Schönberg, by the way, has only applied and developed the principles +established by Beethoven in the latter's last quartets. But in the +modern quartet we have a new element, one which tends more and more to +become preponderant, and which might be called _orchestral_ rather than +_da camera_. Smetana, Grieg, Tschaikovsky were the first to follow this +path, in which the majority of the moderns, including Franck and +Debussy, have followed them. And in addition, many among the most +advanced modern composers _strive for orchestral effects that often lie +outside the natural capabilities of the strings_! + + [Illustration: ADOLFO BETTI, with hand-written note] + +"For instance Stravinsky, in the first of his three impressionistic +sketches for quartet (which we have played), has the first violin play +_ponticello_ throughout, not the natural _ponticello_, but a quite +special one, to produce an effect of a bag-pipe sounding at a distance. +I had to try again and again till I found the right technical means to +produce the effect desired. Then, the 'cello is used to imitate the +drum; there are special technical problems for the second violin--a +single sustained D, with an accompanying _pizzicato_ on the open +strings--while the viola is required to suggest the tramp of marching +feet. And, again, in other modern quartets we find special technical +devices undreamt of in earlier days. Borodine, for instance, is the +first to systematically employ successions of harmonics. In the trio of +his first quartet the melody is successively introduced by the 'cello +and the first violin, altogether in harmonics. + + + THE MODERN QUARTET AND AMATEUR PLAYERS + +"You ask me whether the average quartet of amateurs, of lovers of string +music, can get much out of the more modern quartets. I would say yes, +but with some serious reservations. There has been much beautiful music +written, but most of it is complicated. In the case of the older +quartets, Haydn, Mozart, etc., even if they are not played well, the +performers can still obtain an idea of the music, of its thought +content. But in the modern quartets, unless each individual player has +mastered every technical difficulty, the musical idea does not pierce +through, there is no effect. + +"I remember when we rehearsed the first Schönberg quartet. It was in +1913, at a Chicago hotel, and we had no score, but only the separate +parts. The results, at our first attempt, were so dreadful that we +stopped after a few pages. It was not till I had secured a score, +studied it and again tried it that we began to see a light. Finally +there was not one measure which we did not understand. But Schönberg, +Reger, Ravel quartets make too great a demand on the technical ability +of the average quartet amateur. + + + THE TECHNIC OF QUARTET PLAYING + +"Naturally, the first violin is the leader, the Conductor of the +quartet, as in its early days, although the 'star' system, with one +virtuose player and three satellites, has disappeared. Now the quartet +as a whole has established itself in the _virtuoso_ field--using the +word _virtuoso_ in its best sense. The Müller quartet (Hanover), +1845-1850, was the first to travel as a chamber music organization, and +the famous _Florentiner_ Quartet the first to realize what could be +done in the way of finish in playing. As _premier violiniste_ of the +Flonzaley's I study and prepare the interpretation of the works we are +to play before any rehearsing is done. + +"While the first violin still holds first place in the modern quartet, +the second violin has become much more important than formerly; it has +gained in individuality. In many of the newer quartets it is quite as +important as the first. In Hugo Wolf's quartet, for example, first and +second violins are employed as though in a concerto for two violins. + +"The viola, especially in modern French works--Ravel, Debussy, +Samazeuil--has a prominent part. In the older quartets one reason the +viola parts are simple is because the alto players as a rule were +technically less skillful. As a general thing they were violinists who +had failed--'the refugees of the G clef,' as Edouard Colonne, the +eminent conductor, once wittily said. But the reason modern French +composers give the viola special attention is because France now is +ahead of the other nations in virtuose viola playing. It is practically +the only country which may be said to have a 'school' of viola playing. +In the Smetana quartet the viola plays a most important part, and +Dvořák, who himself played viola, emphasized the instrument in his +quartets. + +"Mozart showed what the 'cello was able to do in the quartets he +dedicated to the ''cellist king,' Frederick William of Prussia. And +then, the 'cello has always the musical importance which attaches to it +as the lower of the two 'outer voices' of the quartet _ensemble_. Like +the second violin and viola, it has experienced a technical and musical +development beyond anything Haydn or Mozart would have dared to write. + + + REHEARSING + +"Realization of the Art aims of the modern quartet calls for endless +rehearsal. Few people realize the hard work and concentrated effort +entailed. And there are always new problems to solve. After preparing a +new score in advance, we meet and establish its general idea, its broad +outlines in actual playing. And then, gradually, we fill in the details. +Ordinarily we rehearse three hours a day, less during the concert +season, of course; but always enough to keep absolutely in trim. And we +vary our practice programs in order to keep mentally fresh as well as +technically fit. + + + INTONATION + +"Perfect intonation is a great problem--one practically unknown to the +average amateur quartet player. Four players may each one of them be +playing in tune, in pitch; yet their chords may not be truly in tune, +because of the individual bias--a trifle sharp, a trifle flat--in +interpreting pitch. This individual bias may be caused by the attraction +existing between certain notes, by differences of register and _timbre_, +or any number of other reasons--too many to recount. The true beauty of +the quartet tone cannot be obtained unless there is an exact adjustment, +a tempering of the individual pitch of each instrument, till perfect +accordance exists. This is far more difficult and complicated than one +might at first believe. For example, let us take one of the simplest +violin chords," said Mr. Betti [and he rapidly set it down in pencil]. + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"Now let us begin by fixing the B so that it is perfectly in tune with +the E, then _without at all changing_ the B, take the interval D-B. You +will see that the sixth will not be in tune. Repeat the experiment, +inverting the notes: the result will still be the same. Try it yourself +some time," added Mr. Betti with a smile, "and you will see. What is the +reason? It is because the middle B has not been adjusted, tempered! Give +the same notes to the first and second violins and the viola and you +will have the same result. Then, when the 'cello is added, the problem +is still more complicated, owing to the difference in _timbre_ and +register. Yet it is a problem which can be solved, and is solved in +practically everything we play. + +"Another difficulty, especially in the case of some of the _very daring_ +chords encountered in modern compositions, is the matter of balance +between the individual notes. There are chords which only _sound well_ +if certain notes are thrown into relief; and others only if played very +softly (almost as though they were overtones). To overcome such +difficulties means a great deal of work, real musical instinct and, +above all, great familiarity with the composer's harmonic processes. Yet +with time and patience the true balance of tone can be obtained. + + + TEMPO + +"All four individual players must be able to _feel_ the tempo they are +playing in the same way. I believe it was Mahler who once gave out a +beat very distinctly--one, two, three--told his orchestra players to +count the beat silently for twenty measures and then stop. As each +_felt_ the beat differently from the other, every one of them stopped at +a different time. So _tempo_, just like intonation, must be 'tempered' +by the four quartet players in order to secure perfect rhythmic +inflection. + + + DYNAMICS + +"Modern composers have wonderfully improved dynamic expression. Every +little shade of meaning they make clear with great distinctness. The +older composers, and occasionally a modern like Emanuel Moor, do not use +expression marks. Moor says, 'If the performers really have something to +put into my work the signs are not needed.' Yet this has its +disadvantages. I once had an entirely unmarked Sonata by Sammartini. As +most first movements in the sonatas of that composer are _allegros_ I +tried the beginning several times as an _allegro_, but it sounded +radically wrong. Then, at last, it occurred to me to try it as a _largo_ +and, behold, it was beautiful! + + + INTERPRETATION + +"If the leader of the quartet has lived himself into and mastered a +composition, together with his associates, the result is sure. I must +live in the music I play just as an actor must live the character he +represents. All higher interpretation depends on solving technical +problems in a way which is not narrowly mechanical. And while the +_ensemble_ spirit must be preserved, the freedom of the individual +should not be too much restrained. Once the style and manner of a modern +composer are familiar, it is easier to present his works: when we first +played the Reger quartet here some twenty years ago, we found pages +which at first we could not at all understand. If one has fathomed +Debussy, it is easier to play Milhaud, Roger-Ducasse, Samazeuil--for the +music of the modern French school has much in common. One great cultural +value the professional quartet has for the musical community is the fact +that it gives a large circle a measure of acquaintance with the mode of +thought and style of composers whose symphonic and larger works are +often an unknown quantity. This applies to Debussy, Reger, the modern +Russians, Bloch and others. When we played the Stravinsky pieces here, +for instance, his _Pétrouschka_ and _Firebird_ had not yet been heard. + + + SOME IDEALS + +"We try, as an organization, to be absolutely catholic in taste. Nor do +we neglect the older music, because we play so much of the new. This +year we are devoting special attention to the American composers. +Formerly the Kneisels took care of them, and now we feel that we should +assume this legacy. We have already played Daniel Gregory Mason's fine +_Intermezzo_, and the other American numbers we have played include +David Stanley Smith's _Second Quartet_, and movements from quartets by +Victor Kolar and Samuel Gardner. We are also going to revive Charles +Martin Loeffler's _Rhapsodies_ for viola, oboe and piano. + +"I have been for some time making a collection of sonatas _a tre_, two +violins and 'cello--delightful old things by Sammartini, Leclair, the +Englishman Boyce, Friedemann Bach and others. This is material from +which the amateur could derive real enjoyment and profit. The Leclair +sonata in D minor we have played some three hundred times; and its slow +movement is one of the most beautiful _largos_ I know of in all chamber +music. The same thing could be done in the way of transcription for +chamber music which Kreisler has already done so charmingly for the solo +violin. And I would dearly love to do it! There are certain 'primitives' +of the quartet--Johann Christian Bach, Gossec, Telemann, Michel +Haydn--who have written music full of the rarest melodic charm and +freshness. I have much excellent material laid by, but as you know," +concluded Mr. Betti with a sigh, "one has so little time for anything in +America." + + + + + XII + + + HANS LETZ + + THE TECHNIC OF BOWING + + +Hans Letz, the gifted Alsatian violinist, is well fitted to talk on any +phase of his Art. A pupil of Joachim (he came to this country in 1908), +he was for three years concertmaster of the Thomas orchestra, appearing +as a solo artist in most of our large cities, and was not only one of +the Kneisels (he joined that organization in 1912), but the leader of a +quartet of his own. As a teacher, too, he is active in giving others an +opportunity to apply the lessons of his own experience. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +When asked for his definition of the term, Mr. Letz said: "There can be +no such thing as an _absolute_ mastery of the violin. Mastery is a +relative term. The artist is first of all more or less dependent on +circumstances which he cannot control--his mood, the weather, strings, +a thousand and one incidentals. And then, the nearer he gets to his +ideal, the more apt his ideal is to escape him. Yet, discounting all +objections, I should say that a master should be able to express +perfectly the composer's idea, reflected by his own sensitive soul. + + + THE KEY TO INTERPRETATION + +"The bow is the key to this mastery in expression, in interpretation: in +a lesser degree the left hand. The average pupil does not realize this +but believes that mere finger facility is the whole gist of technic. Yet +the richest color, the most delicate _nuance_, is mainly a matter of +bowing. In the left hand, of course, the _vibrato_ gives a certain +amount of color effect, the intense, dramatic tone quality of the rapid +_vibrato_ is comparable on the violin to the _tremulando_ of the singer. +At the same time the _vibrato_ used to excess is quite as bad as an +excessive _tremulando_ in the voice. But control of the bow is the key +to the gates of the great field of declamation, it is the means of +articulation and accent, it gives character, comprising the entire scale +of the emotions. In fact, declamation with the violin bow is very much +like declamation in dramatic art. And the attack of the bow on the +string should be as incisive as the utterance of the first accented +syllable of a spoken word. The bow is emphatically the means of +expression, but only the advanced pupil can develop its finer, more +delicate expressional possibilities. + + + THE TECHNIC OF BOWING + +"Genius does many things by instinct. And it sometimes happens that very +great performers, trying to explain some technical function, do not know +how to make their meaning clear. With regard to bowing, I remember that +Joachim (a master colorist with the bow) used to tell his students to +play largely with the wrist. What he really meant was with an +elbow-joint movement, that is, moving the bow, which should always be +connected with a movement of the forearm by means of the elbow-joint. +The ideal bow stroke results from keeping the joints of the right arm +loose, and at the same time firm enough to control each motion made. A +difficult thing for the student is to learn to draw the bow across the +strings _at a right angle_, the only way to produce a good tone. I find +it helps my pupils to tell them not to think of the position of the +bow-arm while drawing the bow across the strings, but merely to follow +with the tips of the fingers of the right hand an imaginary line running +at a right angle across the strings. The whole bow then moves as it +should, and the arm motions unconsciously adjust themselves. + + + RHYTHM AND COLOR + +"Rhythm is the foundation of all music--not rhythm in its metronomic +sense, but in the broader sense of proportion. I lay the greatest stress +on the development of rhythmic sensibility in the student. Rhythm gives +life to every musical phrase." Mr. Letz had a Brahms' quartet open on +his music stand. Playing the following passage, he said: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"In order to give this phrase its proper rhythmic value, to express it +clearly, plastically, there must be a very slight separation between the +sixteenths and the eighth-note following them. This--the bow picked up a +trifle from the strings--throws the sixteenths into relief. As I have +already said, tone color is for the main part controlled by the bow. If +I draw the bow above the fingerboard instead of keeping it near the +bridge, I have a decided contrast in color. This color contrast may +always be established: playing near the bridge results in a clear and +sharp tone, playing near the fingerboard in a veiled and velvety one. + + + SUGGESTIONS IN TEACHING + +"I find that, aside from the personal illustration absolutely necessary +when teaching, that an appeal to the pupil's imagination usually bears +fruit. In developing tone-quality, let us say, I tell the pupil his +phrases should have a golden, mellow color, the tonal equivalent of the +hues of the sunrise. I vary my pictures according to the circumstances +and the pupil, in most cases, reacts to them. In fast bowings, for +instance, I make three color distinctions or rather sound distinctions. +There is the 'color of rain,' when a fast bow is pushed gently over the +strings, while not allowed to jump; the 'color of snowflakes' produced +when the hairs of the bow always touch the strings, and the wood dances; +and 'the color of hail' (which seldom occurs in the classics), when in +the real characteristic _spiccato_ the whole bow leaves the string." + + + THE ART AND THE SCHOOLS + +In reply to another question, Mr. Letz added: "Great violin playing is +great violin playing, irrespective of school or nationality. Of course +the Belgians and French have notable elegance, polish, finish in detail. +The French lay stress on sensuous beauty of tone. The German temperament +is perhaps broader, neglecting sensuous beauty for beauty of idea, +developing the scholarly side. Sarasate, the Spaniard, is a unique +national figure. The Slavs seem to have a natural gift for the +violin--perhaps because of centuries of repression--and are passionately +temperamental. In their playing we find that melancholy, combined with +an intense craving for joy, which runs through all Slavonic music and +literature. Yet, all said and done, Art is and remains first of all +international, and the great violinist is a great artist, no matter what +his native land." + + + + + XIII + + + DAVID MANNES + + THE PHILOSOPHY OF VIOLIN TEACHING + + +That David Mannes, the well-known violinist and conductor, so long +director of the New York Music School Settlement, would be able to speak +in an interesting and authoritative manner on his art, was a foregone +conclusion in the writer's mind. A visit to the educator's own beautiful +"Music School" confirmed this conviction. In reply to some questions +concerning his own study years Mr. Mannes spoke of his work with +Heinrich de Ahna, Karl Halir and Eugène Ysaye. "When I came to de Ahna +in Berlin, I was, unfortunately, not yet ready for him, and so did not +get much benefit from his instruction. In the case of Halir, to whom I +went later, I was in much better shape to take advantage of what he +could give me, and profited accordingly. It is a point any student may +well note--that when he thinks of studying with some famous teacher +he be technically and musically equipped to take advantage of all that +the latter may be able to give him. Otherwise it is a case of love's +labor lost on the part of both. Karl Halir was a sincere and very +thorough teacher. He was a Spohr player _par excellence_, and I have +never found his equal in the playing of Spohr's _Gesangsscene_. With him +I studied Kreutzer, Rode, Fiorillo; and to know Halir as a teacher was +to know him at his best; since as a public performer--great violinist as +he was--he did not do himself justice, because he was too nervous and +high-strung. + + [Illustration: DAVID MANNES, with hand-written note] + + + STUDYING WITH YSAYE + +"It was while sitting among the first violins in the New York Symphony +Orchestra that I first heard Ysaye. And for the first time in my life I +heard a man with whom I fervently _wanted_ to study; an artist whose +whole attitude with regard to tone and sound reproduction embodied my +ideals. + +"I worked with Ysaye in Brussels and in his cottage at Godinne. Here he +taught much as Liszt did at Weimar, a group of from ten to twenty +disciples. Early in the morning he went fishing in the Meuse, then back +to breakfast and then came the lessons: not more than three or four a +day. Those who studied drew inspiration from him as the pianists of the +Weimar circle did from their Master. In fact, Ysaye's standpoint toward +music had a good deal in common with Rubinstein's and he often said he +wished he could play the violin as Rubinstein did the piano. Ysaye is an +artist who has transcended his own medium--he has become a poet of +sound. And unless the one studying with him could understand and +appreciate this fact he made a poor teacher. But to me, in all humility, +he was and will always remain a wonderful inspiration. As an influence +in my career his marvelous genius is unique. In my own teaching I have +only to recall his tone, his playing in his little cottage on the banks +of the Meuse which the tide of war has swept away, to realize in a +cumulative sense the things he tried to make plain to me then. Ysaye +taught the technic of expression as against the expression of technic. +He gave the lessons of a thousand teachers in place of the lessons of +one. The greatest technical development was required by Ysaye of a +pupil; and given this pre-requisite, he could open up to him ever +enlarging horizons of musical beauty. + +"Nor did he think that the true beauty of violin playing must depend +upon six to eight hours of daily practice work. I absolutely believe +with Ysaye that unless a student can make satisfactory progress with +three hours of practice a day, he should not attempt to play the violin. +Inability to do so is in itself a confession of failure at the outset. +Nor do I think it possible to practice the violin intensively more than +three-quarters of an hour at a time. In order to utilize his three hours +of practice to the best advantage the student should divide them into +four periods, with intervals of rest between each, and these rest +periods might simply represent a transfer of energy--which is a rest in +itself--to reading or some other occupation not necessarily germane to +music, yet likely to stimulate interest in some other art. + + + SOME INITIAL PRINCIPLES OF VIOLIN STUDY + +"The violin student first and foremost should accustom himself to +practicing purely technical exercises without notes. The scales and +arpeggios should never be played otherwise and books of scales should be +used only as a reference. Quite as important as scale practice are +broken chords. On the violin these cannot be played _solidly_, as on the +piano; but must be studied as arpeggios, in the most exhaustive way, +harmonically and technically. Their great value lies in developing an +innate musical sense, in establishing an idea of tonality and harmony +that becomes so deeply rooted that every other key is as natural to the +player as is the key of C. Work of this kind can never be done ideally +in class. But every individual student must himself come to realize the +necessity of doing technical work without notes as a matter of daily +exercise, even though his time be limited. Perhaps the most difficult of +all lessons is learning to hold the violin. There are pupils to whom +holding the instrument presents insurmountable obstacles. Such pupils, +instead of struggling in vain with a physical difficulty, might rather +take up the study of the 'cello, whose weight rests on the floor. That +many a student was not intended to be a violin player by nature is +proved by the various inventions, chin-rests, braces, intended to supply +what nature has not supplied. The study of the violin should never be +allowed if it is going to result in actual physical deformity: raising +of the left shoulder, malformation of the back, or eruptions resulting +from chin-rest pressure. These are all evidences of physical unfitness, +or of incorrect teaching. + + + THE PHILOSOPHY OF VIOLIN TEACHING + +"Class study is for the advanced student, not the beginner. In the +beginning only the closest personal contact between the individual pupil +and the teacher is desirable. To borrow an analogy from nature, the +student may be compared to the young bird whose untrained wings will not +allow him to take any trial flights unaided by his natural guardian. For +the beginning violinist the principal thing to do is to learn the 'voice +placing' of the violin. This goes hand in hand with the proper--which is +the easy and natural--manner of holding the violin, bow study, and an +appreciation of the acoustics of the instrument. The student's attention +should at once be called to the marvelous and manifold qualities of the +violin tone, and he should at once familiarize himself with the +development of those contrasts of stress and pressure, ease and +relaxation which are instrumental in its production. The analogies +between the violin voice and the human voice should also be developed. +The violin itself must to all intents become a part of the player +himself, just as the vocal chords are part of the human body. It should +not be considered a foreign tone-producing instrument adjusted to the +body of the performer; but an extension, a projection of his physical +self. In a way it is easier for the violinist to get at the chords of +the violin and make them sound, since they are all exposed, which is not +the case with the singer. + +"There are two dangerous points in present-day standards of violin +teaching. One is represented by the very efficient European professional +standards of technic, which may result in an absolute failure of poetic +musical comprehension. These should not be transplanted here from +European soil. The other is the non-technical, sentimental, formless +species of teaching which can only result in emotional enervation. Yet +if forced to choose between the two the former would be preferable since +without tools it is impossible to carve anything of beauty. The final +beauty of the violin tone, the pure _legato_, remains in the beginning +as in the end a matter of holding the violin and bow. Together they +'place' the tone just as the physical _media_ in the throat 'place' the +tone of the voice. + +"Piano teachers have made greater advances in the tone developing +technic of their instrument than the violin teachers. One reason is, +that as a class they are more intellectual. And then, too, violin +teaching is regarded too often as a mystic art, an occult science, and +one into which only those specially gifted may hope to be initiated. +This, it seems to me, is a fallacy. Just as a gift for mathematics is a +special talent not given to all, so a _natural_ technical talent exists +in relatively few people. Yet this does not imply that the majority are +shut off from playing the violin and playing it well. Any student who +has music in his soul may be taught to play simple, and even relatively +more difficult music with beauty, beauty of expression and +interpretation. This he may be taught to do even though not endowed with +a _natural_ technical facility for the violin. A proof that natural +technical facility is anything but a guarantee of higher musicianship is +shown in that the musical weakness of many brilliant violinists, hidden +by the technical elaboration of virtuoso pieces, is only apparent when +they attempt to play a Beethoven _adagio_ or a simple Mozart _rondo_. + +"In a number of cases the unsuccessful solo player has a bad effect on +violin teaching. Usually the soloist who has not made a success as a +concert artist takes up teaching as a last resort, without enthusiasm or +the true vocational instinct. The false standards he sets up for his +pupils are a natural result of his own ineffectual worship of the fetish +of virtuosity--those of the musical mountebank of a hundred years ago. +Of course such false prophets of the virtuose have nothing in common +with such high-priests of public utterance as Ysaye, Kreisler and +others, whose virtuosity is a true means for the higher development of +the musical. The encouragement of musicianship in general suffers for +the stress laid on what is obviously technical _impedimenta_. But more +and more, as time passes, the playing of such artists as those already +mentioned, and others like them, shows that the real musician is the +lover of beautiful sound, which technic merely develops in the highest +degree. + +"To-day technic in a cumulative sense often is a confession of failure. +For technic does not do what it so often claims to--produce the artist. +Most professional teaching aims to prepare the student for professional +life, the concert stage. Hence there is an intensive _technical_ study +of compositions that even if not wholly intended for display are +primarily and principally projected for its sake. It is a well-known +fact that few, even among gifted players, can sit down to play chamber +music and do it justice. This is not because they cannot grasp or +understand it; or because their technic is insufficient. It is because +their whole violinistic education has been along the line of solo +playing; they have literally been brought up, not to play _with_ others, +but to be accompanied _by_ others. + +"Yet despite all this there has been a notable development of violin +study in the direction of _ensemble_ work with, as a result, an attitude +on the part of the violinists cultivating it, of greater humility as +regards music in general, a greater appreciation of the charm of +artistic collaboration: and--I insist--a technic both finer and more +flexible. Chamber music--originally music written for the intimate +surroundings of the home, for a small circle of listeners--carries out +in its informal way many of the ideals of the larger orchestral +_ensemble_. And, as regards the violinist, he is not dependent only on +the literature of the string quartet; there are piano quintets and +quartets, piano trios, and the duos for violin and piano. Some of the +most beautiful instrumental thoughts of the classic and modern +composers are to be found in the duo for violin and piano, mainly in the +sonata form. Amateurs--violinists who love music for its own sake, and +have sufficient facility to perform such works creditably--do not do +nearly enough _ensemble_ playing with a pianist. It is not always +possible to get together the four players needed for the string quartet, +but a pianist is apt to be more readily found. + +"The combination of violin and piano is as a rule obtainable and the +literature is particularly rich. Aside from sonatas by Corelli, +Locatelli, Tartini, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Haendel, Brahms and +Schumann, nearly all the romantic and modern composers have contributed +to it. And this music has all been written so as to show the character +of each instrument at its best--the piano, harmonic in its nature; the +violin, a natural melodic voice, capable of every shade of _nuance_." +That Mr. Mannes, as an artist, has made a point of "practicing what he +preaches" to the student as regards the _ensemble_ of violin and piano +will be recalled by all who have enjoyed the 'Sonata Recitals' he has +given together with Mrs. Mannes. And as an interpreting solo artist his +views regarding the moot question of gut _versus_ wire strings are of +interest. + + + GUT VERSUS WIRE STRINGS + +"My own violin, a Maggini of more than the usual size, dates from the +year 1600. It formerly belonged to Dr. Leopold Damrosch. Which strings +do I use on it? The whole question as to whether gut or wire strings are +to be preferred may, in my opinion, be referred to the violin itself for +decision. What I mean is that if Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Amati, +Maggini and others of the old-master builders of violins had ever had +wire strings in view, they would have built their fiddles in accordance, +and they would not be the same we now possess. First of all there are +scientific reasons against using the wire strings. They change the tone +of the instrument. The rigidity of tension of the wire E string where it +crosses the bridge tightens up the sound of the lower strings. Their +advantages are: reliability under adverse climatic conditions and the +incontestable fact that they make things easier technically. They +facilitate purity of intonation. Yet I am willing to forgo these +advantages when I consider the wonderful pliability of the gut strings +for which Stradivarius built his violins. I can see the artistic +retrogression of those who are using the wire E, for when materially +things are made easier, spiritually there is a loss. + + + CHIN RESTS + +"And while we are discussing the physical aspects of the instrument +there is the 'chin rest.' None of the great violin makers ever made a +'chin rest.' Increasing technical demands, sudden pyrotechnical flights +into the higher octaves brought the 'chin rest' into being. The 'chin +rest' was meant to give the player a better grasp of his instrument. I +absolutely disapprove, in theory, of chin rest, cushion or pad. +Technical reasons may be adduced to justify their use, never artistic +ones. I admit that progress in violin study is infinitely slower without +the use of the pad; but the more close and direct a contact with his +instrument the player can develop, the more intimately expressive his +playing becomes. Students with long necks and thin bodies claim they +have to use a 'chin rest,' but the study of physical adjustments could +bring about a better coördination between them and the instrument. A +thin pad may be used without much danger, yet I feel that the thicker +and higher the 'chin rest' the greater the loss in expressive rendering. +The more we accustom ourselves to mechanical aids, the more we will come +to rely on them.... But the question you ask anent 'Violin Mastery' +leads altogether away from the material! + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"To me it signifies technical efficiency coupled with poetic insight, +freedom from conventionally accepted standards, the attainment of a more +varied personal expression along individual lines. It may be realized, +of course, only to a degree, since the possessor of absolute 'Violin +Mastery' would be forever glorified. As it is the violin master, as I +conceive him, represents the embodier of the greatest intimacy between +himself, the artist, and his medium of expression. Considered in this +light Pablo Casals and his 'cello, perhaps, most closely comply with the +requirements of the definition. And this is not as paradoxical as it may +seem, since all string instruments are brethren, descended from the +ancient viol, and the 'cello is, after all, a variant of the violin!" + + + + + XIV + + + TIVADAR NACHÉZ + + JOACHIM AND LÉONARD AS TEACHERS + + +Tivadar Nachéz, the celebrated violin virtuoso, is better known as a +concertizing artist in Europe, where he has played with all the leading +symphonic orchestras, than in this country, to which he paid his first +visit during these times of war, and which he was about to leave for his +London home when the writer had the pleasure of meeting him. Yet, though +he has not appeared in public in this country (if we except some Red +Cross concerts in California, at which he gave his auditors of his best +to further our noblest war charity), his name is familiar to every +violinist. For is not Mr. Nachéz the composer of the "Gypsy Dances" for +violin and piano, which have made him famous? + +Genuinely musical, effective and largely successful as they have been, +however, as any one who has played them can testify, the composer of +the "Gypsy Dances" regards them with mixed feelings. "I have done other +work that seems to me, relatively, much more important," said Mr. +Nachéz, "but when my name happens to be mentioned, echo always answers +'Gypsy Dances,' my little rubbishy 'Gypsy Dances!' It is not quite fair. +I have published thirty-five works, among them a 'Requiem Mass,' an +orchestral overture, two violin concertos, three rhapsodies for violin +and orchestra, variations on a Swiss theme, Romances, a Polonaise +(dedicated to Ysaye), and Evening Song, three _Poèmes hongrois_, twelve +classical masterworks of the 17th century--to say nothing of songs, +etc.--and the two concertos of Vivaldi and Nardini which I have edited, +practically new creations, owing to the addition of the piano +accompaniments and orchestral score. I wrote the 'Gypsy Dances' as a +mere boy when I was studying with H. Léonard in Paris, and really at his +suggestion. In one of my lessons I played Sarasate's 'Spanish Dances,' +which chanced to be published at the time, and at once made a great hit. +So Léonard said to me: 'Why not write some _Hungarian_ Gypsy +dances--there must be wonderful material at hand in the music of the +_Tziganes_ of Hungary. You should do something with it!' I took him at +his word, and he liked my 'Dances' so well that he made me play them at +his musical evenings, which he gave often during the winter, and which +were always attended by the musical _Tout Paris!_ I may say that during +these last thirty years there has been scarcely a violinist before the +public who at one time or the other has _not_ played these 'Gypsy +Dances.' Besides the _original_ edition, there are two (pirated!) +editions in America and six in Europe. + + [Illustration: TIVADAR NACHÉZ, with hand-written note] + + + THE BEGINNING OF A VIOLINISTIC CAREER: PLAYING WITH LISZT + +"No, Léonard was not my first teacher. I took up violin work when a boy +of five years of age, and for seven years practiced from eight to ten +hours a day, studying with Sabathiel, the leader of the Royal Orchestra +in Budapest, where I was born, though England, the land of my adoption, +in which I have lived these last twenty-six years, is the land where I +have found all my happiness, and much gratifying honor, and of which I +have been a devoted, ardent and loyal naturalized citizen for more than +a quarter of a century. Sabathiel was an excellent routine teacher, and +grounded me well in the fundamentals--good tone production and +technical control. Later I had far greater teachers, and they taught me +much, but--in the last analysis, most of the little I have achieved I +owe to myself, to hard, untiring work: I had determined to be a +violinist and I trust I became one. No serious student of the instrument +should ever forget that, no matter who his teacher may be, he himself +must supply the determination, the continued energy and devotion which +will lead him to success. + +"Playing with Liszt--he was an intimate friend of my father--is my most +precious musical recollection of Budapest. I enjoyed it a great deal +more than my regular lesson work. He would condescend to play with me +some evenings and you can imagine what rare musical enjoyment, what +happiness there was in playing with such a genius! I was still a boy +when with him I played the Grieg F major sonata, which had just come +fresh from the press. He played with me the D minor sonata of Schumann +and introduced me to the mystic beauties of the Beethoven sonatas. I can +still recall how in the Beethoven C minor sonata, in the first movement, +Liszt would bring out a certain broken chromatic passage in the left +hand, with a mighty _crescendo_, an effect of melodious thunder, of +enormous depth of tone, and yet with the most exquisite regard for the +balance between the violin and his own instrument. And there was not a +trace of condescension in his attitude toward me; but always +encouragement, a tender affectionate and paternal interest in a young +boy, who at _that moment_ was a brother artist. + +"Through Liszt I came to know the great men of Hungarian music of that +time: Erkel, Hans Richter, Robert Volkmann, Count Geza Zichy, and +eventually I secured a scholarship, which the King had founded for +music, to study with Joachim in Berlin, where I remained nearly three +years. Hubay was my companion there; but afterward we separated, he +going to Vieuxtemps, while I went to Léonard. + + + JOACHIM AS A TEACHER AND INTERPRETER + +"Joachim was, perhaps, the most celebrated teacher of his time. Yet it +is one of the greatest ironies of fate that when he died there was not +one of his pupils who was considered by the German authorities 'great' +enough to take the place the Master had held. Henri Marteau, who was +not his pupil, and did not even exemplify his style in playing, was +chosen to succeed him! Henri Petri, a Vieuxtemps pupil who went to +Joachim, played just as well when he came to him as when he left him. +The same might be said of Willy Burmester, Hess, Kes and Halir, the +latter one of those Bohemian artists who had a tremendous 'Kubelik-like' +execution. Teaching is and always will be a special gift. There are many +minor artists who are wonderful 'teachers,' and _vice versa_! + +"Yet if Joachim may be criticized as regards the way of imparting the +secrets of technical phases in his violin teaching, as a teacher of +interpretation he was incomparable! As an interpreter of Beethoven and +of Bach in particular, there has never been any one to equal Joachim. +Yet he never played the same Bach composition twice in the same way. We +were four in our class, and Hubay and I used to bring our copies of the +sonatas with us, to make marginal notes while Joachim played to us, and +these instantaneous musical 'snapshots' remain very interesting. But no +matter how Joachim played Bach, it was always with a big tone, broad +chords of an organ-like effect. There is no greater discrepancy than the +edition of the Bach sonatas published (since his death) by Moser, and +which is supposed to embody Joachim's interpretation. Sweeping chords, +which Joachim always played with the utmost breadth, are 'arpeggiated' +in Moser's edition! Why, if any of his pupils had ever attempted to +play, for instance, the end of the _Bourée_ in the B minor _Partita_ of +Bach _à la Moser_, Joachim would have broken his bow over their heads! + + + STUDYING WITH LÉONARD + +"After three years' study I left Joachim and went to Paris. Liszt had +given me letters of introduction to various French artists, among them +Saint-Saëns. One evening I happened to hear Léonard play Corelli's _La +Folia_ in the _Salle Pleyel_, and the liquid clarity and beauty of his +tone so impressed me that I decided I must study with him. I played for +him and he accepted me as a pupil. I am free to admit that my tone, +which people seem to be pleased to praise especially, I owe entirely to +Léonard, for when I came to him I had the so-called 'German tone' (_son +allemand_), of a harsh, rasping quality, which I tried to abandon +absolutely. Léonard often would point to his ears while teaching and +say: '_Ouvrez vos oreilles: écoutéz la beauté du son!_' ('Open your +ears, listen for beauty of sound!'). Most Joachim pupils you hear +(unless they have reformed) attack a chord with the nut of the bow, the +German method, which unduly stresses the attack. Léonard, on the +contrary, insisted with his pupils on the attack being made with such +smoothness as to be absolutely unobtrusive. Being a nephew of Mme. +Malibran, he attached special importance to the 'singing' tone, and +advised his pupils to hear great singers, to _listen_ to them, and to +try and reproduce their _bel canto_ on the violin. + +"He was most particular in his observance of every _nuance_ of shading +and expression. He told me that when he played Mendelssohn's concerto +(for the first time) at the Leipsic _Gewandhaus_, at a rehearsal, +Mendelssohn himself conducting, he began the first phrase with a full +_mezzo-forte_ tone. Mendelssohn laid his hand on his arm and said: 'But +it begins _piano!_' In reply Léonard merely pointed with his bow to the +score--the _p_ which is now indicated in all editions had been omitted +by some printer's error, and he had been quite within his rights in +playing _mezzo-forte_. + +"Léonard paid a great deal of attention to scales and the right way to +practice them. He would say, _'Il faut filer les sons: c'est l'art des +maîtres_. ('One must spin out the tone: that is the art of the +masters.') He taught his pupils to play the scales with long, steady +bowings, counting sixty to each bow. Himself a great classical +violinist, he nevertheless paid a good deal of attention to _virtuoso_ +pieces; and always tried to prepare his pupils for _public life_. He had +all sorts of wise hints for the budding concert artist, and was in the +habit of saying: 'You must plan a program as you would the _ménu_ of a +dinner: there should be something for every one's taste. And, +especially, if you are playing on a long program, together with other +artists, offer nothing indigestible--let _your_ number be a relief!' + + + SIVORI + +"While studying with Léonard I met Sivori, Paganini's only pupil (if we +except Catarina Caleagno), for whom Paganini wrote a concerto and six +short sonatas. Léonard took me to see him late one evening at the _Hôtel +de Havane_ in Paris, where Sivori was staying. When we came to his room +we heard the sound of slow scales, beautifully played, coming from +behind the closed door. We peered through the keyhole, and there he sat +on his bed stringing his scale tones like pearls. He was a little chap +and had the tiniest hands I have ever seen. Was this a drawback? If so, +no one could tell from his playing; he had a flawless technic, and a +really pearly quality of tone. He was very jolly and amiable, and he and +Léonard were great friends, each always going to hear the other whenever +he played in concert. My four years in Paris were in the main years of +storm and stress--plain living and hard, very hard, concentrated work. I +gave some accompanying lessons to help keep things going. When I left +Paris I went to London and then began my public life as a concert +violinist. + + + GREAT MOMENTS IN AN ARTIST'S LIFE + +"What is the happiest remembrance of my career as a _virtuoso_? Some of +the great moments in my life as an artist? It is hard to say. Of course +some of my court appearances before the crowned heads of Europe are dear +to me, not so much because they were _court_ appearances, but because of +the graciousness and appreciation of the highly placed personages for +whom I played. + +"Then, what I count a signal honor, I have played no less than _three_ +times as a solo artist with the Royal Philharmonic Society of London, +the oldest symphonic society in Europe, for whom Beethoven composed his +immortal IXth symphony (once under Sir Arthur Sullivan's baton; once +under that of Sir A.C. Mackenzie, and once with Sir Frederick Cowen as +conductor--on this last occasion I was asked to introduce my new Second +concerto in B minor, Op. 36, at the time still in ms.) Then there is +quite a number of great conductors with whom I have appeared, a few +among them being Liszt, Rubinstein, Brahms, Pasdeloup, Sir August Manns, +Sir Charles Hallé, L. Mancinelli, Weingartner and Hans Richter, etc. +Perhaps, as a violinist, what I like best to recall is that as a boy I +was invited by Richter to go with him to Bayreuth and play at the +foundation of the Bayreuth festival theater, which however my parents +would _not_ permit owing to my tender age. I also remember with pleasure +an episode at the famous Pasdeloup Concerts in the _Cirque d'hiver_ in +Paris, on an occasion when I performed the F sharp minor concerto of +Ernst. After I had finished, two ladies came to the green room: they +were in deep mourning, and one of them greatly moved, asked me to 'allow +her to thank me' for the manner in which I had played this +concerto--she said: _'I am the widow of Ernst!'_ She also told me that +since his death she had never heard the concerto played as I had played +it! In presenting to me her companion, the Marquise de Gallifet (wife of +the General de Gallifet who led the brigade of the _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ +in the heroic charge of General Margueritte's cavalry division at Sedan, +which excited the admiration of the old king of Prussia), I had the +honor of meeting the once world famous violinist Mlle. Millanollo, as +she was before her marriage. Mme. Ernst often came to hear me play her +late husband's music, and as a parting gift presented me with his +beautiful 'Tourte' bow, and an autographed copy of the first edition of +Ernst's transcription for solo violin of Schubert's 'Erlking.' It is so +incredibly difficult to play with proper balance of melody and +accompaniment--I never heard any one but Kubelik play it--that it is +almost impossible. It is so difficult, in fact, that it should not be +played! + + + VIOLINS AND STRINGS: SARASATE + +"My violin? I am a Stradivarius player, and possess two fine Strads, +though I also have a beautiful Joseph Guarnerius. Ysaye, Thibaud and +Caressa, when they lunched with me not long ago, were enthusiastic about +them. My favorite Strad is a 1716 instrument--I have used it for +twenty-five years. But I cannot use the wire strings that are now in +such vogue here. I have to have Italian gut strings. The wire E cuts my +fingers, and besides I notice a perceptible difference in sound quality. +Of course, wire strings are practical; they do not 'snap' on the concert +stage. Speaking of strings that 'snap,' reminds me that the first time I +heard Sarasate play the Saint-Saëns concerto, at Frankfort, he twice +forgot his place and stopped. They brought him the music, he began for +the third time and then--the E string snapped! I do not think _any_ +other than Sarasate could have carried off these successive mishaps and +brought his concert to a triumphant conclusion. He was a great friend of +mine and one of the most _perfect_ players I have ever known, as well as +one of the greatest _grand seigneurs_ among violinists. His rendering of +romantic works, Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Bruch, was exquisite--I have never, +never heard them played as beautifully. On the other hand, his Bach +playing was excruciating--he played Bach sonatas as though they were +virtuoso pieces. It made one think of Hans von Bülow's _mot_ when, in +speaking of a certain famous pianist, he said: 'He plays Beethoven with +velocity and Czerny with expression.' But to hear Sarasate play romantic +music, his own 'Spanish Dances' for instance, was all like glorious +birdsong and golden sunshine, a lark soaring heavenwards! + + + THE NARDINI CONCERTO IN A + +"You ask about my compositions? Well, Eddy Brown is going to play my +Second violin concerto, Op. 36 in B flat, which I wrote for the London +Philharmonic Society, next season; Elman the Nardini concerto in A, +which was published only shortly before the outbreak of the war. Thirty +years ago I found, by chance, three old Nardini concertos for violin and +bass in the composer's _original_ ms., in Bologna. The best was the one +in A--a beautiful work! But the bass was not even figured, and the task +of reconstructing the accompaniment for piano, as well as for orchestra, +and reverently doing justice to the composer's original intent and idea; +while at the same time making its beauties clearly and expressively +available from the standpoint of the violinist of to-day, was not easy. +Still, I think I may say I succeeded." And Mr. Nachéz showed me some +letters from famous contemporaries who had made the acquaintance of this +Nardini concerto in A major. Auer, Thibaud, Sir Hubert Parry (who said +that he had "infused the work with new life"), Pollak, Switzerland's +ranking fiddler, Carl Flesch, author of the well-known _Urstudien_--all +expressed their admiration. One we cannot forbear quoting a letter in +part. It was from Ottokar Sevčik. The great Bohemian pedagogue is +usually regarded as the apostle of mechanism in violin playing: as the +inventor of an inexorably logical system of development, which stresses +the technical at the expense of the musical. The following lines show +him in quite a different light: + + "I would not be surprised if Nardini, Vivaldi and their + companions were to appear to you at the midnight hour in + order to thank the master for having given new life to + their works, long buried beneath the mold of figured + basses; works whose vital, pulsating possibilities these + old gentlemen probably never suspected. Nardini emerges + from your alchemistic musical laboratory with so fresh + and lively a quality of charm that starving fiddlers will + greet him with the same pleasure with which the bee + greets the first honeyed blossom of spring." + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"And now you want my definition of 'Violin Mastery'? To me the whole art +of playing violin is contained in the reverent and respectful +interpretation of the works of the great masters. I consider the artist +only their messenger, singing the message they give us. And the more one +realizes this, the greater becomes one's veneration especially for +Bach's creative work. For twenty years I never failed to play the Bach +solo sonatas for violin every day of my life--a violinist's 'daily +prayer' in its truest sense! Students of Bach are apt, in the beginning, +to play, say, the _finale_ of the G minor sonata, the final _Allegro_ of +the A minor sonata, the _Gigue_ of the B minor, or the _Preludio_ of the +E major sonata like a mechanical exercise: it takes _constant_ study to +disclose their intimate harmonic melodious conception and poetry! One +should always remember that technic is, after all, only a _means_. It +must be acquired in order to be an unhampered master of the instrument, +as a medium for presenting the thoughts of the great creators--but +_these thoughts_, and not their medium of expression, are the chief +objects of the true and great artist, whose aim in life is to serve his +Art humbly, reverently and faithfully! You remember these words: + +"'In the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of +passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it +smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, +periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split +the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of +nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise!...'" + + + + + XV + + + MAXIMILIAN PILZER + + THE SINGING TONE AND THE VIBRATO + + +Maximilian Pilzer is deservedly prominent among younger American concert +violinists. A pupil of Joachim, Shradieck, Gustav Hollander, he is, as +it has already been picturesquely put, "a graduate of the rock and thorn +university," an artist who owes his success mainly to his own natural +gifts plus an infinite capacity for taking pains. Though primarily an +interpreter his interlocutor yet had the good fortune to happen on Mr. +Pilzer when he was giving a lesson. Essentially a solo violinist, Mr. +Pilzer nevertheless has the born teacher's wish to impart, to share, +where talent justifies it, his own knowledge. He himself did not have to +tell the listener this--the lesson he was giving betrayed the fact. + +It was Kreisler's _Tambourin Chinois_ that the student played. And as +Mr. Pilzer illustrated the delicate shades of _nuance_, of phrasing, of +bowing, with instant rebuke for an occasional lack of "warmth" in tone, +the improvement was instantaneous and unmistakable. The lesson over, he +said: + + + THE SINGING TONE + +"The singing tone is the ideal one, it is the natural violin tone. Too +many violin students have the technical bee in their bonnet and neglect +it. And too many believe that speed is brilliancy. When they see the +black notes they take for granted that they must 'run to beat the band.' +Yet often it is the teacher's fault if a good singing tone is not +developed. Where the teacher's playing is cold, that of the pupil is apt +to be the same. Warmth, rounded fullness, the truly beautiful violin +tone is more difficult to call forth than is generally supposed. And, in +a manner of speaking, the soul of this tone quality is the _vibrato_, +though the individual instrument also has much to do with the tone. + + + THE VIBRATO + +"But not," Mr. Pilzer continued, "not as it is too often mistakenly +employed. Of course, any trained player will draw his bow across the +strings in a smooth, even way, but that is not enough. There must be an +inner, emotional instinct, an electric spark within the player himself +that sets the _vibrato_ current in motion. It is an inner, psychic +vibration which should be reflected by the intense, rapid vibration in +the fingers of the left hand on the strings in order to give fluent +expression to emotion. The _vibrato_ can not be used, naturally, on the +open strings, but otherwise it represents the true means for securing +warmth of expression. Of course, some decry the _vibrato_--but the +reason is often because the _vibrato_ is too slow. One need only listen +to Ysaye, Elman, Kreisler: artists such as these employ the quick, +intense _vibrato_ with ideal effect. An exaggerated _vibrato_ is as bad +as what I call 'the sentimental slide,' a common fault, which many +violinists cultivate under the impression that they are playing +expressively. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY AND ITS ATTAINMENT + +"Violin mastery expresses more or less the aspiration to realize an +ideal. It is a hope, a prayer, rather than an actual fact, since nothing +human is absolutely perfect. Ysaye, perhaps, with his golden tone, comes +nearest to my idea of what violin mastery should be, both as regards +breadth and delicacy of interpretation. And guide-posts along the long +road that leads to mastery of the instrument? Individuality in teaching, +progress along natural lines, surety in bowing, a tone-production +without forcing, cultivating a sense of rhythm and accent. I always +remember what Moser once wrote in my autograph album: 'Rhythm and accent +are the soul of music!' + + + THE SHINING GOAL + +"And what a shining goal is waiting to be reached! The correct +interpretation of Bach, Haendel and the old Italian and French classics, +and of the vast realm of _ensemble_ music under which head come the +Mozart and Beethoven violin sonatas, and those of their successors, +Schumann, Brahms, etc. And aside from the classics, the moderns. And +then there are the great violin concertos, in a class by themselves. +They represent, in a degree, the utmost that the composer has done for +the interpreting artist. Yet they differ absolutely in manner, style, +thought, etc. Take Joachim's own Hungarian concerto, which I played for +the composer, of which I still treasure the recollection of his patting +me on the shoulder and saying: 'There is nothing for me to correct!' It +is a work deliberately designed for technical display, and is +tremendously difficult. But the wonderful Brahms concerto, those of +Beethoven and Max Bruch; of Mozart and Mendelssohn--it is hard to +express a preference for works so different in the quality of their +beauty. The Russian Conus has a fine concerto in E, and Sinding a most +effective one in A major. Edmund Severn, the American composer and +violinist, has also written a notably fine violin concerto which I have +played, with the Philharmonic, one that ought to be heard oftener. + + + PLAYING BACH + +"Bach is one of the most difficult of the great masters to interpret on +the violin. His polyphonic style and interweaving themes demand close +study in order to make the meaning clear. In the Bach _Chaconne_, for +instance, some very great violinists do not pay enough attention to +making a distinction between principal and secondary notes of a chord. +Here [Mr. Pilzer took up a new Strad he has recently acquired and +illustrated his meaning] in this four-note chord there is one important +melody note which must stand out. And it can be done, though not without +some study. Bach abounds in such pitfalls, and in studying him the +closest attention is necessary. Once the problems involved overcome, his +music gains its true clarity and beauty and the enjoyment of artist and +listener is doubled. + + + + + XVI + + + MAUD POWELL + + TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: SOME HINTS + FOR THE CONCERT PLAYER + + +Maud Powell is often alluded to as our representative "American _woman_ +violinist" which, while true in a narrower sense, is not altogether just +in a broader way. It would be decidedly more fair to consider her a +representative American violinist, without stressing the term "woman"; +for as regards Art in its higher sense, the artist comes first, sex +being incidental, and Maud Powell is first and foremost--an artist. And +her infinite capacity for taking pains, her willingness to work hard +have had no small part in the position she has made for herself, and the +success she has achieved. + + + THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONCERT VIOLINIST + +"Too many Americans who take up the violin professionally," Maud Powell +told the writer, "do not realize that the mastery of the instrument is +a life study, that without hard, concentrated work they cannot reach the +higher levels of their art. Then, too, they are too often inclined to +think that if they have a good tone and technic that this is all they +need. They forget that the musical instinct must be cultivated; they do +not attach enough importance to musical surroundings: to hearing and +understanding music of every kind, not only that written for the violin. +They do not realize the value of _ensemble_ work and its influence as an +educational factor of the greatest artistic value. I remember when I was +a girl of eight, my mother used to play the Mozart violin sonatas with +me; I heard all the music I possibly could hear; I was taught harmony +and musical form in direct connection with my practical work, so that +theory was a living thing to me and no abstraction. In my home town I +played in an orchestra of twenty pieces--Oh, no, not a 'ladies +orchestra'--the other members were men grown! I played chamber music as +well as solos whenever the opportunity offered, at home and in public. +In fact music was part of my life. + + [Illustration: MAUD POWELL, with hand-written note] + +"No student who looks on music primarily as a thing apart in his +existence, as a bread-winning tool, as a craft rather than an art, +can ever mount to the high places. So often girls [who sometimes lack +the practical vision of boys], although having studied but a few years, +come to me and say: 'My one ambition is to become a great _virtuoso_ on +the violin! I want to begin to study the great concertos!' And I have to +tell them that their first ambition should be to become musicians--to +study, to know, to understand music before they venture on its +interpretation. Virtuosity without musicianship will not carry one far +these days. In many cases these students come from small inland towns, +far from any music center, and have a wrong attitude of mind. They crave +the glamor of footlights, flowers and applause, not realizing that music +is a speech, an idiom, which they must master in order to interpret the +works of the great composers. + + + THE INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHER + +"Of course, all artistic playing represents essentially the mental +control of technical means. But to acquire the latter in the right way, +while at the same time developing the former, calls for the best of +teachers. The problem of the teacher is to prevent his pupils from being +too imitative--all students are natural imitators--and furthering the +quality of musical imagination in them. Pupils generally have something +of the teacher's tone--Auer pupils have the Auer tone, Joachim pupils +have a Joachim tone, an excellent thing. But as each pupil has an +individuality of his own, he should never sink it altogether in that of +his teacher. It is this imitative trend which often makes it hard to +judge a young player's work. I was very fortunate in my teachers. +William Lewis of Chicago gave me a splendid start. Then I studied in +turn with Schradieck in Leipsic--Schradieck himself was a pupil of +Ferdinand David and of Léonard--Joachim in Berlin, and Charles Dancla in +Paris. I might say that I owe most, in a way, to William Lewis, a born +fiddler. Of my three European masters Dancla was unquestionably the +greatest as a teacher--of course I am speaking for myself. It was no +doubt an advantage, a decided advantage for me in my artistic +development, which was slow--a family trait--to enjoy the broadening +experience of three entirely different styles of teaching, and to be +able to assimilate the best of each. Yet Joachim was a far greater +violinist than teacher. His method was a cramping one, owing to his +insistence on pouring all his pupils into the same mold, so to speak, +of forming them all on the Joachim lathe. But Dancla was inspiring. He +taught me De Bériot's wonderful method of attack; he showed me how to +develop purity of style. Dancla's method of teaching gave his pupils a +technical equipment which carried bowing right along, 'neck and neck' +with the finger work of the left hand, while the Germans are apt to +stress finger development at the expense of the bow. And without ever +neglecting technical means, Dancla always put the purely musical before +the purely virtuoso side of playing. And this is always a sign of a good +teacher. He was unsparing in taking pains and very fair. + +"I remember that I was passed first in a class of eighty-four at an +examination, after only three private lessons in which to prepare the +concerto movement to be played. I was surprised and asked him why +Mlle.---- who, it seemed to me, had played better than I, had not +passed. 'Ah,' he said, 'Mlle.---- studied that movement for six months; +and in comparison, you, with only three lessons, play it better!' Dancla +switched me right over in his teaching from German to French methods, +and taught me how to become an artist, just as I had learned in Germany +to become a musician. The French school has taste, elegance, +imagination; the German is more conservative, serious, and has, perhaps, +more depth. + + + TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES + +"Perhaps it is because I belong to an older school, or it may be because +I laid stress on technic because of its necessity as a means of +expression--at any rate I worked hard at it. Naturally, one should never +practice any technical difficulty too long at a stretch. Young players +sometimes forget this. I know that _staccato_ playing was not easy for +me at one time. I believe a real _staccato_ is inborn; a knack. I used +to grumble about it to Joachim and he told me once that musically +_staccato_ did not have much value. His own, by the way, was very +labored and heavy. He admitted that he had none. Wieniawski had such a +wonderful _staccato_ that one finds much of it in his music. When I +first began to play his D minor concerto I simply made up my mind to get +a _staccato_. It came in time, by sheer force of will. After that I had +no trouble. An artistic _staccato_ should, like the trill, be plastic +and under control; for different schools of composition demand +different styles of treatment of such details. + +"Octaves--the unison, not broken--I did not find difficult; but though +they are supposed to add volume of tone they sound hideous to me. I have +used them in certain passages of my arrangement of 'Deep River,' but +when I heard them played, promised myself I would never repeat the +experiment. Wilhelmj has committed even a worse crime in taste by +putting six long bars of Schubert's lovely _Ave Maria_ in octaves. Of +course they represent skill; but I think they are only justified in show +pieces. Harmonics I always found easy; though whether they ring out as +they should always depends more or less on atmospheric conditions, the +strings and the amount of rosin on the bow. On the concert stage if the +player stands in a draught the harmonics are sometimes husky. + + + THE AMERICAN WOMAN VIOLINIST AND + AMERICAN MUSIC + +"The old days of virtuoso 'tricks' have passed--I should like to hope +forever. Not that some of the old type virtuosos were not fine players. +Remenyi played beautifully. So did Ole Bull. I remember one favorite +trick of the latter's, for instance, which would hardly pass muster +to-day. I have seen him draw out a long _pp_, the audience listening +breathlessly, while he drew his bow way beyond the string, and then +looked innocently at the point of the bow, as though wondering where the +tone had vanished. It invariably brought down the house. + +"Yet an artist must be a virtuoso in the modern sense to do his full +duty. And here in America that duty is to help those who are groping for +something higher and better musically; to help without rebuffing them. +When I first began my career as a concert violinist I did pioneer work +for the cause of the American woman violinist, going on with the work +begun by Mme. Camilla Urso. A strong prejudice then existed against +women fiddlers, which even yet has not altogether been overcome. The +very fact that a Western manager recently told Mr. Turner with surprise +that he 'had made a success of a woman artist' proves it. When I first +began to play here in concert this prejudice was much stronger. Yet I +kept on and secured engagements to play with orchestra at a time when +they were difficult to obtain. Theodore Thomas liked my playing (he +said I had brains), and it was with his orchestra that I introduced the +concertos of Saint-Saëns (C min.), Lalo (F min.), and others, to +American audiences. + +"The fact that I realized that my sex was against me in a way led me to +be startlingly authoritative and convincing in the masculine manner when +I first played. This is a mistake no woman violinist should make. And +from the moment that James Huneker wrote that I 'was not developing the +feminine side of my work,' I determined to be just myself, and play as +the spirit moved me, with no further thought of sex or sex distinctions +which, in Art, after all, are secondary. I never realized this more +forcibly than once, when, sitting as a judge, I listened to the +competitive playing of a number of young professional violinists and +pianists. The individual performers, unseen by the judges, played in +turn behind a screen. And in three cases my fellow judges and myself +guessed wrongly with regard to the sex of the players. When we thought +we had heard a young man play it happened to be a young woman, and _vice +versa_. + +"To return to the question of concert-work. You must not think that I +have played only foreign music in public. I have always believed in +American composers and in American composition, and as an American have +tried to do justice as an interpreting artist to the music of my native +land. Aside from the violin concertos by Harry Rowe Shelly and Henry +Holden Huss, I have played any number of shorter original compositions +by such representative American composers as Arthur Foote, Mrs. H.H.A. +Beach, Victor Herbert, John Philip Sousa, Arthur Bird, Edwin Grasse, +Marion Bauer, Cecil Burleigh, Harry Gilbert, A. Walter Kramer, Grace +White, Charles Wakefield Cadman and others. Then, too, I have presented +transcriptions by Arthur Hartmann, Francis Macmillan and Sol Marcosson, +as well as some of my own. Transcriptions are wrong, theoretically; yet +some songs, like Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Song of India' and some piano +pieces, like the Dvořák _Humoresque_, are so obviously effective on the +violin that a transcription justifies itself. My latest temptative in +that direction is my 'Four American Folk Songs,' a simple setting of +four well-known airs with connecting cadenzas--no variations, no special +development! I used them first as _encores_, but my audiences seemed to +like them so well that I have played them on all my recent programs. + + + SOME HINTS FOR THE CONCERT PLAYER + +"The very first thing in playing in public is to free oneself of all +distrust in one's own powers. To do this, nothing must be left to +chance. One should not have to give a thought to strings, bow, etc. All +should be in proper condition. Above all the violinist should play with +an accompanist who is used to accompanying him. It seems superfluous to +emphasize that one's program numbers must have been mastered in every +detail. Only then can one defy nervousness, turning excess of emotion +into inspiration. + +"Acoustics play a greater part in the success of a public concert than +most people realize. In some halls they are very good, as in the case of +the Cleveland Hippodrome, an enormous place which holds forty-three +hundred people. Here the acoustics are perfect, and the artist has those +wonderful silences through which his slightest tones carry clearly and +sweetly. I have played not only solos, but chamber music in this hall, +and was always sorry to stop playing. In most halls the acoustic +conditions are best in the evening. + +"Then there is the matter of the violin. I first used a Joseph +Guarnerius, a deeper toned instrument than the Jean Baptista Guadagnini +I have now played for a number of years. The Guarnerius has a tone that +seems to come more from within the instrument; but all in all I have +found my Guadagnini, with its glassy clearness, its brilliant and limpid +tone-quality, better adapted to American concert halls. If I had a Strad +in the same condition as my Guadagnini the instrument would be +priceless. I regretted giving up my Guarnerius, but I could not play the +two violins interchangeably; for they were absolutely different in size +and tone-production, shape, etc. Then my hand is so small that I ought +to use the instrument best adapted to it, and to use the same instrument +always. Why do I use no chin-rest? I use no chin-rest on my Guadagnini +simply because I cannot find one to fit my chin. One should use a +chin-rest to prevent perspiration from marring the varnish. My Rocca +violin is an interesting instance of wood worn in ridges by the stubble +on a man's chin. + +"Strings? Well, I use a wire E string. I began to use it twelve years +ago one humid, foggy summer in Connecticut. I had had such trouble with +strings snapping that I cried: 'Give me anything but a gut string.' The +climate practically makes metal strings a necessity, though some kind +person once said that I bought wire strings because they were cheap! If +wire strings had been thought of when Theodore Thomas began his career, +he might never have been a conductor, for he told me he gave up the +violin because of the E string. And most people will admit that hearing +a wire E you cannot tell it from a gut E. Of course, it is unpleasant on +the open strings, but then the open strings never do sound well. And in +the highest registers the tone does not spin out long enough because of +the tremendous tension: one has to use more bow. And it cuts the hairs: +there is a little surface nap on the bow-hairs which a wire string wears +right out. I had to have my four bows rehaired three times last +season--an average of every three months. But all said and done it has +been a God-send to the violinist who plays in public. On the wire A one +cannot get the harmonics; and the aluminum D is objectionable in some +violins, though in others not at all. + +"The main thing--no matter what strings are used--is for the artist to +get his audience into the concert hall, and give it a program which is +properly balanced. Theodore Thomas first advised me to include in my +programs short, simple things that my listeners could 'get hold +of'--nothing inartistic, but something selected from their standpoint, +not from mine, and played as artistically as possible. Yet there must +also be something that is beyond them, collectively. Something that they +may need to hear a number of times to appreciate. This enables the +artist to maintain his dignity and has a certain psychological effect in +that his audience holds him in greater respect. At big conservatories +where music study is the most important thing, and in large cities, +where the general level of music culture is high, a big solid program +may be given, where it would be inappropriate in other places. + +"Yet I remember having many recalls at El Paso, Texas, once, after +playing the first movement of the Sibelius concerto. It is one of those +compositions which if played too literally leaves an audience quite +cold; it must be rendered temperamentally, the big climaxing effects +built up, its Northern spirit brought out, though I admit that even then +it is not altogether easy to grasp. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin mastery or mastery of any instrument, for that matter, is the +technical power to say exactly what you want to say in exactly the way +you want to say it. It is technical equipment that stands at the service +of your musical will--a faithful and competent servant that comes at +your musical bidding. If your spirit soars 'to parts unknown,' your well +trained servant 'technic' is ever at your elbow to prevent irksome +details from hampering your progress. Mastery of your instrument makes +mastery of your Art a joy instead of a burden. Technic should always be +the hand-maid of the spirit. + +"And I believe that one result of the war will be to bring us a greater +self-knowledge, to the violinist as well as to every other artist, a +broader appreciation of what he can do to increase and elevate +appreciation for music in general and his Art in particular. And with +these I am sure a new impetus will be given to the development of a +musical culture truly American in thought and expression." + + + + + XVII + + + LEON SAMETINI + + HARMONICS + + +Leon Sametini, at present director of the violin department of the +Chicago Music College, where Sauret, Heermann and Sebald preceded him, +is one of the most successful teachers of his instrument in this +country. It is to be regretted that he has not played in public in the +United States as often as in Europe, where his extensive _tournées_ in +Holland--Leon Sametini is a Hollander by birth--Belgium, England and +Austria have established his reputation as a virtuoso, and the quality +of his playing led Ysaye to include him in a quartet of artists "in +order of lyric expression" with himself and Thibaud. Yet, the fact +remains that this erstwhile _protégé_ of Queen Wilhelmina--she gave him +his beautiful Santo Serafin (1730) violin, whose golden varnish back "is +a genuine picture,"--to quote its owner--is a distinguished interpreting +artist besides having a real teaching gift, which lends additional +weight to his educational views. + + + REMINISCENCES OF SEVČIK + +"I began to study violin at the age of six, with my uncle. From him I +went to Eldering in Amsterdam, now Willy Hess's successor at the head of +the Cologne Conservatory, and then spent a year with Sevčik in Prague. +Yet--without being his pupil--I have learned more from Ysaye than from +any of my teachers. It is rather the custom to decry Sevčik as a +teacher, to dwell on his absolutely mechanical character of +instruction--and not without justice. First of all Sevčik laid all the +stress on the left hand and not on the bow--an absolute inversion of a +fundamental principle. Eldering had taken great pains with my bow +technic, for he himself was a pupil of Hubay, who had studied with +Vieuxtemps and had his tradition. But Sevčik's teaching as regards the +use of the bow was very poor; his pupils--take Kubelik with all his +marvelous finger facility--could never develop a big bow technic. Their +playing lacks strength, richness of sound. Sevčik soon noticed that my +bowing did not conform to his theories; yet since he could not +legitimately complain of the results I secured, he did not attempt to +make me change it. Musical beauty, interpretation, in Sevčik's case were +all subordinated to mechanical perfection. With him the study of some +inspired masterpiece was purely a mathematical process, a problem in +technic and mental arithmetic, without a bit of spontaneity. Ysaye used +to roar with laughter when I would tell him how, when a boy of fifteen, +I played the Beethoven concerto for Sevčik--a work which I myself felt +and knew it was then out of the question for me to play with artistic +maturity--the latter's only criticisms on my performance were that one +or two notes were a little too high, and a certain passage not quite +clear. + +"Sevčik did not like the Dvořák concerto and never gave it to his +pupils. But I lived next door to Dvořák at Prague, and meeting him in +the street one day, asked him some questions anent its interpretation, +with the result that I went to his home various times and he gave me his +own ideas as to how it should be played. Sevčik never pointed his +teachings by playing himself. I never saw him take up the fiddle while I +studied with him. While I was his pupil he paid me the compliment of +selecting me to play Sinigaglia's engaging violin concerto, at short +notice, for the first time in Prague. Sinigaglia had asked Sevčik to +play it, who said: 'I no longer play violin, but I have a pupil who can +play it for you,' and introduced me to him. Sinigaglia became a good +friend of mine, and I was the first to introduce his _Rapsodia +Piedmontese_ for violin and orchestra in London. To return to +Sevčik--with all the deficiencies of his teaching methods, he had one +great gift. He taught his pupils _how to practice_! And--aside from +bowing--he made all mechanical problems, especially finger problems, +absolutely clear and lucid. + + + A QUARTET OF GREAT TEACHERS WITH WHOM + ALL MAY STUDY + +"Still, all said and done, it was after I had finished with all my +teachers that I really began to learn to play violin: above all from +Ysaye, whom I went to hear play wherever and whenever I could. I think +that the most valuable lessons I have ever had are those unconsciously +given me by four of the greatest violinists I know: Ysaye, Kreisler, +Elman and Thibaud. Each of these artists is so different that no one +seems altogether to replace the other. Ysaye with his unique +personality, the immense breadth and sweep of his interpretation, his +dramatic strength, stands alone. Kreisler has a certain sparkling +scintillance in his playing that is his only. Elman might be called the +Caruso among violinists, with the perfected sensuous beauty of his tone; +while Thibaud stands for supreme elegance and distinction. I have +learned much from each member of this great quartet. And if the artist +can profit from hearing and seeing them play, why not the student? Every +recital given by such masters offers the earnest violin student +priceless opportunities for study and comparison. My special leaning +toward Ysaye is due, aside from his wonderful personality, to the fact +that I feel music in the same way that he does. + + + TEACHING PRINCIPLES + +'My teaching principles are the results of my own training period, my +own experience as a concert artist and teacher--before I came to America +I taught in London, where Isolde Menges, among others, studied with +me--and what either directly or indirectly I have learned from my great +colleagues. In the Music College I give the advanced pupils their +individual lessons; but once a week the whole class assembles--as in +the European conservatories--and those whose turn it is to play do so +while the others listen. This is of value to every student, since it +gives him an opportunity of 'hearing himself as others hear him.' Then, +to stimulate appreciation and musical development there are _ensemble_ +and string quartet classes. I believe that every violinist should be +able to play viola, and in quartet work I make the players shift +constantly from one to the other instrument in order to hear what they +play from a different angle. + +"For left hand work I stick to the excellent Sevčik exercises and for +some pupils I use the Carl Flesch _Urstudien_. For studies of real +_musical_ value Rode, of course, is unexcelled. His studies are the +masterpieces of their kind, and I turn them into concert pieces. Thibaud +and Elman have supplied some of them with interesting piano +accompaniments. + +"For bowing, with the exception of a few purely mechanical exercises, I +used Kreutzer and Rode, and Gavinies. Ninety-nine per cent. of pupils' +faults are faults of bowing. It is an art in itself. Sevčik was able to +develop Kubelik's left hand work to the last degree of perfection--but +not his bowing. In the case of Kocian, another well-known Sevčik pupil +whom I have heard play, his bowing was by no means an outstanding +feature. I often have to start pupils on the open strings in order to +correct fundamental bow faults. + +"When watching a great artist play the student should not expect to +secure similar results by slavish imitation--another pupil fault. The +thing to do is to realize the principle behind the artist's playing, and +apply it to one's own physical possibilities. + +"Every one holds, draws and uses the bow in a different way. If no two +thumb-prints are alike, neither are any two sets of fingers and wrists. +This is why not slavish imitation, but intelligent adaptation should be +applied to the playing of the teacher in the class-room or the artist on +the concert-stage. For instance, the little finger of Ysaye's left hand +bends inward somewhat--as a result it is perfectly natural for him to +make less use of the little finger, while it might be very difficult or +almost impossible for another to employ the same fingering. And certain +compositions and styles of composition are more adapted to one violinist +than to another. I remember when I was a student, that Wieniawski's +music seemed to lie just right for my hand. I could read difficult +things of his at sight. + + + DOUBLE HARMONICS + +"Would I care to discuss any special feature of violin technic? I might +say something anent double harmonics--a subject too often taught in a +mechanical way, and one I have always taken special pains to make +absolutely plain to my own pupils--for every violinist should be able to +play double harmonics out of a clear understanding of how to form them. + +"There are only two kinds of harmonics: natural and artificial. Natural +harmonics may be formed on the major triad of each open string, using +the open string as the tonic. As, for example, on the G string [and Mr. +Sametini set down the following illustration]: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +Then there are four kinds of artificial harmonics, only three of which +are used: harmonics on the major third (1); harmonics on the perfect +fourth (2); harmonics on the perfect fifth (3); and harmonics--never +used--on the octave: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +Where does the harmonic sound in each case? Two octaves and a third +higher (1); two octaves higher (2); one octave and a fifth higher (3) +respectively, than the pressed-down note. If the harmonic on the octave +(4) were played, it would sound just an octave higher than the +pressed-down note. + +"Now say we wished to combine different double harmonics. The whole +principle is made clear if we take, let us say, the first double-stop in +the scale of C major in thirds as an example: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"Beginning with the lower of these two notes, the C, we find that it +cannot not be taken as a natural harmonic + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +because natural harmonics on the open strings run as follows: G, B, D on +the G string; D, F♯, A on the D string; A, C♯, E on the A string; and +E, G♯, B on the E string. There are three ways of taking the C before +mentioned as an artificial harmonic. The E may be taken in the following +manner: + + Nat. harmonic Artificial harmonic + [Illustration: Musical Notation] [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +Now we have to combine the C and E as well as we are able. Rejecting +the following combinations as _impossible_--any violinist will see why-- + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +we have a choice of the two _possible_ combinations remaining, with the +fingering indicated: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"With regard to the _actual execution_ of these harmonics, I advise all +students to try and play them with every bit as much expressive feeling +as ordinary notes. My experience has been that pupils do not pay nearly +enough attention to the intonation of harmonics. In other words, they +try to produce the harmonics _immediately_, instead of first making sure +that both fingers are on the right spot before they loosen one finger on +the string. For instance in the following: [Illustration: Musical +Notation] first play [Illustration: Musical Notation] and then +[Illustration: Musical Notation] then loosen the fourth finger, and play +[Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"The same principle holds good when playing double harmonics. Nine +tenths of the 'squeaking' heard when harmonics are played is due to the +fact that the finger-placing is not properly prepared, and that the +fingers are not on the right spot. + +"Never, when playing a harmonic with an up-bow [Symbol: up-bow], at the +point, smash down the bow on the string; but have it already _on_ the +string _before_ playing the harmonic. The process is reversed when +playing a down-bow [Symbol: down-bow] harmonic. When beginning a +harmonic at the frog, have the harmonic ready, then let the bow _drop_ +gently on the string. + +"Triple and quadruple harmonics may be combined in exactly the same way. +Students should never get the idea that you press down the string as you +press a button and--presto--the magic harmonics appear! They are a +simple and natural result of the proper application of scientific +principles; and the sooner the student learns to form and combine +harmonics himself instead of learning them by rote, the better will he +play them. Too often a student can give the fingering of certain double +harmonics and cannot use it. Of course, harmonics are only a detail of +the complete mastery of the violin; but mastery of all details leads to +mastery of the whole. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"And what is mastery of the whole? Mastery of the whole, real violin +mastery, I think, lies in the control of the interpretative problem, the +power to awaken emotion by the use of the instrument. Many feel more +than they can express, have more left hand than bow technic and, like +Kubelik, have not the perfected technic for which perfected playing +calls. The artist who feels beauty keenly and deeply and whose +mechanical equipment allows him to make others feel and share the beauty +he himself feels is in my opinion worthy of being called a master of the +violin." + + + + + XVIII + + + ALEXANDER SASLAVSKY + + WHAT THE TEACHER CAN AND CANNOT DO + + +Alexander Saslavsky is probably best known as a solo artist, as the +concertmaster of a great symphonic orchestra, as the leader of the +admirable quartet which bears his name. Yet, at the same time, few +violinists can speak with more authority anent the instructive phases of +their Art. Not only has he been active for years in the teaching field; +but as a pedagog he rounds out the traditions of Ferdinand David, +Massard, Auer, and Grün (Vienna _Hochschule_), acquired during his +"study years," with the result of his own long and varied experience. + +Beginning at the beginning, I asked Mr. Saslavsky to tell me something +about methods, his own in particular. "Method is a flexible term," he +answered. "What the word should mean is the cultivation of the pupil's +individuality along the lines best suited to it. Not that a guide which +may be employed to develop common-sense principles is not valuable. But +even here, the same guide (violin-method) will not answer for every +pupil. Personally I find De Bériot's 'Violin School' the most generally +useful, and for advanced students, Ferdinand David's second book. Then, +for scales--I insist on my pupils being able to play, a perfect scale +through three octaves--the Hrimaly book of scales. Many advanced +violinists cannot play a good scale simply because of a lack of +fundamental work. + +"As soon as the pupil is able, he should take up Kreutzer and stick to +him as the devotee does to his Bible. Any one who can play the '42 +Exercises' as they should be played may be called a well-balanced +violinist. There are too many purely mechanical exercises--and the +circumstance that we have Kreutzer, Rode, Fiorillo, Rovelli and Dont +emphasizes the fact. And there are too many elaborate and complicated +violin methods. Sevčik, for instance, has devised a purely mechanical +system of this kind, perfect from a purely mechanical standpoint, but +one whose consistent use, in my opinion, kills initiative and +individuality. I have had experience with Sevčik pupils in quartet +playing, and have found that they have no expression. + + + WHAT THE TEACHER CAN AND CANNOT DO + +"After all, the teacher can only supply the pupil with the violinistic +equipment. The pupil must use it. There is tone, for instance. The +teacher cannot _make_ tone for the pupil--he can only show him how tone +can be made. Sometimes a purely physiological reason makes it almost +impossible for the pupil to produce a good natural tone. If the +finger-tips are not adequately equipped with 'cushions,' and a pupil +wishes to use the _vibrato_ there is nothing with which he can vibrate. +There is real meaning, speaking of the violinist's tone, in the phrase +'he has it at his fingers' tips.' Then there is the matter of _slow_ +practice. It rests with the pupil to carry out the teacher's injunctions +in this respect. The average pupil practices too fast, is too eager to +develop his Art as a money maker. And too many really gifted students +take up orchestra playing, which no one can do continuously and hope to +be a solo player. Four hours of study work may be nullified by a single +hour of orchestra playing. Musically it is broadening, of course, but I +am speaking from the standpoint of the student who hopes to become a +solo artist. An opera orchestra is especially bad in this way. In the +symphonic _ensemble_ more care is used; but in the opera orchestra they +employ the _right_ arm for tremolo! There is a good deal of _camouflage_ +as regards string playing in an opera orchestra, and much of the +music--notably Wagner's--is quite impracticable. + +"And lessons are often made all too short. A teacher in common honesty +cannot really give a pupil much in half-an-hour--it is not a real +lesson. There is a good deal to be said for class teaching as it is +practiced at the European conservatories, especially as regards +interpretation. In my student days I learned much from listening to +others play the concertos they had prepared, and from noting the +teacher's corrections. And this even in a purely technical way: I can +recall Kubelik playing Paganini as a wonderful display of the +_technical_ points of violin playing. + + + A GREAT DEFECT + +"Most pupils seem to lack an absolute sense of rhythm--a great defect. +Yet where latent it may be developed. Here Kreutzer is invaluable, +since he presents every form of rhythmic problem, scales in various +rhythms and bowings. Kreutzer's 'Exercise No. 2,' for example, may be +studied with any number of bowings. To produce a broad tone the bow must +move slowly, and in rapid passages should never seem to introduce +technical exercises in a concert number. The student should memorize +Kreutzer and Fiorillo. Flesch's _Urstudien_ offer the artist or +professional musician who has time for little practice excellent +material; but are not meant for the pupil, unless he be so far advanced +that he may be trusted to use them alone. + + + TONE: PRACTICE TIME + +"Broad playing gives the singing tone--the true violin tone--a long bow +drawn its full length. Like every general rule though, this one must be +modified by the judgment of the individual player. Violin playing is an +art of many mysteries. Some pupils grasp a point at once; others have to +have it explained seven or eight different ways before grasping it. The +serious student should practice not less than four hours, preferably in +twenty minute intervals. After some twenty minutes the brain is apt to +tire. And since the fingers are controlled by the brain, it is best to +relax for a short time before going on. Mental and physical control must +always go hand in hand. Four hours of intelligent, consistent practice +work are far better than eight or ten of fatigued effort. + + + A NATIONAL CONSERVATORY + +"Some five years ago too many teachers gave their pupils the Mendelssohn +and Paganini concertos to play before they knew their Kreutzer. But +there has been a change for the better during recent years. Kneisel was +one of the first to produce pupils here who played legitimately, +according to standard violinistic ideals. One reason why Auer has had +such brilliant pupils is that poor students were received at the +Petrograd Conservatory free of charge. All they had to supply was +talent; and I look forward to the time when we will have a National +conservatory in this country, supported by the Government. Then the +poor, but musically gifted, pupil will have the same opportunities that +his brother, who is well-to-do, now has. + + + SOME PERSONAL VIEWS AND REFLECTIONS + +"You ask me to tell you something of my own musical preferences. Well, +take the concertos. I have reached a point where the Mendelssohn, +Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Brahms concertos seen to sum up what is +truly worth while. The others begin to bore me; even Bruch! Paganini, +Wieniawski, etc., are mainly mediums of display. Most of the great +violinists, Ysaye, Thibaud, etc., during recent years are reverting to +the violin sonatas. Ysaye, for instance, has recently been playing the +Lazzari sonata, a very powerful and beautiful work. + +"My experiences as a 'concertmaster'? I have played with Weingartner; +Saint-Saëns (whose amiability to me, when he first visited this country, +I recall with pleasure); Gustav Mahler, Tschaikovsky, Safonoff, Seidel, +Bauer, and Walter Damrosch, whose friend and associate I have been for +the last twenty-two years. He is a wonderful man, many-sided and +versatile; a notably fine pianist; and playing chamber music with him +during successive summers is numbered among my pleasantest +recollections. + +"In speaking of concertos some time ago, I forgot to mention one work +well worth studying. This is the Russian Mlynarski's concerto in D, +which I played with the Russian Symphony Orchestra some eight years ago +for the first time in this country, as well as a fine 'Romance and +Caprice' by Rubinstein. + +"Is the music a concertmaster is called upon to play always violinistic? +Far from it. Symphonic music--in as much as the concertmaster is +concerned, is usually not idiomatic violin music. Richard Strauss's +violin concerto can really be played by the violinist. The _obbligatos_ +in his symphonies are a very different matter; they go beyond accepted +technical boundaries. With Stravinsky it is the same. The violin +_obbligato_ in Rimsky-Korsakov's _Schéhérazade_, though, is real violin +music. Debussy and Ravel are most subtle; they call for a particularly +good ear, since the harmonic balance of their music is very delicate. +The concertmaster has to develop his own interpretations, subject, of +course, to the conductor's ideas. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Violin Mastery? It means to me complete control of the fingerboard, a +being at home in every position, absolute sureness of fingering, +absolute equality of tone under all circumstances. I remember Ysaye +playing Tschaikovsky's _Sérénade Mélancolique_, and using a fingering +for certain passages which I liked very much. I asked him to give it to +me in detail, but he merely laughed and said: 'I'd like to, but I +cannot, because I really do not remember which fingers I used!' That is +mastery--a control so complete that fingering was unconscious, and the +interpretation of the thought was all that was in the artist's mind! +Sevčik's 'complete technical mastery' is after all not perfect, since it +represents mechanical and not mental control." + + + + + XIX + + + TOSCHA SEIDEL + + HOW TO STUDY + + +Toscha Seidel, though one of the more recent of the young Russian +violinists who represent the fruition of Professor Auer's formative +gifts, has, to quote H.F. Peyser, "the transcendental technic observed +in the greatest pupils of his master, a command of mechanism which makes +the rough places so plain that the traces of their roughness are hidden +to the unpracticed eye." He commenced to study the violin seriously at +the age of seven in Odessa, his natal town, with Max Fiedemann, an Auer +pupil. A year and a half later Alexander Fiedemann heard him play a De +Bériot concerto in public, and induced him to study at the Stern +Conservatory in Berlin, with Brodsky, a pupil of Joachim, with whom he +remained for two years. + +It was in Berlin that the young violinist reached the turning point of +his career. "I was a boy of twelve," he said, "when I heard Jascha +Heifetz play for the first time. He played the Tschaikovsky concerto, +and he played it wonderfully. His bowing, his fingering, his whole style +and manner of playing so greatly impressed me that I felt I _must_ have +his teacher, that I would never be content unless I studied with +Professor Auer! In 1912 I at length had an opportunity to play for the +Professor in his home at Loschivitz, in Dresden, and to my great joy he +at once accepted me as a pupil. + + + STUDYING WITH PROFESSOR AUER + +"Studying with Professor Auer was a revelation. I had private lessons +from him, and at the same time attended the classes at the Petrograd +Conservatory. I should say that his great specialty, if one can use the +word specialty in the case of so universal a master of teaching as the +Professor, was bowing. In all violin playing the left hand, the finger +hand, might be compared to a perfectly adjusted technical machine, one +that needs to be kept well oiled to function properly. The right hand, +the bow hand, is the direct opposite--it is the painter hand, the artist +hand, its phrasing outlines the pictures of music; its _nuances_ fill +them with beauty of color. And while the Professor insisted as a matter +of course on the absolute development of finger mechanics, he was an +inspiration as regards the right manipulation of the bow, and its use as +a medium of interpretation. And he made his pupils think. Often, when I +played a passage in a concerto or sonata and it lacked clearness, he +would ask me: 'Why is this passage not clear?' Sometimes I knew and +sometimes I did not. But not until he was satisfied that I could not +myself answer the question, would he show me how to answer it. He could +make every least detail clear, illustrating it on his own violin; but if +the pupil could 'work out his own salvation' he always encouraged him to +do so. + + [Illustration: TOSCHA SEIDEL, with hand-written note] + +"Most teachers make bowing a very complicated affair, adding to its +difficulties. But Professor Auer develops a _natural_ bowing, with an +absolutely free wrist, in all his pupils; for he teaches each student +along the line of his individual aptitudes. Hence the length of the +fingers and the size of the hand make no difference, because in the case +of each pupil they are treated as separate problems, capable of an +individual solution. I have known of pupils who came to him with an +absolutely stiff wrist; and yet he taught them to overcome it. + + + ARTIST PUPILS AND AMATEUR STUDENTS + +"As regards difficulties, technical and other, a distinction might be +made between the artist and the average amateur. The latter does not +make the violin his life work: it is an incidental. While he may +reasonably content himself with playing well, the artist-pupil _must_ +achieve perfection. It is the difference between an accomplishment and +an art. The amateur plays more or less for the sake of playing--the +'how' is secondary; but for the artist the 'how' comes first, and for +him the shortest piece, a single scale, has difficulties of which the +amateur is quite ignorant. And everything is difficult in its perfected +sense. What I, as a student, found to be most difficult were double +harmonics--I still consider them to be the most difficult thing in the +whole range of violin technic. First of all, they call for a large hand, +because of the wide stretches. But harmonics were one of the things I +had to master before Professor Auer would allow me to appear in public. +Some find tenths and octaves their stumbling block, but I cannot say +that they ever gave me much trouble. After all, the main thing with any +difficulty is to surmount it, and just _how_ is really a secondary +matter. I know Professor Auer used to say: 'Play with your feet if you +must, but make the violin sound!' With tenths, octaves, sixths, with any +technical frills, the main thing is to bring them out clearly and +convincingly. And, rightly or wrongly, one must remember that when +something does not sound out convincingly on the violin, it is not the +fault of the weather, or the strings or rosin or anything else--it is +always the artist's own fault! + + + HOW TO STUDY + +"Scale study--all Auer pupils had to practice scales every day, scales +in all the intervals--is a most important thing. And following his idea +of stimulating the pupil's self-development, the Professor encouraged us +to find what we needed ourselves. I remember that once--we were standing +in a corridor of the Conservatory--when I asked him, 'What should I +practice in the way of studies?' he answered: 'Take the difficult +passages from the great concertos. You cannot improve on them, for they +are as good, if not better, as any studies written.' As regards +technical work we were also encouraged to think out our own exercises. +And this I still do. When I feel that my thirds and sixths need +attention I practice scales and original figurations in these intervals. +But genuine, resultful practice is something that should never be +counted by 'hours.' Sometimes I do not touch my violin all day long; and +one hour with head work is worth any number of days without it. At the +most I never practice more than three hours a day. And when my thoughts +are fixed on other things it would be time lost to try to practice +seriously. Without technical control a violinist could not be a great +artist; for he could not express himself. Yet a great artist can give +even a technical study, say a Rode _étude_, a quality all its own in +playing it. That technic, however, is a means, not an end, Professor +Auer never allowed his pupils to forget. He is a wonderful master of +interpretation. I studied the great concertos with him--Beethoven, +Bruch, Mendelssohn, Tschaikovsky, Dvořák*, the Brahms concerto (which I +prefer to any other); the Vieuxtemps Fifth and Lalo (both of which I +have heard Ysaye, that supreme artist who possesses all that an artist +should have, play in Berlin); the Elgar concerto (a fine work which I +once heard Kreisler, an artist as great as he is modest, play +wonderfully in Petrograd), as well as other concertos of the standard +repertory. And Professor Auer always sought to have us play as +individuals; and while he never allowed us to overstep the boundaries of +the musically esthetic, he gave our individuality free play within its +limits. He never insisted on a pupil accepting his own _nuances_ of +interpretation because they were his. I know that when playing for him, +if I came to a passage which demanded an especially beautiful _legato_ +rendering, he would say: 'Now show how you can sing!' The exquisite +_legato_ he taught was all a matter of perfect bowing, and as he often +said: 'There must be no such thing as strings or hair in the pupil's +consciousness. One must not play violin, one must sing violin!' + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "Dvorák". + + + FIDDLE AND STRINGS + +"I do not see how any artist can use an instrument which is quite new to +him in concert. I never play any but my own Guadagnini, which is a fine +fiddle, with a big, sonorous tone. As to wire strings, I hate them! In +the first place, a wire E sounds distinctly different to the artist +than does a gut E. And it is a difference which any violinist will +notice. Then, too, the wire E is so thin that the fingers have nothing +to take hold of, to touch firmly. And to me the metallic vibrations, +especially on the open strings, are most disagreeable. Of course, from a +purely practical standpoint there is much to be said for the wire E. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"What is violin mastery as I understand it? First of all it means +talent, secondly technic, and in the third place, tone. And then one +must be musical in an all-embracing sense to attain it. One must have +musical breadth and understanding in general, and not only in a narrowly +violinistic sense. And, finally, the good God must give the artist who +aspires to be a master good hands, and direct him to a good teacher!" + + + + + XX + + + EDMUND SEVERN + + THE JOACHIM BOWING AND OTHERS: + THE LEFT HAND + + +Edmund Severn's activity in the field of violin music is a three-fold +one: he is a composer, an interpreting artist and a teacher, and his +fortuitous control of the three vital phases of his Art make his views +as regards its study of very real value. The lover of string music in +general would naturally attach more importance to his string quartet in +D major, his trio for violin, 'cello and piano, his violin concerto in D +minor, the sonata, the "Oriental," "Italian," "New England" suites for +violin, and the fine suite in A major, for two violins and piano, than +to his symphonic poems for orchestra, his choral works and his songs. +And those in search of hints to aid them to master the violin would be +most interested in having the benefit of his opinions as a teacher, +founded on long experience and keen observation. Since Mr. Severn is +one of those teachers who are born, not made, and is interested heart +and soul in this phase of his musical work, it was not difficult to draw +him out. + + + THE JOACHIM BOWING + +"My first instructor in the violin was my father, the pioneer violin +teacher of Hartford, Conn., where my boyhood was passed, and then I +studied with Franz Milcke and Bernard Listemann, concertmaster of the +Boston Symphony Orchestra. But one day I happened to read a few lines +reprinted in the _Metronome_ from some European source, which quoted +Wilhelmj as saying that Emanuel Wirth, Joachim's first assistant at the +Berlin _Hochschule_, 'was the best teacher of his generation.' This was +enough for me: feeling that the best could be none too good, I made up +my mind to go to him. And I did. Wirth was the viola of the Joachim +Quartet, and probably a better teacher than was Joachim himself. Violin +teaching was a cult with him, a religion; and I think he believed God +had sent him to earth to teach fiddle. Like all the teachers at the +_Hochschule_ he taught the regular 'Joachim' bowing--they were obliged +to teach it--as far as it could be taught, for it could not be taught +every one. And that is the real trouble with the 'Joachim' bowing. It is +impossible to make a general application of it. + +"Joachim had a very long arm and when he played at the point of the bow +his arm position was approximately the same as that of the average +player at the middle of the bow. Willy Hess was a perfect exponent of +the Joachim method of bowing. Why? Because he had a very long arm. But +at the _Hochschule_ the Joachim bowing was compulsory: they taught, or +tried to teach, all who came there to use it without exception; boys or +girls whose arms chanced to be long enough could acquire it, but big men +with short arms had no chance whatever. Having a medium long arm, by +dint of hard work I managed to get my bowing to suit Wirth; yet I always +felt at a disadvantage at the point of the bow, in spite of the fact +that after my return to the United States I taught the Joachim bowing +for fully eight years. + +"Then, when he first came here, I heard and saw Ysaye play, and I +noticed how greatly his bowing differed from that of Joachim, the point +being that his first finger was always in a position to press +_naturally_ without the least stiffness. This led me to try to find a +less constrained bowing for myself, working along perfectly natural +lines. The Joachim bowing demands a high wrist; but in the case of the +Belgian school an easy position at the point is assumed naturally. And +it is not hard to understand that if the bow be drawn parallel with the +bridge, allowing for the least possible movement of hands and wrist, the +greatest economy of motion, there is no contravention of the laws of +nature and playing is natural and unconstrained. + +"And this applies to every student of the instrument, whether or no he +has a long arm. While I was studying in Berlin, Sarasate played there in +public, with the most natural and unhampered grace and freedom in the +use of his bow. Yet the entire _Hochschule_ contingent unanimously +condemned his bowing as being 'stiff'--merely because it did not conform +to the Joachim tradition. Of course, there is no question but that +Joachim was the greatest quartet player of his time; and with regard to +the interpretation of the classics he was not to be excelled. His +conception of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms was wonderful. The +insistence at the _Hochschule_ on forcing the bowing which was natural +to him on all others, irrespective of physical adaptability, is a matter +of regret. Wirth was somewhat deficient in teaching left hand technic, +as compared with, let us say, Schradieck. Wirth's real strength lay in +his sincerity and his ability to make clear the musical contents of the +works of the great masters. In a Beethoven or Spohr concerto he made a +pupil give its due emphasis to every single note. + + + A PRE-TEACHING REQUISITE + +"Before the violin student can even begin to study, there are certain +pre-teaching requisites which are necessary if the teacher is to be of +any service to him. The violin is a singing instrument, and therefore +the first thing called for is a good singing tone. That brings up an +important point--the proper adjustment of the instrument used by the +student. If his lessons are to be of real benefit to him, the component +parts of the instrument, post, bridge, bass-bar, strings, etc., must be +accurately adjusted, in order that the sound values are what they should +be. + +"From the teaching standpoint it is far more important that whatever +violin the student has is one properly built and adjusted, than that it +be a fine instrument. And the bow must have the right amount of spring, +of elasticity in its stick. A poor bow will work more harm than a poor +fiddle, for if the bow is poor, if it lacks the right resilience, the +student cannot acquire the correct bow pressure. He cannot play +_spiccato_ or any of the 'bouncing' bowings, including various forms of +arpeggios, with a poor stick. + + + DRAWING A LONG BOW + +"When I say that the student should 'draw a long bow,'" continued Mr. +Severn with a smile, "I do not say so at a venture. If his instrument +and bow are in proper shape, this is the next thing for the student to +do. Ever since Tartini's time it has been acknowledged that nothing can +take the place of the study of the long bow, playing in all shades of +dynamics, from _pp_ to _ff_, and with all the inflections of _crescendo_ +and _diminuendo_. Part of this study should consist of 'mute' +exercises--not playing, but drawing the bow _above the strings_, to its +full length, resting at either end. This ensures bow control. One great +difficulty is that as a rule the teacher cannot induce pupils to +practice these 'mute' exercises, in spite of their unquestionable value. +All the great masters of the violin have used them. Viotti thought so +highly of them that he taught them only to his favorite pupils. And even +to-day some distinguished violinists play dumb exercises before stepping +on the recital stage. They are one of the best means that we have for +control of the violinistic nervous system. + + + WRIST-BOWING + +"Wrist-bowing is one of the bowings in which the student should learn to +feel absolutely and naturally at home. To my thinking the German way of +teaching wrist-bowing is altogether wrong. Their idea is to keep the +fingers neutral, and let the stick move the fingers! Yet this is +wrong--for the player holds his bow at the finger-tips, that terminal +point of the fingers where the tactile nerves are most highly developed, +and where their direct contact with the bow makes possible the greatest +variety of dynamic effect, and also allows the development of far +greater speed in short bowings. + +"Though the Germans say 'Think of the wrist!' I think with the Belgians: +Put your mind where you touch and hold the bow, concentrate on your +fingers. In other words, when you make your bow change, do not make it +according to the Joachim method, with the wrist, but in the natural way, +with the fingers always in command. In this manner only will you get the +true wrist motion. + + + STACCATO AND OTHER BOWINGS + +"After all, there are only two general principles in violin playing, the +long and short bow, _legato_ and _staccato_. Many a teacher finds it +very difficult to teach _staccato_ correctly, which may account for the +fact that many pupils find it hard to learn. The main reason is that, in +a sense, _staccato_ is opposed to the nature of the violin as a singing +instrument. To produce a true _staccato_ and not a 'scratchato' it is +absolutely necessary, while exerting the proper pressure and movement, +to keep the muscles loose. I have evolved a simple method for quickly +achieving the desired result in _staccato_. First I teach the attack in +the middle of the bow, without drawing the bow and as though pressing a +button: I have pupils press up with the thumb and down with the first +finger, with all muscles relaxed. This, when done correctly, produces a +sudden sharp attack. + +"Then, I have the pupil place his bow in the middle, in position to draw +a down-stroke from the wrist, the bow-hair being pressed and held +against the string. A quick down-bow follows with an immediate release +of the string. Repeating the process, use the up-stroke. The finished +product is merely the combination of these two exercises--drawing and +attacking simultaneously. I have never failed to give a pupil a good +_staccato_ by this exercise, which comprises the principle of all +genuine _staccato_ playing. + +"One of the most difficult of all bowings is the simple up-and-down +stroke used in the second Kreutzer _étude_, that is to say, the bowing +between the middle and point of the bow, _tête d'archet_, as the French +call it. This bowing is played badly on the violin more often than any +other. It demands constant rapid changing and, as most pupils play it, +the _legato_ quality is noticeably absent. Too much emphasis cannot be +laid on the truth that the 'singing stroke' should be employed for all +bowings, long or short. Often pupils who play quite well show a want of +true _legato_ quality in their tone, because there is no connection +between their bowing in rapid work. + +"Individual bowings should always be practiced separately. I always +oblige my pupils to practice all bowings on the open strings, and in all +combinations of the open strings, because this allows them to +concentrate on the bowing itself, to the exclusion of all else; and they +advance far more quickly. Students should never be compelled to learn +new bowings while they have to think of their fingers at the same time: +we cannot serve two masters simultaneously! All in all, bowing is most +important in violin technic, for control of the bow means much toward +mastery of the violin. + + + THE LEFT HAND + +"It is evident, however, that the correct use of the left hand is of +equal importance. It seems not to be generally known that +finger-pressure has much to do with tone-quality. The correct poise of +the left hand, as conspicuously shown by Heifetz for instance, throws +the extreme tips of the fingers hammerlike on the strings, and renders +full pressure of the string easy. Correctly done, a brilliance results, +especially in scale and passage work, which can be acquired in no other +manner, each note partaking somewhat of the quality of the open string. +As for intonation--that is largely a question of listening. To really +listen to oneself is as necessary as it is rare. It would take a volume +to cover that subject alone. We hear much about the use of the _vibrato_ +these days. It was not so when I was a student. I can remember when it +was laughed at by the purists as an Italian evidence of bad taste. My +teachers decried it, yet if we could hear the great players of the past, +we would be astonished at their frugal use of it. + +"One should remember in this connection that there was a conflict among +singers for many years as to whether the straight tone as cultivated by +the English oratorio singers, or the vibrated tone of the Italians were +correct. As usual, Nature won out. The correctly vibrated voice +outlasted the other form of production, thus proving its lawful basis. +But to-day the _vibrato_ is frequently made to cover a multitude of +violin sins. + +"It is accepted by many as a substitute for genuine warmth and it is +used as a _camouflage_ to 'put over' some very bad art in the shape of +poor tone-quality, intonation and general sloppiness of technic. Why, +then, has it come into general use during the last twenty-five years? +Simply because it is based on the correctly produced human voice. The +old players, especially those of the German school, said, and some still +say, the _vibrato_ should only be used at the climax of a melody. If we +listen to a Sembrich or a Bonci, however, we hear a vibration on every +tone. Let us not forget that the violin is a singing instrument and that +even Joachim said: 'We must imitate the human voice,' This, I think, +disposes of the case finally and we must admit that every little boy or +girl with a natural _vibrato_ is more correct in that part of his +tone-production than many of the great masters of the past. As the Negro +pastor said: 'The world do move!' + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"Are 'mastery of the violin' and 'Violin Mastery' synonymous in my mind? +Yes and no: 'Violin Mastery' may be taken to mean that technical mastery +wherewith one is enabled to perform any work in the entire literature of +the instrument with precision, but not necessarily with feeling for its +beauty or its emotional content. In this sense, in these days of +improved violin pedagogy, such mastery is not uncommon. But 'Violin +Mastery' may also be understood to mean, not merely a cold though +flawless technic, but its living, glowing product when used to express +the emotions suggested by the music of the masters. This latter kind of +violin mastery is rare indeed. + +"One who makes technic an end travels light, and should reach his +destination more quickly. But he whose goal is music with its +thousand-hued beauties, with its call for the exertion of human and +spiritual emotion, sets forth on a journey without end. It is plain, +however, that this is the only journey worth taking with the violin as a +traveling companion. 'Violin Mastery', then, means to me technical +proficiency used to the highest extent possible, for artistic ends!" + + + + + XXI + + + ALBERT SPALDING + + THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE + DEVELOPMENT OF AN ARTIST + + +For the duration of the war Albert Spalding the violinist became Albert +Spalding the soldier. As First Lieutenant in the Aviation Service, +U.S.A., he maintained the ideals of civilization on the Italian front +with the same devotion he gave to those of Art in the piping times of +peace. As he himself said not so very long ago: "You cannot do two +things, and do them properly, at the same time. At the present moment +there is more music for me in the factories gloriously grinding out +planes and motors than in a symphony of Beethoven. And to-day I would +rather run on an office-boy's errand for my country and do it as well as +I can, if it's to serve my country, than to play successfully a Bach +Chaconne; and I would rather hear a well directed battery of American +guns blasting the Road of Peace and Victorious Liberty than the +combined applause of ten thousand audiences. For it is my conviction +that Art has as much at stake in this War as Democracy." + + [Illustration: _Copyright by Matzene, Chicago_. ALBERT SPALDING] + +Yet Lieutenant Spalding, despite the arduous demands of his patriotic +duties, found time to answer some questions of the writer in the +interests of "Violin Mastery" which, representing the views and opinions +of so eminent and distinctively American a violinist, cannot fail to +interest every lover of the Art. Writing from Rome (Sept. 9, 1918), +Lieutenant Spalding modestly said that his answers to the questions +asked "will have to be simple and short, because my time is very +limited, and then, too, having been out of music for more than a year, I +feel it difficult to deal in more than a general way with some of the +questions asked." + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"As to 'Violin Mastery'? To me it means effortless mastery of details; +the correlating of them into a perfect whole; the subjecting of them to +the expression of an architecture which is music. 'Violin Mastery' means +technical mastery in every sense of the word. It means a facility which +will enable the interpreter to forget difficulties, and to express at +once in a language that will seem clear, simple and eloquent, that which +in the hands of others appears difficult, obtuse and dull. + + + THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE + DEVELOPMENT OF AN ARTIST + +"As to the processes, mental and technical, which make an artist? These +different processes, mental and technical, are too many, too varied and +involved to invite an answer in a short space of time. Suffice it to say +that the most _important_ mental process, to my mind, is the development +of a perception of beauty. All the perseverance in the study of music, +all the application devoted to it, is not worth a tinker's dam, unless +accompanied by this awakening to the perception of beauty. And with +regard to the influence of teachers? Since all teachers vary greatly, +the student should not limit himself to his own personal masters. The +true student of Art should be able to derive benefit and instruction +from every beautiful work of Art that he hears or sees; otherwise he +will be limited by the technical and mental limitations of his own +prejudices and jealousies. One's greatest difficulties may turn out to +be one's greatest aids in striving toward artistic results. By this I +mean that nothing is more fatally pernicious for the true artist than +the precocious facility which invites cheap success. Therefore I make +the statement that one's greatest difficulties are one's greatest +facilities. + + + A LESS DEVELOPED PHASE OF VIOLIN TECHNIC + +"In the technical field, the phase of violin technic which is less +developed, it seems to me is, in most cases, bowing. One often notes a +highly developed left hand technic coupled with a monotonous and +oftentimes faulty bowing. The _color_ and _variety_ of a violinist's art +must come largely from his intimate acquaintance with all that can be +accomplished by the bow arm. The break or change from a down-bow to an +up-bow, or _vice versa_, should be under such control as to make it +perceptible only when it may be desirable to use it for color or +accentuation. + + + GOOD AND BAD HANDS: MENTAL STUDY + +"The influence of the physical conformation of bow hand and string hand +on actual playing? There are no 'good' or 'bad' bow hands or string +hands (unless they be deformed); there are only 'good' and 'bad' heads. +By this I mean that the finest development of technic comes from the +head, not from the hand. Quickness of thought and action is what +distinguishes the easy player from the clumsy player. Students should +develop mental study even of technical details--this, of course, in +addition to the physical practice; for this mental study is of the +highest importance in developing the student so that he can gain that +effortless mastery of detail of which I have already spoken. + + + ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE OF CONCERT + ATTENDANCE FOR THE STUDENT + +"Concerts undoubtedly have great value in developing the student +technically and mentally; but too often they have a directly contrary +effect. I think there is a very doubtful benefit to be derived from the +present habit, as illustrated in New York, London, or other centers, of +the student attending concerts, sometimes as many as two or three a day. +This habit dwarfs the development of real appreciation, as the student, +under these conditions, can little appreciate true works of art when he +has crammed his head so full of truck, and worn out his faculties of +concentration until listening to music becomes a mechanical mental +process. The _indiscriminate_ attending of concerts, to my mind, has an +absolutely pernicious effect on the student. + + + NATIONALITY AS A FORMATIVE INFLUENCE + +"Nationality and national feeling have a very real influence in the +development of an artist; but this influence is felt subconsciously more +than consciously, and it reacts more on the creative than on the +interpretative artist. By this I mean that the interpretative artist, +while reserving the right to his individual expression, should subject +himself to what he considers to have been the artistic impulse, the +artistic intentions of the composer. As to type music to whose appeal I +as an American am susceptible, I confess to a very sympathetic reaction +to the syncopated rhythms known as 'rag-time,' and which appear to be +especially American in character." For the benefit of those readers who +may not chance to know it, Lieutenant Spalding's "Alabama," a Southern +melody and dance in plantation style, for violin and piano, represents +a very delightful creative exploitation of these rhythms. The writer +makes mention of the fact since with regard to this and other of his own +compositions Lieutenant Spalding would only state: "I felt that I had +something to say and, therefore, tried to say it. Whether what I have to +say is of any interest to others is not for me to judge. + + + PLAYING WHILE IN SERVICE + +"Do I play at all while in Service? I gave up all playing in public when +entering the Army a year ago, and to a great extent all private playing +as well. I have on one or two occasions played at charity concerts +during the past year, once in Rome, and once in the little town in Italy +near the aviation camp at which I was stationed at the time. I have +purposely refused all other requests to play because one cannot do two +things at once, and do them properly. My time now belongs to my country: +When we have peace again I shall hope once more to devote it to Art." + + + + + XXII + + + THEODORE SPIERING + + THE APPLICATION OF BOW EXERCISES TO + THE STUDY OF KREUTZER + + +A. Walter Kramer has said: "Mr. Spiering knows how serious a study can +be made of the violin, because he has made it. He has investigated the +'how' and 'why' of every detail, and what he has to say about the violin +is the utterance of a big musician, one who has mastered the +instrument." And Theodore Spiering, solo artist and conductor, as a +teacher has that wider horizon which has justified the statement made +that "he is animated by the thoughts and ideals which stimulate a +Godowsky or Busoni." Such being the case, it was with unmixed +satisfaction that the writer found Mr. Spiering willing to give him the +benefit of some of those constructive ideas of his as regards violin +study which have established his reputation so prominently in that +field. + + + TWO TYPES OF STUDENTS + +"There are certain underlying principles which govern every detail of +the violinist's Art," said Mr. Spiering, "and unless the violinist fully +appreciates their significance, and has the intelligence and patience to +apply them in everything he does, he will never achieve that absolute +command over his instrument which mastery implies. + +"It is a peculiar fact that a large percentage of students--probably +believing that they can reach their goal by a short cut--resent the +mental effort required to master these principles, the passive +resistance, evident in their work, preventing them from deriving true +benefit from their studies. They form that large class which learns +merely by imitation, and invariably retrograde the moment they are no +longer under the teacher's supervision. + +"The smaller group, with an analytical bent of mind, largely subject +themselves to the needed mental drill and thus provide for themselves +that inestimable basic quality that makes them independent and capable +of developing their talent to its full fruition. + + [Illustration: THEODORE SPIERING, with hand-written note] + + + MENTAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES COÖRDINATED + +"The conventional manner of teaching provided an inordinate number of +mechanical exercises in order to overcome so called 'technical +difficulties.' Only the _prima facie_ disturbance, however, was thus +taken into consideration--not its actual cause. The result was, that +notwithstanding the great amount of labor thus expended, the effort had +to be repeated each time the problem was confronted. Aside from the +obviously uncertain results secured in this manner, it meant deadening +of the imagination and cramping of interpretative possibilities. It is +only possible to reduce to a minimum the element of chance by +scrupulously carrying out the dictates of the laws governing vital +principles. Analysis and the severest self-criticism are the means of +determination as to whether theory and practice conform with one +another. + +"_Mental preparedness_ (Marcus Aurelius calls it 'the good ordering of +the mind') is the keynote of technical control. Together with the +principle of _relaxation_ it provides the player with the most effective +means of establishing precise and sensitive coöperation between mental +and physical processes. Muscular relaxation at will is one of the +results of this coöperation. It makes sustained effort possible +(counteracting the contraction ordinarily resulting therefrom), and it +is freedom of movement more than anything else that tends to establish +confidence. + + + THE TWO-FOLD VALUE OF CELEBRATED STUDY WORKS + +"The study period of the average American is limited. It has been +growing less year by year. Hence the teacher has had to redouble his +efforts. The desire to give my pupils the essentials of technical +control in their most concentrated and immediately applicable form, have +led me to evolve a series of 'bow exercises,' which, however, do not +merely pursue a mechanical purpose. Primarily enforcing the carrying out +of basic principles as pertaining to the bow--and establishing or +correcting (as the case may be) arm and hand (right arm) positions, they +supply the means of creating a larger interpretative style. + +"I use the Kreutzer studies as the medium of these bow-exercises, since +the application of new technical ideas is easier when the music itself +is familiar to the student. I have a two-fold object in mind when I +review these studies in my particular manner, technic and appreciation. +I might add that not only Kreutzer, but Fiorillo and Rode--in fact all +the celebrated 'Caprices,' with the possible exception of those of +Paganini--are viewed almost entirely from the purely technical side, as +belonging to the classroom, because their musical qualities have not +been sufficiently pointed out. Rode, in particular, is a veritable +musical treasure trove. + + + THE APPLICATION OF BOW EXERCISES TO THE + STUDY OF KREUTZER + +"How do I use the Kreutzer studies to develop style and technic? By +making the student study them in such wise that the following principles +are emphasized in his work: _control before action_ (mental direction at +all times); _relaxation_; and _observance of string levels_; for +unimpeded movement is more important than pressure as regards the +carrying tone. These principles are among the most important pertaining +to right arm technic. + +"In Study No. 2 (version 1, up-strokes only, version 2, down-strokes +only), I have my pupils use the full arm stroke (_grand detaché_). In +version 1, the bow is taken from the string after completion of +stroke--but in such a way that the vibrations of the string are not +interfered with. Complete relaxation is insured by release of the +thumb--the bow being caught in a casual manner, third and fourth fingers +slipping from their normal position on stick--and holding, but not +tightly clasping, the bow. + +"Version 2 calls for a _return down-stroke_, the return part of the +stroke being accomplished over the string, but making no division in +stroke, no hesitating before the return. Relaxation is secured as +before. Rapidity of stroke, elimination of impediment (faulty hand or +arm position and unnecessary upper arm action), is the aim of this +exercise. The pause between each stroke--caused by relinquishing the +hold on the bow--reminds the student that mental control should at all +times be paramount: that analysis of technical detail is of vital +importance. + +"In Study No. 7 I employ the same vigorous full arm strokes as in No. 2: +the up and down bows as indicated in the original version. The bow is +raised from the strings after each note, by means of hand (little +finger, first and thumb) not by arm action. Normal hand position is +retained: thumb not released. + +"The _observance of string levels_ is very essential. While the stroke +is in progress the arm must not leave its level in an anticipatory +movement to reach the next level. Especially after the down-stroke is it +advisable to verify the arm position with regard to this feature. + +"No. 8 affords opportunity for a _résumé_ of the work done in Nos. 2 and +7: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +"It is evident that the tempo of this study must be very much reduced in +speed. The _return_ down-stroke as in No. 2: the _second_ down-stroke as +in No. 7: the up-strokes as in No. 2. + +"In Study No. 5 I use the hand-stroke only--at the frog--arm absolutely +immobile, with no attempt at tone. This exercise represents the first +attempt at dissecting the _martelé_ idea: precise timing of pressure, +movement (stroke), and relaxation. The pause between the strokes is +utilized to learn the value of left hand preparedness, with the fingers +in place before bow action. + +"In Study No. 13 I develop the principles of string crossing, of the +extension stroke, and articulation. String crossing is the main feature +of the exercise. I employ three versions, in order to accomplish my aim. +In version 1 I consider only the crossing from a higher to a lower +level: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +version 2: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +version 3 is the original version. In versions 1 and 2 I omit all +repetitions: + + [Illustration: Musical Notation] + +Articulation is one of the main points at issue--the middle note is +generally inarticulate. For further string crossing analysis I use +Kreutzer's No. 25. Study No. 10 I carry out as a _martelé_ study, with +the string crossing very much in evidence; establishing observance of +the notes occurring on the same string level, consequently compelling a +more judicious use of the so-called wrist movement (not merely +developing a supple wrist, with indefinite crossing movements, which in +many cases are applied by the player without regard to actual string +crossing) and in consequence securing stability of bow on string when +string level is not changed, this result being secured even in rapid +passage work. + +"In Studies 11, 19 and 21 I cover shifting and left thumb action: in No. +9, finger action--flexibility and evenness, the left thumb relaxed--the +fundamental idea of the trill. After the _interrupted_ types of bowing +(grand _detaché_, _martelé_, _staccato_) have been carefully studied, +the _continuous_ types (_detaché_, _legato_ and _spiccato_) are then +taken up, and in part the same studies again used: 2, 7, 8. Lastly the +slurred _legato_ comes under consideration (Studies 9, 11, 14, 22, 27, +29). Shifting, extension and string crossing have all been previously +considered, and hence the _legato_ should be allowed to take its even +course. + +"Although I do, temporarily, place these studies on a purely mechanical +level, I am convinced that they thus serve to call into being a broader +_musical_ appreciation for the whole set. For I have found that in spite +of the fact that pupils who come to me have all played their Kreutzer, +with very few exceptions have they realized the musical message which +it contains. The time when the student body will have learned to depict +successfully musical character--even in studies and caprices--will mark +the fulfillment of the teacher's task with regard to the cultivation of +the right arm--which is essentially the teacher's domain. + + + SOME OF MR. SPIERING'S OWN STUDY SOUVENIRS + +"It may interest you to know," Mr. Spiering said in reply to a question, +"that I began my teaching career in Chicago immediately following my +four years with Joachim in Berlin. It was natural that I should first +commit myself to the pedagogic methods of the _Hochschule_, which to a +great extent, however, I discarded as my own views crystallized. I found +that too much emphasis allotted the wrist stroke (a misnomer, by the +way), was bound to result in too academic a style. By transferring +primary importance to the control of the full arm-stroke--with the +hand-stroke incidentally completing the control--I felt that I was +better able to reflect the larger interpretative ideals which my years +of musical development were creating for me. Chamber music--a youthful +passion--led me to interest myself in symphonic work and conducting. +These activities not only reacted favorably on my solo playing, but +influenced my development as regards the broader, more dramatic style, +the grand manner in interpretation. It is this realization that places +me in a position to earnestly advise the ambitious student not to +disregard the great artistic benefits to be derived from the cultivation +of chamber music and symphonic playing. + +"I might call my teaching ideals a combination of those of the +Franco-Belgian and German schools. To the former I attribute my +preference for the large sweep of the bow-arm, its style and tonal +superiority; to the latter, vigor of interpretation and attention to +musical detail. + + + VIOLIN MASTERY + +"How do I define 'Violin Mastery'? The violinist who has succeeded in +eliminating all superfluous tension or physical resistance, whose mental +control is such that the technic of the left hand and right arm has +become coordinate, thus forming a perfect mechanism not working at +cross-purposes; who, furthermore, is so well poised that he never +oversteps the boundaries of good taste in his interpretations, though +vitally alive to the human element; who, finally, has so broad an +outlook on life and Art that he is able to reveal the transcendent +spirit characterizing the works of the great masters--such a violinist +has truly attained mastery!" + + + + + XXIII + + + JACQUES THIBAUD + + THE IDEAL PROGRAM + + +Jacques Thibaud, whose gifts as an interpreting artist have brought him +so many friends and admirers in the United States, is the foremost +representative of the modern French school of violin-playing. And as +such he has held his own ever since, at the age of twenty, he resigned +his rank as concert-master of the Colonne orchestra, to dedicate his +talents exclusively to the concert stage. So great an authority as the +last edition of the Riemann _Musik-Lexicon_ cannot forbear, even in +1915, to emphasize his "technic, absolutely developed in its every +detail, and his fiery and poetic manner of interpretation." + +But Mr. Thibaud does not see any great difference between the ideals of +_la grande école belge_, that of Vieuxtemps, De Bériot, Léonard, Massart +and Marsick, whose greatest present-day exponent is Eugène Ysaye, and +the French. Himself a pupil of Marsick, he inherited the French +traditions of Alard through his father, who was Alard's pupil and handed +them on to his son. "The two schools have married and are as one," +declared Mr. Thibaud. "They may differ in the interpretation of music, +but to me they seem to have merged so far as their systems of finger +technic, bowing and tone production goes. + + + THE GREATEST DIFFICULTY TO OVERCOME + +"You ask me what is most difficult in playing the violin? It is bowing. +Bowing makes up approximately eighty per cent. of the sum total of +violinistic difficulties. One reason for it is that many teachers with +excellent ideas on the subject present it to their pupils in too +complicated a manner. The bow must be used in an absolutely natural way, +and over elaboration in explaining what should be a simple and natural +development often prevents the student from securing a good bowing, the +end in view. Sarasate (he was an intimate friend of mine) always used +his bow in the most natural way, his control of it was unsought and +unconscious. Were I a teacher I should not say: 'You must bow as I do'; +but rather: 'Find the way of bowing most convenient and natural to +you and use it!' Bowing is largely a physical and individual matter. I +am slender but have long, large fingers; Kreisler is a larger man than I +am but his fingers are small. It stands to reason that there must be a +difference in the way in which we hold and use the bow. The difference +between a great and a mediocre teacher lies in the fact that the first +recognizes that bowing is an individual matter, different in the case of +each individual pupil; and that the greatest perfection is attained by +the development of the individual's capabilities within his own norm. + + [Illustration: JACQUES THIBAUD, with signature] + + + MARSICK AS A TEACHER + +"Marsick was a teacher of this type. At each of the lessons I took from +him at the _Conservatoire_ (we went to him three days a week), he would +give me a new _étude_--Gavinies, Rode, Fiorillo, Dont--to prepare for +the next lesson. We also studied all of Paganini, and works by Ernst and +Spohr. For our bow technic he employed difficult passages made into +_études_. Scales--the violinist's daily bread--we practiced day in, day +out. Marsick played the piano well, and could improvise marvelous +accompaniments on his violin when his pupils played. I continued my +studies with Marsick even after I left the _Conservatoire_. With him I +believe that three essentials--absolute purity of pitch, equality of +tone and sonority of tone, in connection with the bow--are the base on +which everything else rests. + + + THE MECHANICAL VERSUS THE NATURAL IN VIOLIN PLAYING + +"Sevčik's purely soulless and mechanical system has undoubtedly produced +a number of excellent mechanicians of the violin. But it has just as +unquestionably killed real talent. Kubelik--there was a genuinely +talented violinist! If he had had another teacher instead of Sevčik he +would have been great, for he had great gifts. Even as it was he played +well, but I consider him one of Sevčik's victims. As an illustration of +how the technical point of view is thrust to the fore by this system I +remember some fifteen years ago Kubelik and I were staying at the same +villa in Monte-Carlo, where we were to play the Beethoven concerto, each +of us, in concert, two days apart. Kubelik spent the live-long day +before the concert practicing Sevčik exercises. I read and studied +Beethoven's score, but did not touch my violin. I went to hear Kubelik +play the concerto, and he played it well; but then, so did I, when my +turn came. And I feel sure I got more out of it musically and +spiritually, than I would have if instead of concentrating on its +meaning, its musical message, I had prepared the concerto as a problem +in violin mechanics whose key was contained in a number of dry technical +exercises arbitrarily laid down. + +"Technic, in the case of the more advanced violinist, should not have a +place in the foreground of his consciousness. I heard Rubinstein play +when a boy--what did his false notes amount to compared with his +wonderful manner of disclosing the spirit of the things he played! +Planté, the Parisian pianist, a kind of keyboard cyclone, once expressed +the idea admirably to an English society lady. She had told him he was a +greater pianist than Rubinstein, because the latter played so many wrong +notes. 'Ah, Madame,' answered Planté, 'I would rather be able to play +Rubinstein's wrong notes than all my own correct ones.' A violinist's +natural manner of playing is the one he should cultivate; since it is +individual, it really represents him. And a teacher or a colleague of +greater fame does him no kindness if he encourages him to distrust his +own powers by too good naturedly 'showing' him how to do this, that or +the other. I mean, when the student can work out his problem himself at +the expense of a little initiative. + +"When I was younger I once had to play Bach's G minor fugue at a concert +in Brussels. I was living at Ysaye's home, and since I had never played +the composition in public before, I began to worry about its +interpretation. So I asked Ysaye (thinking he would simply show me), +'How ought I to play this fugue?' The Master reflected a moment and then +dashed my hopes by answering: _'Tu m'embêtes!'_ (You bore me!) 'This +fugue should be played well, that's all!' At first I was angry, but +thinking it over, I realized that if he had shown me, I would have +played it just as he did; while what he wanted me to do was to work out +my own version, and depend on my own initiative--which I did, for I had +no choice. It is by means of concentration on the higher, the +interpretative phases of one's Art that the technical side takes its +proper, secondary place. Technic does not exist for me in the sense of a +certain quantity of mechanical work which I must do. I find it out of +the question to do absolutely mechanical technical work of any length of +time. In realizing the three essentials of good violin playing which I +have already mentioned, Ysaye and Sarasate are my ideals. + + + SARASATE + +"All really good violinists are good artists. Sarasate, whom I knew so +intimately and remember so well, was a pupil of Alard (my father's +teacher). He literally sang on the violin, like a nightingale. His +purity of intonation was remarkable; and his technical facility was the +most extraordinary that I have ever seen. He handled his bow with +unbelievable skill. And when he played, the unassuming grace of his +movements won the hearts of his audiences and increased the enthusiasm +awakened by his tremendous talent. + +"We other violinists, all of us, occasionally play a false note, for we +are not infallible; we may flat a little or sharp a little. But never, +as often as I have heard Sarasate play, did I ever hear him play a wrong +note, one not in perfect pitch. His Spanish things he played like a god! +And he had a wonderful gift of phrasing which gave a charm hard to +define to whatever he played. And playing in quartet--the greatest solo +violinist does not always shine in this _genre_--he was admirable. +Though he played all the standard repertory, Bach, Beethoven, etc., I +can never forget his exquisite rendering of modern works, especially of +a little composition by Raff, called _La Fée d'Amour_. He was the first +to play the violin concertos of Saint-Saëns, Lalo and Max Bruch. They +were all written for him, and I doubt whether they would have been +composed had not Sarasate been there to play them. Of course, in his own +Spanish music he was unexcelled--a whole school of violin playing was +born and died with him! He had a hobby for collecting canes. He had +hundreds of them of all kinds, and every sovereign in Europe had +contributed to his collection. I know Queen Christina of Spain gave him +no less than twenty. He once gave me a couple of his canes, a great sign +of favor with him. I have often played quartet with Sarasate, for he +adored quartet playing, and these occasions are among my treasured +memories. + + + STRADIVARIUS AND GUARNERIUS PLAYERS + +"My violin? It is a Stradivarius--the same which once belonged to the +celebrated Baillot. I think it is good for a violin to rest, so during +the three months when I am not playing in concert, I send my +Stradivarius away to the instrument maker's, and only take it out about +a month before I begin to play again in public. What do I use in the +meantime? Caressa, the best violin maker in Paris, made me an exact copy +of my own Strad, exact in every little detail. It is so good that +sometimes, when circumstances compelled me to, I have used it in +concert, though it lacks the tone-quality of the original. This +under-study violin I can use for practice, and when I go back to the +original, as far as the handling of the instrument is concerned, I never +know the difference. + +"But I do not think that every one plays to the best advantage on a +Strad. I'm a believer in the theory that there are natural Guarnerius +players and natural Stradivarius players; that certain artists do their +best with the one, and certain others with the other. And I also believe +that any one who is 'equally' good in both, is great on neither. The +reason I believe in Guarnerius players and Stradivarius players as +distinct is this. Some years ago I had a sudden call to play in Ostende. +It was a concert engagement which I had overlooked, and when it was +recalled to me I was playing golf in Brittany. I at once hurried to +Paris to get my violin from Caressa, with whom I had left it, but--his +safe, in which it had been put, and to which he only had the +combination, was locked. Caressa himself was in Milan. I telegraphed him +but found that he could not get back in time before the concert to +release my violin. So I telegraphed Ysaye at Namur, to ask if he could +loan me a violin for the concert. 'Certainly' he wired back. So I +hurried to his home and, with his usual generosity, he insisted on my +taking both his treasured Guarnerius and his 'Hercules' Strad +(afterwards stolen from him in Russia), in order that I might have my +choice. His brother-in-law and some friends accompanied me from Namur to +Ostende--no great distance--to hear the concert. Well, I played the +Guarnerius at rehearsal, and when it was over, every one said to me, +'Why, what is the matter with your fiddle? (It was the one Ysaye always +used.) It has no tone at all.' At the concert I played the Strad and +secured a big tone that filled the hall, as every one assured me. When +I brought back the violins to Ysaye I mentioned the circumstance to him, +and he was so surprised and interested that he took them from the cases +and played a bit, first on one, then on the other, a number of times. +And invariably when he played the Strad (which, by the way, he had not +used for years) he, Ysaye--imagine it!--could develop only a small tone; +and when he played the Guarnerius, he never failed to develop that +great, sonorous tone we all know and love so well. Take Sarasate, when +he lived, Elman, myself--we all have the habit of the Stradivarius: on +the other hand Ysaye and Kreisler are Guarnerius players _par +excellence_! + +"Yes, I use a wire E string. Before I found out about them I had no end +of trouble. In New Orleans I snapped seven gut strings at a single +concert. Some say that you can tell the difference, when listening, +between a gut and a wire E. I cannot, and I know a good many others who +cannot. After my last New York recital I had tea with Ysaye, who had +done me the honor of attending it. 'What strings do you use?' he asked +me, _à propos_ to nothing in particular. When I told him I used a wire E +he confessed that he could not have told the difference. And, in fact, +he has adopted the wire E just like Kreisler, Maud Powell and others, +and has told me that he is charmed with it--for Ysaye has had a great +deal of trouble with his strings. I shall continue to use them even +after the war, when it will be possible to obtain good gut strings +again. + + + THE IDEAL PROGRAM + +"The whole question of programs and program-making is an intricate one. +In my opinion the usual recital program, piano, song or violin, is too +long. The public likes the recital by a single vocal or instrumental +artist, and financially and for other practical reasons the artist, too, +is better satisfied with them. But are they artistically altogether +satisfactory? I should like to hear Paderewski and Ysaye, Bauer and +Casals, Kreisler and Hofmann all playing at the same recital. What a +variety, what a wealth of contrasting artistic enjoyment such a concert +would afford. There is nothing that is so enjoyable for the true artist +as _ensemble_ playing with his peers. Solo playing seems quite +unimportant beside it. + +"I recall as the most perfect and beautiful of all my musical memories, +a string quartet and quintet (with piano) session in Paris, in my own +home, where we played four of the loveliest chamber music works ever +written in the following combination: Beethoven's 7th quartet (Ysaye, +Vo. I, myself, Vo. II, Kreisler, viola--he plays it remarkably well--and +Casals, 'cello); the Schumann quartet (Kreisler, Vo. I, Ysaye, Vo. II, +myself, viola and Casals, 'cello); and the Mozart G major quartet +(myself, Vo. I, Kreisler, Vo. II, Ysaye, viola and Casals, 'cello). Then +we telephoned to Pugno, who came over and joined us and, after an +excellent dinner, we played the César Franck piano quintet. It was the +most enjoyable musical day of my life. A concert manager offered us a +fortune to play in this combination--just two concerts in every capital +in Europe. + +"We have not enough variety in our concert programs--not enough +collaboration. The truth is our form of concert, which usually +introduces only one instrument or one group of instruments, such as the +string quartet, is too uniform in color. I can enjoy playing a recital +program of virtuose violin pieces well enough; but I cannot help fearing +that many find it too unicolored. Practical considerations do not do +away with the truth of an artistic contention, though they may often +prevent its realization. What I enjoy most, musically, is to play +together with another good artist. That is why I have had such great +artistic pleasure in the joint recitals I have given with Harold Bauer. +We could play things that were really worth while for each of us--for +the piano parts of the modern sonatas call for a virtuose technical and +musical equipment, and I have had more satisfaction from this _ensemble_ +work than I would have had in playing a long list of solo pieces. + +"The ideal violin program, to play in public, as I conceive it, is one +that consists of absolute music, or should it contain virtuose pieces, +then these should have some definite musical quality of soul, character, +elegance or charm to recommend them. I think one of the best programs I +have ever played in America is that which I gave with Harold Bauer at +Æolian Hall, New York, during the season of 1917-1918: + + + Sonata in B flat . . . . . . _Mozart_ + BAUER-THIBAUD + + Scenes from Childhood . . . . _Schumann_ + H. BAUER + + Poème . . . . . . . . . _E. Chausson_ + J. THIBAUD + + Sonata . . . . . . . . . _César Franck_ + BAUER-THIBAUD + + +Or perhaps this other, which Bauer and I played in Boston, during +November, 1913: + + + Kreutzer Sonata . . . . . . _Beethoven_ + BAUER-THIBAUD + + Sarabanda } + Giga } . . . . . . . _J.S. Bach_ + Chaconne } + J. THIBAUD + + Kreisleriana . . . . . . . _Schumann_ + H. BAUER + + Sonata . . . . . . . . . _César Franck_ + BAUER-THIBAUD + + +Either of these programs is artistic from the standpoint of the +compositions represented. And even these programs are not too +short--they take almost two hours to play; while for my ideal program an +hour-and-a-half of beautiful music would suffice. You will notice that I +believe in playing the big, fine things in music; in serving roasts +rather than too many _hors d'oeuvres_ and pastry. + +"On a solo program, of course, one must make some concessions. When I +play a violin concerto it seems fair enough to give the public three or +four nice little things, but--always pieces which are truly musical, not +such as are only 'ear-ticklers.' Kreisler--he has a great talent for +transcription--has made charming arrangements. So has Tivadar Nachéz, of +older things, and Arthur Hartmann. These one can play as well as shorter +numbers by Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski that are delightful, such as the +former's _Ballade et Polonaise_, though I know of musical purists who +disapprove of it. I consider this _Polonaise_ on a level with Chopin's. +Or take, in the virtuoso field, Sarasate's _Gypsy Airs_--they are equal +to any Liszt Rhapsody. I have only recently discovered that Ysaye--my +life-long friend--has written some wonderful original compositions: a +_Poème élégiaque_, a _Chant d'hiver_, an _Extase_ and a ms. trio for two +violins and alto that is marvelous. These pieces were an absolute find +for me, with the exception of the lovely _Chant d'hiver_, which I have +already played in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin, and expect to +make a feature of my programs this winter. You see, Ysaye is so modest +about his own compositions that he does not attempt to 'push' them, even +with his friends, hence they are not nearly as well known as they +should be. + +"I never play operatic transcriptions and never will. The music of the +opera, no matter how fine, appears to me to have its proper place on the +stage--it seems out of place on the violin recital program. The artist +cannot be too careful in the choice of his shorter program pieces. And +he can profit by the example set by some of the foremost violinists of +the day. Ysaye, that great apostle of the truly musical, is a shining +example. It is sad to see certain young artists of genuine talent +disregard the remarkable work of their great contemporary, and secure +easily gained triumphs with compositions whose musical value is _nil_. + +"Sometimes the wish to educate the public, to give it a high standard* of +appreciation, leads an artist astray. I heard a well-known German +violinist play in Berlin five years ago, and what do you suppose he +played? Beethoven's _Trios_ transcribed for violin and piano! The last +thing in the world to play! And there was, to my astonishment, no +critical disapproval of what he did. I regard it as little less than a +crime. + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "standad". + +"But this whole question of programs and repertory is one without end. +Which of the great concertos do I prefer? That is a difficult question +to answer off-hand. But I can easily tell you which I like least. It is +the Tschaikovsky* violin concerto--I would not exchange the first ten +measures of Vieuxtemps's Fourth concerto for the whole of +Tschaikovsky's, that is from the musical point of view. I have heard the +Tschaikovsky played magnificently by Auer and by Elman; but I consider +it the worst thing the composer has written." + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "Tchaikovsky". + + + + + XXIV + + + GUSTAV SAENGER + + THE EDITOR AS A FACTOR IN "VIOLIN MASTERY" + + +The courts of editorial appeal presided over by such men as Wm. Arms +Fisher, Dr. Theodore Baker, Gustav Saenger and others, have a direct +relation to the establishment and maintenance of standards of musical +mastery in general and, in the case of Gustav Saenger, with "Violin +Mastery" in particular. For this editor, composer and violinist is at +home with every detail of the educational and artistic development of +his instrument, and a considerable portion of the violin music published +in the United States represents his final and authoritative revision. + +"Has the work of the editor any influence on the development of 'Violin +Mastery'?" was the first question put to Mr. Saenger when he found time +to see the writer in his editorial rooms. "In a larger sense I think it +has," was the reply. "Mastery of any kind comes as a result of striving +for a definite goal. In the case of the violin student the road of +progress is long, and if he is not to stray off into the numerous +by-paths of error, it must be liberally provided with sign-posts. These +sign-posts, in the way of clear and exact indications with regard to +bowing, fingering, interpretation, it is the editor's duty to erect. The +student himself must provide mechanical ability and emotional instinct, +the teacher must develop and perfect them, and the editor must neglect +nothing in the way of explanation, illustration and example which will +help both teacher and pupil to obtain more intimate insight into the +musical and technical values. Yes, I think the editor may claim to be a +factor in the attainment of 'Violin Mastery.' + + + OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES + +"The work of the responsible editor of modern violin music must have +constructive value, it must suggest and stimulate. When Kreutzer, +Gavinies and Rode first published their work, little stress was laid on +editorial revision. You will find little in the way of fingering +indicated in the old editions of Kreutzer. It was not till long after +Kreutzer's death that his pupil, Massart, published an excellent +little book, which he called 'The Art of Studying R. Kreutzer's Études' +and which I have translated. It contains no less than four hundred and +twelve examples specially designed to aid the student to master the +_Études_ in the spirit of their composer. Yet these studies, as +difficult to-day as they were when first written, are old wine that need +no bush, though they have gained by being decanted into new bottles of +editorial revision. + + [Illustration: GUSTAV SAENGER, with hand-written note] + +"They have such fundamental value, that they allow of infinite variety +of treatment and editorial presentation. Every student who has reached a +certain degree of technical proficiency takes them up. Yet when studying +them for the first time, as a rule it is all he can do to master them in +a purely superficial way. When he has passed beyond them, he can return +to them with greater technical facility and, because of their infinite +variety, find that they offer him any number of new study problems. As +with Kreutzer--an essential to 'Violin Mastery'--so it is with Rode, +Fiorillo, and Gavinies. Editorial care has prepared the studies in +distinct editions, such as those of Hermann and Singer, specifically for +the student, and that of Emil Kross, for the advanced player. These +editions give the work of the teacher a more direct proportion of +result. The difference between the two types is mainly in the fingering. +In the case of the student editions a simple, practical fingering of +positive educational value is given; and the student should be careful +to use editions of this kind, meant for him. Kross provides many of the +_études_ with fingerings which only the virtuoso player is able to +apply. Aside from technical considerations the absolute musical beauty +of many of these studies is great, and they are well suited for solo +performance. Rode's _Caprices_, for instance, are particularly suited +for such a purpose, and many of Paganini's famous _Caprices_ have found +a lasting place in the concert repertory, with piano accompaniments by +artists like Kreisler, Eddy Brown, Edward Behm and Max Vogrich--- the +last-named composer's three beautiful 'Characteristic Pieces' after +Paganini are worth any violinist's attention. + + + AMERICAN EDITORIAL IDEALS + +"In this country those intrusted with editorial responsibility as +regards violin music have upheld a truly American standard of +independent judgment. The time has long since passed when foreign +editions were accepted on their face value, particularly older works. In +a word, the conscientious American editor of violin music reflects in +his editions the actual state of progress of the art of violin playing +as established by the best teachers and teaching methods, whether the +works in question represent a higher or lower standard of artistic +merit. + +"And this is no easy task. One must remember that the peculiar +construction of the violin with regard to its technical possibilities +makes the presentation of a violin piece difficult from an editorial +standpoint. A composition may be so written that a beginner can play it +in the first position; and the same number may be played with beautiful +effects in the higher positions by an artist. This accounts for the fact +that in many modern editions of solo music for violin, double +fingerings, for student and advanced players respectively, are +indicated--an essentially modern editorial development. Modern +instructive works by such masters as Sevčik, Eberhardt and others have +made technical problems more clearly and concisely get-at-able than did +the older methods. Yet some of these older works are by no means +negligible, though of course, in all classic violin literature, from +Tartini on, Kreutzer, Spohr, Paganini, Ernst, each individual artist +represents his own school, his own method to the exclusion of any other. +Spohr was one of the first to devote editorial attention to his own +method, one which, despite its age, is a valuable work, though most +students do not know how to use it. It is really a method for the +advanced player, since it presupposes a good deal of preliminary +technical knowledge, and begins at once with the higher positions. It is +rather a series of study pieces for the special development of certain +difficult phases, musical and technical, of the violinist's art, than a +method. I have translated and edited the American edition of this work, +and the many explanatory notes with which Spohr has provided* it--as in +his own 9th, and the Rode concerto (included as representative of what +violin concertos really should be), the measures being provided with +group numbers for convenience in reference--are not obsolete. They are +still valid, and any one who can appreciate the ideals of the +_Gesangsscene_, its beautiful _cantilene_ and pure serenity, may profit +by them. I enjoyed editing this work because I myself had studied with +Carl Richter, a Spohr pupil, who had all his master's traditions. + + *Transcriber's note: Original text read "provied". + + + THE MASTER VIOLINIST AS AN EDITOR + +"That the editorial revisions of a number of our greatest living +violinists and teachers have passed through my editorial rooms, on their +way to press, is a fact of which I am decidedly proud. Leopold Auer, for +instance, is one of the most careful, exact and practical of editors, +and the fact is worth dwelling on since sometimes the great artist or +teacher quite naturally forgets that those for whom he is editing a +composition have neither his knowledge nor resources. Auer never loses +sight of the composer's _own ideas_. + +"And when I mention great violinists with whom I have been associated as +an editor, Mischa Elman must not be forgotten. I found it at first a +difficult matter to induce an artist like Elman, for whom no technical +difficulties exist, to seriously consider the limitations of the average +player in his fingerings and interpretative demands. Elman, like every +great _virtuoso_ of his caliber, is influenced in his revisions by the +manner in which he himself does things. I remember in one instance I +could see no reason why he should mark the third finger for a +_cantilena_ passage where a certain effect was desired, and questioned +it. Catching up his violin he played the note preceding it with his +second finger, then instead of slipping the second finger down the +string, he took the next note with the third, in such a way that a most +exquisite _legato_ effect, like a breath, the echo of a sigh, was +secured. And the beauty of tone color in this instance not only proved +his point, but has led me invariably to examine very closely a fingering +on the part of a master violinist which represents a departure from the +conventional--it is often the technical key to some new beauty of +interpretation or expression. + +"Fritz Kreisler's individuality is also reflected in his markings and +fingerings. Of course those in his 'educational' editions are strictly +meant for study needs. But in general they are difficult and based on +his own manner and style of playing. As he himself has remarked: 'I +could play the violin just as well with three as with four fingers.' +Kreisler is fond of 'fingered' octaves, and these, because of his +abnormal hand, he plays with the first and third fingers, where virtuose +players, as a rule, are only too happy if they can play them with the +first and fourth. To verify this individual character of his revisions, +one need only glance at his edition of Godowsky's '12 Impressions' for +violin--in every case the fingerings indicated are difficult in the +extreme; yet they supply the key to definite effects, and since this +music is intended for the advance player, are quite in order. + +"The ms. and revisions of many other distinguished artists have passed +through my hands. Theodore Spiering has been responsible for the +educational detail of classic and modern works; Arthur Hartmann--a +composer of marked originality--Albert Spalding, Eddy Brown, Francis +MacMillan, Max Pilzer, David Hochstein, Richard Czerwonky, Cecil +Burleigh, Edwin Grasse, Edmund Severn, Franz C. Bornschein, Leo +Ornstein, Rubin Goldmark, Louis Pershinger, Louis Victor Saar--whose ms. +always look as though engraved--have all given me opportunities of +seeing the best the American violin composer is creating at the present +time. + + + EDITORIAL DIFFICULTIES + +"The revisional work of the master violinist is of very great +importance, but often great artists and distinguished teachers hold +radically different views with regard to practically every detail of +their art. And it is by no means easy for an editor like myself, who is +finally responsible for their editions, to harmonize a hundred +conflicting views and opinions. The fiddlers best qualified to speak +with authority will often disagree absolutely regarding the use of a +string, position, up-bow or down-bow. And besides meeting the needs of +student and teacher, an editor-in-chief must bear in mind the artistic +requirements of the music itself. In many cases the divergence in +teaching standards reflects the personal preferences for the editions +used. Less ambitious teachers choose methods which make the study of the +violin as _easy_ as possible for _them_; rather than those which--in the +long run--may be most advantageous for the _pupil_. The best editions of +studies are often cast aside for trivial reasons, such as are embodied +in the poor excuse that 'the fourth finger is too frequently indicated.' +According to the old-time formulas, it was generally accepted that +ascending passages should be played on the open strings and descending +ones using the fourth finger. It stands to reason that the use of the +fourth finger involves more effort, is a greater tax of strength, and +that the open string is an easier playing proposition. Yet a really +perfected technic demands that the fourth finger be every bit as strong +and flexible as any of the others. By nature it is shorter and weaker, +and beginners usually have great trouble with it--which makes perfect +control of it all the more essential! And yet teachers, contrary to all +sound principle and merely to save effort--temporarily--for themselves +and their pupils, will often reject an edition of a method or book of +studies merely because in its editing the fourth finger has not been +deprived of its proper chance of development. I know of cases where, +were it not for the guidance supplied by editorial revision, the average +teacher would have had no idea of the purpose of the studies he was +using. One great feature of good modern editions of classical study +works, from Kreutzer to Paganini, is the double editorial numeration: +one giving the sequence as in the original editions; the other numbering +the studies in order of technical difficulty, so that they may be +practiced progressively. + + + A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF VIOLIN STUDIES + +"What special editorial work of mine has given me the greatest personal +satisfaction in the doing? That is a hard question to answer. Off-hand +I might say that, perhaps, the collection of progressive orchestral +studies for advanced violinists which I have compiled and annotated for +the benefit of the symphony orchestra player is something that has meant +much to me personally. Years ago, when I played professionally--long +before the days of 'miniature' orchestra scores--it was almost +impossible for an ambitious young violinist to acquaint himself with the +first and second violin parts of the great symphonic works. Prices of +scores were prohibitive--and though in such works as the Brahms +symphonies, for instance, the 'concertmaster's' part should be studied +from score, in its relation to the rest of the _partitura_--often, +merely to obtain a first violin part, I had to acquire the entire set of +strings. So when I became an editor I determined, in view of my own +unhappy experiences and that of many others, to give the aspiring +fiddler who really wanted to 'get at' the violin parts of the best +symphonic music, from Bach to Brahms and Richard Strauss, a chance to do +so. And I believe I solved the problem in the five books of the 'Modern +Concert-Master,' which includes all those really difficult and important +passages in the great repertory works of the symphony orchestra that +offer violinistic problems. My only regret is that the grasping attitude +of European publishers prevented the representation of certain important +symphonic numbers. Yet, as it stands, I think I may say that the five +encyclopedic books of the collection give the symphony concertmaster +every practical opportunity to gain orchestral routine, and orchestral +mastery. + + + A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF VIOLIN LITERATURE + +"What I am inclined to consider, however, as even more important, in a +sense, than my editorial labors is a new educational classification of +violin literature, one which practically covers the entire field of +violin music, and upon which I have been engaged for several years. +Insomuch as an editor's work helps in the acquisition of 'Violin +Mastery,' I am tempted to think this catalogue will be a contribution of +real value. + +"As far as I know there does not at present exist any guide or hand-book +of violin literature in which the fundamental question of grading has +been presented _au fond_. This is not strange, since the task of +compiling a really valid and logically graded guide-book of violin +literature is one that offers great difficulties from almost every +point of view. + +"Yet I have found the work engrossing, because the need of a book of the +kind which makes it easy for the teacher to bring his pupils ahead more +rapidly and intelligently by giving him an oversight of the entire +teaching-material of the violin and under clear, practical heads in +detail order of progression is making itself more urgently felt every +day. In classification (there are seven grades and a preparatory grade), +I have not chosen an easier and conventional plan of _general_ +consideration of difficulties; but have followed a more systematic +scheme, one more closely related to the study of the instrument itself. +Thus, my 'Preparatory Grade' contains only material which could be +advantageously used with children and beginners, those still struggling +with the simplest elementary problems--correct drawing of the bow across +the open strings, in a certain rhythmic order, and the first use of the +fingers. And throughout the grades are special sub-sections for special +difficulties, special technical and other problems. In short, I cannot +help but feel that I have compiled a real guide, one with a definite +educational value, and not a catalogue, masquerading as a violinistic +Baedeker. + + + VIOLIN EDITIONS "MADE IN AMERICA" + +"One of the most significant features of the violin guide I have +mentioned is, perhaps, the fact that its contents largely cover the +whole range of violin literature in American editions. There was a time, +years ago, when 'made in Germany' was accepted as a certificate of +editorial excellence and mechanical perfection. Those days have long +since passed, and the American edition has come into its own. It has +reached a point of development where it is of far more practical and +musically stimulating value than any European edition. For American +editions of violin music do not take so much for granted! They reflect +in the highest degree the needs of students and players in smaller +places throughout the country, and where teachers are rare or +non-existent they do much to supply instruction by meticulous regard for +all detail of fingering, bowing, phrasing, expression, by insisting in +explanatory annotation on the correct presentation of authoritative +teaching ideas and principles. In a broader sense 'Violin Mastery' knows +no nationality; but yet we associate the famous artists of the day with +individual and distinctively national trends of development and +'schools.' In this connection I am convinced that one result of this +great war of world liberation we have waged, one by-product of the +triumph of the democratic truth, will be a notably 'American' ideal of +'Violin Mastery,' in the musical as well as the technical sense. And in +the development of this ideal I do not think it is too much to claim +that American editions of violin music, and those who are responsible +for them, will have done their part." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Violin Mastery, by Frederick H. Martens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIOLIN MASTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 15535-0.txt or 15535-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/3/15535/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Peter Barozzi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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