Violin Mastery

Violin Mastery

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Title: Violin Mastery Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
Author: Frederick H. Martens
Release Date: April 4, 2005 [EBook #15535]
Language: English
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[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