Violin Mastery | Page 2

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