Violin Mastery | Page 6

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