Violin Mastery

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Violin Mastery

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.net
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: ISO-8859-1
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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 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