Scan 84
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.3, 1907
15 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1that at the age of 7 he appeared at a concert for children given in Vienna by Carlotta Patti, and entered the Vienna Conservatorium, where he studied under Hellmesberger and Auer. This was a special privilege, pupils being as a general rule ineligible for admission in that institution before the age of 14. He was in fact the youngest child who had studied there, and justified to the full the opinion formed of his exceptional talents by carrying off, in 1885, the gold medal for violin-playing at the age of 10. Passing on to Paris, where he studied at the Conservatoire under Massart (violin) and Delibes (theory), he there achieved at the age of 12 another remarkable success, gaining the gold medal (Premier Grand Prix de Rome) against forty competitors, all of whom had reached the age of 20. After a few years of further study he visited America (in 1889), and made a successful tour of the States with Moritz Rosenthal, the pianist, at the conclusion of which he returned to his native town and temporarily broke away from the musical life. He entered the Gymnasium at Vienna to take up a course of medicine, studied art in Paris and Rome, prepared for and passed a very stiff army examination, and duly became an officer in a regiment of Uhlans. In short, he gave to other sides of his nature, besides the musical, a chance of development. During his year of military service he laid the violin completely aside, and, as a result of the training received, became physically the more fitted for a profession which makes serious calls upon the vitality of those who practise it. Then came a transition period, during which he made a few public appearances, but with so little success that he was moved to make a preliminary retirement into the country, during which he worked uninterruptedly at his violin for eight weeks, and emerged triumphant, having completely regained his command over the instrument. He was then able once more to shine as a solo player, making a brilliant debut at Berlin in Mar. 1899, in a programme which included concertos by Max Bruch and Vieuxtemps, and the 'Non più mesta' variations of Paganini. In the same year he revisited the United States, where the public was quick to perceive the quality of greatness which is now universally attributed to him. Subsequently he paid frequent visits to America, and lived chiefly in New York from 1915-24. On the eve of war (July 31, 1914), he was recalled to the Austrian army from Ragaz in Switzerland, and returned wounded to America three months later. His appearances in all the continental musical centres have been very numerous. In London he made his début at a Richter Concert on May 12, 1901. On May 19, 1904, he was presented at a Philharmonic Concert with the gold medal of the society; he played frequently in England up to the time of the war, and reappeared after it at Queen's Hall on May 4, 1921. His style of playing is full of glow and high courage, above all intensely individual, his readings and even his methods of fingering being quite his own. His programmes include frequently works of major importance—notably he was the first to perform Elgar's violin concerto (at a Philharmonic Concert) in London, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Amsterdam; but the feature of his concerts lately has been his brilliant playing of his own works, a few of which are original (e.g. 'Caprice viennois,' 'Tambourin chinois,' 'Recitative and Scherzo' for violin alone, and 'Polichinelle Sérénade'). The bulk of them, however, are clever arrangements of pieces ancient and modern, and they are so much to the taste of the general public that Kreisler may be said to be the world's most popular violinist at the present time (1926).
3He has written one string quartet (A minor). It contains no quartet writing of the conventional kind, but is charged with very deep and very personal feeling, and is so well laid out for the strings that it is sure of its effect.
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7KREISLERIANA, a set of 8 pieces for piano solo, dedicated to Chopin and forming op. 16 of Schumann's works. Kreisler is the Kapellmeister in Hoffmann's Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier, so much admired by Schumann. (See BOHNER and HOFFMANN.) The pieces were written in 1838, after the Phantasiestücke (op. 12) and Novelletten (op. 21), and before the Arabeske (op. 18).1 Schumann has added to the title 'Phantasien für das PF.' The Kreisleriana were published by Haslinger of Vienna shortly after Schumann's visit there (1838-39).
9KREISSLE VON HELLBORN, HEINRICH (b. Vienna, 1812; d. Apr. 6, 1869), Dr. juris, Imperial Finance Secretary at Vienna, and Member of the Direction of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, finds a place here for his lives of Schubert, viz. F. Schubert, eine biografische Skizze, von Heinrich von Kreissle (small 8vo, Vienna, 1861), a preliminary sketch; and Franz Schubert (8vo, Vienna, Gerold, 1865), a complete and exhaustive biography, with a portrait. The latter has been translated in full by Arthur Duke Coleridge, The Life of Franz Schubert … with an Appendix by George Grove (giving a thematic catalogue of the nine symphonies, and mentioning other works in MS.), 2 vols., 8vo, London, Longmans, 1869 It has also been condensed by E. Wilberforce. 8vo, London, Allen, 1866.
11KRENEK, ERNST (b. Vienna, 1900), composer, of Czech family, studied composition with Franz Schreker in Vienna and Berlin, and is now domiciled in the latter city. His works, which have led to his recognition as one of the
131 Wasielewsky, 181. one of two readings
141 Wanielewsky, 181. one of two readings
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