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Musical Courier 1894-12-12: Vol 29 Iss 770, 1894
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1with his playing, and at thirteen had graduated from the Paris Conservatory, carrying off the first prize. Wilhelmj as a little boy played in the theater at Wiesbaden, and aroused great enthusiasm. August Kömpel, at the age of seven, performed in public one of the most difficult of the De Beriot "Airs Variés," the one in E, I believe, and, if I mistake not, the Ernst "Othello" fantasia. Ernst himself heard Kömpel about this time and was delighted with him. He afterward became Spohr's favorite pupil, although he never became as famous as David, because he was indifferent to the plaudits of the multitudes. Were not Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps child prodigies? Sivori also played in public at an early age.
3Every one knows the stories about the child Paganini; how his performances on a violin nearly as large as himself astonished the greatest masters of the instrument at that time. In short we find by consulting facts that nearly all of the illustrious violinists of the past and present played in public with great success in childhood. This did not prevent their developing into great artists in later years. It would be easy to give the names of famous pianists who were also child prodigies, beginning with Mozart and going through a whole century down to many of the greatest living performers on the instrument.
5In citing these instances it is not my intention to attempt to further the performances of child prodigies. I do so as one quite disinterested; in the interest of the truth only. There have been lamentable cases of gifted children ruined by early success, by overwork, by the caresses and kisses of feminine admirers or by the over indulgence of fond parents. But the matter is, on the whole, not as serious as many think. It would really be a pity if such a genius as Hubermann were not allowed to play in public at all during his childhood. Such a performance as he gave at the Singakademie has a wonderful charm, the charm of the supernatural, for it seemed nothing less than a miracle. Would we like to have omitted from the biographies of Mozart, Paganini and Liszt those interesting stories of their childhood? Those early triumphs have surrounded these names, and the names of many others, with a halo of glory, which perhaps does not interest a few dry, matter of fact critics, but which has a decided charm for the world at large.
7Pablo de Sarasate was the soloist of the third Strauss Philharmonic concert on Monday. I had not heard Sarasate since that memorable first concert of the Sarasate d'Albert American tour, on November 18, 1889, at the Metropolitan Opera House. How gray he has grown since then! His gray hair is very becoming, however. His playing has not changed. He still has that beautiful, singing tone, that wonderful purity of intonation and that exquisite finish. He is still Sarasate the only; for in his own genre Sarasate is unique. Many critics and musicians do not care for the playing of the great Spanish virtuoso. For them there is in him too much of the feminine and too little of the masculine element; they criticise his tone, his interpretation—in short everything except his technic.
9I must confess that I for my part thoroughly enjoy Sarasate's playing. I cannot say that I feel any desire to hear him play Bach like Joachim, to have him display the versatility of Halir, or the massive tone of Wilhelmj. As we have these qualities in others, why should we desire them in Sarasate? He is perfection itself in his own way, and can we ask more? I even enjoyed his interpretation of the third Bruch concerto in D minor, which was his first number. It revealed little of Bruch, it is true, but it was beautiful music nevertheless. It was none of your dry, academic readings that savor of the conservatory and the pedagogue. There was a wonderfully soothing effect in his performance of the adagio. One often hears "that silvery tone" spoken of. Sarasate's tone is pure gold. His playing of a slow movement is like a gentle, cooling breeze, wafted from seaward on a hot, sultry July afternoon. It is balm to the soul. It lifts you into higher spheres and makes you forget the cares and sorrows of life, whereas a more realistic interpretation often vividly recalls them. If at times his plaintive tones fill you with sadness, it is ever that sweet sorrow that softens and makes smooth the rough ways of adversity.
11His second number was Saint-Saëns' "Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso." In this Sarasate was in his true element; here his fiery Spanish temperament gave vent to itself. He played it as I never heard it played; it was an ideal performance of this hackneyed piece. It called forth such storms of applause as the walls of the Philharmonie had not heard in many a day. Eight times the great virtuoso was recalled, but an encore was not forthcoming. It means a great deal when Sarasate comes to Berlin, this hotbed of violinists, and arouses such enthusiasm. Among our resident violinists are greater artists, greater musicians, but they are not called out eight times after a performance. It was ever thus. At the time Paganini was celebrating his greatest triumphs, playing everywhere to crowded houses at double prices, Spohr, not as great a virtuoso but a far greater artist, was playing to empty houses, often barely paying expenses. Sarasate's triumph seems to indicate that the days of the virtuoso are not yet numbered, as some fain would prophesy. There is much to be learned by hearing Sarasate. One learns above all the importance of scale practice. Such a perfect scale as Sarasate's can only be acquired through years of hard practice, no matter how talented one may be. In going up the fingerboard his shifting from the second finger to the first is remarkably precise and distinct, there being not the slightest semblance of that disagreeable sliding—his scale is as round and smooth as if executed on the piano. His sliding, when done for effect, in connecting slurred notes, is never excessive, and always done with great taste. He has a method worthy of the consideration of students everywhere. It is a point that Halir also lays great stress on. In connecting two slurred notes on one or over two strings the finger that carries the tone, i.e., the finger that slides from the first of the two notes, always stops sliding exactly on a tone that harmonizes with the second of the slurred notes.
13To better illustrate my meaning I will give a simple illustration. Suppose B, in the first position on the A string, is slurred to D, third position on the E string. The first finger, which is stopping B, slides to D, a minor third above on the A string, and then D is taken with the fourth finger on the E string, making a perfect octave. A bar near the middle of the first movement of Spohr's ninth concerto occurs to me as a good and a more complicated illustration. The second finger is stopping C sharp, first position on the A string; this note is connected by a slur with high B flat, on the E string, the second B flat above the staff. Here the second finger begins to slide, but during the sliding interchanges with the first, which takes the B flat on the A string, and thus we have the octave connection.
15Of course the sliding is very slight, and the changing of fingers so cleverly done that the finest ear would not hear the change. It is not always the octave; quite as often the third, fourth or sixth; but the principle is the same.
17Sarasate seldom uses the open harmonics unless with a desired effect, which is another point for students, about which I shall speak at length later in connection with a cellist's playing.
19Sarasate's bowing is the perfect bowing of the French school. He has an admirable right arm. But I cannot say that I like the French style of bowing as well as the German. The great violinist of the German school has a far greater right-arm technic, a much better command of the bow. Above all I do not like the French sautillé or spiccato; it is played at about one-third the length of the bow from the point, whereas in the German school it is played in the middle or properly a trifle below the middle of the bow. This style of spiccato is far more difficult than the French style, but when once mastered it is far more telling, far clearer and the player has every note under perfect control, which is of great importance in crescendo and diminuendo passages. Sarasate's poorest playing was in the last page of the "Rondo Capriccioso," when the inferiority of the French sautillé to the German was more evident to me than ever before. We are accustomed to speak of the French and German schools of bowing. It is strange, but true, that the foundation of the present highly developed German style of bowing, as perfected by Joachim, who is really the father of the German right arm, and which seems to have culminated in Halir, was laid by the French nearly a century ago. Joachim has properly built upon Viotti's foundation. And this we call the German school of bowing, though its two greatest exponents, Joachim and Halir, are both foreigners, the one being a Hungarian, the other a Bohemian. This seems a gross inconsistency at first. Founded and perfected by three different nations, it bears the name of a fourth that apparently had nothing to do with its development. The inconsistency is not as great as it seems, however; Joachim and Halir have both lived in Germany, and have been under the influence of German art and culture from early youth, and may properly be styled representatives of the German school, though Halir, with his wonderful versatility, may be said to belong to all schools.
21Sarasate's tone, though small, has peculiar carrying qualities. At the public rehearsal, on Sunday, I sat within ten feet of him. At the concert, the next evening, I sat during the Bruch concerto at the farther end of the hall, and during the Saint-Saëns number in the middle of it. I could detect practically no difference in the volume of his tone from these different places. It was always pure and penetrating. I am not sure that Sarasate's tone is so thin. I believe it is largely the fault of his violin. There is a great difference in instruments. Let Sarasate and Wilhelmj change Strads and this would be clear to all. Sarasate draws from his violin about all the tone it will give, in my opinion. He never forces it, and always produces tone by drawing, and not by bearing on heavily.
23I am afraid the great Spaniard is becoming rather lazy. He played the Bruch concerto from notes. This we are not accustomed to in an artist of his standing. I was not surprised at his using the notes at the rehearsal, as he probably did not know until his arrival in Berlin what he was to play, and had very likely not practiced the concerto for some time. But I fully expected that he would play it from memory the next evening. Surely such a great artist can brush up an old concerto in a day and a half. Bilow would have memorized an entire new one in that length of time.
25Cornélius Liégeois, 'cello virtuoso, of Paris, gave a concert at Bechstein Hall on Wednesday evening, assisted by Elizabeth Feissinger, soprano. Liégeois played Saint-Saëns' A minor concerto, a Boccherini sonata, an adagio by Bruch, a Chopin nocturne, his own "Réverie," and two numbers by Popper. He is an admirable 'cellist. The quality of his tone and the finished technic reminded me of Sarasate. He has the best, and also the weak, qualities of the French school. His bowing was a little stiff. The "Danse des Elfes," by Popper, was not effectively performed, but his beautiful tone compensated for his shortcomings. The audience was neither large nor appreciative. The singer, who possesses neither charm of voice nor of beauty, nor yet of youth, received about the same amount of applause as he did. It is strange. Perhaps the style of the 'cellist did not appeal to these Germans. He did not display the character and breadth of some of the great German 'cellists, it is true, but he did play with exquisite finish, tone and taste, and surely these qualities count for much.
27What a wonderful city Berlin is in point of instrumental music, especially violin playing! It is not yet six weeks since the season began, and we have already heard in solo Joachim, Heermann, Burmester, Sarasate, Hubermann, Witek, Naehés, Berber and Struss. Also several 'cellists and four great string quartets, viz., the Joachim, the Heermann, the Halir and the Bohemian, of Prague, about which Mr. Floersheim has written. Next week Burmester and Hubermann appear again, also Florian Zafie; Halir will appear in a symphony concert soon, when he will play the Beethoven concerto. Sauret, Brodsky and many others will be heard later. Truly Berlin is the paradise of violin enthusiasts!
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