:: Historical Notes ::

THE FIRST VIOLIN IN THE STRING QUARTET

“What exactly does the first violin represent?” Mr. Kneisel went on in answer to another question. “The first violin might be called the chairman of the string meeting. His is the leading voice. Not that he should be an autocrat, no, but he must hold the reins of discipline. Many think that the four string players in a quartet have equal rights. First of all, and above all, are the rights of the composer, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert,—as the case may be. But from the standpoint of interpretation the first violin has some seventy per cent. of the responsibility as compared with thirty per cent. for the remaining voices. In all the famous quartet organizations, Joachim, Hellmesberger, etc., the first violin has been the directing instrument and has set the pace. As chairman it has been his duty to say when second violin, viola and ‘cello were entitled to hold the floor. Hellmesberger, in fact, considered himself the whole quartet.” Mr. Kneisel smiled and showed me a little book of Hellmesberger’s Vienna programs. Each program was headed:

HELLMESBERGER QUARTET

with the assistance of

MESSRS. MATH. DURST, CARL HEISSLER,
CARL SCHLESINGER

“In other words, Hellmesberger was the quartet himself, the other three artists merely ‘assisted,’ which, after all, is going too far!

“Of course, quartets differ. Just as we have operas in which the alto solo rôle is the most important, so we have quartets in which the ‘cello or the viola has a more significant part. Mozart dedicated quartets to a King of Prussia, who played ‘cello, and he was careful to make the ‘cello part the most important. And in Smetana’s quartet Aus meinem Leben, the viola plays a most important rôle. Even the second violin often plays themes introducing principal themes of the first violin, and it has its brief moments of prominence. Yet, though the second violin or the ‘cellist may be, comparatively speaking, a better player than the first violin, the latter is and must be the leader. Practically every composer of chamber music recognizes the fact in his compositions. He, the first violin, should not command three slaves, though; but guide three associates, and do it tactfully with regard to their individuality and that of their instruments.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

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“THE ARTIST RANKS THE VIRTUOSO IN CHAMBER MUSIC”

“The artist, the Tonkünstler, to use a foreign phrase, ranks the virtuoso in chamber music. Joachim was no virtuoso, he did not stress technic, the less important factor in ensemble playing. Sarasate was a virtuoso in the best sense of the word; and yet as an ensemble music player he fell far short of Joachim. As I see it ‘virtuoso’ is a kind of flattering title, no more. But a Tonkünstler, a ‘tone-artist,’ though he must have the virtuoso technic in order to play Brahms and Beethoven concertos, needs besides a spiritual insight, a deep concept of their nobility to do them justice—the mere technic demanded for a virtuoso show piece is not enough.

VIOLIN MASTERY IN THE STRING QUARTET

“You ask me what ‘Violin Mastery’ means in the string quartet. It has an altogether different meaning to me, I imagine, than to the violin virtuoso. Violin mastery in the string ensemble is as much mastery of self as of technical means. The artist must sink his identity completely in that of the work he plays, and though the last Beethoven quartets are as difficult as many violin concertos, they are polyphony, the combination and interweaving of individual melodies, and they call for a mastery of repression as well as expression. I realized how keenly alive the musical listener is to this fact once when our quartet had played in Alma-Tadema’s beautiful London home, for the great English painter was also a music-lover and a very discriminating one. He had a fine piano in a beautifully decorated case, and it was an open secret that at his musical evenings, after an artist had played, the lid of the piano was raised, and Sir Lawrence asked him to pencil his autograph on the soft white wood of its inner surface—but only if he thought the compliment deserved. There were some famous names written there—Joachim, Sarasate, Paderewski, Neruda, Piatti, to mention a few. Naturally an artist playing at Alma-Tadema’s home for the first time could not help speculating as to his chances. Many were called, but comparatively few were chosen. We were guests at a dinner given by Sir Lawrence. There were some fifty people prominent in London’s artistic, musical and social world present, and we had no idea of being asked to play. Our instruments were at our hotel and we had to send for them. We played the Schubert quartet in A minor and Dvo?ák’s ‘American’ quartet and, of course, my colleagues and myself forgot all about the piano lid the moment we began to play. Yet, I’m free to confess, that when the piano lid was raised for us we appreciated it, for it was no empty compliment coming from Sir Lawrence, and I have been told that some very distinguished artists have not had it extended to them. And I know that on that evening the phrase ‘Violin Mastery’ in an ensemble sense, as the outcome of ceaseless striving for coördination in expression, absolute balance, and all the details that go to make up the perfect ensemble, seemed to us to have a very definite color and meaning.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

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THE PERFECT STRING ENSEMBLE

Is there a lover of chamber music unfamiliar with Franz Kneisel’s name? It may be doubted. After earlier European triumphs the gifted Roumanian violinist came to this country (1885), and aside from his activities in other directions—as a solo artist he was the first to play the Brahms and Goldmark violin concertos, and the César Franck sonata in this country—organized his famous quartet. And, until his recent retirement as its director and first violin, it has been perhaps the greatest single influence toward stimulating appreciation for the best in chamber music that the country has known. Before the Flonzaley was, the Kneisels were. They made plain how much of beauty the chamber music repertory offered the amateur string player; not only in the classic repertory—Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr; in Schubert, Schumann, Brahms; but in Smetana, Dvorák and Tschaikovsky; in César Franck, Debussy and Ravel. Not the least among Kneisel’s achievements is, that while the professional musicians in the cities in which his organization played attended its concerts as a matter of course, the average music lover who played a string instrument came to them as well, and carried away with him a message delivered with all the authority of superb musicianship and sincerity, one which bade him “go and do likewise,” in so far as his limitations permitted. And the many excellent professional chamber music organizations, trios, quartets and ensembles of various kinds which have come to the fore since they began to play offer eloquent testimony with regard to the cultural work of Kneisel and his fellow artists. A cheery grate fire burned in the comfortable study in Franz Kneisel’s home; the autographed—in what affectionate and appreciative terms—pictures of great fellow artists looked down above the book-cases which hold the scores of those masters of what has been called “the noblest medium of music in existence,” whose beauties the famous quartet has so often disclosed on the concert stage. And Mr. Kneisel was amiability personified when I asked him to give me his theory of the perfect string ensemble, and the part virtuosity played in it.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

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AN EXPLANATION BY MR. WINTERNITZ

I tried to draw from the famous violinist some hint as to the secret of the abiding popularity of his own compositions and transcripts but—as those who know him are aware—Kreisler has all the modesty of the truly great. He merely smiled and said: “Frankly, I don’t know.” But Mr. Winternitz’ comment (when a ‘phone call had taken Kreisler from the room for a moment) was, “It is the touch given by his accompaniments that adds so much: a harmonic treatment so rich in design and coloring, and so varied that melodies were never more beautifully set off.” Mr. Kreisler, as he came in again, remarked: “I don’t mind telling you that I enjoyed very much writing my Tambourin Chinois.[A] The idea for it came to me after a visit to the Chinese theater in San Francisco—not that the music there suggested any theme, but it gave me the impulse to write a free fantasy in the Chinese manner.”

[A] It is interesting to note that Nikolai Sokoloff, conductor of the San Francisco Philharmonic, returning from a tour of the American and French army camps in France, some time ago, said: “My most popular number was Kreisler’s Tambourin Chinois. Invariably I had to repeat that.” A strong indorsement of the internationalism of Art by the actual fighter in the trenches.

STYLE, INTERPRETATION AND THE ARTISTIC IDEAL

The question of style now came up. “I am not in favor of ‘labeling’ the concert artist, of calling him a ‘lyric’ or a ‘dramatic’ or some other kind of a player. If he is an artist in the real sense he controls all styles.” Then, in answer to another question: “Nothing can express music but music itself. Tradition in interpretation does not mean a cut-and-dried set of rules handed down; it is, or should be, a matter of individual sentiment, of inner conviction. What makes one man an artist and keeps another an amateur is a God-given instinct for the artistically and musically right. It is not a thing to be explained, but to be felt. There is often only a narrow line of demarcation between the artistically right and wrong. Yet nearly every real artist will be found to agree as to when and when not that boundary has been overstepped. Sincerity and personality as well as disinterestedness, an expression of himself in his art that is absolutely honest, these, I believe, are ideals which every artist should cherish and try to realize. I believe, furthermore, that these ideals will come more and more into their own; that after the war there will be a great uplift, and that Art will realize to the full its value as a humanizing factor in life.” And as is well known, no great artist of our day has done more toward the actual realization of these ideals he cherishes than Fritz Kreisler himself.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

Select Violins Home