Violin Mastery - FRANZ KNEISEL - Part 3
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
