Tedi Papavrami is an Albanian violinist, teacher, and actor born (in
Tirana, Albania) on May 13, 1971. Although
it can most assuredly be said that he possesses a quite fantastic technique and
formidable artistic insight (second to none, in my opinion), he is much better
known in Europe than in the U.S. and therefore has a lower global profile than
he might otherwise. Besides being a musician
and actor, he is also a writer. In
addition, he has transcribed various works written for other instruments for his
use as violin pieces. Among them are
several Scarlatti piano sonatas. Nowadays,
that activity is rare among violinists, though it was commonplace in the old
days – say, prior to 1945. Papavrami
first studied with his father – Robert Papavrami, a violinist and violin
teacher – from age 5. At age 7, he
enrolled at the Jordan
Misja School of Art in Tirana. He made his orchestral debut at age 8,
playing Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs (Zigeunerweisen.)
At age 11, he played Paganini’s first concerto with the same orchestra –
the Tirana Philharmonic. Soon
thereafter, he was offered a scholarship by the French government to study at
the Paris Conservatory. He was 12 years
old. His teacher there – among others -
was Pierre Amoyal. Papavrami graduated from
the Paris Conservatory at age 15. He
studied further with Zino Francescatti and Viktoria Mullova. According to one source, he also received a
degree – I don’t know in what field of study – from the Lausanne Conservatory
in 1987. By 1986, he had already
established his base, so to speak, in Paris, France. Here is a YouTube video of his performance of
Paganini’s second concerto. I’ve already
heard nearly all of the recordings of this concerto that are out there and this
one is the best among them. Papavrami
has concertized around the world since completing his formal music studies but
spends scant time in the U.S. He is also
one of a handful of violinists who have played recitals composed entirely of
the 24 Paganini Caprices. In 2003, he
was engaged to play a principal role in the French film, Dangerous Liaisons,
with Catherine Deneuve and the notorious Natasha Kinski. In 2008, he was appointed violin professor at
the Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland and has been living in Geneva ever
since. In 2002, Papavrami was named
official French translator by the publisher of the works of his countryman, Ismail
Kadare. His recordings on the Naxos and
Aeon labels have been praised by every music critic. His first major recording (for Naxos) was
released in 1997. It features both
Prokofiev concertos. Papavrami’s
transcriptions - for solo violin - of the Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas have been
published but I know not by whom. Papavrami is also the violinist of the Schumann Piano Quartet - with violist Christoph Schiller, pianist Christian Favre, and cellist Francois Guye. Their magnificent recording of the piano quartets of Ernest Chausson and Gabriel Faure can easily be found on the internet. Papavrami's violin is one constructed especially for him by French violin maker (luthier) Christian Bayon.
Gerard Poulet is a French violinist and teacher born (in
Bayonne) on August 12, 1938. His father
(Gaston Poulet), with whom he began his violin studies, was also a
violinist. His career has been mainly spent
in Europe though he has performed in almost every continent. He entered the Paris Conservatory at age 11
and graduated at age 12. His main
teacher there was Andre Asselin. As did
Bronislaw Huberman before him, he had many teachers: Zino Francescatti, Nathan
Milstein, Yehudi Menuhin, and Henryk Szeryng were among them. Poulet made his debut at age 12 playing the
Mendelssohn concerto. He recorded the
third concerto of Mozart at age 14 with his father on the podium. At age 18, he won the Paganini Competition in
Genoa, Italy. As do all winners of that
competition, he got to play Paganini’s violin, the famous Cannone. He later dedicated a good deal of time to
teaching at the National Conservatory in Paris.
In 2007, he began teaching at the University of Arts in Tokyo. He might not be there any longer since I
could not locate his name on any faculty roster. Poulet played the 1720 Henri Marteau Guarnerius
from 1975 until about 1988 and that violin is supposedly now owned by Maxim
Vengerov, though I could not find a single public source to confirm that. His most famous pupils are most probably Renaud Capucon and Vineta Sareika.
Edouard Colonne (Edouard Juda Colonne) was a French
violinist and conductor born (in Bordeaux) on July 23, 1838. He is best recognized as the founder
(actually, co-founder) of the Concerts Colonne and what became known as the
Colonne Orchestra in Paris, in 1873. He
was an orchestral violinist for at least ten years but is now almost
exclusively remembered as a conductor and concert promoter, in the style of
Theodore Thomas. He began his music
studies at age 8, but not on the violin.
He entered the Paris Conservatory at about age 17 but did not study with
any famous teachers there. While going
to school, he played in the orchestra of the Lyric Theatre. In 1863 he won first prize for his violin
playing and had already (in 1858) won first prize in harmony. He was engaged as concertmaster for the Paris
Opera orchestra in 1858 – he was 20 years old.
He also played second violin in the Lamoureux Quartet at the same time –
Charles Lamoureux played first violin. Possibly
(actually, very probably) simultaneously, he also played in Jules Pasdeloup’s
orchestra. In 1867, he came to New York
to play in an orchestra for a newly founded comic opera company; while in New
York, Colonne later led an ensemble called Niblo’s Garden Orchestra which until
now I had never heard of. He returned to
Paris in 1871 and conducted a hotel orchestra for a while. In 1873, he founded – together with a music
publisher – the orchestra that would become the Colonne Orchestra. His concerts became known as the Concerts
Colonne. This name was used until the
1960s – about ninety years. At first,
the orchestra presented its concerts at the Odeon Theatre and later at the
Theatre of the Chatelet. Colonne was
known to champion the music of Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler,
and Camille Saint Saens. It has been
said that Pierre Monteux was Principal violist of the Colonne Orchestra. Other famous players who played in his
orchestra for a time were Julius Conus and Jacques Thibaud. Colonne gave the Paris premiere of
Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony in 1878, the year it was completed. The orchestra toured Spain, Russia, Portugal,
Germany, and England. Among the musical luminaries who conducted the orchestra in performances of their own works were Serge Prokofiev, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Peter Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg, and Maurice Ravel. In 1892, Colonne became
conductor and adviser at the Paris Opera.
He was 54 years old. In 1907 (one
source says 1906), he was one of the first to record with an orchestra. It has been said that he was hard on his
players. Colonne was a pioneer in that
his program books were the first to include program notes. Perhaps they included advertisements as well
though I’m not at all sure about that. He
died (in Paris) on March 28, 1910, at age 71.
Hans Sitt (Jan Hanus Sitt) was a Hungarian
violinist, violist, teacher, conductor, and composer born (in Prague) on
September 21, 1850. When he was born,
Brahms had not yet even begun to make a name for himself – when he died,
Stravinsky had turned the musical firmament upside down. Although Sitt was a prolific composer, he is
better remembered – if at all - as a teacher.
Unfortunately, he had no outstanding students who would have turned him
into a legend. Louis Zimmermann was probably
his most famous pupil. Sitt’s father was
a violin maker, a luthier. Sitt entered
the Prague Conservatory (Czechoslovakia) at age 11 and studied with Moritz
Mildner and Antonin Bennewitz, among others.
He graduated in 1867, at age 17 and almost immediately was engaged as
concertmaster of the Breslau Opera Orchestra in Wroclaw, Poland – Wroclaw is
one and the same as Breslau. It is about
120 miles northeast of Prague. Sitt
stayed for six years and then served as concertmaster of an orchestra in
Chemnitz (Germany) for another six years.
Chemnitz is about 60 miles northwest of Prague and 35 miles south of
Leipzig, Germany. Sitt enjoyed a very brief
career as a touring virtuoso and served as conductor of several orchestras in
Europe – I don’t know which orchestras – including some in France and Austria. In 1883 (some sources say 1884) he began his
teaching career at the Leipzig Conservatory.
It was here that he was invited to be part of the Brodsky Quartet as a
violist, with Ottokar Novacek on second, Adolph Brodsky on first, and Leopold
Grutzmacher on cello. He left the
conservatory in 1921. He had been there
almost forty years. From 1885 to 1903 he
conducted the Bach Society Chorale in Leipzig.
His violin studies – although not as well-known as the Kreutzer or
DeBeriot or Rode books - are still in use today. He was one of the first to systematize the
study of scales – in thirds, sixths, octaves and tenths. He composed six violin concertos, two cello
concertos, three viola concertos, many concert pieces for violin, viola, or
cello, and a few chamber music works. One
of his piano trios is available here. He
probably played a very fine violin but I don’t know what that was. Sitt died on March 10, 1922, at age 71.
