Hans Sitt

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. 

Antonin Bennewitz

Antonin Bennewitz (Antonin Benevic) was a Czech violinist, teacher, and conductor born (in Privrat, Bohemia) on March 26, 1833.  Johannes Brahms was born the same year, about a month later.  Bennewitz is one of those violinists who, despite significant achievements and the advantages that accrue to a very long life, somehow manage to get overlooked by historians.  He is mostly mentioned in connection with three or four famous pupils he had.  The most famous of these are probably Otakar Sevcik, Josef Suk, and Karl Halir.  From the age of 12, from 1846 to 1852, he studied at the Prague Conservatory with another obscure violinist, Moritz Mildner (teacher also – at about the same time - of Ferdinand Laub, one of Tchaikovsky’s favorite violinists.)  In 1852, he became concertmaster of the Estates Theatre orchestra.  He was 19 years old.  He stayed for nine years.  The Estates Theatre was a very important concert venue in Europe.  As part (since 1920) of the present-day Czech National Theatre, it still is.  Mozart’s Don Giovanni had its world premiere there in 1787.  Paganini gave concerts there.  Gustav Mahler and Karl Goldmark also conducted concerts there.  Bennewitz undertook short concert tours during his years at the Estates Theatre and subsequently played in orchestras in Stuttgart and Salzburg.  He participated in various premieres of chamber music and orchestral works by Czech composers, as violinist or conductor – Bedrich Smetana was one of them.  In 1866, he became violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory.  He was 33 years old.  He became first violinist of the Bennewitz String Quartet in 1876.  In 1882, he was made Director of the Prague Conservatory.  He remained for nineteen years – Antonin Dvorak took over in November of 1901.  After 1901, Bennewitz seems to have disappeared.  He died on May 29, 1926, at age 93.  Brahms was long dead by then and Richard Wagner, Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Richard Strauss, and Igor Stravinsky had already revolutionized the musical landscape.  I am sure Bennewitz played a superlative violin, though I could not find a single source which mentioned any specific instrument.  The Bennewitz Quartet is alive and well, having been resurrected in 1998.  

Jan Hrimaly

Jan Hrimaly was a Czech violinist and teacher born (in Pilsen, Hungary) on April 13, 1844.  He is known for having written a Scale Study book which is still in use today.  He is unusual in that he spent the major part of his career in Russia – in fact, once he established himself in Moscow, he never returned to his native country.  His father was an organist and composer and his first teacher was probably an older brother - Vojtech.  All of Hrimaly’s other brothers and sisters were musicians as well.  It has been said that he and three of his brothers actually founded the very first string quartet in Czechoslovakia.  It had to have been prior to 1861.  Hrimaly enrolled at the Prague Conservatory in 1855 at age 11.  His violin teacher there was probably Moritz Mildner.  Hrimaly graduated in 1861 and quickly became concertmaster of an orchestra in Amsterdam.  Nobody seems to know which orchestra.  He was 18 years old.  He was there for four years.  At age 23, he was appointed violin teacher at the Moscow Conservatory.  He then took over as violin professor for his father-in-law, Ferdinand Laub, in 1874.  He was 30 years old.  Hrimaly remained at the conservatory until the year of his death – 46 years.  That is probably one of the longest tenures of all time, if not the longest.  In 1874, 1876, and 1882, he took part in premiering Tchaikovsky’s second and third string quartets and piano trio, in that order.  Between 1874 and 1906, he was also concertmaster of the Russian Musical Society Orchestra in Moscow, although I don’t know what that is or was.  It can be assumed he was an outstanding teacher since he lasted so long at his teaching post.  His students include Paul Juon, Josif Kotek, Reinhold Gliere, Stanislaw Barcewicz, Alexander Petschnikov, Julius Conus, Michael Press, and Peter Stolyarsky.  Hrimaly died on January 24, 1915, in Moscow, at age 70.  Were it not for his scale study book, he would likely be quite (unjustly) forgotten.