Jacob Dont

Jacob Dont (Jakob Dont) was an Austrian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Vienna) on March 2, 1815.  Although he was a well-known musician in his day, he is now mostly remembered as a composer of several violin etude books.  His father, Joseph Valentin Dont, was a cellist who was well-acquainted with Beethoven.  I don’t know who Dont’s first teachers were but he eventually studied with Josef Bohm and Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. at the Vienna Conservatory.  (Josef Bohm was also the teacher of Joachim, Ernst, Hubay, Remenyi, and Grun.  Interestingly, there are two Georg Hellmesbergers and two Josef Hellmesbergers – all four were related and all four were violinists.)  In 1831, Dont joined the Hofburgtheater orchestra and three years later the Vienna Hofkapelle.  He began concertizing while still a teenager but decided against a solo career.  One source states he taught at the Academy of Art (Akademie der Tonkunst) and the Seminary at St Anna at around this time, although I have no idea what or where those places are - I suspect they are both located in or near Vienna.  He simply continued to play in the imperial orchestras until he was appointed violin professor at the Pedagogical Institute in Vienna in 1853.  He was 38 years old by then.  In 1871 (some sources say 1873) Dont became violin professor at his old school, the Vienna Conservatory.  He was now 56 years old.  Ironically, Dont’s many instructional books for violin were not allowed to be used at the Conservatory.  His Opus numbers 17, 18, 20, 33, 35, and 37 are his best known works for violin studies – most violin students are familiar with these etudes.  Dont also wrote considerable vocal music, some chamber music, piano music, and solo works for violin and piano.  Almost all of this music was published during his lifetime.  His most famous pupil is Leopold Auer, the Hungarian violinist and pedagogue.  This fact alone makes Dont nearly immortal as a musician and violinist.  Dont died (in Vienna) on November 17, 1888, at age 73.  

Edouard Rappoldi

Edouard Rappoldi (Eduard Rappoldi) was an Austrian violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer born (in Vienna) on February 21, 1839.  He is best known for his teaching and his close association with Joseph Joachim.  He began his violin studies at an early age, as do most concert violinists.  His first teachers were two violinists I had never heard of until now - Leopold Jansa and a Mr. Doleschall, whose first name eluded me as I was doing my research, such as it was.  At only age 7, he made his first public appearance as a violinist and pianist.  It has been said that he later became a skilled pianist.  At the Vienna Conservatory he studied (1851-1854) with two of the best teachers in the world, Georg Hellmesberger (Sr.) – or possibly Josef (Joseph) Hellmesberger (Sr.) - and Joseph Bohm.  From 1854 to 1861, he played violin in the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra, though presumably not as concertmaster.  He also toured Europe as a soloist.  He was 15 years old when he joined the orchestra and 22 when he left.  From 1861 to 1866 he was concertmaster of the Rotterdam German Opera Orchestra.  He then became conductor of orchestras (I don’t know which orchestras) - between the years 1866 and 1870 - in Lubeck (in 1866), Stettin (in 1867), and Prague (in 1869), successively.  In 1871, at age 32, he was appointed violin teacher at the Royal School of Music in Berlin, which Joachim had helped establish.  Joachim was already teaching there.  Rappoldi was a member of the Joachim Quartet (as violist) between 1871 and 1877.  When Rappoldi joined the quartet, Heinrich De Ahna moved from viola to second violin and after Rappoldi left the quartet, Emmanuel Wirth took his place as violist.  De Ahna stayed on second.  In 1877, Rappoldi was appointed principal violin instructor at the Dresden Conservatory.  He taught there for 15 years.  He was also concertmaster of the Dresden Opera during those years but retired from playing in 1898.  He was 59 or 60 years old – I don’t know which.  One source claims he was also the conductor at the Dresden Opera.  Perhaps he was one of the conductors, as opera companies seldom – if ever – hire just one conductor.  His compositions include symphonies, quartets, and sonatas.  As far as I know, his music is seldom performed now except perhaps in Germany and Austria.  One of Rappoldi’s best known and most accomplished pupils was Charles Loeffler, a very influential violinist and composer in the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century.  According to a usually-reliable source, Rappoldi played a 1719 Stradivarius violin now known as the Rappoldi Strad.  Rappoldi died (in Dresden) on May 16, 1903, at age 64.  

Rudi Berger

Rudi Berger is an Austrian violinist, singer, pianist, guitarist, and composer born (in Vienna) on November 19, 1954.  Be that as it may, Rudi Berger has actually become the most-recorded jazz violinist of another country (Brazil) and may very well be the only Austrian jazz violinist in the world, though he has lived and worked outside of Austria for many years.  His classical training on violin and piano – begun when he was six - took place at the Vienna Conservatory where he studied with Guenther Schich and Karl Barilly, learning the works of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Paganini, Kreutzer, Rode, and all the rest.  As have other jazz artists, he began playing jazz as a very young student, having been drawn to it from age fourteen.  His grandfather (Rudolf Berger) and his uncle were strong influences in this regard.  By age fifteen, he had begun to teach himself to play electric guitar and had joined Viennese Blues legend Al Cook in performances and recordings.  Later on, he worked as a violinist, pianist, guitarist, and singer in a night club band and with a Viennese Waltz Orchestra.  (Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, although best known as a violinist, also played saxophone, piano, and accordion.)  In 1977, he became a soloist with the newly-formed Vienna Art Orchestra.  He was 22 years old.  He worked with this orchestra for three years while at the same time forming a Jazz Rock group called Good News in 1978.  In 1985 and ’86 he was voted Violinist of the Year by Jazz Live, a European jazz music magazine.  By then, Berger had formed the Rudi Berger Quartet, Rudi Berger Project, and Rudi Berger Group jazz ensembles.  Berger moved to New York in September of 1986, having already released his first album, First Step, in Europe.  In New York, Berger restarted his career by working as a street musician for about a year.  During that time, New York jazz radio station WKCR invited him and his New York Quartet to play a two-hour live Jazz Concert Special.  Among the jazz clubs he worked in were the Village Vanguard, the Bottom Line, the Village Gate, Indigo Blues, and the Knitting Factory.  His international reputation was established in 1988 at the American Music Theater Festival in collaboration with Astor Piazzola, well-known Argentine tango cross-over composer.  Since 1990, he has toured in Europe, Japan, the U.S., and South America.  Berger’s collaborators in film and Grammy-nominated studio recordings have included Tonhino Horta, Mauro Rodrigues, Yuri Popoff, Gerry Weil, Jay Anderson, Phil Bowler, Mike Clark, Ron McClure, Victor Bailey, Michael Gerber, Peter Madsen, Art Frank, Charles Fambrough, Joseph Bowie, and Nana Vasconcelos.  In 1993, Berger performed in Brazil for the first time.  Between 1998 and 2002, he traveled between Brazil, New York, and Vienna, moving among three cultures and working in essentially different jazz worlds.  He was guest instructor at the University of Minas Gerais in Brazil between 1998 and 2000.  In 2003, Berger moved to Brazil permanently, working regularly with some of Brazil’s top composers and musicians, including Toninho Horta, Selma Reis, and Nelson Ayres.  Here is one of his YouTube videos and here is one of his recent CDs – In Search of Harmony.  Rudi Berger plays a 1992 violin by American violin maker David Burgess. His bow of choice is by English bow maker Howard Green - "a really, really great bow," Mr Berger says.  

Fritz Kreisler

Friedrich (Fritz) Kreisler was an Austrian violinist and composer born on February 2, 1875 - it is assumed that Jascha Heifetz was born on the same day in February in 1901. Kreisler is rememberd for his warm sound, his singing style of playing, and for the many violin pieces he composed which became a permanent part of the violin repertory. As were Tartini, Vivaldi, Paganini, Spohr, Wieniawski, and Sarasate, he was a violinist whose compositions were not quickly forgotten. His attention was never spent on a showy display of brilliant technique. It has been said that he practiced sparingly or not at all. His early studies were at the Vienna Conservatory under Jacob Dont and Joseph Hellmesberger (Jr.), among many others. He also studied with Joseph Lambert Massart, from whom he almost certainly picked up a new thing for violinists (back then) called the continuous vibrato. On November 10, 1888, he made his U.S. debut (age 12) in New York City. He then toured the U.S. for a brief time. As a teenager, he tried joining the Vienna Philharmonic but was not accepted. Shortly thereafter, he gave music up entirely in order to study medicine. Then, in 1899, he took up the violin again and did not stop concertizing until about 1950. In 1910, he commissioned Edward Elgar's violin concerto which he subsequently premiered, though he never recorded the work. Between 1924 and 1938 he lived in Berlin (despite being semi-Jewish) then in France (until 1939.) He lived in the U.S. from 1940 until his death on January 29, 1962, at (almost) age 87. Several recordings of his are posted on YouTube, including an arrangement of the first Paganini Concerto in D, re-orchestrated and re-harmonized.

Schubert

Franz Schubert was an Austrian violinist, pianist, composer, and teacher born on January 31, 1797. His micro biography is among the posts for January, 2009.

Franz Clement

Franz Clement (Franz Joseph Clement) was an Austrian violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor born on November 17, 1780 (Beethoven was 10 years old.) He is famous for having commissioned (and premiered) Beethoven's popular violin concerto (December 23, 1806.) A gifted violinist from a very young age, he was known for his ability to play music from memory after only briefly viewing it. Sometimes, he would alternate his virtuoso performances with circus-like displays, such as playing a piece on one string while holding the violin upside down. It was said that his playing was neat, elegant, delicate, and tender. It was also effortless. He appeared to handle the most extreme difficulties with ease. Though he was a very successful touring virtuoso and conductor for a time, he seems to have gone into a premature decline and was soon earning an average living not in keeping with his potential. He composed six violin concertos, among many other works. Were it not for Beethoven's monumental concerto, he would almost certainly be forgotten. However, because of this lucky break, everywhere the concerto goes, he goes too, never to be forgotten. It is said that he sight read Beethoven's concerto at the first performance. Some musicologists think that is debatable since Clement and Beethoven were close friends. It can easily be imagined that Beethoven let Clement try out a page or two every time he paid a visit. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that Clement played the concerto without once rehearsing with the orchestra since Beethoven was working on it up until the time of the performance. Clement died on November 3, 1842, at (almost) age 62.

Leopold Mozart

Leopold Mozart (Johann Georg Leopold Mozart) was an Austrian violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher, born on November 14, 1719 (Bach was 34 years old.) Though he studied liberal arts, theology, science, and law extensively - he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1735 - he later became a professional musician (1740.) After serving as violinist and valet to a high ranking university official, he eventually found a job with the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, attaining the position of Assistant Music Director, which he retained for the rest of his life. He composed many works, some of which were published during his lifetime, but his best known is his book on violin playing. Nonetheless, his virtual immortality rests in the fact that he was the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Leopold Mozart died on May 28, 1787 (Beethoven was 17 years old.)

Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert (Franz Peter Schubert) was an Austrian violinist, pianist, composer, and teacher born on this day (January 31) 1797 (Beethoven was already 27 years old). He studied principally – on and off - with Antonio Salieri (from 1808 to 1817), that infamous composer who supposedly poisoned Mozart. Schubert is most famous for his Unfinished Symphony, the Great C Major Symphony, the Trout Quintet, and the more than 600 songs he wrote. He was one of history’s most prolific composers, having composed over 1000 works, including five operas, symphonies (nine or ten, depending on who you ask), and many chamber works. However, he wrote no concertos at all. He died on November 19, 1828, at the age of 31.