Daniel Garlitsky

Daniel Garlitsky is a Russian violinist, composer, arranger, singer, and teacher born (in Moscow) on September 8, 1982.  In addition to being a classical violinist, he is well-known for playing jazz violin in various jazz combos.  He is frequently seen playing with Duved Dunayevsky, jazz guitarist based in Paris, France, who hearkens back to the days and style of Django Reinhardt.  Some have said that Garlitsky specializes in old style jazz, referencing the days of Eddie South, Stephane Grapelli, and Joe Venutti, though that is a much too narrow description of his artist profile.  He does, however, dress in the style of the times of the old jazz players when he performs jazz concerts, saying that modern suits make him look “like a security agent.”  He says the fashion helps project the charm of the old era of jazz so it’s like part of the show, providing a suitable backdrop for the music itself.  Garlitsky’s playing has been described as “exciting, elegant, subtle, and majestic, displaying incredible precision, character, and a pure sound."  Here is a video of a well-known jazz song – Minor Swing – featuring Garlitsky’s improvisational skills.  Violin players reading this will note that his bow hold and his bowing style is very similar to that of Heifetz.  Garlitsky began his violin studies at age 6 with his father (Boris Garlitsky, a respected violinist in Russia who served as concertmaster of the London Philharmonic for a time) using the violin method book written by his (Daniel’s) grandfather, Mikhail Garlitsky, a violin study method book widely used in Russia which is based on the study of scales and arpeggios, something that Heifetz and Paganini highly valued.  He was soon thereafter enrolled at the Gnessin school for gifted children in Moscow, where he also studied piano.  At age 9 (1991), he moved to France with his family, where he began studies at the Lyon Conservatory.  In 1999, he became a student at the National Conservatory for Music and Dance, graduating three years later.  He then immediately began concertizing around Europe and sat in as concertmaster with various orchestras as well.  Here is a video from early in his career when he served as leader of a famous European chamber ensemble.  Garlitsky was also seriously interested in harmonic theory and composition and, in addition, studied early music performance practices.  While doing all this, he encountered the field of jazz and swing music in Paris.  Later, he was invited to teach at the Paris Conservatory, but I don’t know whether he still teaches there.  One source says that his career actually took a 180 degree turn and so he now devotes almost all his time to jazz gigs, composing, and arranging. He is the composer of several movie soundtracks and has arranged songs for pop stars. His itinerary has taken him on tour to the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  He plays a modern violin made for him by Jacques Fustier in 2003 although he also plays a Joseph Guarnerius (son of Andrea Guarnerius and father of the famous “del Gesu” Joseph Guarnerius) from an unknown year of construction.  Among Garlitsky’s teachers are Igor Volochine, Rainer Kussmaul, Matis Vaitsner, Pierre Aimard, and Glenn Dicterow.  

Alexandra Soumm

Alexandra Soumm is a Russian violinist, teacher, philanthropist, and poet born (in Moscow) on May 17, 1989.  She is one of the best known Russian violinists living (and based) in France and has performed with practically every French orchestra and in every French venue.  When her parents left Russia for France, she was only 2 years old.  As far as I know, her main teacher has been Boris Kuschnir, with whom she studied (according to one very reliable source) for almost fourteen years.  Soumm also frequently participates in music festivals, though mostly in Europe.  She began her violin studies with her father (a violinist) at age 5.  Her first public appearance took place at age 7 in Ukraine with her mother at the piano.  (Her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian.)  She entered the Vienna Conservatory, where she began studying with Kuschnir, at age 10.  Two years later, Soumm made her formal debut in Vienna’s Konzerthaus (in 2002) and has been concertizing ever since.  She won the Eurovision Competition in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2004, at age fourteen.  According to one source, she dropped out of high school when she was 16 years old in order to devote herself to the study of the violin full time and more intensely.  In 2011, Soumm began presenting masterclasses wherever she performed.  She made her U.S. debut in November, 2013, with the Detroit Symphony.  She played the Sibelius concerto - Leonard Slatkin was on the podium.  A few days after that appearance, she made her debut in Chicago, although not with the Chicago Symphony.  She played Mozart’s third concerto with the Illinois Philharmonic.  David Danzmayr was on the podium.  She was 24 years old.  She has twice appeared at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, before an audience of about 20,000 people – August 15, 2014, playing the Tchaikovsky concerto and August 20, 2015 playing the Bernstein Serenade.  Playing for huge audiences is something which violinists of a former generation (including Yehudi Menuhin, Jascha Heifetz, and Bronislaw Huberman) used to do there (at the Hollywood Bowl) and in New York at Lewisohn Stadium with the New York Symphony or the New York Philharmonic.  Soumm is fluent in the German, French, English, Spanish, and Russian languages.  Although her discography is not at all extensive, she has performed in almost every famous venue and with every major orchestra (and conductor) in the world.  Soumm used to play a 1785 (or 1782) G.B. Guadagnini violin but I do not know if she is still playing it.  She has also played a Gioffredo Cappa violin constructed in 1700 (approximately.)  Since 2018, Soumm has been associated with the Musica Mundi music school (and festival) which is based in Belgium.  She has stated that one of the key ingredients for learning to play well is an insatiable curiosity.  A direct (and very interesting) quote from a recent interview follows: “A lot of people just play nicely, but that is not the idea because when Beethoven or Tchaikovsky composed their music, they gave their life to it and so should we.” Here is a YouTube video of a Bach concerto played by Soumm with the Galicia Symphony Orchestra. 

David Grimal

David Grimal is a French violinist, conductor, and teacher born on February 9, 1973.  He is best known as the Artistic Director (and Conductor) of the French group Les Dissonances.  Ironically, Les Dissonances plays without a conductor and performs challenging repertoire (such as the Rite of Spring) which no other conductor-less orchestra would dare.  Grimal leads from the first chair.  Regarding Les Dissonances, Grimal has stated: “We work together in the sense of community of mind, a gathering of very strong positive energy and joy.”  Regarding the violin itself, he has said: “What interests me is the invisible - that something which makes the dancer take flight and causes his gesture to be eternal.”  The Dissonances musicians are from different parts of France and Europe – from various other ensembles – almost none are permanent members.  The orchestra plays in many different cities and venues.  Understandably, Grimal frequently plays the violin concerto repertoire with this orchestra.  When he does, he never actually conducts, as all other conductor/violinists do - he just lets the orchestra play by itself (and it is fully capable of doing so.)  His style of playing, although virtuosic and brilliant, is relaxed, unassuming, and unpretentious.  His repertoire includes the Schumann concerto, which is now gaining in popularity.  Grimal began lessons at age five but I do not know the name of his first teacher.  First teachers are usually not famous pedagogues or even famous violinists – sometimes they are immediate family members.  At the Paris Conservatory Grimal won first prizes in violin and chamber music at age 20 (1993.)  He later studied with the enigmatic Philippe Hirschhorn, most likely in the Netherlands, where Hirschhorn was then teaching.  He also briefly studied with other violinists after he graduated.  In 1996, he received the European Culture Prize.  He was 23 years old.  Needless to say, he has played in most of the world’s great halls with high-profile conductors and orchestras.  However, other than live recordings, his discography (on various labels) is not extensive.  Nonetheless, the few studio (commercial) recordings he has done have received national and international awards and recognition.  A great many composers have written works for him.  In 2004 Grimal founded Les Dissonances.  In 2008, he became artist in residence at the Dijon Opera.  (Dijon is about 200 miles southeast of Paris and is the birthplace of Rameau.)  Grimal has taught at the Advanced School of Music in Saarbrucken (Germany) for some time although I don’t know how long he has been there.  (Saarbrucken is about 180 miles north of Dijon and 200 miles east of Paris.  It is very close to the French border with Germany.)  Additionally, he plays at many music festivals around Europe and has frequently held masterclasses wherever he performs.  His violin is the Roederer Stradivarius from 1710, previously owned by Turkish violinist Ayla Erduran.  He also plays a modern violin made for him by French luthier Jacques Fustier.  You can listen to the finale from Brahms’ Third Symphony here.  Here is Grimal playing Mozart’s fifth concerto – first movement.  

Augustin Dumay

Augustin Dumay is a French violinist, teacher, and conductor born on January 17, 1949.  He has enjoyed an international career since 1979, although he has spent most of his time in Europe and Japan.  He has recorded most of the standard repertoire (a repertoire consisting of about 15 concertos plus a few sonatas by the upper crust of composers for the violin – Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, Franck, Prokofiev, Strauss, and Debussy) on more than forty discs.  Dumay has appeared with most major orchestras and conductors in the most important and prestigious venues around the world.  He began his studies as a child but with whom I do not know.  He entered the Paris Conservatory when he was 9 years old.  After two years at the Conservatory, he studied privately with a few teachers, including Nathan Milstein and Arthur Grumiaux.  His public debut came at age 14 at the well-known Montreux Festival in Switzerland.  Orchestras he has conducted include the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia (since 2003), the Salzburg Camerata, the Picardie Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Kansai Philharmonic, the Sinfonia Varsovia, and the English Chamber Orchestra.  It has been said that none other than Herbert von Karajan gave him conducting lessons.  He has taught at the Queen Elizabeth College of Music in Brussels.  Here is a YouTube video of him playing the seldom heard Mendelssohn concerto for violin in d minor. 

Russian Violin Makers

In terms of fame, and very likely in terms of expertise, Italian, French, and German violin makers have the Russians beat by a long shot. At least that’s the general opinion. Whether that is so because the violin was actually invented in Italy (around 1530) and the most prolific makers worked from there and were the first to become famous is anyone’s guess.  The names of da Salo, Amati, Stradivari, Tononi, Guarneri, Maggini, Carcassi, Storioni, Gagliano, Guadagnini, Ventapane, Rogeri, Ruggieri, Pressenda, Albani, Gobetti, and Montagnana, are certainly very well known.  Their violins are prized above all others.  On the other hand, Russian makers are not known at all.  This peculiarity is striking since the whole world knows that most of the world’s celebrated violinists are Russian.  To filter them further, most among these superlative Russian players are Jewish – Oistrakh, Goldstein, Kogan, Heifetz, Elman, Zimbalist, Seidel, Milstein, and Gitlis, to name a few.  So, why aren’t there any great Russian violin makers – makers whose names are household words – Jewish or otherwise?  Perhaps it has to do with tradition – like the tradition of exceptional French wine making or fine watch making by the Swiss.  After Amati (and his relatives) and other early makers started violin making enterprises, the violin construction economic engine took off; soon, imitators sprang up elsewhere in Italy - some of them really good.  Entire families (such as the Guarneris and the Stradivaris) got involved in the trade and the tradition of fine Italian violin making was thus established.  By the time the ideas and patterns for violin making spread to other parts of Europe, the Italians had been at it for more than fifty years.  Then the Italian violin virtuosos got going as well.  Up until 1750, they were dominant in the violin playing sphere.  Italian violinists like Corelli, Somis, Pugnani, Tartini, Geminiani, Vivaldi, Tommasini, and Locatelli had few (if any) corresponding contemporaries in the other European countries or Russia. There was a time when Spain ruled the seas.  There was also a time when the Roman Empire ruled the world.  Nothing lasts forever.  Who knows whether the Russian violin makers will not someday soon take over the business?  

Melanie Clapies

Melanie Clapies is a French violinist, teacher, and composer born (in Paris) on December 16, 1981.  She is one of less than a handful of concert violinists who currently write works for their own use, in the style of so many violinists of past generations – Tartini, Corelli, Nardini, Geminiani, Biber, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Mozart, Leclair, Paganini, Viotti, Lipinski, Gavinies, Spohr, Wieniawski, Joachim, Ernst, Vieuxtemps, De Beriot, Conus, Enesco, Ysaye, Kreisler, Spalding, and Markov are among them.  In fact, the tradition of the violinist-composer has so much been neglected that violinists do not even write their own cadenzas to concerti anymore.  Clapies does.  As did Bronislaw Huberman so many years ago, Clapies has had a good number of teachers.  She began her violin studies at age 5 in Paris and later, in the southern coastal city of Toulon, beginning at age 8, with Solange Dessane (Toulon is located about 520 miles south of Paris but only 25 miles west of Saint-Tropez.)  Her public debut came at age 14.  She later studied with Pavel Vernikov and Christophe Poiget at the Lyon Conservatory.  She graduated in 2003.  While studying in Lyon, she also studied with John Glickman at the Guildhall School in London as an exchange student.  She later entered the Paris Conservatory where she was a student of Ami Flammer and Claire Desert, graduating in 2011.  Clapies also received her Master’s from Yale University in the US this year (2014.)  Her chamber music studies were under the tutelage of the world-famous Tokyo String Quartet and the Emerson String Quartet.  Clapies has already taught at the conservatories in Toulon and Bordeaux, and at the Alfred Cortot Music School in Paris (Zino Francescatti, Pablo Casals, Charles Munch, Jacques Thibaud, and Paul Dukas were once teachers there.)   She has also founded (with French cellist Yan Levionnois) a Chamber Music Festival in Burgundy, France.  Clapies has performed most extensively in England, France, Italy, Russia, Canada, and the US.  Leonard Bernstein once said that “music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable.”  In a similar vein, Clapies has stated that her compositions are attempts to catch something from the inexpressible.  She has also stated the following: “To me, a good interpreter is a researcher, someone able to find new ways to express and reveal what the pieces possess.  I find a direct path to composition from there.  For me, composing is a means by which to interrogate my surroundings; to make deeper my relation to it.”  She formerly played a Tommaso Carcassi violin and a modern violin by Italian luthier Carlo Colombo Bruno but her current violin is a Joseph Gagliano from 1781.  Nonetheless, Clapies also plays an authentic (period instrument) baroque violin on occasion.  Among the works in her extensive repertoire is one of my favorites – the Schumann concerto.  Here is her recording of the second movement from it on YouTube with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra.  You will immediately notice that her playing is intensely poetic.  Her recordings include a collection of duo works – in a more contemporary vein - for violin and cello, available here.  She is currently organizing a piano trio in New York as well as a project which will feature the music of Ravel which combines music and mime.  In addition, Clapies is also interested in conducting!  In her upcoming performances of the Beethoven concerto, she will be using her own cadenza.  (There are at least ten cadenzas to the Beethoven concerto out there (Kreisler’s and Joachim’s being the most played) and Heifetz used his own too (some of it borrowed from Leopold Auer), but there are no contemporary violinists who play their own original cadenzas so this will be a unique joy for her audiences.)  Photo of Melanie Clapies is used courtesy of Francois Olivier de Sardan.  

Maurice Hasson

Maurice Hasson is a French violinist and teacher born on July 6, 1934.  He is recognized as a long-time violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  He is also known for having spent thirteen years of his music career in Venezuela (1960-1973), contributing greatly to that country’s cultural life.  He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1950.  He was 16 years old.  I do not know who his teachers were before his conservatory days.  After graduation, he studied privately with Polish violinist Henryk Szeryng.  In Venezuela, he taught at the University of the Andes, after which he relocated his career to England.  Though he has dedicated a great deal of time to teaching, he has also been very busy concertizing around the globe since the early 1960s.  He owned and played a 1727 Stradivarius for quite some time (the Halphen Strad, also known as the Benvenuti Strad) but now plays a Domenico Montagnana and a Guadagnini, although I don’t know the years of his current instruments.  It is said he also owns several other fine violins.  The 1727 Strad is now being played (though not owned) by Eckhard Seifert, a violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic.  Hasson made his American debut on January 19, 1978, playing Paganini's first concerto (in D) with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Lorin Maazel was on the podium.  Hasson has been teaching at the Royal Academy of Music since 1986.  He has approximately 20 CDs to his credit and has recorded most of the standard repertoire for various labels, including EMI, Philips, and Pickwick.  He is also known for master-classes all over the world.  Here is a fascinating YouTube video of him playing “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 1987.  It is very interesting and very rare – apart from the brilliant performance – in that Yehudi Menuhin is the conductor.  You can marvel at how unobtrusive Menuhin was as a conductor.  The governments of France and Venezuela have bestowed several honors on Hasson in recognition of his service to their countries.  His best-known pupil is probably brilliant Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma.  Among his other pupils are Cassandra Hamilton, Catherine Geach, Gill Austin, Diana Yukawa, Amy Yuan, Marisol Lee, Tereza Privratska, Daniel Pioro, Laurence Kempton, Luis Cuevas, Mark Wilson, Nathaniel Anderson, Patrick Sabberton, Pierre Bensaid, Giovanni Guzzo, Remus Azoitei, and Eloisa-Fleur Thom.  

Renaud Capucon

Renaud Capucon is a French violinist born (in Chambery) on January 27, 1976.  He was discovered by conductor Claudio Abbado, who was instrumental in encouraging his career, just as Arturo Toscanini discovered Vasa Prihoda, Thomas Beecham discovered Albert Sammons, and Edouard Colonne discovered Jacques Thibaud.  Capucon began studying the violin at age 4 at the music conservatory in Chambery.  He studied, between ages 12 and 19, with American violinist Veda Reynolds (in Europe.)  At 14, he entered the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris from which he graduated at age 17.  His main teacher there was Gerard Poulet.  One of his other teachers was Thomas Brandis (in Berlin.)  Capucon briefly played in the European Union Youth Orchestra and then was invited by Claudio Abbado to serve as concertmaster (1998-2000) of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (which Abbado founded and conducted regularly.)  Capucon simultaneously began playing as a soloist and chamber musician and quickly rose to stardom.  He first soloed with the Berlin Philharmonic on November 15, 2002, playing the Korngold Concerto.  He was 26 years old.  His career has taken him around the world and he has already performed with all of the major orchestras and played as soloist or in recital in the best-known concert halls.  The only exception is the New York Philharmonic, with which I could not find any record of an appearance.  I cannot guess as to the reason, but it does happen now and then – an instance of a major artist who has never appeared with one or another of the major orchestras or this or that major conductor.  Although he has over 20 CDs in his discography, his most important recording – as far as I am concerned - is probably his recording of the Schumann concerto, a gem which was unknown and un-played for many decades thanks to Joseph Joachim’s negative opinion of it.  Here is a YouTube video of his performance of this concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.  As do most of today’s violinists, Capucon plays lots of chamber music in recital and at quite a few music festivals far and wide, including the Verbier, Lucerne, San Sebastian, Edinburgh, and Tanglewood.  Capucon has recorded for the DG, Decca, EMI, TDK, and Virgin Classics labels.  On May 25, 2009, Capucon was filmed playing in the midst of metro commuters in Paris (line 6 of the metro but I don’t know which station), unrecognized and unacknowledged by the passing crowd.  Joshua Bell did a similar thing on January 12, 2007 in Washington D.C. with similar results.  This reminds me of the doctor’s mother (or father) who used the van Gogh portrait of their son (Dr. Felix Rey) to plug a hole in their chicken coup.  They had no clue the painting was (or would later be) valuable.  After the piece was sold and discovered (20 years later), it was eventually brought to a museum where it was appraised at several millions.  Location can, and frequently does, make all the difference in the world.  Among Capucon’s violins have been a Vuillaume, a Guadagnini, and the 1737 Panette Guarnerius, previously owned by Isaac Stern.   

Gerard Poulet

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 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.  

Jules Garcin

Jules Garcin (Jules Auguste Salomon Garcin) was a French violinist, teacher, composer, and conductor born (in Bourges) on July 11, 1830.  He was an important musician in his day but, as were so many other significant violinists of his time, he was, after his death, soon forgotten.  Nevertheless, unlike orchestral musicians, he can never be completely invisible because of two historical facts: he taught Henri Marteau and he conducted the premiere of Cesar Franck’s d minor symphony.  In old age, he bore a striking resemblance to Czech violinist, Ottokar Novacek, although his claim to fame does not in the least depend on that fact.  He must have started violin lessons at an early age but I don’t know what age.  At 13, he entered the Paris Conservatory, studying with Jean Delphin Alard among other teachers.  He graduated in 1853, and was about 23 years old by then.  Three years later (1856) he became a member of the opera orchestra.  Fifteen years after that (1871), he was appointed concertmaster and assistant conductor of the orchestra.  Fourteen years later (1885), he was made chief conductor.  During all that time, he had also been assistant conductor and solo violinist of other orchestras (or concert associations) in Paris.  One such orchestra was the Orchestra of the Concert Society of the Conservatory.  He began teaching at the Paris Conservatory in 1875.  He was 45 years old.  On February 17, 1889, he conducted the premiere of Cesar Franck’s symphony in d minor, a work which was initially much-maligned by French musicians and critics alike.  Garcin played a copy (constructed in 1868 by JB Vuillaume) of the famous Messiah Stradivarius (1716), a Stradivarius from 1715 (the Cremonese, later owned by Joseph Joachim and now held by the City of Cremona), and another Strad from 1731 which bears his name.  The 1731 Strad was later owned by Israel Baker, then Sidney Harth, and later still by Kees Hulsmann.  Among the small number of Garcin compositions is a violin concerto which he used to play.  I don’t know if anyone else ever played it.  After retiring from the conservatory due to illness, Garcin died (in Paris) on October 10, 1896, at age 66.  

Henri Marteau

Henri Marteau was a French violinist, teacher, and composer, born (in Reims, France) on March 31, 1874.  He was a child prodigy and was similar to Felix Mendelssohn in that both of his parents came from wealthy families; however, Marteau’s parents were musicians as well – his mother was a pianist (and former pupil of Clara Schumann) and his father was a violinist and President of the Philharmonic Society of Rheims.  After hearing Camillo Sivori play a concert at the Marteau residence at age 5, Marteau began his violin studies with his father.  One usually reliable source states that Sivori himself presented the child with a violin.  Sivori would have been about 64 years old at the time.  Marteau later proceeded to study with a Swiss violinist named Bunzl (a pupil of Wilhelm Molique) and after three years went to study with Hubert Leonard at the Paris Conservatory.  He was 8 years old.  Leonard may have been Marteau’s uncle but I am not certain of that.  He made his debut at age 10 in Reims, playing for a very large audience – possibly more than 2000.  At age 13, on December 14, 1887, he played a Bruch concerto (probably the one in g minor) in Vienna, with Hans Richter on the podium.  Brahms was in the audience - it has been said that he was fascinated with the young violinist.  Grove’s Dictionary of Music says this took place when Marteau was 10 years old but that is probably quite incorrect.  In 1888, he made his debut in London, England.  He was 14 years old.  He then studied with Jules Garcin at the Paris Conservatory beginning in 1891.  In 1892, he was awarded first prize by the conservatory.  By then he was already an established touring artist.  In 1893, he toured the U.S. and again in 1898.  He also played in the U.S. in the years 1894, 1900, and 1906.  I don’t know if those appearances were part of a broader concert tour.  Marteau was a sensation each time.  It has been said that when he performed in Boston on his first U.S. tour, he played the Bruch g minor concerto with the Boston Symphony without rehearsal.  Arthur Nikisch was on the podium and Marteau had 12 curtain calls.  On March 3, 1893, he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic playing the first Bruch concerto.  Anton Seidl was on the podium.  His last concert with this orchestra was on March 18, 1906.  He played Vieuxtemps' concerto number 5 on that occasion.  He was 31 years old.  On November 28, 1894, he premiered Theodore Dubois’ violin concerto in Paris.  That work has probably not been heard from since, except, perhaps, in France.  Marteau toured Russia in 1897 and 1899.  By age 26, he was professor of violin at the conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland.  Seven years later (1907), he was called upon to take over Joseph Joachim’s position at the Advanced School of Music (Hochschule fur Musik) in Berlin, where he remained until 1915.  There was some grumbling over this appointment because he was not German and it was rumored he had even been asked to renounce his French citizenship if appointed.  He supposedly refused and, being an international celebrity of the violin, was appointed anyway.  However, being French, he was placed under house arrest in Lichtenberg in 1916 because of hostilities between France and Germany in World War One (1914-1918.)  He eventually settled in Sweden and became a Swedish citizen in 1920.  Marteau eventually also taught at the music conservatories in Prague (1921), Leipzig, and Dresden.  Max Reger and Jules Massenet composed violin concertos for Marteau.  In fact, Marteau was a champion of Reger’s music and played dozens of concerts with him throughout Europe.  He premiered Reger's monumental violin concerto in Leipzig in October, 1908.  It has been reported that it was over a dispute over Reger’s music that Marteau’s first string quartet ensemble broke up.  The quartet probably had a name but I don’t know what it was.  He later re-assembled another quartet in Berlin.  Marteau was also a champion of Swedish composer Franz Berwald's music.  He played Berwald's violin concerto all over the place but the piece never entered the standard repertoire.  (The standard concerto repertoire consists of about twenty concertos and, sadly, that will probably never change.)  In April of 1894, Marteau played a piano quartet concert with Anton Hegner (cellist), Jan Koert (violist), and Aime Lauchame in New York.  It wasn’t the first time so it would appear that he played chamber music concerts on a regular basis though his ensembles are not reported (in any sources I found) to have been well-established or even well-known.  He played a Giovanni Paolo Maggini violin which had belonged to his teacher, Hubert Leonard, and had previously been in the possession of the Austrian Emperor.  He also owned and played a 1709 Stradivarius violin which now bears his name, a 1720 Guarnerius Del Gesu (one source says from 1731) which also bears his name, an 1827 J.B. Vuillaume, and a 1925 Gaetano Sgarabotto violin.  These last four violins together were valued, in Marteau’s day, at approximately $15,000, or $175,000 in today’s dollars.  They are now worth approximately $7,000,000.  In 1920, one could buy a Stradivarius for less than $5,000.  An average person in 1920 could buy one if he worked 25,000 hours or 12 years at minimum wage and saved every penny for just that purpose.  An average person today could buy one if he worked 400,000 hours or 192 years at minimum wage.  It has always been my opinion that those old violins are simply not worth the trouble.  Their values have been hyper-exaggerated by dealers.  Marteau’s tone was said to be large and brilliant and his style warm and charming.  One reference (E.N. Bilbie, 1921) claims that Marteau, prior to 1914, played six concerts at intervals of one every two weeks and that he played three concertos at each of them – 18 different concertos altogether.  Besides a substantial amount of chamber music, Marteau composed an opera, a cantata, two violin concertos, and a cello concerto.  Marteau died (in Lichtenberg, Germany) on October 3, 1934, at age 60.  In 2002, his home in Lichtenberg became the site for part of the tri-annual Henri Marteau violin competition which was established in that year.  

Celebrity Violinists

I have been meaning to put together a list of celebrity violinists for a while, but I have not done so for reasons I do not understand.  However, I have decided – instead - to now put together a list of violinists on this blog who, for reasons I also do not understand, have gotten very little attention – fewer than 70 (unique) views.  And, here it is, in reverse chronological order: Arthur Hartmann, Jacob Grun, Franz Kneisel, Eddie South, Tivadar Nachez, Karl Halir, Camilla Urso, Nahan Franko, Albert Sammons, Jose Lafitte, Daisy Kennedy, Isidore Cohen, Erick Friedman, Victoria Mullova, Joseph Hellmesberger, Robert Mann, Emmanuel Wirth, William Reed, Otto Joachim, Ion Voicu, Jan Kubelik, Willy Hess, Pierre Baillot, Jacques Thibaud, Antonio Bazzini, Roman Totenberg, Jeno Hubay, and Emile Sauret.  With time, perhaps these violinists may get a few more views and reach 100 views or so.  Few people seem even aware that these once-famous people were very influential musicians in their day.  Of course some profiles have gotten over 2,500 (unique) views but the reason eludes me.  Why some old names stick and others don’t is a mystery.  The ones who are contemporary but have very few views are Robert Mann and Viktoria Mullova but the reason for that is that my Pronetoviolins blog post about them does not even show up in the first ten pages of Google.  I wonder if, fifty years from now, Gil Shaham or Itzhak Perlman or Hilary Hahn will still be remembered.  Not too long ago, I asked a violin student if she had heard a certain Heifetz recording.  She said she had never heard of Jascha Heifetz.  Well, there it is. 

Edouard Lalo

Edouard Lalo (Edouard Victoire Antoine Lalo) was a French violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Lille, France) on January 12, 1823.  Some sources – in fact, most sources – give his date of birth as January 27, 1823.  Today, he is not remembered as a violinist, but rather, as the composer of the famous violin concerto, Symphonie Espagnol (1874, opus 21), a work which every concert violinist learns and plays and, if they are lucky, records.  It has been said that his marriage to one of his young pupils when he was 42 inspired him to write the Symphonie, though it actually was not written until nine years later.  In fact, he composed nothing between the year he got married (1865) and 1873, the year he wrote his violin concerto in F.  As a child, Lalo studied violin, cello, and piano at the Lille Conservatory.  He left home at age 16 and entered the Paris Conservatory.  His father then disowned him because he was firmly opposed to the idea that the teenager Lalo should make music his profession.  Nevertheless, Lalo stuck it out and paid for his tuition at the Paris Conservatory by giving lessons and playing in ensembles.  At the conservatory, his violin teacher was Francois Habeneck, one of the foremost violinists and conductors of the day.  Lalo made his living by only playing and teaching privately until about age 50, when he seriously entertained the idea of composing large-scale works.  He had already been composing chamber music for many years prior to this but his reputation as a composer was slowly acquired.  He formed the Armingaud Quartet in either 1848 or 1855 (sources vary) in which he played viola at first then second violin.  Chamber music in France was not much appreciated until about the late 1800s but Lalo’s quartet helped change that.  Early works of his were a Fantasy for violin and piano (1848, opus 1), a piano trio (1851, opus 7), and a violin sonata (1853, opus 12.)  Among his major compositions are three symphonies, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, an opera, a ballet, and a piano concerto.  Other than the Symphonie Espagnol and the cello concerto, none of these works is ever performed, except perhaps in France.  However, the premiere of his opera in 1888, was a huge success for Lalo.  Trio Oriens can be seen and heard on YouTube playing Lalo's first trio and Lynn Harrell can be heard playing the cello concerto here.  According to a usually-reliable source, Lalo owned and played a 1700 Matteo Goffriller violin. Only God knows where it is now. Lalo died on either April 22 or April 23, 1892, at age 69.  

Charles Munch

Charles Munch was a French violinist, conductor, and teacher born (in Strasbourg, when it was German territory) on September 26, 1891.  Today, nobody remembers him as a violinist.  Although he conducted many great orchestras, he is best known for his tenure at the Boston Symphony, from 1949 to 1962.  He first studied violin at the Strasbourg Conservatory (inaugurated in 1855.)  His first job as a violinist was in an orchestra conducted by his father (an organist), playing in the second violin section.  In 1912, at age 20, he graduated from the conservatory and moved on to Berlin for further study with Carl Flesch.  He also studied with Lucien Capet at the Paris Conservatory.  In 1920, he was appointed professor of violin at the Strasbourg Conservatory while he was also playing as assistant concertmaster of the Strasbourg Philharmonic.  He was 29 years old.  Later on, he was concertmaster of the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne.  (The Gurzenich Orchestra is really not to be trifled with.  It played the world premieres of Brahms’ Double Concerto (1887), Strauss’ Till (1895), Strauss’ Don Quixote (1898), Mahler’s Third Symphony (1902), Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (1904), and Max Reger’s Variations (1907.)  He then served as concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (1926 to 1933) under Bruno Walter.  In 1933, he left Germany for Paris.  He had already made his conducting debut there in November, 1932.  He was 41 years old at the time of his debut.  As far as I know, after 1933, he never again touched the violin in public.  In 1938, he helped found the Paris Philharmonic.  He had already begun teaching conducting at the Paris Conservatory (1937-1945.)  During the war years (1939-1945), he conducted the Paris Conservatory Orchestra.  For this, he was later accused of being a Nazi collaborator, though the charge did not stick.  The Boston Symphony he first conducted in December, 1946.  His legacy with the Boston Symphony is well-known and documented in dozens of recordings.  Heifetz recorded the Beethoven concerto with Munch and the Boston Symphony in November of 1955.  I don’t think Heifetz recorded it ever again.  If Munch ever recorded anything as a violinist I don’t know where that recording might be found.  After 1962, Munch conducted European orchestras and guest conducted all over the world.  He once owned (from 1925 to 1960) a violin which had been stolen from Eugene Ysaye in Russia - a 1734 Stradivarius - which had been earlier played by Hugo Heermann.  That violin ended up with Henryk Szeryng who left it to the City of Jerusalem who then let the Israel Philharmonic borrow it.  He died on November 6, 1968, in Richmond, Virginia, at age 77.  Here is one of his many YouTube videos. 

Jean-Marie Leclair

Jean-Marie Leclair (Jean-Marie Leclair, the Elder) was a French violinist, composer, dancer, lace maker, and teacher born (in Lyon) on May 10, 1697 (Bach was 12 years old.)  He is frequently mentioned as having founded the French violin school of violin playing, whatever that may be.  His three younger brothers were also musicians.  Leclair is now remembered as one of the very, very few violinists who died a violent death – he was assassinated at age 67.  The culprit was never found out.  He studied dance and violin in Turin but also made a living as a lace or braid maker, his father’s profession.  Little is otherwise known about his early years.  In 1716, he was a dancer with the Lyons Opera and married a fellow dancer in the same opera company (Marie Rose Casthanie) on the first of February that same year.  He was 19 years old.  He became a principal dancer with the Turin Opera in 1722.  In October of 1723, he returned to Paris – which he had previously visited on and off - and played at the Concerts Spirituel, where he was well-received.  He also published his Opus 1, a set of violin sonatas that same year.  The publication was sponsored by a wealthy patron (Joseph Bonnier) to whom the works were, understandably, dedicated.  In 1726 he again visited Turin where he worked as a dancer and choreographer with the Turin Opera and took violin lessons from Giovanni Battista Somis.  In 1728, he returned to Paris.  Leclair’s wife died in that year and he remarried in 1730.  She (Louise Roussel) was an engraver who, beginning with his Opus 2, published all of Leclair’s works from that point forward.  In 1733, he was hired by Louis XV (to whom Leclair dedicated his Opus 3) as a court musician.  He gave up that post in 1737 after quarreling with a colleague (someone named Jean-Pierre Guignon, also known as Giovanni Pietro Ghignone.)  From 1738 until 1743, he worked three months out of the year at The Hague for the Princess (Anne) of Orange, a former harpsichord pupil of Handel.  He dedicated his Opus 9 to her.  (Some sources give these years as 1737 to 1742.)  In Holland, he also met and probably took lessons from the great (and mysterious) violinist Pietro Locatelli.  From 1740 until he died, Leclair worked for the Duke of Gramont as principal violinist and director of his private orchestra, although he spent a few months in Spain in 1743 where he played for some aristocrat called Infante Don Felipe, a fan of French music.  Leclair dedicated his Opus 10 to Don Felipe.  Although his output was comparatively small, he has on occasion been referred to as the French Corelli, the French Vivaldi, and even the French Bach.  He broke up with his wife in 1758 and went to live in an unsavory and dangerous neighborhood in the outskirts of Paris, where he had purchased a small house.  He was 61 years old.  It has been suggested that the Duke of Gramont would certainly have provided comfortable lodgings for him so the reason he chose these undesirable circumstances for himself remains a mystery.  On the morning of October 23, 1764, Leclair’s gardener found him in a pool of blood, dead from three stab wounds in the back.  Since the stabbing probably took place the prior evening, his date of death is usually given as October 22, 1764.  He was 67 years old.  An investigation produced three suspects but nothing was ever proved against anyone.  Many consider Leclair the first French violin virtuoso.  His best known pupil is probably Pierre Gavinies.  Although he composed almost exclusively for the violin, he did write an opera (1746) which is even now occasionally performed.  Much of his music is available through numerous recordings.  Many of his ballets and works for voice and for the stage were either lost or destroyed by Leclair himself.