Hugo Heermann was a
German violinist and teacher born (in Heilbronn) on March 3, 1844. He taught briefly in the U.S. but spent most
of his teaching career in Frankfurt, at the well-known Hoch Conservatory. He taught there for 25 years - from 1878
until 1904 – but also concertized sporadically.
Joseph Lambert Massart and Joseph Joachim were among his teachers. At 20 years of age (1864), he established
himself in Frankfurt. Beginning in 1865,
he played first violin in the Heermann Quartet (which also used other names) with
Fritz Bassermann on second, Adolf Rebner on viola, and Hugo Becker on cello. As mentioned previously, he became a teacher
at the Hoch Conservatory in 1878. His
most famous pupil at the conservatory (by far) is Bronislaw Huberman – that
fact alone is sufficient to keep his name in the music history books forever. In the early 1900s Heermann came to the U.S.
and played the Beethoven concerto in his first U.S. appearance on February 5,
1903. I don’t know which orchestra
accompanied him but I do know he played a cadenza he composed himself. He very soon after played the Brahms concerto
with the New York Philharmonic on February 13, 1903 and received very favorable
reviews. It is said to be the first New
York performance of the concerto. Walter
Damrosch was on the podium so it was probably the New York Symphony which he
played with, although it was later merged with what we now know as the New York
Philharmonic. Franz Kneisel had already
played the first Boston performance – possibly the first U.S. performance of
the Brahms concerto - on December 6, 1889.
On April 3 of the same year Heermann played the first Bruch concerto
with the philharmonic under the same conductor.
His final appearance with the philharmonic was on January 26, 1907 – by
then, he had already settled in the U.S.
He played the Beethoven concerto on that occasion. A critic pointed out that he had made a “deep
impression upon the audience, and was rewarded with all the enthusiastic
applause which his performance warranted, being recalled again and again.” Heermann taught at the Chicago Musical
College from 1906 to 1909. He was later
appointed concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, where he served between
1909 and 1911. In 1911, he returned to
Europe, taking up teaching; first at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and,
beginning in 1912, at the Music Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland. For many years, Heermann used a 1733
Stradivarius violin which he purchased in 1860.
On or about the year 1888, Heermann acquired another Stradivarius violin
presumably made in 1734. That violin was
purchased by Eugene Ysaye in 1895, from whom it was stolen in 1908. After it was found in a Paris shop in 1925,
none other than (violinist) Charles Munch bought it and kept it until
1960. It was later played by Henryk
Szeryng, who bequeathed it (in 1972) to the City of Jerusalem, to be used by
the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic.
The violin goes by various names but that does not make it hard to
trace. Another Stradivarius which
Heermann used and which was constructed in (about) 1734, is now played by Gidon
Kremer. That violin is known as the
Heermann Stradivarius. Heermann also used
yet another Stradivarius violin (from about 1700 - the Jupiter Strad) from 1892
to 1895. According to the Cozio website,
that violin is now in the hands of Hollywood studio violinist Arnold
Belnick. Heermann retired in 1922,
living mostly in Merano, Italy, where he eventually died on November 6, 1935,
at age 91.
Showing posts with label Jupiter Strad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jupiter Strad. Show all posts
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Hugo Heermann
Hugo Heermann was a
German violinist and teacher born (in Heilbronn) on March 3, 1844. He taught briefly in the U.S. but spent most
of his teaching career in Frankfurt, at the well-known Hoch Conservatory. He taught there for 25 years - from 1878
until 1904 – but also concertized sporadically.
Joseph Lambert Massart and Joseph Joachim were among his teachers. At 20 years of age (1864), he established
himself in Frankfurt. Beginning in 1865,
he played first violin in the Heermann Quartet (which also used other names) with
Fritz Bassermann on second, Adolf Rebner on viola, and Hugo Becker on cello. As mentioned previously, he became a teacher
at the Hoch Conservatory in 1878. His
most famous pupil at the conservatory (by far) is Bronislaw Huberman – that
fact alone is sufficient to keep his name in the music history books forever. In the early 1900s Heermann came to the U.S.
and played the Beethoven concerto in his first U.S. appearance on February 5,
1903. I don’t know which orchestra
accompanied him but I do know he played a cadenza he composed himself. He very soon after played the Brahms concerto
with the New York Philharmonic on February 13, 1903 and received very favorable
reviews. It is said to be the first New
York performance of the concerto. Walter
Damrosch was on the podium so it was probably the New York Symphony which he
played with, although it was later merged with what we now know as the New York
Philharmonic. Franz Kneisel had already
played the first Boston performance – possibly the first U.S. performance of
the Brahms concerto - on December 6, 1889.
On April 3 of the same year Heermann played the first Bruch concerto
with the philharmonic under the same conductor.
His final appearance with the philharmonic was on January 26, 1907 – by
then, he had already settled in the U.S.
He played the Beethoven concerto on that occasion. A critic pointed out that he had made a “deep
impression upon the audience, and was rewarded with all the enthusiastic
applause which his performance warranted, being recalled again and again.” Heermann taught at the Chicago Musical
College from 1906 to 1909. He was later
appointed concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, where he served between
1909 and 1911. In 1911, he returned to
Europe, taking up teaching; first at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and,
beginning in 1912, at the Music Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland. For many years, Heermann used a 1733
Stradivarius violin which he purchased in 1860.
On or about the year 1888, Heermann acquired another Stradivarius violin
presumably made in 1734. That violin was
purchased by Eugene Ysaye in 1895, from whom it was stolen in 1908. After it was found in a Paris shop in 1925,
none other than (violinist) Charles Munch bought it and kept it until
1960. It was later played by Henryk
Szeryng, who bequeathed it (in 1972) to the City of Jerusalem, to be used by
the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic.
The violin goes by various names but that does not make it hard to
trace. Another Stradivarius which
Heermann used and which was constructed in (about) 1734, is now played by Gidon
Kremer. That violin is known as the
Heermann Stradivarius. Heermann also used
yet another Stradivarius violin (from about 1700 - the Jupiter Strad) from 1892
to 1895. According to the Cozio website,
that violin is now in the hands of Hollywood studio violinist Arnold
Belnick. Heermann retired in 1922,
living mostly in Merano, Italy, where he eventually died on November 6, 1935,
at age 91. 
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Manrico Padovani
Manrico Padovani is a Swiss-Italian violinist born on August 12, 1973 (Perlman was 27 years old.) He is the first Swiss violinist to perform all 24 of Paganini’s Caprices in concert in a single evening (Zürich, 2006.) Born in Zürich to Italian parents, he began his violin studies as a child and later entered (in Winterthur, Switzerland) the class of Aida Stucki-Piraccini (who had also taught Anne-Sophie Mutter much earlier.) (Winterthur is 15 miles northeast of the city of Zurich and is the city where in 1900, Albert Einstein first worked as a tutor before landing a job in the patent office in Bern) At the Royal Conservatory in Amsterdam, Padovani studied with Hermann Krebbers. Additionally, in Europe, he studied with Ruggiero Ricci, Boris Belkin, and Franco Gulli among other master violin teachers and composers. He graduated from the Winterthurer Conservatory in 1991 and made his debut in Lucerne in 1992. He has been concertizing in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. ever since and has even been called the “devil’s fiddler” for his brilliant technique and playing style. Nobody has yet said that Padovani is in league with the devil, as Paganini was said to be, but it could yet happen – music critics can say and write what they wish. His recordings include the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Paganini, Prokofiev, and others in the standard repertoire. His recording of the Beethoven concerto (with the Moscow Philharmonic) is especially remarkable in that Padovani uses Leopold Auer’s cadenza, not Kreisler’s (the Kreisler cadenza is the one most used by violinists.) He is the only one to do so. For the Paganini concerto, he uses the most difficult cadenza ever written for this concerto – the one by Emile Sauret. His recent performances in Vienna and Prague are available on DVD as well (this is not surprising since Padovani is very photogenic) and a live CD recording of the second Paganini concerto (B minor) in Seoul is also already in the catalog. He also recently recorded the soundtrack to the European film Sinestesia (2010) and the 24 Caprices of Paganini. (Other concert violinists who have recorded soundtracks are Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Toscha Seidel, and Louis Kaufman.) In addition, he has made a very large number of radio and television appearances in Europe and Canada. (Eddy Brown used to play almost exclusively on radio.) There are also several videos of his concert appearances on YouTube, including the incredibly difficult Ernst arrangement of Schubert’s Der Erlkonig. He frequently performs chamber music with other major artists and often appears in duo violin performances with Russian violinist Natasha Korsakova with whom he will also record several double concertos in 2011. (Natasha Korsakova is profiled on this blog - December 15.) Padovani played on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin (1861) for some time but presently plays the 1722 Jupiter (ex-Goding) Stradivarius. (There is another Jupiter Strad from the year 1700.)
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