Peter Rybar

Peter Rybar was a Czech violinist and teacher born (in Vienna, Austria) on August 29, 1913.  His playing style was not showy and flashy but he was very well regarded as a soloist and concertmaster - Rybar’s recordings (mostly produced prior to 1960) are now collector’s items.  (His recording of the Bach Double Concerto (for two violins) with Henryk Szeryng is probably the best I have ever heard.)  Nonetheless, as were so many other artists of the time, he was eclipsed by the likes of Heifetz, Ricci, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Milstein, Francescatti, Kogan, Grumiaux, and a few other soloists who performed in the limelight during the same period.  Like Szeryng, he became fluent in seven languages, although (ironically) English was his mother tongue.  His first teacher (a pupil of both Otakar Sevcik and Cesar Thomson) was his mother.  He then studied in Geneva and Leipzig with teachers whom I don’t know anything about.  He eventually (in 1929, at age 16) ended up at the Prague Conservatory where he spent three years (perhaps more.)  One of his teachers there was Josef Suk - the elder Josef Suk (1874-1935.)  (There are three Josef Suk: the grandfather (composer and son-in-law of Antonin Dvorak); the father (an engineer but also an accomplished amateur violinist); and the son (the well-known concert violinist.)  Rybar also later (from 1934 onward) studied with Carl Flesch in Paris.  By then, he had already begun his concertizing career (at age 19) and been playing professionally for at least two years.  He toured Europe many times and became known for playing the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin to which he had dedicated more than a year of study during a sabbatical in Portugal.  Although he did not premiere the piece (Samuel Dushkin did in Berlin), Rybar was the first to play the Stravinsky violin concerto (composed in 1931) in Prague and in Paris.  He was also the first to record the Goldmark and the Viotti (number 22 in a minor) concertos.  In 1937 (some sources say 1938), he was hired as violin professor at the Winterthur Conservatory (one of the oldest in Europe) and as concertmaster of the Winterthur Symphony in Switzerland.  He was 25 years old.  (Winterthur can almost be considered a suburb of Zurich.)  In 1952, he formed a duo with his wife who was a pianist.  He retired from his posts (as well as first violinist in the orchestra’s string quartet) after about 30 years.  In 1970, he was persuaded to abandon his retirement to become concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Suisse Romande in Geneva.  At the same time, he began teaching at the Geneva Conservatory.  He was 57 years old by then.  In 1980, he left the orchestra but I don’t know if he left the conservatory as well.  He often gave recitals with pianists Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, and Helene Boschi.  He also sometimes partnered with Clara Haskil as well (who often accompanied Arthur Grumiaux) in recitals and recordings.  Rybar last played in public in 1986.  His discography is not extensive but it fills at least two dozen CDs and includes the standard concertos as well as some not-often-heard works like the Tartini d minor concerto and the Schumann concerto.  A few of his hard-to-find recordings are priced at over one thousand dollars.  Here is a YouTube audio file of the Tartini concerto.  Rybar died in Lugano, Switzerland, on October 4, 2002 at age 89.  

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. 

Vaclav Suk

Vaclav Suk (Vyacheslav Ivanovich Suk) was a Czech violinist, conductor, and composer born (in Kladno, Bohemia) on November 16, 1861.  I do not know if he is related to composer Josef Suk but it has been said that he is.  Suk studied at the Prague Conservatory with Antonin Bennewitz (teacher also of Otakar Sevcik and Karl Halir) from 1873 to 1879.  He joined the Warsaw Philharmonic in 1880.  He was 19 years old.  Very soon thereafter, he moved to Kiev to play in the Imperial Orchestra as concertmaster.  Two years later, he went to Moscow to play in the Bolshoi Orchestra (1882-1887.)  In 1885, he began his conducting career in Kharkiv (in the Ukraine.)  After that, he guest conducted in Europe and Russia but I do not know if he kept playing the violin.  From 1890 to 1894, he either played in or conducted a private orchestra in Vilnius (Lithuania), Jascha Heifetz' birthplace.  It is entirely possible that Heifetz’ father, Ruben, was playing in that orchestra at the time.  From 1894 until 1906, Suk was probably free-lancing as a conductor or violinist or both.  In that year, he returned to Moscow to serve on the conducting staff of the Bolshoi Opera.  He stayed there for 25 years.  In 1928, he was promoted to the position of Chief Conductor.  However, he also conducted concerts, promoting the works of Czech composers.  In 1927, he began a separate but simultaneous tenure at the Stanislavski Opera Theatre, also in Moscow.  Suk premiered some of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas and was known for his fine interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s music.  There is no mention of him as a teacher but it's hard to imagine that somewhere along the way he did not have pupils, whether in violin, conducting, or composition.  On the other hand, perhaps he simply didn't care for that kind of work.  Suk died (in Moscow) on January 12, 1933, at age 71.  Prokofiev was 41 years old, Richard Strauss was 69, and Stravinsky was 50.  Music had become modern.  Suk composed a number of works for orchestra, some chamber music, and a few songs.  I don’t think any of that music is played today, except, perhaps, in the Czech Republic.  Late in life, Suk’s portrait was painted by Leonid Pasternak, father of writer Boris Pasternak.  

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.  

Josef Suk

Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, composer, and teacher born on January 4, 1874 (Brahms was 41 years old.) He is famous for having married one of Antonin Dvorak's daughters and for being the grandfather of violinist Josef Suk (whose micro biography is on this blog for August, 2009.) From 1885 until 1892, he studied at the Prague Conservatory, where he was a pupil of Antonin Dvorak, among others. He formed the Czech Quartet and played second violin with the quartet for most of his life. From 1922 he taught at the Prague Conservatory where his pupils included Bohuslav Martinu (composer) and Rudolf Firkusny (pianist-conductor.) His compositions include much chamber music and a few large-scale works. His second symphony (Opus 27 - 1905) was recorded by the Czech Philharmonic in 1952 and the recording is still available. His last composition (Sousedska, 1935) was a piece for five violins, bass, cymbals, triangle, side drum, and bass drum. Suk died on May 29, 1935, at age 61.

Vasa Prihoda

Vasa Prihoda was a Czech violinist born on August 24 (or 22nd), 1900 (Stravinsky was 18 years old.) His father, Alois Prihoda, was his first teacher and remained so for ten years. Afterward, Prihoda attended the Prague Conservatory, where he studied with Marak (who himself studied with Otakar Sevcik.) He graduated in 1912 and gave his first public performance playing Mozart’s fourth violin concerto (D Major.) Most violinists choose Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Paganini for a debut, but not Prihoda. It has been said that Toscanini discovered him playing in a Café (Grande Italia) in Milan, Italy, on December 27, 1919. Prihoda is remembered for his prodigious technique (which included exceptionally clear articulation), his ease in playing Paganini showpieces, and his 1930 marriage to (and 1935 divorce from) violinist Alma Rose (Gustav Mahler’s niece.) [In 1944, Alma, whose father had been concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic for 50 years, died in a concentration camp.] After the war, Prihoda was censured by the Czech government because he did not boycott any of the German-occupied territories during the war. Prihoda concertized extensively all over the world and made a number of recordings when the industry was in its infancy. Unfortunately, some of his recordings were not well-produced so the sound quality is poor. He played in the U.S. many times and was greatly admired for his style, dazzling technique, and finesse. Critics have suggested that Heifetz was jealous of him. Vienna was his base of operations for many years though he taught in Prague, Munich, and Salzburg as well. After 1950, he dedicated most of his time to teaching and he also composed small chamber works which are no longer played. Prihoda also composed his own cadenzas to all the concertos he played. He gave his last concerts in April, 1960 and died (of heart disease) on July 26, 1960, at age 59 - Heifetz would live another 27 years. There are many  amazing sound files and videos of his posted on YouTube. 

Josef Suk

Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, and conductor born on August 8, 1929 (Heifetz was 28 years old and would live an additional 58.) He is descended from two highly distinguished musicians – his grandfather, the violinist-composer Josef Suk, and his great grandfather, Antonin Dvorak. In Czechoslovakia, he was given the title of National Artist. His concert appearances in the U.S. were few and far between. He is well-known for having favored chamber music over solo playing. At the Prague Conservatory, his teacher (up to 1950) was Jaroslav Kocian. He also studied at the Prague Academy. While still a student, he joined the Prague Quartet as first violinist. In 1951, he formed the Suk Trio with cellist Janos Starker and pianist Julius Katchen (some sources say it was cellist Josef Chuchro and pianist Jan Panenka because the trio was initially begun with these artists.) His solo debut in Prague took place in 1954 and was very successful. It has been said that his worldwide tour with the Czech Philharmonic in 1959 was especially memorable. Suk recorded extensively for various labels – EMI, Decca, Naxos, and Supraphon, among others. Suk won the Grand Prix Du Disque several times – for recordings of music by Claude Debussy, Leos Janacek, Alban Berg, and others. He was once asked why he did not compose like his grandfather and great-grandfather - he said the following: "To be a composer after Dvorak and after Suk, I would have to be sensational.  I don't have that sort of inspiration.  I tried, but it wasn't that good so I stayed with my fiddle."  He also founded the Suk Chamber Orchestra in 1974.  Suk retired in 2004, at age 74, but, like Heifetz, did play afterward now and then.  He even recorded in the year 2010.  He was 80 years old. Suk played a 1729 Stradivarius, a 1744 Guarnerius, and a 1758 Guadagnini. There are many videos of his playing on YouTube. Josef Suk died on July 6, 2011, at age 81.

Jan Kubelik

Jan Kubelík was a Czech violinist and composer born on July 5, 1880 (Brahms was 47 years old.) His first lessons were with his father, who was an amateur violinist. At age 8, he entered the Prague Conservatory where he studied with Otakar Sevcik. He began concertizing ten years later (1898), the same year he graduated from the Conservatory. Along with Joseph Joachim and Pablo De Sarasate, he was one of the first violinists to be recorded in the early 1900s. Following debuts in Vienna and London in 1900 and 1901, he toured the U.S. for the first time in 1901, starting out in Carnegie Hall on December 2, 1901. At that first U.S. concert, Kubelik was criticized for being a mere showman. However, he enjoyed great financial success everywhere he went. He was a society darling and was already wealthy in his mid-twenties. Carl Sandburg even titled a poem after him. In the latter part of his career, he played the Emperor Stradivarius (1715.) In 1903, Kubelik married Countess Marianne Czáky Szell and eventually became the father of (among others) conductor Rafael Kubelik. As late as 1930, he was still being hailed as the best-known name in the violinist world. Kubelík also wrote music, including six violin concertos which are now never played, and cadenzas for the violin concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, Paganini, and Mozart. A number of his recordings are posted on YouTube. Jan Kubelík died in Prague on December 5, 1940, having never actually retired.