Alfred Dubois

Alfred Dubois was a Belgian violinist and teacher born (in Brussels) on November 19, 1898.  He is one of many brilliant violinists who enjoyed wide recognition during his lifetime but was (undeservedly) relegated to the realm of forgotten artists after his death.  (The 1953 edition of Grove’s Dictionary does not mention him.)  Many of his recordings were made prior to the high-fidelity era and were not until recently released as remastered CDs.  They are now easy to find on the internet.  It has been said that his recordings of Bach and Franck works have rarely been equaled.  Understandably, during his career, he was more famous as a teacher than as a concert violinist.  I don’t know who his first teachers were, but it is known that Dubois entered the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in 1910 – he was 12 years old.  His main teacher there was Alexandre Cornelis.  (Cornelis is said to have composed piano accompaniments to the 42 famous Kreutzer etudes for violin.)  Dubois graduated in 1913 (at age 15) but continued to study with Cornelis until Cornelis’ death in 1917 - another four years.  It has been said that he also studied with Eugene Ysaye afterward although some people dispute that.  (When Ysaye died in 1931, Dubois took his place teaching at the conservatory.  He also played at Ysaye’s funeral that year.)  Dubois won the Vieuxtemps Prize in 1920.  He then embarked on a solo career – he was twenty-one years old.  He played in the Trio of the Court of Belgium from 1925 onward (with pianist Emile Bosquet and cellist Maurice Dambois.)  He began teaching at the Royal Conservatory in 1927 – he was 29 years old.  He taught there until the day he died.  He also formed a duo with pianist Marcel Maas with whom he toured the U.S. in 1938.  During the war, Dubois played in the Artis Quartet with Arthur Grumiaux on second violin, Robert Courte on viola, and Robert Maas on cello.  It is widely reported that the quartet did not play for German officials during the war (Belgium was a neutral country), but I find that hard to believe.  One source states that he spent the war years in France.  After Dubois died, his pupil, Grumiaux, took his place at the conservatory – he had already been serving as Dubois’ assistant for eight years.  Having been regarded as an extraordinary teacher, Dubois served on violin competition juries often.  Here is an audio file from YouTube in which Dubois plays the Vieuxtemps concerto number five.  You might find his tone resembling Heifetz’ sound, with very precise rhythmic control and superb intonation.  It has been said that Dubois was also a skilled violin maker although I don’t know where any of his violins are.  He may have played a Stradivarius violin made in 1667 and another from 1713, but that is not at all certain.  Alfred Dubois died (in Brussels) on March 24, 1949.  He was 50 years old. 

Pamela Frank

Pamela Frank is an American violinist and teacher born (in New York City) on June 20, 1967.  She is now best known as a chamber music player and teacher, although she has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras and conductors.  In the early 2000s she had to stop performing due to a serious (hand) injury suffered in 2001.  In that regard, she joins (among others) Rodolphe Kreutzer, Jascha Heifetz, Bronislaw Huberman, Fritz Kreisler, Erick Friedman, Maxim Vengerov, Emanuel Vardi, Manuel Quiroga, Kyung Wha Chung, Hilary Hahn, and Jacques Thibaud, each of whom had their career interrupted by hand or arm injuries.  After extensive rehabilitation, she returned to the stage in August of 2012.  She has taught at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (since 2003), the Curtis Institute (since 1996) in Philadelphia, and the State University of New York.  She has also served on several juries of violin competitions around the world and played at various music festivals, including the well-known Verbier, Salzburg, and Ravinia festivals.  Frank has also frequently given masterclasses in Europe, Israel, Canada, and the U.S.  She is fluent in German, French, and (of course) English but is one of the few violinists who does not have a website.  Frank began her studies at age 5, studying violin privately with Shirley Givens for about eleven years.  She then studied further with Szymon Goldberg (1909-1993) and Jaime Laredo.  Her formal (public) debut took place in 1985 at New York's Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider.  She was 18 years old.  She had been a section player with that ensemble since the age of 15.  Frank later debuted a second time in Carnegie Hall playing a recital there in April of 1995.  She graduated from the Curtis Institute in 1989, presenting her graduation recital on February 15, 1989, playing works by Bach, Ysaye, Kreisler, Schubert, and Beethoven.  She first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on October 27, 1994, playing the Dvorak concerto.  Leonard Slatkin was on the podium.  Her second and last appearance with the orchestra was on December 1, 1998.  On that occasion she played Mozart’s third concerto.  Andre Previn conducted.  On September 11, 1996, she appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic alongside cellist Clemens Hagen playing the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms.  Daniel Harding was on the podium.  She was 29 years old.  Her father, the pianist Claude Frank (1925-2014), often accompanied her in recital.  (Leonid Kogan and his pianist daughter (Nina) often played together too.)  In December of 1997, she and her father presented the entire Beethoven sonata cycle at London's Wigmore Hall.  Frank’s discography is not extensive although it includes the complete Mozart concertos and the complete Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas.  Her playing is featured in the soundtrack to the movie “Immortal Beloved.”  Among other violins, Frank has played a Guarnerius Del Gesu from 1736 known as the Wieniawski.  Here is a YouTube audio file of one of her Beethoven performances.  Photo is courtesy of Nicolas Lieber 

Facts and Sources

A question regarding sources of information used in the compilation of these blog posts has recently come to my attention.  I, of course, do not pull stories or facts out of thin air.  For every statement regarding a date or occurrence found on this blog there is at least one corresponding source.  I have found that the misinformation out there is indeed considerable.  One must be careful.  However, if there is ever any question as to the validity or reliability of any source, I always clearly state it.  This blog often contains details which are very hard to come by though sources do exist for those details.  I simply do not divulge them because that would make them less special.  I have found that other people who write things on violinists (elsewhere) are not terribly objective - nor are they persistent in their research.  There are three sites in particular which are very sloppy in their detective work – I will not name them but they are well-known.  One of those sites is notorious for publishing erroneous information.  A case in point: the writer who stated that Theodore Spiering had made many appearances with the Chicago Symphony under conductor Theodore Thomas simply did not bother with checking the one source which would have set the facts straight.  Another example is the story about how Beethoven changed the dedication of his last violin sonata from George Bridgetower to Rodolphe Kreutzer – the true facts are simply not known, though many music historians insist that their version is the correct one.  That’s how things get Romanticized - not to say presented dishonestly - and become objects of ridicule and speculation.  Nevertheless – having said all this – if there is anyone out there who cares to challenge anything presented here as fact, let him tell me so and I will make clear where my information comes from.  Until such time, my sources will remain unmentioned.  After all, this is not a dissertation – it is a blog to be enjoyed for what it is.  It is, however, trustworthy.  

George Bridgetower

George Bridgetower (George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower) was a Polish-African violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Biala, Poland) on February 29, 1780, though this date of birth is far from certain.  Some sources give this date as October 11, 1778 or simply 1779.  Though he was an accomplished concert violinist and teacher, he is best known for his brief association with Beethoven and his Kreutzer Sonata.  It appears that his father worked in the household of Prince Esterhazy, Joseph Haydn’s employer, which is where he probably received his early musical training.  His Polish mother might have been employed in another royal household nearby.  He gave his first public performance in Paris on April 13, 1789, playing a concerto by Giovanni Giornovichi, and caused a sensation.  Whether he was 9, 10, or 11 years old is anyone’s guess.  On February 19, 1790, he appeared in London, England, playing a solo between the first and second parts of Handel’s Messiah.  On June 2 of that same year, he and Franz Clement (who was 9 years old at the time) played a concert sponsored by a member of the British nobility.  After a few more public performances in England, he became a member of the first violins in the orchestra of the Prince of Wales, where he remained employed for 14 years.  The Prince of Wales, an important patron of the arts, arranged for Bridgetower to receive private lessons from Francois Barthelemon, Giovanni Giornovichi, and Thomas Attwood, recognized eminent musicians of the time.  Bridgetower – as did other members of the orchestra - divided his time between Brighton and London.  In 1802, Bridgetower visited his mother in Dresden.  He played very successful concerts there in July of 1802 and March of 1803.  He obtained permission to extend his leave and was thus able to visit Vienna in April of 1803.  He played in Vienna and was soon ushered into the highest social circles, including that of Prince Lichnowsky, one of Beethoven’s royal patrons.  Bridgetower supposedly met Beethoven through an introduction by Lichnowsky – so the story goes.  Beethoven was then working on his Opus 47, the famous violin sonata number nine – the Kreutzer Sonata.  Some sources say Bridgetower actually asked Beethoven to write the sonata.  In any case, both of them premiered the sonata on the morning of May 24, 1803, reading from Beethoven’s manuscript.  It has been said that the violin part of the second movement had not been written out separately, compelling Bridgetower to read that movement from Beethoven’s piano score.  Another version has the premiere taking place on May 17, not May 24.  Still another version has Bridgetower receiving the manuscript fully copied out the day before the premiere.  The fact remains that both played the premiere of the work and the thing was soon afterward dedicated to Bridgetower.  However, there was a quick falling out between the two (very soon thereafter) over some remarks Bridgetower made (about a woman both of them knew) that Beethoven found offensive.  Some versions actually have Bridgetower and Beethoven competing for the affections of the woman.  Who knows?  Beethoven subsequently rescinded the dedication and re-assigned it to Rodolphe Kreutzer who actually never played the piece, finding it incomprehensible.  Bridgetower was about 24 years old.  In June of 1811, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Cambridge.  He continued to teach violin and piano and play concerts in Europe, especially Italy and France, for many years.  A small piano piece of his was published in 1812.  George Bridgetower supposedly died in poverty in London on February 20, 1860, although he left an estate of about one thousand British Pounds Sterling, a very good sum in those days.  He was about 80 years old. 

Joseph Lambert Massart

Joseph Lambert Massart was a Belgian violinist and teacher born (in Liege) on July 19, 1811 (Paganini was 29 years old and would live another 29.)  He performed as a soloist only infrequently and devoted most of his time to teaching. As a young student, because he was not admitted to the Paris Conservatory (because he was a foreigner), he took private lessons with Rodolphe Kreutzer.  Luigi Cherubini (the Italian composer) was the Conservatory Director at the time. Paradoxically, at age 32, he was accepted as a Professor at the same Conservatory (1843.)  He then taught there for 47 years.  Massart performed Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with none other than Franz Liszt – his teacher had previously rejected it as unintelligible.  Among Massart’s students were legendary violinists Isidor Lotto, Fritz Kreisler, Franz Reis, Eugene Ysaye, Pablo Sarasate, Julius Conus, Teresina Tua, Arma Senkrah, and Henryk Wieniawski.  When one teaches for forty seven years, one is bound to find at least a few good students.  Among this group, Pablo Sarasate and Fritz Kreisler are the only ones who produced no extraordinary students although, to be fair, Kreisler did teach Samuel Dushkin, the violinist who premiered Stravinsky's violin concerto.  Massart has been credited with the origination of the systematic vibrato.  This is his claim to fame, since he is not among the trio of violinists who earlier established the violin method taught at the Paris Conservatory – Rode, Baillot, and Kreutzer.  It has been conjectured that Kreisler championed such a system, though it was widely criticized at the time, being considered a little too emotive and perhaps even vulgar.  Massart was also a chamber music player and gave many concerts with his wife (Louise Aglae Marson), who was a pianist.  He died in Paris on February 13, 1892, at age 80.  Other than in connection with his famous pupils, his name is infrequently mentioned nowadays.

Rodolphe Kreutzer

Rodolphe Kreutzer was a German (many would say French) violinist, composer, teacher, and conductor born (in Versailles) on November 16, 1766 (Mozart was 10 years old, Beethoven would not be born for another 4 years, and Paganini would be born 16 years later.)  Despite his having written much concert music, including nineteen violin concertos and more than forty operas and ballets, he is remembered for his book (1796) of 42 etudes for violin – Canadian violinist Jacques Israelevitch was the first to record them.  Kreutzer is also remembered as the violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated his ninth violin sonata (1803), after having first dedicated it to another violinist, George Bridgetower - Bridgetower even premiered the work.  Ironically, Kreutzer never played the sonata and even declared it incomprehensible.  (He had met Beethoven in Vienna in 1798.)  His name is now synonymous with the famous sonata.  There are also no fewer than four Stradivarius violins which bear his name.  He studied first with his violinist father then with Anton Stamitz.  He may also have studied with Giovanni Viotti, but that is far from certain.  In 1782, after his father died, he took his father’s place as concertmaster of the royal orchestra.  He was 16 years old - Marie-Antoinette was a patron of his.  He eventually (1801) became concertmaster of the Paris Opera orchestra, where he later conducted (from 1817 until 1826.)  Together with Pierre Rode and Pierre Baillot, he wrote the Paris Conservatory’s violin method book.  He taught at the Conservatory from 1795 until 1826 – thirty one years.  In 1806, he was solo violinist to Napoleon Bonaparte.  In 1815, he also held the title of concertmaster for Louis XVIII.  All the while, he kept composing.  It has been written that his style of playing was individualistic, full of fiery flourishes, fine finish, and pure tone.  He broke an arm in 1825 (I don’t know which) and retired from playing.  He then also retired from conducting in 1826.  He was 60 years old.  In 1831, after being repeatedly rebuffed by the Paris Opera administration (they refused to produce his last opera), he moved to Switzerland, where he died (in Geneva) on June 6, 1831, at age 64.  His music (other than the etudes) is now almost never played. Here is an audio file of his violin concerto number 18, a very rare performance. 

Teresa Milanollo

Teresa Milanollo was an Italian violinist and composer born on August 28, 1827 (Beethoven died that year.) However, she gave up her career after marrying French General Theodore Parmentier in 1857. She was thirty years old. She is one of those people who, were it not for someone else's fame, would be almost completely unknown - Rodolphe Kreutzer and Franz Clement come to mind. Though Teresa studied with De Beriot, famed violinist and pedagogue, and later went on to concertize, her fame now rests almost solely on the fact that she at one time owned the Stradivari violin (1728) which now bears her name - the Milanollo Strad. That violin, currently owned by Corey Cerovsek, was at one time played by Nicolo Paganini, and was bequeathed to her in Domenico Dragonetti's will. It was also played by Christian Ferras from 1964 onward.  Milanollo was known to be a very generous person.  It has been said that she paid for Henry Schradieck's studies at the Brussels Conservatory.  She died on October 25, 1904, at age 77.

Francois Habeneck

François Antoine Habeneck was a French violinist, composer, and conductor born on January 22, 1781 (Mozart was about 25 years old and would only live another ten years.) He was initially taught by his father (what else is new?), and by the age of ten was already playing in public. In 1801, he entered the Paris Conservatory. In the same year, he joined the orchestra of the Opera Comique, but shortly afterwards moved to that of the Opera. In 1817 (at age 36), Habeneck succeeded Rodolphe Kreutzer as concertmaster at the Opera, and in 1821 he became its director, a position which he held until 1846. During that time, he conducted the premiere performances of many operas. In 1828, Habeneck became the founding conductor of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra. By means of this orchestra’s concerts, he introduced Beethoven’s symphonies to a French audience. Paganini once commented, after playing a concert at which Habeneck conducted the accompaniment, that he had the best orchestra in all of Europe. He composed two concertos, small violin pieces, and several songs. Habeneck also wrote a violin method book which was published in 1835. That book curiously incorporates some of Viotti's writings on violin study which, up to that time, had remained unpublished.  In that particular fragment, Viotti (1755-1824) advises strongly that the study of scales should be given great emphasis, something which Paganini, Sivori, Ysaye, and Heifetz also emphasized and recommended for daily practice.  Habeneck died on February 8, 1849, at age 68. A famous Stradivarius violin bears his name. I’ll try to locate a picture of it.