Sascha Jacobsen was a
Russian violinist and teacher born (in Helsinki, Finland) on December 10, 1895. Jacobsen’s birthdate is also given as
November 29, 1895 and December 11, 1895.
Little is known of his early life.
It has been said that he grew up in St Petersburg. He has been often confused with another
violinist (from Philadelphia) named Sascha Jacobson. A humorous song written by George Gershwin in
1921 includes his (first) name (along with those of Jascha, Toscha, and Mischa
– Russian violinists Heifetz, Seidel, and Elman, respectively.) It is known that he enrolled at Juilliard in
1908 where his main teacher was Franz Kneisel.
He graduated from Juilliard (Institute of Musical Art) in June of 1914
(some sources say 1915.) He was 18 years
old. (A fellow-student of his was Elias
Breeskin.) In February of 1915, Jacobsen
played parts of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol at an Aeolian Hall concert. On November 27, 1915, he made his official
recital debut at Aeolian Hall playing (among other things) Saint Saens’ third
concerto. After the announced program
was concluded, he had to play numerous encores and he received very favorable
reviews the following day. He first
soloed with the New York Philharmonic on March 9, 1919 (at age 23) playing
Bruch’s first concerto with Walter Damrosch conducting. Jacobsen concertized as a soloist between
1915 and 1925. He began teaching at
Juilliard in 1926. After being hired, he
almost immediately formed the Musical Art Quartet which disbanded in 1945,
after almost 20 years of concert activity.
Recordings of this quartet are not hard to find. Jacobsen also did solo recordings, although
mostly of short works for violin and piano.
A well-known recording of his is the Chausson concerto for string
quartet, violin, and piano with Jascha Heifetz as violin soloist. You can listen to that recording here. He moved to Los Angeles (California, USA) in
1946 and taught at the Los Angeles Conservatory but at other music schools as
well. From September 1947 and May 1949,
he was guest concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Some sources say he was concertmaster up to
1952 but I could not confirm that. It
has been said that Albert Einstein was one of Jacobsen’s pupils. (Einstein also took lessons from Toscha
Seidel.) Jacobsen’s most famous pupils
are probably Julius Hegyi and Zvi Zeitlin.
Among the violins he played are the Red Diamond Stradivarius (1732), the
Cessole Stradivarius (1716), the Windsor Stradivarius (1717), a GB Guadagnini
(1779), another GB Guadagnini (1772), and a Del Gesu Guarnerius constructed in
1732. Jacobsen died on March 19, 1972,
at age 76.
Cesar
Thomson was a Belgian violinist, teacher, arranger, and composer born (in
Liege, Belgium) on March 18, 1857. Although
he was considered a brilliant violinist in his time, he is now remembered more
for his teaching. He began violin
lessons with his father at age 5 or 6.
By age 7 he had entered the Liege Conservatory where he studied with
Jacques Dupuis, a very strict teacher. (Liege
is about 50 miles east of Brussels, Belgium.)
He also studied with Rodolphe Massart and Desire Heynberg, who also
taught Eugene Ysaye. According to
Grove’s Dictionary, it was said that Thomson, by age 16, had a technique
unrivalled by any other living violinist – the year was 1873, so that is saying
quite a lot. Take it with a grain of
salt. Thomson later studied additionally
with Hubert Leonard, Henryk Wieniawski, and Henri Vieuxtemps. If he was already a superlative, pre-eminent
violinist, it is hard to imagine what it was they taught him. In 1873, he became concertmaster of a private
orchestra (in Switzerland) at the service of Paul von Derwies, a Russian
banker, railroad industrialist, and serious patron of the arts. Thomson stayed for four years and during the
interim, married into the nobility. By
1879, he was assistant concertmaster of Benjamin Bilse’s Band in Berlin, where
Eugene Ysaye was the concertmaster. Thomson
was barely 22 years old - Ysaye was 21. A
few years later, this orchestra would become the Berlin Philharmonic, but not
under the direction of Benjamin Bilse. One
source clearly states that Thomson was concertmaster of the Bilse Band but that
may be due to a tradition in German orchestras of having two or more
concertmasters, making no distinction between two or three leaders in the same
position. By 1882, Thomson was back
where he started, in Liege, teaching at the Liege Conservatory. In 1897, he took over for Eugene Ysaye at the
Brussels Conservatory. He was 40 years
old. A year later, he formed a string
quartet. Many sources state that Thomson
was austere and cerebral in his approach to music - he can perhaps be compared
to Joseph Szigeti. A review of his first
concert in New York City on October 30, 1894, stated the following: “His
treatment of the Bruch concerto [in d minor] proved him to be a player of
substantial force, but it revealed no influential emotional power. It was dignified, well-considered, and thoughtful. Mr. Thomson may be classed with the scholarly
players who interest the mind rather than overwhelm the heart.” On November 9, 1894, he played one of the
violin concertos of Leopold Damrosch with the New York Symphony, Walter
Damrosch conducting. That concerto has
probably not been heard from since, but that I do not know for sure. Thomson toured a great deal in Europe, South
America, and the U.S. Between 1924 and
1927, he taught at Ithaca College (New York) and at Juilliard as well. Students came from faraway places to study
with him. Among Thomson’s pupils are Haydn
Wood, Johan Halvorsen (famous for his Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia for violin
and viola), Paul Kochanski, Adolfo Betti, Antoinette Zoellner, Joseph Zoellner,
Alma Moodie (Carl Flesch’s favorite pupil), Aylmer Buesst, Edwin Grasse (blind violinist and composer), Hugo
Alfven, and Guillermo Uribe Holguin (founder of the National Symphony of
Colombia.) Thomson edited, arranged, and
transcribed music by Arcangelo Corelli, George Frederick Handel, Giuseppe
Tartini, J.S. Bach, Pietro Nardini, and Vitali – I don’t know which of the
Vitalis. Among his own works is a Gypsy
Rhapsody for violin but I don’t know if it has been recorded or even
published. He played a G.B. Guadagnini
violin (1780), a Santo Serafin (constructed in 1740 – later owned for many
years by Zino Francescatti), Giuseppe Guarneri (1703, auctioned in late 1990s
for about $400,000), and an Andrea Guarneri violin (1650) which ended up in a
museum. Thomson died (in Bissone,
Switzerland) on August 21, 1931, at age 74.
In Liege, a street is named after him.
