[EDITOR’S
NOTE.—Among the many noted teachers of European birth who have made America
their home, Henry Schradieck, has always been prominent, despite his naturally
retiring disposition. Born in Hamburg,
April 29th, 1846, the son of a violinist, his whole life has been
spent in music. In 1854 he became a
pupil of Léonard at the famous Conservatory in Brussels. At the end of four years of study under the
famous master he gained the first prize.
In 1864 he became the Professor of Music at Moscow, in the Conservatory
founded by Nicholas Rubinstein. In 1868
he became Auer’s successor as the concertmeister of the Hamburg Philharmonic. In 1874 he went to
Leipsic, where he was concertmeister of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. His next appointment was at the Cincinnati College of Music, where he remained until 1889, when he went back to teach in
the Hamburg Conservatory and act as concertmeister in the Hamburg
Philharmonic. But the call of the New
World was too strong and Schradieck returned to America to lead hundreds of
young American violinists in their educational journey, teaching in New York,
and at the South Broad Street Conservatory in Philadelphia. Mr. Schradieck is probably best known for his
widely used studies for violin. Among
Mr. Schradieck’s famous pupils are John Dunn, Maud Powell and Geraldine
Morgan.]
A PEEP
AT SPOHR.
The child who is born with music on
all sides of him every day of his life hardly knows when his first musical
experiences commence. In my case, my
father was a most enthusiastic but exceptionally retiring and modest
musician. I can barely remember his
rejoicing when he first discovered that I possessed the faculty of absolute
pitch. Walking along the street with him
one day I heard a choral and was able to tell him the names of the notes being
sung. Then he tried me with his violin
and I responded correctly. Accordingly I
was introduced to music lessons at the age of four—earlier than most children
in America commence their school work.
At five I gave a little concert, and at six I was able to play some of
the duets for two violins by Spohr.
At that time Spohr had the importance
of a deity in my little life. He was one
of the great violinists and composers of the day, and his coming and going was
a matter of great consequence in all musical circles. Naturally when he was announced for a concert
in Hamburg my father was all excitement.
Unselfish as he was, father did not think so much of meeting Spohr
himself as having me meet him. One fine
day we set out to go to Spohr’s hotel.
At the outstart my father walked very briskly with the prospect of
meeting the great musician. Gradually,
his natural modesty got the better of him and as we approached the hotel I
noticed that he seemed to be going slower and slower. It must have taken a great deal of courage
for him to go in at all. Word came out
that the “General Music Director” (for that was Spohr’s awe-inspiring title)
was busily engaged in his room. Father
led me to the door of the room and then he bent down and looked through the
keyhole for a moment. After a time he
bade me do the same with the remark, “There, my boy, is the great composer,
violinist and General Music Director Spohr.”
After this he took my hand and we trudged solemnly home. We had seen Spohr.
A
FORTUNATE START.
One day the celebrated violin virtuoso
Teresa Milanollo visited Hamburg. At
that time she was one of the great players of the day. Now, comparatively little is heard of her,
but her life was one of beautiful romance.
Together with the sister Maria, who unfortunately died at the age of
sixteen, she became one of the sensations of musical Europe. The Milanollo sisters were born in a little
Italian village near Turin. Their father
was a poor carpenter, with a family of thirteen children. He was wise enough to recognize the talent of
two of his daughters, and after giving them the best instruction he could
obtain in and about his own home the playing of the girls was so favorably
received that the father and the daughters set out on foot to journey over the
Alps to Paris. Hungry, half-frozen and
exhausted, they reached the city of light only to find that even there success
did not rush forth to greet all who passed through the portals of the great
city. But the talent of the girls was so
evident that they soon attracted wide attention. The playing of Teresa was characterized by
great emotional warmth, and she accordingly was known as Mademoiselle Adagio,
while the playing of her sister was sparkling and bright and she accordingly
was called Mademoiselle Staccato.
Teresa studied for a time with Habeneck and de Bériot. She made a
fortuitous marriage, and her later years were spent in charitable
pursuits. She used to give concerts in
Lyons charging a large fee for admission.
A few days later she would give a concert at which the poor of the city
were admitted without charge, and the earnings of the previous concert for the
rich were handed back to the poor in the shape of needed clothing and
food. One may imagine the halo that
surrounded such a personality, and when she played in my native town, my father
was very anxious to meet her. My father
was a member of the orchestra, and after the concert I went on the stage. With the curiosity of the boy, and much to my
father’s dismay, I picked up the great artist’s violin and commenced to play
upon it. Mme. Milanollo was extremely
kind and urged me to play more and more, and at the end took our breath way by
saying that she would defray the cost of my lessons with the great Léonard at
Brussels. We went to her hotel the next
day and arrangements were completed for the trip and she took me to Léonard and
paid my expenses for two years.
Encouraged by her example, good friends of my father in Hamburg came to
the front and paid for two additional years so that I had the wonderful good
fortune to be under the great master of the violin for a sufficient time to
establish correct principles and mould my career for the future. Fortunately this came in my most
impressionable years when I was willing to lend myself to the advice of so
distinguished a musician as Léonard.
Léonard was the successor of de Beriot
at the Brussels Conservatoire. As is
generally known, in addition to being a teacher he had been a distinguished
performer. In fact he was the first to
play the famous Mendelssohn violin concerto in Berlin under the direction of
the composer. He was an especially painstaking
teacher and remarkably thorough in certain branches of technic. He was noted for his wonderful playing of
arpeggios and staccato passages. His
right arm technic was nothing short of marvelous. In that day such technical studies as we know
them now were practically unknown or, perhaps we should say, little used. The pupil went to the master who had a
general idea of how his progress should be mapped out, and day after day he
tried harder and harder to excel in more difficult passages. Léonard was like a father to me. I was constantly under his care and every day
I learned something new. Although I was
one of the first to introduce studies in the modern sense of the term in the
literature of the violin, I nevertheless cannot help feeling that the whole
matter of studies is somewhat over-done.
Given a teacher of the type of Léonard—a real master—and a pupil who
earnestly aspires to please that teacher in all things, and we have an ideal
combination. The teacher would have the
ability and consideration which would prompt him to compose special technical
studies for the deficiencies of the pupil.
But there is only a Léonard here and there through the centuries, and
those less gifted must of course have material prepared for them. At least, that was the kind of a teacher I
found in Léonard. Later I went to
Leipsic where I studied under the great David.
Wilhelmj was in the same class and we lived under the same roof for a
considerable time. Boyhood friends, as
we then were, we dreamed of the future but saw little of what the future years
had in store for us.
RUSSIAN
EXPERIENCES.
My first professional engagement was at
Bremen, where I was made concertmeister of the Symphony orchestra when I was
eighteen years of age. At the time a
rich Russian merchant was endeavoring to build up the musical life of Moscow
and an opportunity was made for me in that city in the conservatory founded by
Nicholas Rubinstein. I had the good
fortune to be one of the very first teachers.
The language spoken was French, and as I had had a long experience in
that language with Léonard in Brussels I felt quite comfortable in going to
that city. I lived in the home of
Nicholas Rubinstein and his famous bother Anton came to visit his brother very
often, as did such artists as Laub and Wieniawski. Anton Rubinstein played indefatigably every
day. I can see him now with a cigarette
in his mouth working industriously at the keyboard. Indeed he would play for two or three hours
at a time. Nicholas Rubinstein’s playing
was in some ways much surer than that of Anton, but it lacked the warmth that
the genius of Anton brought into everything he did. Rubinstein had a way of forming his exercises
from the difficult passages in the pieces he played. These he would repeat time and again until a
certain passage went right. Not every
one has the inventive skill to do this, and there must of course be books of
exercises for many, but for a Rubinstein any other course would have been
inconceivable after the foundation work in finger exercises, scales, arpeggios
and octaves has been passed.
It was at this time that Tchaikowsky
came to Moscow as a very young and very talented man. How little one may look into the future. While we all realized that the Russian was
unusual in his work there was hardly one there who would have predicted that he
ever would have been ranked with the great masters. This was in a large measure due to his great
modesty. Although he was very genial his
whole demeanor was so quiet and retiring that far too little notice was given
to him. He had just completed his
studies and became the teacher of theory at the conservatory. He also lived for a time at the home of
Nicholas Rubinstein. He worked day and
night, and for this reason kept pretty much to himself. He had great ideals and great ideas. Generous in all other things, he was somewhat
selfish with the time required to work them out. His first symphony was produced at Moscow,
and while it attracted favorable attention he had yet to convince the musical
world that he was a composer of first rank.
Enjoy Tchaikowsky's first symphony, peformed by the State Symphony Orchestra (USSR), Evgeny Svetlanov, conducting:
In 1868 I went to Hamburg as concert
master of the Philharmonic, as the successor of Leopold Auer, who then went to
St. Petersburg as the successor of Wieniawski, where he later became the
teacher of Mischa Elman and other successful violinists of the present day.
I remember one incident in connection
with the life of Richard Wagner which may be interesting to ETUDE readers. Wagner made numerous tours for the purpose of
gaining additional support in his great project at Bayreuth. He appeared in Hamburg as a conductor. In playing the violin part of this Magic Fire music from Die Walkure I had great difficulty in
keeping the violins together as a body.
I thought to myself, “How can anyone write music which is next to
impossible to play rightly and at the same time keep in touch with
others.” I evidently expressed my
discomfort with a frown. Wagner turned
quickly and noted my expression.
Although I could barely see him I had the feeling that all people have
when they are conscious of being observed.
Finally Wagner broke out, “Why are you making such a hostile, angry
face?” I explained the difficulty and he
laughed it away with the remark, “Don’t try to get it exactly as it is
written. I never expected that when I
wrote it. I strive for effects. Play this passage with slight irregularity
and it will give just the shimmering effect that I desire. It is not how it sounds to you but how it
will sound at the back of the auditorium that will count.”
Enjoy Bryn Terfel's performance of the "Magic Fire" music from Wagner's "Die Walkure":
After six years I went to Leipsic to
take the place of David at the Conservatory and as Concertmeister of the
Gewandhaus Orchestra under Reinecke. The
great orchestra frequently played in the theatre, and with it all I was badly
overworked and had to give up part of my duties at the end of the year. One of the most gratifying experiences one
may have in Leipsic is the opportunity to meet distinguished musicians. Now and then I see all of the famous faces
passing before me and the recollection of great personalities is certainly one
of the most pleasant of all experiences.
THE PROMISE
OF AMERICA.
The promise of musical America is
indescribably great. I say promise,
because, with all the achievements of recent years, all the fine operative
performances, symphony orchestras, schools, publishers, contributing to
American musical progress we are still only at the beginning of America’s
musical greatness. No other country is
so cosmopolitan in its scope or in it ideals.
All the world looks to America for great deeds, strong men and women in
all arts and professions, generous support of high ideals and constant activity
in all directions. Europe is gradually
being relieved of the idea that America is purely a “dollarland.” In addition to the immense contribution of
money being constantly made for musical development in America there is
something better. Thousands of students
are devoting their lives to music, and still more thousands of amateurs are
giving their time and energy to music, just for the joy they find in it. Were it not for this desire to study music,
to find out more about it, to make one’s self accomplished in singing or the
performance of some instrument, American music would be in a sad state. Of course one takes a national pride in the
appearance of a new and great virtuoso or a brilliant composer, but after all the
musical strength of a nation is in the number of skilled music lovers who take
a little time from their daily work to devote to music, and who will see that
their children have the benefit of a thorough musical training along the lines
of the highest principles of the art. I
have lived in America a score of years.
It is my home and naturally I am anxious to see nothing left undone to
promote American musical ideals.
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