http://heathenharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/walpurgisnacht-i
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Only Lovers Left Alive Soundtrack
All The Songs In "Only Lovers Left Alive"
"Funnel Of Love" - Wanda Jackson
"Harissa" - Kasbah Rockers
"Caprice No. 5 in A Minor" - Charles Yang
"Gamil" - Y.A.S.
"Can't Hardly Stand It" - Charlie Feathers
"Trapped By A Thing Called Love" - Denise LaSalle
"Soul Dracula" - Hot Blood
"Under Skin Or By Name" - White Hills
"Red Eyes And Tears" - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
"Little Village" - Bill Laswell
"Hal" - Yasmine Hamdan
02. Funnel Of Love - SQÜRL (featuring Madeline Follin)
03. Sola Gratia (Part 1) - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
04. The Taste Of Blood - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
05. Diamond Star - SQÜRL
06. Please Feel Free To Piss In The Garden - SQÜRL
07. Spooky Action At A Distance - SQÜRL
08. Streets Of Tangier - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
09. In Templum Dei - Jozef Van Wissem (featuring Zola Jesus)
10. Sola Gratia (Part 2) - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
11. Our Hearts Condemn Us - Jozef Van Wissem
12. Hal - Yasmine Hamdan
13. Only Lovers Left Alive - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
14. This Is Your Wilderness - Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/listen-jim-jarmuschs-the-taste-of-blood-from-only-lovers-left-alive-plus-all-the-songs-in-the-film-more-20140128
Mississippi Blues
http://photos.msn.com/slideshow/entertainment/mississippi-blues/23y9o3ux
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Thistle and Shamrock Playlist
| September 6, 2012 |
Program 1528: On the Road (September 6, 2012) Week 36
Today's working musicians offer us contemporary verses of the travelling artists' lifestyles, continuing a long-established tradition of celebrating itinerant work ways in song.
Ride On…by Christy Moore from Ride On (Green Linnet)
Never Tire of the Road…by Andy Irvine from Rude Awakening (Green Linnet)
The Rain Journey North…by The Easy Club from The Easy Club (Greentrax)
Ramblin' Irishman…by Andy M. Stewart from Donegal Rain (Green Linnet)
To Pad the Road wi' Me…by Ossian from Seal Song (Iona)
The Beggar Man…by Malinky from Last Leaves (Greentrax)
Bonny Glenshee… by Jim Malcolm from Home (Beltane)
ID Excerpt: Waltzes: The Innocent Railway/Daphne's Trousers/A Bruxa…by The Easy Club from The Easy Club (Greentrax)
Seven Yellow Gypsies…by Dolores Keane from There Was a Maid (Claddagh)
The Shaskenn Reel…by Dolores Keane from There Was a Maid (Claddagh)
The Rovin Ploughboy…by Malinky from 3 Ravens (Greentrax)
Light on a Distant Shore: Arrival/New York Harbour/Art Work on the Land/In the New World…by Ossian from Light on a Distant Shore (Iona)
Home…by Dougie MacLean from Inside the Thunder (Dunkeld)
Rest and Be Thankful…by Battlefield Band from Out for the Night (Temple)
Ryan's Rambles…by Al Petteway from Land of the Sky (Maggie's Music)
Today's working musicians offer us contemporary verses of the travelling artists' lifestyles, continuing a long-established tradition of celebrating itinerant work ways in song.
Ride On…by Christy Moore from Ride On (Green Linnet)
Never Tire of the Road…by Andy Irvine from Rude Awakening (Green Linnet)
The Rain Journey North…by The Easy Club from The Easy Club (Greentrax)
Ramblin' Irishman…by Andy M. Stewart from Donegal Rain (Green Linnet)
To Pad the Road wi' Me…by Ossian from Seal Song (Iona)
The Beggar Man…by Malinky from Last Leaves (Greentrax)
Bonny Glenshee… by Jim Malcolm from Home (Beltane)
ID Excerpt: Waltzes: The Innocent Railway/Daphne's Trousers/A Bruxa…by The Easy Club from The Easy Club (Greentrax)
Seven Yellow Gypsies…by Dolores Keane from There Was a Maid (Claddagh)
The Shaskenn Reel…by Dolores Keane from There Was a Maid (Claddagh)
The Rovin Ploughboy…by Malinky from 3 Ravens (Greentrax)
Light on a Distant Shore: Arrival/New York Harbour/Art Work on the Land/In the New World…by Ossian from Light on a Distant Shore (Iona)
Home…by Dougie MacLean from Inside the Thunder (Dunkeld)
Rest and Be Thankful…by Battlefield Band from Out for the Night (Temple)
Ryan's Rambles…by Al Petteway from Land of the Sky (Maggie's Music)
| August 30, 2012 |
Program 1527: Jean Redpath (August 30, 2012) Week 35
Singer Jean Redpath first travelled from Scotland to the U.S. in 1961 and was soon immersed in the American folk scene. Since then, she has performed throughout the world, released over forty recordings, and won the hearts of public radio listeners through her many appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. Host Fiona Ritchie met up with Jean to reminisce about five decades of sharing song.
“Redpath is something very close to Scotland's folksinger laureate and certainly the world's preeminent interpreter of Burns' songs. Her deep, sandy voice is a marvelous ballad instrument, its naturalness concealing awesome control."
— The Boston Globe"
The Lass o' Gowrie...by Jean Redpath from Will Ye No Come Back Again? (Greentrax)
The Kirk Swaree...by Jean Redpath from Now & Then (Jean Redpath)
Mill o' Tifty's Annie...by Jean Redpath from Song of the Seals (New Rounder)
With God On Our Side...by Bob Dylan from The Times they Are A-Changin' (Columbia)
[ID excerpt] Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey...by Alasdair Fraser, Jay Unger, Abby Newton from Jean Redpath's album Leaving the Land (Rounder)
My Love, She's But a Lassie Yet...by Jean Redpath from The Songs of Robert Burns, Vol 7 (Greentrax)
O, Merry Hae I Been...by Jean Redpath from The Songs of Robert Burns, Vol 7 (Greentrax)
Tuna the Food of My Soul...by Jean Redpath, Garrison Keillor, Prudence Johnston, Philip Brunelle from Prairie Home Comedy, Vol 2 (High Bridge)
Quiet...by Jean Redpath from Now & Then (Jean Redpath)
The Minstrel Show...by Garrison Keillor, Jean Redpath, Kate MacKenzie and the cast from A Prairie Home Companion Final Performance, Vol 2 (High Bridge)
Friday, July 11, 2014
Tommy Ramone Breaks on Through
Tommy Ramone, RIP: Last original member of Ramones passes
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/tommy_ramone_rip_last_original_member_of_ramones_passes
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Saturday, July 5, 2014
The Day Job | Wisconsin Public Radio
The Day Job | Wisconsin Public Radio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, Russian Empire.
His father, Tobiasz Pietruszka (Wolf Helman), was the son of a Jewish
barber named Herschel Meyer Helman, from the Jewish Lublin neighborhood
of Wieniawa, when barbers were also practicing dentists, healers, and
bloodletters. Wolf Helman, also known as Tobiasz Pietruszka, changed his
name to Tadeusz Wieniawski, taking on the name of his neighborhood to
blend into his Polish environment better. Prior to obtaining his medical
degree, he had converted to Catholicism.
He married Regina Wolff, the daughter of a noted Jewish physician from
Warsaw,and out of this marriage Henryk was born. Henryk's talent for playing
the violin was recognized early, and in 1843 he entered the Paris Conservatoire,
where special exceptions were made to admit him, as he wasn't French
and was only nine years old. After graduation, Henryk toured extensively
and gave many recitals, where he was often accompanied by his brother Józef on piano. In 1847, he published his first opus, a Grand Caprice Fantastique, the start of a catalogue of 24 opus numbers.
When his engagement to Isabella Hampton was opposed by her parents, Wieniawski wrote Légende, Op. 17; this work helped his parents change their mind, and the couple married in 1860.
At the invitation of Anton Rubinstein, Wieniawski moved to St. Petersburg, where he lived from 1860 to 1872, taught many violin students, and led the Russian Musical Society's orchestra and string quartet. From 1872 to 1874, Wieniawski toured the United States with Rubinstein. Wieniawski replaced Henri Vieuxtemps as violin professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in 1875.
During his residence in Brussels, Wieniawski's health declined, and
he often had to stop in the middle of his concerts. He started a tour of
Russia in 1879 but was unable to complete it, and was taken to a
hospital in Odessa after a concert. On 14 February 1880, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's patroness Nadezhda von Meck took him into her home and provided him with medical attention.[1][2] His friends also arranged a benefit concert to help provide for his family. He died in Moscow a few weeks later from a heart attack and was interred in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
His daughter Régine Wieniawski, born in Brussels the year before his
death, also became a composer. She published her early works as "Irène
Wieniawska," but after marrying Sir Aubrey Dean Paul and becoming a
British subject, she used the pseudonym "Poldowski."[3] Another daughter, Henriette, would go on to marry Joseph Holland Loring in 1904, who was among the victims of the Titanic disaster.
Wieniawski was a player in the Beethoven Quartet Society in London, where he also performed on viola.
Henryk Wieniawski was considered a violinist of great ability and wrote some very important works in the violin repertoire, including two technically demanding violin concertos, the second of which (in D minor, 1862) is more often performed than the first (in F-sharp minor, 1853). His L'École moderne: 10 Études-caprices is a very well known work for aspiring violinists. His Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op.16 and Légende,
Op.17 are also frequently performed works. He also wrote two popular
mazurkas for solo violin and piano accompaniment (the second one, Obertas, in G major), using techniques such as left-hand pizzicato, harmonics, large leaps, and many double stops.
Wieniawski was given a number of posthumous honours. His portrait
appeared on a postage stamp of Poland in 1952 and again in 1957. A 100 złoty coin was issued in 1979 bearing his image.
What is commonly called the "Russian bow grip" is sometimes called
the "Wieniawski bow grip", as Wieniawski taught his students his own
kind of very rigid bowing technique (like the Russian grip) that allowed
him to play what he called a "devil's staccato" with ease. This
"devil's staccato" was used to discipline students' technique.
The first violin competition named after Wieniawski took place in Warsaw in 1935. Ginette Neveu took first prize, David Oistrakh second, and Henri Temianka third. The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition has been held every five years since 1952.
Published works, with opus numbers
- Grand Caprice Fantastique, Op. 1
- Allegro de Sonate, Op. 2
- Souvenir de Posen, Op. 3
- Polonaise de Concert No. 1, Op. 4 (sometimes known as Polonaise Brillante)
- Adagio Élégiaque, Op. 5
- Souvenir de Moscow, 2 Russian Romances, Op. 6 (in this work he quoted Alexander Egorovich Varlamov's song The Red Sarafan)
- Capriccio-Valse, Op. 7
- Grand Duo Polonaise for Violin and Piano, Op. 8
- Romance sans Paroles et Rondo elegant, Op. 9
- L'École Moderne, 10 Études-Caprices for Violin Solo, Op. 10
- Le Carnaval Russe, Improvisations and Variations, Op. 11
- 2 Mazurkas de Salon, Sielanka et Piesn Polska (Chanson polonaise), Op. 12
- Fantasie Pastorale, Op. 13 (Lost)
- Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 14
- Thème Original Varié, Op. 15
- Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op. 16
- Légende, Op. 17
- 8 Études-Caprices for 2 violins, Op. 18
- 2 Mazurkas caractéristiques, Obertass et Dudziarz (Le Ménétrier),
Op. 19 (NB. No 2 is known as both 'The Bagpipe Player' [ABRSM Vln Gr
VIII Syllabus], and 'The Village Fiddler' [Naxos Records]) - Fantaisie Brillante sur Faust de Gounod, Op. 20
- Polonaise Brillante, Op. 21
- Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22
- Gigue in E minor, Op. 23
- Fantasie Orientale, Op. 24
Unpublished works, and works without opus numbers
- Wariacje na Temat Własnego Mazurka (c. 1847)
- Aria with Variations in E major (before 1848)
- Fantasia and Variations in E major (1848)
- Nocturne for solo violin (1848)
- Romance (c. 1848)
- Rondo Alla Polacca in E minor (1848)
- Duo Concertant on themes from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (c. 1850)
- Duo Concertant na Temat Hymnu Rosyjskiego A. Lwowa (c. 1850)
- Duo Concertant na Temat Rosyjskiej Melodii Ludowej (c. 1850)
- Fantasia on themes from Meyerbeer's Le prophète (oc. 1850)
- Mazur Wiejski (c. 1850)
- Fantasia on themes from Grétry's Richard Coeur-de-lion (c. 1851)
- Duet on themes from Finnish songs (c. 1851)
- Two Mazurkas (1851)
- March (1851)
- Kujawiak in A minor (1853)
- Wariacje na Temat Hymnu Rosyjskiego (c. 1851)
- Wariacje na Temat "Jechał Kozak Zza Dunaju" (c. 1851)
- Variations on the Austrian Hymn (1853)
- Rozumiem, pieśń na głos z fortepianem (1854)
- Souvenir de Lublin, concert polka (c. 1855)
- Fantasia on themes from Bellini's La sonnambula (c. 1855)
- Reminiscences of San Francisco (c. 1874)
- Kujawiak in C major
- Polonaise Triomphale
- Reverie in F sharp minor na Altówkę i Fortepian
- Violin Concerto No. 3 in A minor? (1878, unpublished, disappeared? Premiered in Moscow, December 27, 1878)[4]
References
- Classical Archives
- David Mason Greene, Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers
- Three pieces (University of Southern California
collection Mus.6024 - Mus.6027)) with ms dedications to the violinist
Paul Kochański noted by Tyrone Greive, " Kochański's Collaborative Work
As Reflected in His Manuscript Collection" Polish Music Journal 1.1, (Summer 1998); (on-line text). - Mentioned in Grabkowski's Henryk Wieniawski (Warsaw : Interpress, 1986) and at http://pronetoviolins.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html .
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leopold Auer (Hungarian: Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845 – July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, conductor and composer
Auer was born in Veszprém in 1845 in a Jewish household. He first studied violin with a local concertmaster. He later continued his studies with Ridley Kohné in Budapest. A debut with the Mendelssohn concerto aroused the interest of some wealthy patrons, who sent him to Vienna for further study under a scholarship. He lived at the home of his teacher, Jakob Dont.
In his memoirs, Auer wrote that Dont was the one who taught him the
foundation for his violin technique. In Vienna he also attended quartet classes with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
By the time Auer was 13, the scholarship money had run out. His
father decided to launch his career. The income from provincial concerts
was barely enough to keep father and son out of poverty. An audition
with Henri Vieuxtemps in Graz was a failure. A visit to Paris proved equally unsuccessful. Auer decided to seek the advice of Joseph Joachim, then royal concertmaster at Hanover.
The two years Auer spent with Joachim (1861–63) proved a turning point
in his career. More than through lessons, he learned through observation
and association. He was already well prepared as a violinist. What
proved revelatory was exposure to the world of German music making—a
world that stresses musical values over virtuoso glitter. Auer later
wrote,
During that time he held the position of first violinist to the
orchestra of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. This included the
principal venue of the Imperial Ballet and Opera, the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (until 1886), and later the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, as well as the Imperial Theatres of Peterhof and the Hermitage. For nearly 50 years, Auer performed almost all of the violin solos in the ballets performed by the Imperial Ballet, the majority of which were the work of the choreographer Marius Petipa. Many of the noted ballet composers of the day, such as Cesare Pugni, Ludwig Minkus, Riccardo Drigo, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Alexander Glazunov, wrote the violin solos of their scores especially for his talents.
Sometime around 1870, Leopold decided to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.[2]
Until 1906 he was also leader of the string quartet for the Russian Musical Society
(RMS). This quartet's concerts were as integral a part of the Saint
Petersburg musical scene as their counterparts led by Joachim in Berlin.
Criticism arose in later years of less-than-perfect ensemble and
insufficient attention to contemporary Russian music. Nevertheless,
Auer's group performed quartets by Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The group also played music by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, along with Louis Spohr, Joachim Raff and other secondary German composers.
Auer also continued performing sonatas with many great pianists. His favorite recital partner was Anna Yesipova, with whom he appeared until her death in 1914. Other partners included Anton Rubinstein, Theodor Leschetizky, Raoul Pugno, Sergei Taneyev and Eugen d'Albert.
In the 1890s, he performed cycles of all 10 Beethoven violin sonatas.
He also introduced the violin and piano sonatas of Brahms.
n 1918 he moved to the United States. He played at Carnegie Hall on March 23, 1918 and also performed in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. He taught some private students at his home on Manhattan's Upper West Side. In 1926 he joined the Institute of Musical Art (later to become the Juilliard School). In 1928 he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He died in 1930 in Loschwitz, a suburb of Dresden, Germany and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
was especially taken with Auer's playing. Reviewing an 1874 appearance
in Moscow, Tchaikovsky praised Auer's "great expressivity, the
thoughtful finesse and poetry of the interpretation."[3]
This finesse and poetry came at a tremendous price. Auer suffered as a
performer from poorly formed hands. He had to work incessantly, with an
iron determination, just to keep his technique in shape. He wrote, "My
hands are so weak and their conformation is so poor that when I have not
played the violin for several successive days, and then take up the
instrument, I feel as if I had altogether lost the facility of playing."[4]
Despite this handicap, Auer achieved much through constant work. His
tone was small but ingratiating, his technique polished and elegant. His
playing lacked fire, but he made up for it with a classic nobility.
After he arrived in the United States, he made some recordings
which bear this out. They show the violinist in excellent shape
technically, with impeccable intonation, incisive rhythm and tasteful
playing.
His musical tastes were conservative and refined. He liked virtuoso works by Henri Vieuxtemps and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and used those works in his teaching. Once a student objected to playing Ernst's Othello Fantasy
because it was bad music. Auer did not back down. "You'll play it until
it sounds like good music," he thundered at the student, "and you'll
play nothing else."[5] He played little Bach. Never did he ever assign any of Bach's solo concertos to a student. The Double Concerto, however, was one of his favorites.[citation needed]
Auer was also active as a conductor. He was in charge of
the Russian Musical Society
orchestral concerts intermittently in
the 1880s and 90s. He was always
willing to mount the podium to
accompany a famous foreign soloist—as he
did when Joachim visited Russia—
and did the same for his students
concertizing abroad
Auer is remembered as one of the most important pedagogues of the
violin, and was one of the most sought-after teachers for gifted pupils.
Many famous virtuoso violinists were among his pupils, including Mischa Elman, Konstanty Gorski, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Toscha Seidel, Efrem Zimbalist, Georges Boulanger, Benno Rabinof, Kathleen Parlow, Oscar Shumsky, Paul Stassevitch, and Sasha Lasserson. Auer also taught the young Clara Rockmore,[6] who later became one of the world's foremost exponents of the theremin.
Like pianist Franz Liszt
in his teaching, Auer did not focus on technical matters with his
students. Instead, he guided their interpretations and concepts of
music. If a student ran into a technical problem, Auer did not offer any
solutions. Neither was he inclined to pick up a bow to demonstrate a
passage. Nevertheless, he was a stickler for technical accuracy. Fearing
to ask Auer themselves, many students turned to each other for help.
(Paradoxically, in the years before 1900 when Auer focused more closely
on technical details, he did not turn out any significant students.)
While Auer valued talent, he considered it no excuse for lack of
discipline, sloppiness or absenteeism. He demanded punctual attendance.
He expected intelligent work habits and attention to detail. Lessons
were as grueling as recital performances—in fact, the two were
practically identical.
In lieu of weekly lessons, students were required to bring a complete
movement of a major work. This usually demanded more than a week to
prepare. Once a student felt ready to play this work, he had to inscribe
his name 10 days prior to the class meeting. The student was expected
to have his instrument concert ready and to be dressed accordingly. An
accompanist was provided. An audience watched—comprised not only of
students and parents, but also often of distinguished guests and
prominent musicians. Auer arrived for the lesson punctually; everything
was supposed to be in place by the time he arrived. During the lesson,
Auer would walk around the room, observing, correcting, exhorting,
scolding, shaping the interpretation. "We did not dare cross the
threshold of the classroom with a half-ready performance," one student
remembered.
Admission to Auer's class was a privilege won by talent. Remaining
there was a test of endurance and hard work. Auer could be stern,
severe, harsh. One unfortunate student was ejected regularly, with the
music thrown after him. Auer valued musical vitality and enthusiasm. He
hated lifeless, anemic playing and was not above poking a bow into a
student's ribs, demanding more "krov." (The word literally means "blood" but can also be used to mean fire or vivacity.)
While Auer pushed his students to their limits, he also remained
devoted to them. He remained solicitous of their material needs. He
helped them obtain scholarships, patrons and better instruments. He used
his influence in high government offices to obtain residence permits
for his Jewish
students. He shaped his students' personalities. He gave them style,
taste, musical breeding. He also broadened their horizons. He made them
read books, guided their behavior and career choices and polish their
social graces. He also insisted that his students learn a foreign
language if an international career was expected.
Even after a student started a career, Auer would watch with a
paternal eye. He wrote countless letters of recommendation to conductors
and concert agents. When Mischa Elman was preparing for his London
debut, Auer traveled there to coach him. He also continued work with
Efrem Zimbalist and Kathleen Parlow after their debuts.
In his memoirs, Auer wrote that Dont was the one who taught him the
foundation for his violin technique. In Vienna he also attended quartet classes with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
By the time Auer was 13, the scholarship money had run out. His
father decided to launch his career. The income from provincial concerts
was barely enough to keep father and son out of poverty. An audition
with Henri Vieuxtemps in Graz was a failure. A visit to Paris proved equally unsuccessful. Auer decided to seek the advice of Joseph Joachim, then royal concertmaster at Hanover.
The two years Auer spent with Joachim (1861–63) proved a turning point
in his career. More than through lessons, he learned through observation
and association. He was already well prepared as a violinist. What
proved revelatory was exposure to the world of German music making—a
world that stresses musical values over virtuoso glitter. Auer later
wrote,
Joachim was an inspiration for me and opened before my eyes horizonsAuer returned to the concert stage in 1864. Success led to his becoming concertmaster in Düsseldorf. In 1866, he assumed the same position in Hamburg; he also held a string quartet there. On a visit to London in 1868, he was invited to perform Beethoven's Archduke Trio with pianist Anton Rubinstein and cellist Alfredo Piatti. Rubinstein was in search for a violin professor for the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and he suggested Auer. Auer agreed to a three year contract; he would actually stay for 49 years.
of that greater art of which until then I had lived in ignorance. With
him I worked not only with my hands but with my head, studying the
scores of the great masters and endeavoring to penetrate the very heart
of their works.... I [also] played a great deal of chamber music with my
fellow students.[1]
During that time he held the position of first violinist to the
orchestra of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. This included the
principal venue of the Imperial Ballet and Opera, the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (until 1886), and later the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, as well as the Imperial Theatres of Peterhof and the Hermitage. For nearly 50 years, Auer performed almost all of the violin solos in the ballets performed by the Imperial Ballet, the majority of which were the work of the choreographer Marius Petipa. Many of the noted ballet composers of the day, such as Cesare Pugni, Ludwig Minkus, Riccardo Drigo, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Alexander Glazunov, wrote the violin solos of their scores especially for his talents.
Sometime around 1870, Leopold decided to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.[2]
Until 1906 he was also leader of the string quartet for the Russian Musical Society
(RMS). This quartet's concerts were as integral a part of the Saint
Petersburg musical scene as their counterparts led by Joachim in Berlin.
Criticism arose in later years of less-than-perfect ensemble and
insufficient attention to contemporary Russian music. Nevertheless,
Auer's group performed quartets by Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The group also played music by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, along with Louis Spohr, Joachim Raff and other secondary German composers.
Auer also continued performing sonatas with many great pianists. His favorite recital partner was Anna Yesipova, with whom he appeared until her death in 1914. Other partners included Anton Rubinstein, Theodor Leschetizky, Raoul Pugno, Sergei Taneyev and Eugen d'Albert.
In the 1890s, he performed cycles of all 10 Beethoven violin sonatas.
He also introduced the violin and piano sonatas of Brahms.
n 1918 he moved to the United States. He played at Carnegie Hall on March 23, 1918 and also performed in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. He taught some private students at his home on Manhattan's Upper West Side. In 1926 he joined the Institute of Musical Art (later to become the Juilliard School). In 1928 he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He died in 1930 in Loschwitz, a suburb of Dresden, Germany and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
was especially taken with Auer's playing. Reviewing an 1874 appearance
in Moscow, Tchaikovsky praised Auer's "great expressivity, the
thoughtful finesse and poetry of the interpretation."[3]
This finesse and poetry came at a tremendous price. Auer suffered as a
performer from poorly formed hands. He had to work incessantly, with an
iron determination, just to keep his technique in shape. He wrote, "My
hands are so weak and their conformation is so poor that when I have not
played the violin for several successive days, and then take up the
instrument, I feel as if I had altogether lost the facility of playing."[4]
Despite this handicap, Auer achieved much through constant work. His
tone was small but ingratiating, his technique polished and elegant. His
playing lacked fire, but he made up for it with a classic nobility.
After he arrived in the United States, he made some recordings
which bear this out. They show the violinist in excellent shape
technically, with impeccable intonation, incisive rhythm and tasteful
playing.
His musical tastes were conservative and refined. He liked virtuoso works by Henri Vieuxtemps and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and used those works in his teaching. Once a student objected to playing Ernst's Othello Fantasy
because it was bad music. Auer did not back down. "You'll play it until
it sounds like good music," he thundered at the student, "and you'll
play nothing else."[5] He played little Bach. Never did he ever assign any of Bach's solo concertos to a student. The Double Concerto, however, was one of his favorites.[citation needed]
Auer was also active as a conductor. He was in charge of
the Russian Musical Society
orchestral concerts intermittently in
the 1880s and 90s. He was always
willing to mount the podium to
accompany a famous foreign soloist—as he
did when Joachim visited Russia—
and did the same for his students
concertizing abroad
Auer is remembered as one of the most important pedagogues of the
violin, and was one of the most sought-after teachers for gifted pupils.
Many famous virtuoso violinists were among his pupils, including Mischa Elman, Konstanty Gorski, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Toscha Seidel, Efrem Zimbalist, Georges Boulanger, Benno Rabinof, Kathleen Parlow, Oscar Shumsky, Paul Stassevitch, and Sasha Lasserson. Auer also taught the young Clara Rockmore,[6] who later became one of the world's foremost exponents of the theremin.
Like pianist Franz Liszt
in his teaching, Auer did not focus on technical matters with his
students. Instead, he guided their interpretations and concepts of
music. If a student ran into a technical problem, Auer did not offer any
solutions. Neither was he inclined to pick up a bow to demonstrate a
passage. Nevertheless, he was a stickler for technical accuracy. Fearing
to ask Auer themselves, many students turned to each other for help.
(Paradoxically, in the years before 1900 when Auer focused more closely
on technical details, he did not turn out any significant students.)
While Auer valued talent, he considered it no excuse for lack of
discipline, sloppiness or absenteeism. He demanded punctual attendance.
He expected intelligent work habits and attention to detail. Lessons
were as grueling as recital performances—in fact, the two were
practically identical.
In lieu of weekly lessons, students were required to bring a complete
movement of a major work. This usually demanded more than a week to
prepare. Once a student felt ready to play this work, he had to inscribe
his name 10 days prior to the class meeting. The student was expected
to have his instrument concert ready and to be dressed accordingly. An
accompanist was provided. An audience watched—comprised not only of
students and parents, but also often of distinguished guests and
prominent musicians. Auer arrived for the lesson punctually; everything
was supposed to be in place by the time he arrived. During the lesson,
Auer would walk around the room, observing, correcting, exhorting,
scolding, shaping the interpretation. "We did not dare cross the
threshold of the classroom with a half-ready performance," one student
remembered.
Admission to Auer's class was a privilege won by talent. Remaining
there was a test of endurance and hard work. Auer could be stern,
severe, harsh. One unfortunate student was ejected regularly, with the
music thrown after him. Auer valued musical vitality and enthusiasm. He
hated lifeless, anemic playing and was not above poking a bow into a
student's ribs, demanding more "krov." (The word literally means "blood" but can also be used to mean fire or vivacity.)
While Auer pushed his students to their limits, he also remained
devoted to them. He remained solicitous of their material needs. He
helped them obtain scholarships, patrons and better instruments. He used
his influence in high government offices to obtain residence permits
for his Jewish
students. He shaped his students' personalities. He gave them style,
taste, musical breeding. He also broadened their horizons. He made them
read books, guided their behavior and career choices and polish their
social graces. He also insisted that his students learn a foreign
language if an international career was expected.
Even after a student started a career, Auer would watch with a
paternal eye. He wrote countless letters of recommendation to conductors
and concert agents. When Mischa Elman was preparing for his London
debut, Auer traveled there to coach him. He also continued work with
Efrem Zimbalist and Kathleen Parlow after their debuts.
A number of composers dedicated pieces to Auer. One such case was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto,
which, however, he initially chose not to play. This was not because he
regarded the work as "unplayable", as some sources say, but because he
felt that "some of the passages were not suited to the character of the
instrument, and that, however perfectly rendered, they would not sound
as well as the composer had imagined". He did play the work later in his
career, with the alterations in certain passages that he felt were
necessary. Performances of the Tchaikovsky concerto by his students
(with the exception of Nathan Milstein's) were also based on Auer's edition. Another work Tchaikovsky had dedicated to Auer was the Sérénade mélancolique of 1875. After their conflict over the Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky also withdrew the Sérénade's dedication to Auer.
Auer wrote a small number of works for his instrument, including the Rhapsodie hongroise for violin and piano. He also wrote a number of cadenzas for other composers' violin concertos including those by Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Brahms (see Beethoven Violin Concerto and Brahms Violin Concerto). He also wrote three books: Violin Playing as I Teach It (1920), My Long Life in Music (1923) and Violin Master Works and Their Interpretation (1925). He also wrote an arrangement for Paganini's
24th Caprice (with Schumann's piano accompaniment)later performed by
Jascha Heifetz, Henryk Szeryng and Ivry Gitlis, in which the final
variation is removed and his own composed. There are also alterations to
various passages throughout the piece. Auer edited much of the standard
repertoire, concertos, short pieces and all of Bach's solo works. His
editions are published mostly by Carl Fischer. He also transcribed a
great amount of works for the violin including some of Chopin's
preludes.
Auer's first wife, Nadine Pelikan, was Russian. The jazz vibraphonist Vera Auer is a niece of Leopold Auer. The actor Mischa Auer (born Mischa Ounskowsky) was his grandson. The composer György Ligeti (the name Ligeti is a Hungarian equivalent of the German name Auer) was his great-nephew.
- Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor, by Brahms, 1920
- Mélodie in E-flat major, Op. 42, No. 3 (from Souvenir d'un lieu cher), by Tchaikovsky, 1920
- Schwarz, Boris, Great Masters of the Violin (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983)
- Roth, Henry (1997). Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century. Los Angeles, CA: California Classics Books. ISBN 1-879395-15-0
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Auer
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