Musical talent has many faces and many a virtuoso player has penned
excellent music expressly for his instrument.
We are going to remember outstanding violinists who were also excellent
composers…
Antonio Vivaldi was one of the leading representatives of baroque music.
Vivaldi, a perfect violinist himself, is mostly famous for the wonderful
music he wrote for the violin, an instrument he learned to play from his
father who regularly performed in Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. At
the age of 15 Vivaldi began studying to become a priest. In 1703, at the
age of 25, he was ordained as a priest, -soon nicknamed Il Prete Rosso,
"The Red Priest," probably because of his red hair. In late 1706 he withdrew
from the priesthood and became maestro di violino at an orphanage for girls
called the Pio Ospedale della Pieta in Venice. Shortly after his appointment,
the orphans began to gain appreciation and esteem abroad, too; Vivaldi
wrote for them most of his concertos, cantatas, and church music.
Antonio Vivaldi was a prolific composer left behind a wealth of unique
concertos for the violin and orchestra. Unfortunately, after the maestro’s
death in 1741, most of his handwritten scores were lost in the monastery
archives and re-emerged only 200 years later - over 500 concertos, approximately
half of them for violin.
Vivaldi’s senior contemporary, Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo
Corelli exercised a wide influence on his contemporaries. It is probably
correct to say that Corelli's popularity as a violinist was as great in
his time as was Paganini's during the 19th century. Yet Corelli was not
a virtuoso in the contemporary sense, for a beautiful singing tone alone
distinguished great violinists in that day, and Corelli's tone quality
was the most remarkable in all Europe according to reports.
In addition, Corelli was the first person to organize the basic elements
of violin technique.
Born in Fusignano, Italy, in 1653, a full generation before Bach or Handel,
Corelli studied under a musically endowed priest and at the age of 17 continued
his studies in Bologna, a distinguished musical center, then established
himself in Rome. By 1679 he had entered the service of Queen Christina
of Sweden before entering the service of Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome.
Corelli is particularly famous as a composer of violin music on which he
focused more during the last five years of his life when, quitting the
stage, he devoted himself wholly to writing music.
Another famous Italian, Giuseppe Tartini, hailed as one of the greatest
virtuosos of his time, picked up where Vivaldi and Corelli had left off,
making the violin the veritable Queen of All Instruments…
He studied law at the University of Padua, where he became very good at
fencing. Two years the young man was forced to spend in a Franciscan monastery
- while there he took up playing the violin. Shortly after Tartini went
on the road playing concerts across the country and he also started a violin
school which attracted students from all over Europe. Gradually Tartini
became more interested in the theory of harmony and acoustics publishing
various treatises and improving the bow he was so amazingly good with…
Arguably Tartini's most famous work is the "Devil’s Trill Sonata", a solo
violin sonata that requires a number of technically demanding double stop
trills and is difficult even by modern standards. According to legend,
Tartini was inspired to write the sonata by a dream in which the devil
appeared at the foot of his bed playing the violin.
And, speaking about Italian violin-playing composers we certainly can’t
ignore Niccolo Paganini - one of the most famous violin virtuosi
and one of the greatest violinists who ever lived, uncanny in his
ability to charm an audience… A pervading myth about Paganini is that he
sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his fearsome technique, a rumor
which he delighted in and may have even started himself. During a performance
his eyes would roll into the back of his head while playing, revealing
the whites. His swaying stance, long unruly hair and thin, gaunt stature
would add to this rumor. He played so intensely that women would faint
and men would break out weeping.
He began playing the violin at the age of seven at the insistence of his
father, Antonio Paganini. Antonio Paganini was a mediocre mandolin player
who forced his son to practice long hours determined to make him a second
Mozart whatever the cost. Niccolo continued playing and performing in his
native land, and soon received a reputation of being the best violinist
in Italy. Violinists were coming in from all across Europe to compete with
the young prodigy but none of them was able to equal his astounding virtuosity.
Paganini’s dexterity earned him many enemies. Once they went as far as
to cut strings on his violin, but all in vain – the maestro kept on playing
with even one string left on his instrument.
Paganini began touring Europe when he was in his early 40’s. He was one
of the first musicians, if not the first, to tour as a solo artist, without
supporting musicians - superstar of public concertizing who wowed audiences
wherever he played. The myth surrounding Paganini lingered even after his
death on May 27, 1840. Since Paganini had refused the final sacrament,
he could not be buried. His remains were kept in a basement for five years
until his family petitioned to have them buried…
Niccolo Paganini has since become the pride and glory of native land. In
his hometown Genoa they annually hold an international violin competition
bearing the name of the legendary musician. The festival’s program features
a must list of Paganini’s “capriccios” and concertos and the winner enjoys
the honor of playing Paganini's carefully guarded signature violin, known
as Cannone Guarnerius, its name given by Paganini to reflect the "cannon"
sound it produced...
The famous Spanish violinist and composer Pablo Sarasate (born Pablo Martin
Meliton de Sarasate y Navascuez in Pamplona, in the Spanish province of
Navarre on 10 March 1844) began studying violin at the age of five with
his father, an artillery bandmaster. He gave his first concert at La Caruna
when he was only eight years old and quickly became a favorite performer
at the court of Queen Isabel II who presented him a priceless violin crafted
by the legendary luthier Antonio Stradivarius.
The young man took just one year to become an honors graduate of the Paris
Conservatory. Eager to learn more, Pablo spent another two years there
studying composition before he went on the road playing concerts across
Europe, including in Russia where he became friends with Pyotr Tchaikovsky
and Anton Rubinstein.
Pablo Sarasate toured the world for more than 50 years playing tried-and-true
classics and his own virtuosic compositions which were a great success
and are still played today...
Sarasate's elder colleague, the noted Polish violinist and composer, Henryk
Wieniawski was considered a violinist of genius and wrote some of the most
important works in the violin repertoire. His talent as a player was recognized
early on, he played his first concert at the age of nine and toured Europe
at thirteen...
Coming to St.Petersburg as a 15-year-old-lad, Wieniawski eventually secured
for himself a three-year contract as the soloist of the court and court
theaters in the then Russia’s capital. Wieniawski's arrangement in St.Petersburg
was later extended three more times so that he resided there with his family
from 1860 until 1872. As a leading violin professor at the St. Petersburg
Conservatory, he exerted a lasting influence on the development of the
Russian violin school.
Henryk Wieniawski went down in music history as an all-time classic whose
music is always played at a very prestigious international violin competition
of his own name they regularly hold in Poland...
There is an equally authoritative violin competition regularly held in
Finland named after Wieniawski's younger contemporary, Finland's most outstanding
musician Yan Sibelius whose contribution to violin music is really hard
to exaggerate...
Sibelius started dreaming of a career of a violin virtuoso early on and
spent a lot of time learning his ABC’s. Íå never achieved the artistic
freedom of Wieniawski or Sarasate, his performing ambitions were dampened
by his success as a composer...
Violin is dominant in much of Sibelius' works, his concerto, serenades
and nocturnes for violin and orchestra by right touted as true classics....
Eugene Isai is another big name in late-19th and early-20th century
European music. Just like
Sarasate, Wieniawski and Sibelius, Eugene Isai
was a famed violinist and composer who derived inspiration from his beloved
violin...
Eugene Isai was born into the family of a violinist in Belgium and took
up the instrument at the still tender age of four. Three years later he
was already playing with a theater orchestra. Eugene Isai then moved on
to study under leading European violinists, including Henryk Wieniawski.
His solo career was boosted by a meeting with the outstanding Russian pianist
Anton Rubinstein who immediately appreciated the young man's talent and
sent him on a big tour. After that fateful meeting Isai's life was never
the same again...
Eugene Isai was not a very prolific composer leaving behind just a handful
of mazurkas, polonaises and other equally virtuoso pieces, most of them
written for violin and inspired by Wieniawski's music. Six sonatas for
solo violin are considered as the most innovative of them all...
Eugene Isai's name was later given to a major international competition
in Brussels where Russian violinists have shone countless times...
And we have another star name to focus on - Fritz Kreisler who, together
with Eugene Isai, closed up the era of great violin-playing composers.
Fritz Kreisler was born in Vienna. His father was a doctor who played violin
during his spare time. Fritz took up music as a 4-year-old child, at seven
he entered the Vienna Conservatory and two years later graduated with a
gold medal. One of his teachers - Henryk Wieniawski again! - said the young
man was destined for stardom...
After his first tour of the United States in 1888-1889, Kreisler returned
to Austria and applied for a position in the Vienna Opera orchestra. He
was turned down only to realize later it was a sign from heaven... Recovering
from the initial shock, Kreisler decided to pursue a solo career and played
a series of concerts in Russia that brought him real acclaim....
Fritz Kreisler was friends with many great musicians of his time, including
Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rakhmaninoff. Their joint concerts
and recordings belong to the highest artistic achievements.
A very able composer too, Kreisler left behind a comparatively small number
of works but they are real masterpieces all and are most often employed
by violinists today...
08.10.2006
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