Boris Schwarz was my kind of musicologist. More specifically, he was a violinist. He knew Menuhin, Flesch, and Stern. His father was Leopold Auer's pianist. Schwarz's book _Great Masters of the Violin_ (1983) remains *the* go-to book for information about the greatest violinists from Vivaldi to Perlman. When Schwarz died, shortly after the book's publication, the world lost its greatest authority on violinists and violin playing.
Recently I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Patricia Schwarz, his widow, in midtown Manhattan. She is a lovely woman who is still active in bringing young Israeli musicians to the U.S. (among them Gil Shaham) and takes an interest in talented Chinese musicians (e.g. Jian Wang). She let me loose in her late husband's personal library. In a score of Beethoven Sonatas presented to the young Boris, I found the following inscription:
"Our greatest violinist, Joseph Joachim,
recently made the following statement:
If I do not practise one day, I notice it,
if I miss three days of practice, my friends notice it,
but if I miss eight practice days, the public notices.
Heed these words, little Boba, and you will surely achieve something worthwhile one day in
the realm of art."
[With thanks to my friend Thomas S. for help with the translation.]
The inscription is signed "Grunewald 1914" by a Julius Sennet or Seunet -- a violinist, I would guess. I'm still trying to figure out who he was while I work my way through the bibliographic minefield I found in Professor Schwarz's collection.
Mai,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you are familiar with it, but Henry Roth's book, Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century is the greatest book about violinists that I have read. It is incredibly descriptive and contains comprehensive reviews of the discographies of numerous great violinists. I would strongly suggest reading it.