Eugène Ysaÿe

Eugène Ysaÿe (July 16, 1858 – May 12, 1931) was a Belgian violinist and composer. Download high resolution version (559x700, 15 KB)Eugène Ysaye - Project Gutenberg eText 15535 From http://www. ... Download high resolution version (559x700, 15 KB)Eugène Ysaye - Project Gutenberg eText 15535 From http://www. ... July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ... 1858 is a common year starting on Friday. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

He was born in Liège, Belgium, and began violin lessons at the age of four with his father, and later studied with Joseph Massart, Henryk Wieniawski, and Henri Vieuxtemps. Liège (Dutch: Luik, German: Lüttich) is a major city located in the Belgian province of Liège, of which it is the capital. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... Lambert Joseph Massart (July 19, 1811 – February 13, 1892) was a Belgian violinist. ... Henryk Wieniawski (10 July 1835 – 31 March 1880) was a Polish composer and violinist. ... Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (February 17, 1820 – June 6, 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist active in France. ...

After his graduation, Ysaÿe was the principal violin of the Benjamin Bilse beer-hall orchestra, which later developed into the Berlin Philharmonic. Many musicians of note and influence came regularly to hear this orchestra and Ysaÿe in particular, among whom figured Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein, who asked that Ysaÿe be released from his contract to accompany him on tour. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the worlds leading orchestras. ... Joseph Joachim (June 28, 1831 - August 15, 1907) was a violinist, conductor and composer. ... Franz Liszt (Hungarian; Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer. ... Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896), wife of composer Robert Schumann, was one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era as well as a composer. ... Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein (Анто́н Григо́рьевич Рубинште́йн) (November 28, 1829 – November 20, 1894) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor. ...

When Ysaÿe was twenty-seven years old, he was recommended as a soloist for one of the Concerts Colonne in Paris, which was the start of his great success as a concert artist. The next year, Ysaÿe received a professorship at the Brussels Conservatoire in his native Belgium. This began his career as a teacher, which was to remain one of his main occupations after leaving the conservatory in 1898 and into even his last years. Among his more respected pupils are Josef Gingold, the violist William Primrose, Louis Persinger, Alberto Bachmann, and Mathieu Crickboom. Josef Gingold (1909-1995) was born in Russia, and emigrated to the United States in 1920 where he studied violin with Vladimir Graffman. ... William Primrose (August 23, 1903 - May 1, 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher, probably the best known viola player of his time. ...

During his tenure as professor at the Conservatoire, Ysaÿe continued to tour an ever-broadening section of the world, including all of Europe, Russia, and the United States. Despite health concerns, particularly regarding the (probably diabetes-related) condition of his hands, Ysaÿe was at his best when performing, and many prominent composers dedicated major works to him, including Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cesar Franck, and Ernest Chausson. Claude Debussy (Achille-) Claude Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a composer of impressionistic classical music. ... Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (IPA: [ʃaʁl. ... C sar-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (December 10, 1822–November 8, 1890) was a composer and organist. ... Ernest Chausson (January 20, 1855 – June 10, 1899) was a French composer. ...

As his physical ailments grew more prohibitive, Ysaÿe turned more and more to teaching and an early love, composition. Among his most famous works are six unaccompanied violin sonatas, Op.27, a quartet, Harmonies du Soir, Op.31, and an opera, Peter the Miner, written at the end of his life in the Walloon dialect. The term Walloon may refer to either the Walloon language, or to the ethnic people of the same name. ...

As a performer, Ysaÿe was compelling and highly original. Pablo Casals claimed never to have heard a violinist play in tune before Ysaÿe , and Carl Flesch called him 'the most outstanding and individual violinist I have ever heard in my life'. Pau Casals i Defilló (December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), commonly known as Pablo Casals, was a virtuoso Catalan, Spanish cello player (and later conductor). ... Carl Flesch (October 9, 1873 - November 14, 1944) was a violinist and teacher. ...

Ysaÿe was the possessor of a large and flexible tone, influenced by a varied and nearly continuous vibrato. While he, like many of his contemporaries, used the portamento more often than modern players, he used it with discretion and taste and never as a mere technical aid. Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... Portamento is a musical term currently used to mean pitch bending or sliding, and in 16th century polyphonic writing refers to a type of musical ornamentation. ...

Possibly the most distinctive feature of Ysaÿe's interpretations was his masterful rubato. Rubato is literally 'stealing' of time; it usually implies a mere flexing of tempo for expressive purposes. Ysaÿe's rubato is something apart; whenever he stole time from one note, he paid it back in another place, allowing his accompanist to maintain strict tempo under his free cantilena. This kind of rubato fits the description of Frederic Chopin's rubato, but, of all the early performers on record, is the only real display of it. This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... This article is about Frédéric Chopin, the composer. ...

Ysaÿe was an artist who was not equally at home in all repertoire; though admired for his Bach and Beethoven interpretations, he was in his best form in the works of more modern composers, the late Romantics and early modern writers. Particularly Max Bruch, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Franck called him their greatest interpreter, and in those and similar composers' works he was unquestionedly supreme. His technique was brilliant and finely honed, but never employed without some musical purpose in mind. In this respect he could be considered the first of the modern type of violinist, whose technique is without the gaps of some earlier artists, but not used for its own sake so much as in the service of the music at hand. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ... Max Bruch (January 6, 1838 – October 20, 1920) was a German composer and conductor. ... Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (IPA: [ʃaʁl. ...