About Me
I was born in Liège, Belgium, and began violin lessons at the age of four with my father, and later studied with Joseph Massart, Henryk Wieniawski, and Henri Vieuxtemps.After graduation, I 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 yours truly, in particular, among whom figured Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein, who asked that I be released from my contract to accompany him on tour.When I was twenty-seven, I was recommended as a soloist for one of the Concerts Colonne in Paris, which was the start of my great success as a concert artist. The next year, I received a professorship at the Brussels Conservatoire in my dear native Belgium. This began my career as a teacher, which was to remain one of my main occupations after leaving the conservatory in 1898. Among my more respected pupils are Josef Gingold, the violist William Primrose, Nathan Milstein, Louis Persinger, Alberto Bachmann, and Mathieu Crickboom, and Jascha Brodsky, who taught Hilary Hahn.During my tenure as professor at the Conservatoire, I 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 my hands, I was always at my best when performing, and many prominent composers dedicated major works to me, including Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck, and Ernest Chausson.As physical ailments grew more prohibitive, I turned more and more to teaching, conducting and an early love, composition. Among my most famous works are six unaccompanied violin sonatas, op. 27, one unaccompanied for cello, op 28, one sonata for 2 violins, eight poems for various soloists (1 or 2 vln, vln & cello, string quartet) & orchestra: poème élégiaque, poème de l'Extase, Chant d'hiver, poème nocturne, etc., or even for string orchestra without basses (poème de l'Exil), 2 string trios, a quintett, and an opera: Peter the Miner.I had been offered the post of music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1898, but declined it due to a busy solo performance schedule. In 1918 I accepted the music director's position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where I remained until 1922 and with which I cut several recordings.As a performer, I have been described as compelling and highly original... Pablo Casals claimed never to have heard a violinist play in tune before hearing me, and Carl Flesch called me "the most outstanding and individual violinist I have ever heard in my life."I was the possessor of a large and flexible tone, influenced by a big variety of vibrato from no vibrato at all to very intense. I often say: "don't always vibrate, but always be vibrating". While I, like many of my contemporaries, used the portamento more often than modern players, I used it with discretion and taste and never as a mere technical aid. As I like to say, "nothing which wouldn't have for goal emotion, poesy, heart."An international violin competition in Brussels was created in my memory: in 1951, this became the violin section of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition.
