Eugne Ysaye: Some Personal Reminiscences

Author(s): M. Montagu-Nathan
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 72, No. 1061 (Jul. 1, 1931), pp. 593-595
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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THE MUSICAL TIMES-JULY 1 1931 593

His left hand did not possess the physical

characteristics which one associates with facile

AND SINGING-CLASS CIRCULAR

JULY 1, 1931

performance, and I have little doubt that, but

for the family environment, Ysaye would have
chosen, and would have been at least equally
successful in, some other career. The fact at
any rate is that owing to the disability caused
by an inadequate left hand, he was obliged to
make various shifts which were discernible only

EUGENE YSAYE:

to those who had studied with him the works he

SOME PERSONAL REMINISCENCES

habitually performed.
A short little-finger, and a type of hand which

BY M. MONTAGU-NATHAN

The recent death of the great Belgian violinist

was acutely susceptible to fatigue, rendered it

necessary to contrive effects which those possesshas naturally brought forth from that depart- ing a superior physical endowment could obtain

ment known to journalists as the 'graveyard' with a minimum of effort.

the usual collection of biographical materials.
His pupils, who had access to the ' fingerings'
This has served the purpose of recalling to the of everything he played, were well aware of the

older generation a name which had almost methods he adopted to circumvent certain

faded from the memory of concert-goers, and,

to the rest, of recording the passing of an artist
of whom they had never heard.

obstacles, and it may possibly have been noticed

extent to which a remarkable personality

amazing determination in regard to such things

privileged to hear.

resource required to overcome such difficulties,

by the more observant among his audiences

that during a long ' trill' he frequently changed

But even those who are able to remember over from one finger to another in order, of
some of Ysaye's notable performances on the course, to avoid fatigue.
concert-platform can hardly have realised the
There could be no better evidence of Ysaye's

contributed to the interpretations they were than the fact that in spite of the energy and

It is impossible to do justice to the character no violinist within living memory has ever
of Ysaye as man and artist without knowledge worked so hard in search of tonal perfection.

of certain facts which are familiar only to those

His instinct to make the violin a more ex-

who have enjoyed close personal contact with pressive instrument was widely recognized, and
him. In order to convey an impression of his there were discerning critics who at first held

greatness it is necessary to refer not merely to

that this led him into excesses. None will

his gifts as performer on the violin, as teacher dispute, however, that in his playing the toneof that instrument, as orchestral conductor,
quality, judged as a medium of expression,
and as pioneer in that domain of French com- always achieved, so to speak, le mot juste, and

position which, in Ysaye's middle age, was Ysaye spared no pains in his search for the

particular tone-colour which seemed best to

from which his activity in these regions was express the sentiment of a given passage.
It was for this reason that those who were
generated.
I recall very vividly a hot afternoon in the fortunate enough to hear him in his zenith, and
'St. Martin's summer' of 1894-the occasion who were impressed by what appeared to be an
of my first meeting with Eugene Ysaye at his astonishing technical facility, placed before
charming home in Brussels. The interview everything else the loveliness of the tone he
consisted very largely of a performance of produced.
Handel's Sonata in A, by means of which work
As to his interpretation of the classic masterconsidered 'modern,' but to the general qualities

I sought to demonstrate my worthiness to pieces for his instrument, it was generally conbecome his pupil. At the close of an ordeal sidered when he first appeared in England that

which, to me at all events, was a severe one, he

signified his approval and blessed the successful

candidate with the single word, 'Courage!'

Later on I was to realise its full significance.

It should be startling to those who knew

Joachim's ambiguous expression of opinion,

after hearing Ysaye play the Beethoven con-

certo-to the effect that he had 'never heard

anything like it '-might quite likely have been

intended in an unfavourable sense. After

nothing of the labours which preceded the mature reflection, however, English amateurs

finished performances that Ysaye invariably

gave, to learn that there can have been few of
the world's greatest violinists who required so
much of that quality of courage. For Eugene
Ysaye, coming though he did from a 'string'
family-his father had been a violinist, and
one of his brothers played the double-bass--

became prepared to accept interpretations in

which the expression of feeling was a greater

performer on his instrument.

added to sovereign mastery of technique and a

cannot have been intended by nature as a

B

consideration than an austere and almost ascetic

adherence to what was called classical purity.

Arthur Johnstone, then critic of the Manchester Guardian, was one who reversed his
opinion, and in 1902 he referred to 'an un-

paralleled warmth, richness and bozquet of tone

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594 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JULY 1 1931

marvellous temperament . . . full of fiery ready tuned for the purpose of interpretative
energy and yet apparently incapable of illustration. The top of the pianoforte was
exaggeration'-which qualities were held by smothered with fiddles. I remember one "class,"
this writer to place Ysaye above ' another and on a stifling summer afternoon, during which
eleven idle E strings succumbed to the atmo-

older master of the violin.' At a later date

Ysaye gave me his own opinion in regard to the

spheric strain ! In a circle three or four deep sat

the pupils. Those whose fiddles were on the

severer attitude (and its principal exponent)

for, when discussing this subject one day-it
was during a visit to Ireland in 1903-he quite
candidly divulged his view that Joachim was
'a philosopher first and a violinist after.'
As to Ysaye himself, I think he may fairly

pianoforte lid had concertos ready for a hearing,

and had to undergo the terrible ordeal of waiting
-sometimes for the greater part of three hours
-never knowing when, or indeed whether, they

him to become a conductor.

the bowings, fingerings, and traditions of per-

would be called upon. There was no musicstand in the room, and all performance had to
after. As a young man he recognized the im- be from memory. This was not so great a trial
portance of 'going through the mill' in a as it appeared, because, with such frequent
fashion which few of the eminent performers opportunities of hearing concertos, they became
of to-day have ever adopted; he spent a con- " memorised " sometimes before one had ever
siderable time in the then famous Bilse orchestra, seen the written notes. The principal strain
arose from the suspense, and, when playing,
at Berlin-of which he shared the leadership
with his compatriot Cesar Thomson-there from the consciousness that nearly everyone in
gaining the experience which helped to qualify the room knew not merely all the notes, but all
be described as a musician first and a violinist

It was perhaps this character of all-round formance. The effect on the nerves was often
musician which was responsible in some degree so severe that the standard of performance in
for the warm friendship of Cesar Franck, and the individual fell, with the more sensitive,
incredibly below that of normal conditions.
ultimately for the dedication of the Pianoforte
and Violin Sonata, as well as for the fact that
the introduction of the Debussy Quartet to the

musical public in 1893 was entrusted to Ysaye's

party.

But there seems little need to look further for

a quality likely to endear him to all with whom

he came in contact than his magnetic person-

ality. Its elements, which positively over-

whelmed his entire entourage, were his extraordinary capability, a ready wit, and a neverfailing savoir-faire. For he was undoubtedly
a ' man of the world.'

In order to give some idea of what is here

meant by 'capability,' I will quote from an
account of my impressions as his pupil, which
was written many years ago, and of which my

master, to whom I showed it, warmly approved,

because, he said, it told the plain truth.
' By far the most vivid of my recollections of
Ysaye, however, are those of the very memorable

slances held every Tuesday and Saturday after-

noon in the central front room of the Brussels

Conservatoire, at which institution he was until

But whatever the difficulties of the student's

task, they were totally insignificant in comparison with the extraordinary feats accomplished by the master. There must have been
some hundred concertos and concert-pieces in
our repertory. There were few, however, that
Ysaye did not know well enough to play their
accompaniment from memory either on the
pianoforte or in a reduced but comprehensive
version on the violin. As to his knowledge of
the solo part, his never-failing mastery over

the most trying passages, and his extraordinary

and invariable superiority over the pupil (who

had, of course, been practising the work dili-

gently) at moments when he took up the violin

for corrective purposes and dashed straight

into superb flights of stupendous velocity,
these seemed in those days positively super-

human and could hardly be equalled, I imagine,

now.

'These afternoons created an impression that

their protagonist was a man of superlative
musicianship and amazing personality. He

1897 the principal violin professor. These never failed for a moment to hold the attention
" classes," as we called them, began, or were of everyone present. His personal and artistic
supposed to begin (punctuality was not at .that sympathy with the pupil in hand, his own

time among the master's virtues), at three stupefying prowess, his wonderful temperament,

o'clock, and lasted for three hours. They were his deep insight, his breadth of view, his sense of
attended by a completely cosmopolitan collec- humour and, above all, his modesty, rendered

tion of students. I can remember the following

nationalities : English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish,

him in the eyes of his pupils an irresistible figure

for idolisation-and idolised and worshipped he

certainly was. Many of them went to excess in

American, Australian, Canadian, Belgian,
French, German, Austrian, Swiss, Spanish, copying every detail of his interpretation, but

Italian, Brazilian, and Rumanian. The manner he quickly showed his respect for the pupil who
of conducting the class, which reminds one of had the courage to innovate. The class had
that held by Liszt, at Weimar, was as follows: frequent occasion to welcome distinguished

Ysaye sat at a grand pianoforte ; at his side was

visitors, among whom I remember d'Indy, then
a pupil who was detailed to keep an instrument often at Brussels, Thdophile Ysaye, the violinist's

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THE MUSICAL TIMES-JULY 1 1931 595

brother, de Greef, the pianist, and Geva rt, at
that time director of the Conservatoire.'

had they reached the desired coign when there

appeared a detective, whose zeal to enlarge

It seems a pity that, in this country, Ysaye his already considerable acquaintance with
was never accorded the measure of appreciation anarchists outran his discretion. Explanations
he deserved. He had toured the entire Conti- followed, and Ysaye duly obtained his view of

nent and the United States before ever appearing

in England, and I well remember my pride at

the result of his memorable performance at
Queen's Hall of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn
Concertos, the playing of which in one programme was in those days regarded as a tour-de-

the illustrious personage. But with a comic

plaintiveness he pretended to deplore the circumstance that his arrest had been abortive,

so valuable would have been the 'publicity'

thus afforded.

Ysaye as seen on the platform, entirely satis-

force. I was already studying with him at the fying as he may have been to his audiences, was
time, and was naturally delighted to be able to not the full man revealed to those who knew
claim London's newly-found idol as my teacher !
But he had hardly begun to make himself felt
as a figure in musical life here, when the meteoric

appearance of Kubelik, followed by a host of

' prodigies,' caused a fickle public to neglect real

him well.

He was a rare example of the combination of

social and artistic gifts. A connoisseur of all the

arts, a discerning critic of classic literature, a

fine fencer and unusually expert swimmer, a

quality for the sensational element. Ysaye

really aristocratic gourmet, it can indeed of him

and his resolve, expressed in Shandean terms,

both hands at the fire of Life.

could not himself help feeling a little embittered,

be said that, in Landor's phrase, he warmed

not to re-visit London until these infants had

Little wonder that we pupils, who knew better
been reclaimed by their respective nurseries, had than anyone how gifted he was as a violinist,
a sequel of which the artist himself was fortu- regarded him as a superman.

nately never aware. As he walked on to the

platform at his recital with Pugno at Queen's
Hall, in 1908, my nearest neighbour, a young
woman, gave vent to a sigh of disappointment.

WE PRAY FOR DISCIPLINE

She had apparently heard of Ysaye as 'the

By W. R. ANDERSON
Mr. Basil Maine's adventures and cogitations
are always full of good matter and suggestion.

violinist could be, as she termed it, 'quite

pp. 500, 501), it is chiefly because I am sure he

latest,' but had never imagined that a great

middle-aged.'
It must not be concluded that the present

writer when referring to the degree of Ysaye's

repute in England is forgetful of the memorable

partnership with Busoni, and of the sonata

recitals given by these two artists who, matched

as they were, became together matchless. This

constituted for a time a much-treasured musical

institution in this country. But continuance

If I take up one or two of his points (June issue,

welcomes other experiences and views ; and only

thus can we get at the truth. I will not spend

space on saying again what the Editor has
so well conveyed-the professional man's disappointment that so often, when amateurs and
professionals are being compared, the former
is taken in an Al sample, and the latter in a
C3-in a C so deep as to be easily drowned and
disposed of as a typical wrong-headed, pedantic

of a series of concerts such as these must depend

on a performer's success in securing engagements

pro.

furnished the element of sensation without

tend so to wrap up the professional man that he

I am interested in Mr. Maine's conclusion

of a more popular, and, consequently, more

(1), that 'The attitude of musicians towards
lucrative kind, and as has already been hinted their art is nearly always forbidding to those who
this became more and more difficult owing to call themselves unmusical.' I think this may be
the influx of violinists whose youthfulness
due to several reasons: (a) because music does

which the impresario is unable to attract the seeks the company only of those like-minded,
general (as apart from the seriously musical) and avoids the unmusical. Is that very wrong ?
public.
Perhaps it is, if we take it that our job is always
To this economic problem Ysaye became fully
alive, and it was his realisation of it which

a missionary one. But I am not so sure of that ;

(b) because musicians want to get on with the

became responsible for a certain degree of job, and naturally, like any other workmen, use

cynicism and bitterness. Hence his comment technical language among themselves ; and the
on the following episode: During one of his layman is apt to cut himself when he monkeys
visits to London there was held at Queen's Hall with that buzz-saw ; (c) because musicians enjoy
a non-musical function which was to be attended their little disagreements, which the outsider
by King Edward himself. Ysaye, desirous of
does not understand. He imagines they are
obtaining a sort of 'private view' of the well- furious and fundamental, and that we disagree
beloved monarch, contrived to reach the organabout far more things than we agree about,
loft in company with another famous artist, which is a great error, very misleading to John
whose appearance, like that of Ysaye, bore no Layman ; (d) we may seem forbidding when we
close resemblance to the immaculates who

are only being shy ; (e) we may not be altogether

frequent the footpaths of Pall Mall. Hardly wrong in saying to the layman that if he wants

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