As a composer Mr. Loeffler is distinctly original and imaginative.  His works are both poetical and musical, and they display high thought and exceptional knowledge.  His compositions include a sextet, a quintet, and an octet, also a suite for violin and orchestra, “Les Veillees de l’Ukraine;” a concerto for violoncello, which has been played by Mr. Alwyn Schroeder; a divertimento for violin and orchestra, and a symphonic poem, “La Mort de Tintagiles.”  Besides these large works he has written a number of songs, of which five are with viola obligato.  These works have been performed by the Kneisel Quartet and the Symphony Orchestra, the solo parts of the suite and divertimento by the composer himself, and they have gained for him a reputation as a gifted and scholarly tone artist.

One of the most promising young violinists of the century was a native of Brazil, Maurice Dengremont, who was born in Rio Janeiro, in 1867.  He was the son of a French musician who had settled in Brazil, and who gave him his first lessons to such good effect that, when only eight years of age, he gave a concert, and the Brazilian orchestra was so delighted with his playing that its members presented him with a medal, to which the emperor added an imperial crown, as a recognition of his talent.

He now became a pupil of Leonard, and after three years’ study he appeared in many concerts, travelling throughout Europe and England, and being received with enthusiasm.  About 1880 he visited America, but his career ended shortly after, as he fell a victim to dissipation.

Dengremont was compared with Sarasate and Wilhelmj, but all that could be said about him was that he might have developed into a player of their rank.  As it was, he disappointed his admirers, and died while still quite young.

Of the many violinists who have made their home in the United States there are few whose accomplishments better entitle them to a position among celebrated violinists than Mr. Franz Kneisel.

Mr. Kneisel was called to Boston to fill the position of concert-master of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885, and has held that place for fourteen years, during which time he has done much toward the cultivation of musical taste in America.

He was born in Roumania, of German parents, in 1865, and gained his musical education at Bucharest and at Vienna, where he studied under Gruen and Hellmesberger.  He then received the appointment of concert-master of the Hofburg Theatre Orchestra, after which he went to Berlin to fill the same position in Bilse’s orchestra, following Halir, Ysaye, and Cesar Thomson.

When he was called to Boston, at the instance of Mr. Gericke, who was then the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, he was only twenty years of age.  He played, on his first appearance as soloist, the Beethoven concerto, and was at once recognised as a violinist of remarkable ability.

Mr. Kneisel has never toured the country as a virtuoso, but has been heard in many of the great cities of America, as solo violinist with the Symphony Orchestra, and as first violin of the Kneisel Quartet.