Of the three hundred or more pupils of Joachim, there have been several ladies who have attained celebrity, of whom Miss Emily Shinner (now Mrs. A. F. Liddell) has been for some years the most prominent in England, while the names of Gabrielle Wietrowitz and Marie Soldat are known throughout Europe, and Maude Powell and Leonora Jackson are among the brightest lights from the United States.

Miss Emily Shinner has been in many respects a pioneer amongst lady violinists, for in 1874, when quite young, she went to Berlin to study the violin.  In those days pupils of the fair sex were not admitted to the Hochschule, and Miss Shinner began to study under Herr Jacobsen.  It happened, however, that a lady from Silesia arrived at Berlin, intending to take lessons of Joachim, but unaware of the rules against the admission of women to the Hochschule.  Joachim interested himself in her, and she was examined for admission.  Miss Shinner at once presented herself as a second candidate, and the result was that both ladies were accepted as probationers.  In six months Miss Shinner was allowed to become a pupil of Joachim, and thus gained the distinction of being the first girl violinist to study under the great professor.

Again in 1884 Miss Shinner, having acquired a great reputation in musical circles in England, was called upon at very short notice to take Madame Neruda’s place as leader to the “Pop” Quartet, on which occasion she acquitted herself so well that an encore of the second movement of the quartet was demanded.  Since that time she has been always before the public, and has taken special interest in chamber music and quartet playing, the Shinner Quartet of ladies having acquired a national reputation.

Her marriage to Capt.  A. F. Liddell took place in 1889.

Marie Soldat was born at Gratz in 1863 or 1864, and was the daughter of a musician, who was pianist, organist, and choirmaster, and who gave her instruction from her fifth year on the piano.  Two years later she began to learn the organ, and was soon able to act as substitute for her father when occasion required her services.  Until her twelfth year she studied music vigorously, taking violin lessons with Pleiner at the Steier Musical Union at Gratz, and composition with Thierot, the Kapellmeister, at the same time keeping on with the pianoforte.

She played the phantasie-caprice by Vieuxtemps in a concert at the Musical Union when she was ten years of age, and at thirteen she went on a tour and played Bruch’s G minor concerto.

Soon after this she had the misfortune to lose her father, and a little later her violin teacher, Pleiner, also died, so that her progress received a check.  Joachim, however, visited Gratz to play at a concert, and the young girl went to him and consulted him as to her future course.  As a result of the interview she began to take lessons of August Pott, a good violinist at Gratz, and the following year (1879) she again went on a concert tour, visiting several cities in Austria.