PLAYING BACH

“Bach is one of the most difficult of the great masters to interpret on the violin.  His polyphonic style and interweaving themes demand close study in order to make the meaning clear.  In the Bach Chaconne, for instance, some very great violinists do not pay enough attention to making a distinction between principal and secondary notes of a chord.  Here [Mr. Pilzer took up a new Strad he has recently acquired and illustrated his meaning] in this four-note chord there is one important melody note which must stand out.  And it can be done, though not without some study.  Bach abounds in such pitfalls, and in studying him the closest attention is necessary.  Once the problems involved overcome, his music gains its true clarity and beauty and the enjoyment of artist and listener is doubled.

XVI

MAUD POWELL

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES:  SOME HINTS
FOR THE CONCERT PLAYER

Maud Powell is often alluded to as our representative “American woman violinist” which, while true in a narrower sense, is not altogether just in a broader way.  It would be decidedly more fair to consider her a representative American violinist, without stressing the term “woman”; for as regards Art in its higher sense, the artist comes first, sex being incidental, and Maud Powell is first and foremost—­an artist.  And her infinite capacity for taking pains, her willingness to work hard have had no small part in the position she has made for herself, and the success she has achieved.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONCERT VIOLINIST

“Too many Americans who take up the violin professionally,” Maud Powell told the writer, “do not realize that the mastery of the instrument is a life study, that without hard, concentrated work they cannot reach the higher levels of their art.  Then, too, they are too often inclined to think that if they have a good tone and technic that this is all they need.  They forget that the musical instinct must be cultivated; they do not attach enough importance to musical surroundings:  to hearing and understanding music of every kind, not only that written for the violin.  They do not realize the value of ensemble work and its influence as an educational factor of the greatest artistic value.  I remember when I was a girl of eight, my mother used to play the Mozart violin sonatas with me; I heard all the music I possibly could hear; I was taught harmony and musical form in direct connection with my practical work, so that theory was a living thing to me and no abstraction.  In my home town I played in an orchestra of twenty pieces—­Oh, no, not a ’ladies orchestra’—­the other members were men grown!  I played chamber music as well as solos whenever the opportunity offered, at home and in public.  In fact music was part of my life.

          [Illustration:  MAUD POWELL, with hand-written note]