tremendous tension:  one has to use more bow.  And it cuts the hairs:  there is a little surface nap on the bow-hairs which a wire string wears right out.  I had to have my four bows rehaired three times last season—­an average of every three months.  But all said and done it has been a God-send to the violinist who plays in public.  On the wire A one cannot get the harmonics; and the aluminum D is objectionable in some violins, though in others not at all.

“The main thing—­no matter what strings are used—­is for the artist to get his audience into the concert hall, and give it a program which is properly balanced.  Theodore Thomas first advised me to include in my programs short, simple things that my listeners could ’get hold of’—­nothing inartistic, but something selected from their standpoint, not from mine, and played as artistically as possible.  Yet there must also be something that is beyond them, collectively.  Something that they may need to hear a number of times to appreciate.  This enables the artist to maintain his dignity and has a certain psychological effect in that his audience holds him in greater respect.  At big conservatories where music study is the most important thing, and in large cities, where the general level of music culture is high, a big solid program may be given, where it would be inappropriate in other places.

“Yet I remember having many recalls at El Paso, Texas, once, after playing the first movement of the Sibelius concerto.  It is one of those compositions which if played too literally leaves an audience quite cold; it must be rendered temperamentally, the big climaxing effects built up, its Northern spirit brought out, though I admit that even then it is not altogether easy to grasp.

VIOLIN MASTERY

“Violin mastery or mastery of any instrument, for that matter, is the technical power to say exactly what you want to say in exactly the way you want to say it.  It is technical equipment that stands at the service of your musical will—­a faithful and competent servant that comes at your musical bidding.  If your spirit soars ‘to parts unknown,’ your well trained servant ‘technic’ is ever at your elbow to prevent irksome details from hampering your progress.  Mastery of your instrument makes mastery of your Art a joy instead of a burden.  Technic should always be the hand-maid of the spirit.

“And I believe that one result of the war will be to bring us a greater self-knowledge, to the violinist as well as to every other artist, a broader appreciation of what he can do to increase and elevate appreciation for music in general and his Art in particular.  And with these I am sure a new impetus will be given to the development of a musical culture truly American in thought and expression.”

XVII

LEON SAMETINI

HARMONICS