It was in Berlin that the young violinist reached the turning point of his career.  “I was a boy of twelve,” he said, “when I heard Jascha Heifetz play for the first time.  He played the Tschaikovsky concerto, and he played it wonderfully.  His bowing, his fingering, his whole style and manner of playing so greatly impressed me that I felt I must have his teacher, that I would never be content unless I studied with Professor Auer!  In 1912 I at length had an opportunity to play for the Professor in his home at Loschivitz, in Dresden, and to my great joy he at once accepted me as a pupil.

STUDYING WITH PROFESSOR AUER

“Studying with Professor Auer was a revelation.  I had private lessons from him, and at the same time attended the classes at the Petrograd Conservatory.  I should say that his great specialty, if one can use the word specialty in the case of so universal a master of teaching as the Professor, was bowing.  In all violin playing the left hand, the finger hand, might be compared to a perfectly adjusted technical machine, one that needs to be kept well oiled to function properly.  The right hand, the bow hand, is the direct opposite—­it is the painter hand, the artist hand, its phrasing outlines the pictures of music; its nuances fill them with beauty of color.  And while the Professor insisted as a matter of course on the absolute development of finger mechanics, he was an inspiration as regards the right manipulation of the bow, and its use as a medium of interpretation.  And he made his pupils think.  Often, when I played a passage in a concerto or sonata and it lacked clearness, he would ask me:  ‘Why is this passage not clear?’ Sometimes I knew and sometimes I did not.  But not until he was satisfied that I could not myself answer the question, would he show me how to answer it.  He could make every least detail clear, illustrating it on his own violin; but if the pupil could ‘work out his own salvation’ he always encouraged him to do so.

          [Illustration:  TOSCHA SEIDEL, with hand-written note]

“Most teachers make bowing a very complicated affair, adding to its difficulties.  But Professor Auer develops a natural bowing, with an absolutely free wrist, in all his pupils; for he teaches each student along the line of his individual aptitudes.  Hence the length of the fingers and the size of the hand make no difference, because in the case of each pupil they are treated as separate problems, capable of an individual solution.  I have known of pupils who came to him with an absolutely stiff wrist; and yet he taught them to overcome it.

ARTIST PUPILS AND AMATEUR STUDENTS