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Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (French:[øʒɛniza.i]; 16 July 1858 – 12 May 1931) was a Belgianvirtuosoviolinist,composer, andconductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, asNathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Born inLiège, Ysaÿe beganviolin lessons at age five with his father. He would later recognise his father's teaching as the foundation of everything he knew on his instrument, even though he went on to study with highly reputed masters. In 1867, Ysaÿe entered theRoyal Conservatory of Liège to study with Désiré Heynberg, and in the process won a shared second prize with theViotti 22nd Violin Concerto.[1] He then went on to study withHenryk Wieniawski for two years inBrussels andHenri Vieuxtemps inParis.[1]
Studying with these teachers meant that he was part of the so-called Franco-Belgian school of violin playing, which dates back to the development of the modern violin bow byFrançois Tourte. Qualities of this "École" included elegance, a full tone with a sense of drawing a "long" bow with no jerks, precise left hand techniques, and bowing using the whole forearm while keeping both the wrist and upper arm quiet (as opposed toJoseph Joachim's German school of wrist bowing andLeopold Auer's Russian concept of using the whole arm).
After his graduation from theRoyal Conservatory of Liège, Ysaÿe was the principal violin of theBenjamin Bilse beer-hall orchestra, which later developed into theBerlin Philharmonic. Many musicians of note and influence came regularly to hear this orchestra and Ysaÿe in particular, among themJoseph Joachim,Franz Liszt,Clara Schumann, andAnton Rubinstein, who asked that Ysaÿe be released from his contract to accompany him on tour.
When Ysaÿe was 27 years old, he was recommended as a soloist for one of theConcerts Colonne in Paris, which was the start of his great success as a concert artist. The next year, Ysaÿe received a professorship at theBrussels Conservatoire. His teaching career continued for the rest of his life, even after he left the Conservatory in 1898. Among his notable pupils wereJosef Gingold, theviola virtuosoWilliam Primrose, the violin virtuosoNathan Milstein (who primarily studied withPyotr Stolyarsky),Oskar Back,[2]Ernest Bloch,Jascha Brodsky,Mathieu Crickboom,George Enescu,[2]Aldo Ferraresi,Jonny Heykens,Nellie A. Hope,[3]Charles Houdret,Julia Klumpke,Louis Persinger,Oscar Shumsky, andJacques Thibaud. (See:List of music students by teacher: T to Z#Eugène Ysaÿe.)
During his tenure as professor at the Conservatoire, Ysaÿe continued to tour ever more widely, visiting all of Europe, Russia, and the United States. Despite health concerns, particularly regarding the condition of his hands, Ysaÿe was at his best when performing, and many prominent composers dedicated major works to him, includingClaude Debussy,Camille Saint-Saëns,César Franck, andErnest Chausson. He arranged for violin and orchestra Saint-Saëns'sÉtude en forme de valse, which had originally been written for solo piano.
Franck'sViolin Sonata in A was written as a wedding present for Ysaÿe and his wife in 1886. Ysaÿe played it often for the rest of his life. Chausson'sPoème was his response to Ysaÿe's request for a concerto.Joseph Szigeti thought those two dedications demonstrated the enormous respect in which Ysaÿe was held.
In 1886, he established theYsaÿe Quartet, which premiered Debussy'sString Quartet.
As his physical ailments grew more prohibitive, Ysaÿe turned more to teaching, conducting and an early love, composition. Among his most famous works are the sixSonatas for Solo Violin op. 27, the unaccompaniedSonata for Cello, op. 28, oneSonata for Two Violins, eightPoèmes for various instruments (one or two violins, violin and cello, string quartet) and orchestra (Poème élégiaque,Poème de l'Extase,Chant d'hiver,Poème nocturne, among others), pieces for string orchestra withoutbasses (includingExil), several violin concertos, various shorter pieces for violin and piano, two string trios, an early string quintet, and anopera,Peter the Miner, written near the end of his life in theWalloon language.
Ysaÿe had been offered the post of music director of theNew York Philharmonic in 1898, but declined it due to his busy solo performance schedule. In 1918, he accepted the music director's position with theCincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he remained until 1922 and with which he made several recordings.
Finally, in 1931, suffering from the extreme ravages ofdiabetes that had necessitated the amputation of his left foot, Eugène Ysaÿe died in his house inForest, Belgium, 48 Avenue Brugmann, and was interred in theIxelles Cemetery inBrussels.
As a performer, Ysaÿe was compelling and highly original.Pablo Casals claimed never to have heard a violinist play in tune before Ysaÿe, andCarl Flesch called him "the most outstanding and individual violinist I have ever heard in my life."
Ysaÿe possessed a large and flexible tone, influenced by a considerable variety ofvibrato — from no vibrato at all to very intense. He said, "Don't always vibrate, but always be vibrating". Hismodus operandi was, in his own words: "Nothing which wouldn't have for goal emotion, poetry, heart." The conductor SirHenry Wood said, "The quality of tone was ravishingly beautiful.... He seemed to get more colour out of a violin than any of his contemporaries."[4]
Possibly the most distinctive feature of Ysaÿe's interpretations was his masterfulrubato (in English: "stolen"). Sir Henry Wood said, "Whenever he stole time from one note, he faithfully paid it back within four bars",[4] allowing his accompanist to maintain strict tempo under his free cantilena. Incidentally, this kind of rubato fits the description ofFrédéric Chopin's rubato.
Although Ysaÿe was a great interpreter of late Romantic and early modern composers —Max Bruch,Camille Saint-Saëns, andCésar Franck, who said he was their greatest interpreter[citation needed] — he was admired for hisBach andBeethoven interpretations. His technique was brilliant and finely honed, and in this respect he is the first modern violinist whose technique was without the shortcomings of some earlier artists.
An international violin competition in Brussels was created in his memory: in 1951, this became the violin section of theQueen Elisabeth Music Competition.
Ysaÿe was married twice. His first marriage, on 28 September 1886 in Arlon, was to Louise Bourdau (fromDendermonde), with whom he had three sons and two daughters: Gabriel (1887–1961), Carry (1889–1930), Thérèse called Thésy (1890–1956), Antoine (1894–1979) and Théodore (1898–1934).César Franck presented hisViolin Sonata in A to them as a gift on the morning of the wedding, and after a hurried rehearsal Ysaÿe performed the piece at the marriage celebration.[6] The sonata had its formal concert premiere in Brussels on 15 December 1886 with Franck in the audience.
After Louise's death (9 February 1924) he married a pupil of his,Jeanette Dincin (1902–1967), 44 years his junior. She was a violinist who in her teens had studied with prominent teachers such asFranz Kneisel,Leopold Auer, andOtakar Ševčík. Ysaÿe met her in 1922 while conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra. She cared for him in his ailing years. Eugène's only request of her after he died was that she carry on her performances under his name.
His brother waspianist and composerThéo Ysaÿe (1865–1918), and his great-grandson is Marc Ysaÿe, founder-controller of radioClassic 21 and drummer of rock bandMachiavel. Eugène Ysaÿe was also close friends withQueen Elisabeth of Belgium, whom he taught violin despite her lack of talent. His widow took over the royal teaching herself after his death, and the queen began the competition in his honour. His granddaughter, Nadine Ysaye Mosbaugh, was a noted concert pianist who toured Europe withJosé Iturbi before settling down in Canada. She also hosted and performed on a classical radio show on CKAR Radio in Huntsville, Ontario. Ysaÿe's great-grandson, Franc Mosbaugh, is a Canadian musician/singer and award-winning commercial jingle composer.
Ysaÿe was also a friend ofClaude Debussy and would sometimes correspond with him by letter.[7] The two had great respect for each other and Ysaÿe was a significant supporter of the younger composer's early career. Debussy dedicated his onlystring quartet to the violinist, who studied the score with great care.[8] The quartet received its premiere on 29 December 1893 by the Ysaÿe Quartet at the Société Nationale in Paris, to mixed reviews. The virtuoso and the composer also corresponded during the writing of Debussy'sNocturnes.
Eugène Ysaÿe came from a background of "artisans", though a large part of his family played instruments. As violinistArnold Steinhardt recounts, a legend was passed down through the Ysaÿe family about the first violin brought to the lineage:
It was told of a boy whom some woodcutters found in the forest and brought to the village. The boy grew up to be a blacksmith. Once, at a village festival, he astonished everyone by playing theviol beautifully. From then on the villagers took pleasure in dancing and singing to the strains of his viol. One day an illustrious stranger stopped in front of the smithy to have his horse shod. The count's servant saw the viol inside and told the young smith that he had heard a new Italian instrument played by some minstrels at the count's court. That instrument, called the violin, was much better than the viol – its tone was like the human voice and could express every feeling and passion. From that moment the young man no longer took pleasure in his viol. Day and night he was thinking of that wonderful new instrument that could express joy and sorrow and whose tones went straight to the human heart.Then he had a dream: he saw before him a young woman of indescribable beauty, not unlike his own love, Biethline. She came to him and kissed his brow. The young man awoke and looked at the wall his broken and neglected viol used to hang on and could barely believe his eyes: there, instead of the viol, was a new instrument of beautiful proportions. He put it against his shoulder and drew the bow over the strings, producing sounds that were truly divine. The violin sang in a heartwarming tone: it rejoiced and wept for happiness – and so did the musician. Thus, goes the legend, came the first violin to the Ardennes and to the Ysaÿe family.[9]
The Eugène Ysaÿe Collection, housed in theMusic Division of the Royal Library of Belgium, combines four decades of purchases with a donation made by the Ysaÿe family in 2007. An essential source for the study of musician's life and works, it includes some 700 letters and autograph scores, over 1,000 printed scores and books, abundant collection of photographs, four films, and about fifty78 RPM and33 RPM recordings.[10] A second collection of handwritten and printed scores is conserved inNew York at theJuilliard School.[11]
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The critics were appreciative but the opera did not find a place in the standard repertoire. It was performed again by Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liege, 25 November 2006. This performance was recorded and is published by the non-profit association[18] in a two CD set accompanied by a book containing the Walloon text and its French, Dutch and English translations, and introductory texts in French, Dutch, German and English. The story is based on an incident that occurred in 1877 during a miners' strike in the Liège region.[19] During clashes with the police, some shots were fired. The wife of a foreman rushed forward to seize a grenade which had been placed in the offices by a striker, but the grenade exploded and she was killed.
A complete list of available orchestral works, including concerto works, is available on the Symphony Orchestra Library Center.[20]
[Released on CD, Sony Classical MHK 62337, 1996]
Source:[21]
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