Mr. Blankart studied the violin in Mannheim, Germany, with Carl Heydt,
second violin of the then renowned Jean Becker quartette.
Notwithstanding his showing of great talent in his youth, his father
refused to send him to the Leipsig Conservatory because of trouble
with his ears. His father apprenticed him to a wholesale coffee house.
When twenty-one years old he left for America. He went first to his
sister in Indianapolis, then to Quincy, Ill., where he took up his
violin studies again, played in concerts with Eastern pianists, got
pupils, besides having a position in a music store. There he met and
married Mrs. Blankart and they worked together constantly. About 1874
he came to San Francisco and gradually he gained ground as a teacher
and did very well. When the Blankarts had their studios on Geary
street, near Larkin, about 1882-89, they gave musicals every two
weeks, and musicians like Edgar S. Kelly, Fred Zech, Jr., Otto Bendix,
Luchesi, Miss Hanchette and others played there. During those years
Professor Blankart formed also, in connection with Miss Hanchette, the
Beethoven Quartette club and gave for several seasons in succession
public concerts. In the early nineties he left San Francisco for
Oakland. He went about three times to Europe on business matters, but
as usual discovered that it is better to stay with one's profession
than to change, and eventually, after some time, came back to the fold
and worked in a quiet way; that is, he practiced hard and gave
lessons. He has had the satisfaction of giving pleasure and rousing
interest for the better classical music.