"But when I came to Franz Kneisel, my last teacher, I began to work with
my mind. Kneisel showed me that I had to think when I played. At first I
did not realize why he kept at me so insistently about phrasing,
interpretation, the exact observance of expression marks; but eventually
it dawned on me that he was teaching me to read a soul into each
composition I studied.
"I practiced hard, from four to five hours a day. Fortunately, as
regards technical equipment, I was ready for Kneisel's instruction. The
first thing he gave me to study was, not a brilliant virtuoso piece, but
the Bach concerto in E major, and then the Viotti concerto. In the
beginning, until Kneisel showed me, I did not know what to do with them.
This was music whose notes in themselves were easy, and whose
difficulties were all of an individual order. But intellectual analysis,
interpretation, are Kneisel's great points. A strict teacher, I worked
with him for five years, the most remarkable years of all my violin
study.
"Kneisel knows how to develop technical perfection without using
technical exercises. I had already played the Mendelssohn, Bruch and
Lalo concertos with Winternitz, and these I now restudied with Kneisel.
In interpretation he makes clear every phrase in its relation to every
other phrase and the movement as a whole. And he insists on his pupils
studying theory and composition--something I had formerly not been
inclined to take seriously.
"Some teachers are satisfied if the student plays his _notes_ correctly,
in a general way. With Kneisel the very least detail, a trill, a scale,
has to be given its proper tone-color and dynamic shading in absolute
proportion with the balancing harmonies. This trill, in the first
movement of the Beethoven concerto--(and Mr. Gardner jotted it down)
[Illustration: Musical Notation]
Kneisel kept me at during the entire lesson, till I was able to adjust
its tone-color and _nuances_ to the accompanying harmony. Then, though
many teachers do not know it, it is a tradition in the orchestra to make
a _diminuendo_ in the sixth measure, before the change of key to C
major, and this _diminuendo_ should, of course, be observed by the solo
instrument as well. Yet you will hear well-known artists play the trill
throughout with a loud, brilliant tone and no dynamic change!
"Kneisel makes it a point to have all his pupils play chamber music
because of its truly broadening influence. And he is unexcelled in
taking apart structurally the Beethoven, Brahms, Tschaikovsky and other
quartets, in analyzing and explaining the wonderful planning and
building up of each movement. I had the honor of playing second violin
in the Kneisel Quartet from September to February (1914-1915), at the
outbreak of the war, a most interesting experience. The musicianship
Kneisel had given me; I was used to his style and at home with his
ideas, and am happy to think that he was satisfied. A year later as
assistant concertmaster in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I had a
chance to become practically acquainted with the orchestral works of
Strauss, d'Indy and other moderns, and enjoy the Beethoven, Brahms and
Tschaikovsky symphonies as a performer.