In reply to another query Mr. Kreisler reverted to the days when as a
boy he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. "I was only seven when I
attended the Conservatory and was much more interested in playing in the
park, where my boy friends would be waiting for me, than in taking
lessons on the violin. And yet some of the most lasting musical
impressions of my life were gathered there. Not so much as regards study
itself, as with respect to the good music I heard. Some very great men
played at the Conservatory when I was a pupil. There were Joachim,
Sarasate in his prime, Hellmesberger, and Rubinstein, whom I heard play
the first time he came to Vienna. I really believe that hearing Joachim
and Rubinstein play was a greater event in my life and did more for me
than five years of study!"
"Of course you do not regard technic as the main essential of the
concert violinist's equipment?" I asked him. "Decidedly not. Sincerity
and personality are the first main essentials. Technical equipment is
something which should be taken for granted. The _virtuoso_ of the type
of Ole Bull, let us say, has disappeared. The 'stunt' player of a former
day with a repertory of three or four bravura pieces was not far above
the average music-hall 'artist.' The modern _virtuoso_, the true concert
artist, is not worthy of the title unless his art is the outcome of a
completely unified nature.