"And now you want my definition of 'Violin Mastery'? To me the whole art
of playing violin is contained in the reverent and respectful
interpretation of the works of the great masters. I consider the artist
only their messenger, singing the message they give us. And the more one
realizes this, the greater becomes one's veneration especially for
Bach's creative work. For twenty years I never failed to play the Bach
solo sonatas for violin every day of my life--a violinist's 'daily
prayer' in its truest sense! Students of Bach are apt, in the beginning,
to play, say, the _finale_ of the G minor sonata, the final _Allegro_ of
the A minor sonata, the _Gigue_ of the B minor, or the _Preludio_ of the
E major sonata like a mechanical exercise: it takes _constant_ study to
disclose their intimate harmonic melodious conception and poetry! One
should always remember that technic is, after all, only a _means_. It
must be acquired in order to be an unhampered master of the instrument,
as a medium for presenting the thoughts of the great creators--but
_these thoughts_, and not their medium of expression, are the chief
objects of the true and great artist, whose aim in life is to serve his
Art humbly, reverently and faithfully! You remember these words:
"'In the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of
passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it
smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious,
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split
the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of
nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise!...'"