"My first instructor in the violin was my father, the pioneer violin
teacher of Hartford, Conn., where my boyhood was passed, and then I
studied with Franz Milcke and Bernard Listemann, concertmaster of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. But one day I happened to read a few lines
reprinted in the _Metronome_ from some European source, which quoted
Wilhelmj as saying that Emanuel Wirth, Joachim's first assistant at the
Berlin _Hochschule_, 'was the best teacher of his generation.' This was
enough for me: feeling that the best could be none too good, I made up
my mind to go to him. And I did. Wirth was the viola of the Joachim
Quartet, and probably a better teacher than was Joachim himself. Violin
teaching was a cult with him, a religion; and I think he believed God
had sent him to earth to teach fiddle. Like all the teachers at the
_Hochschule_ he taught the regular 'Joachim' bowing--they were obliged
to teach it--as far as it could be taught, for it could not be taught
every one. And that is the real trouble with the 'Joachim' bowing. It is
impossible to make a general application of it.
"Joachim had a very long arm and when he played at the point of the bow
his arm position was approximately the same as that of the average
player at the middle of the bow. Willy Hess was a perfect exponent of
the Joachim method of bowing. Why? Because he had a very long arm. But
at the _Hochschule_ the Joachim bowing was compulsory: they taught, or
tried to teach, all who came there to use it without exception; boys or
girls whose arms chanced to be long enough could acquire it, but big men
with short arms had no chance whatever. Having a medium long arm, by
dint of hard work I managed to get my bowing to suit Wirth; yet I always
felt at a disadvantage at the point of the bow, in spite of the fact
that after my return to the United States I taught the Joachim bowing
for fully eight years.
"Then, when he first came here, I heard and saw Ysaye play, and I
noticed how greatly his bowing differed from that of Joachim, the point
being that his first finger was always in a position to press
_naturally_ without the least stiffness. This led me to try to find a
less constrained bowing for myself, working along perfectly natural
lines. The Joachim bowing demands a high wrist; but in the case of the
Belgian school an easy position at the point is assumed naturally. And
it is not hard to understand that if the bow be drawn parallel with the
bridge, allowing for the least possible movement of hands and wrist, the
greatest economy of motion, there is no contravention of the laws of
nature and playing is natural and unconstrained.
"And this applies to every student of the instrument, whether or no he
has a long arm. While I was studying in Berlin, Sarasate played there in
public, with the most natural and unhampered grace and freedom in the
use of his bow. Yet the entire _Hochschule_ contingent unanimously
condemned his bowing as being 'stiff'--merely because it did not conform
to the Joachim tradition. Of course, there is no question but that
Joachim was the greatest quartet player of his time; and with regard to
the interpretation of the classics he was not to be excelled. His
conception of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms was wonderful. The
insistence at the _Hochschule_ on forcing the bowing which was natural
to him on all others, irrespective of physical adaptability, is a matter
of regret. Wirth was somewhat deficient in teaching left hand technic,
as compared with, let us say, Schradieck. Wirth's real strength lay in
his sincerity and his ability to make clear the musical contents of the
works of the great masters. In a Beethoven or Spohr concerto he made a
pupil give its due emphasis to every single note.