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We had now come to the point of rehearsing for the concert. I had only to fall back on amateurs for the three Rhine maidens. The concert director Hellmesberger was a great help to me in this matter as in every other way, and his fine playing and enthusiastic demonstrations when leading the orchestra never failed in any circumstances.
As chairman it has been his duty to say when second violin, viola and 'cello were entitled to hold the floor. Hellmesberger, in fact, considered himself the whole quartet." Mr. Kneisel smiled and showed me a little book of Hellmesberger's Vienna programs. Each program was headed: HELLMESBERGER QUARTET with the assistance of
He began composition at an early period, and produced his works in concerts with much success under the encouragement of Hellmesberger and others, who recognized his ability before he had made any impression out of Vienna. The overture and operas have been performed several times in this country. Besides these he has written several pieces of chamber music.
In Vienna the quartet was subjected to comparison with those of Hellmesberger and of Joachim, for the former had just given six chamber concerts, and the latter three. The first concert given by the Florentine Quartet was thinly attended, but the report of its excellence brought an overflowing audience to the second concert, and in all ten were given during the remainder of the season.
Teresa Milanollo, in 1840, took a new manuscript by De Bériot to Vienna. She wished to keep it for her own use, and did not show it to anybody. Hellmesberger heard it played at two rehearsals, and then went home and wrote out the whole work from memory.
"In other words, Hellmesberger was the quartet himself, the other three artists merely 'assisted, which, after all, is going too far! "Of course, quartets differ. Just as we have operas in which the alto solo rôle is the most important, so we have quartets in which the 'cello or the viola has a more significant part.
David died in 1873, beloved and respected, and will be remembered as one of the most refined musicians and admirable teachers of the century. Josef Hellmesberger, one of the most brilliant violinists and noted teachers of Vienna, founded, in 1849, a quartet which achieved an immense reputation. His associates were Heissler, Durst, and Schlesinger.
But from the standpoint of interpretation the first violin has some seventy per cent. of the responsibility as compared with thirty per cent. for the remaining voices. In all the famous quartet organizations, Joachim, Hellmesberger, etc., the first violin has been the directing instrument and has set the pace.
In 1863 a Viennese musician, Joseph Hellmesberger, succeeded in having Beethoven's remains transferred to a metallic casket, and the Beethoven family, in recognition of his efforts, made him a present of the portrait. Later it was acquired by the Beethoven Museum, in Bonn, where the master was born in 1772.
He was born in Roumania, of German parents, in 1865, and gained his musical education at Bucharest and at Vienna, where he studied under Grün and Hellmesberger. He then received the appointment of concert-master of the Hofburg Theatre Orchestra, after which he went to Berlin to fill the same position in Bilse's orchestra, following Halir, Ysaye, and César Thomson.
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