5 mins
SOUNDPOST
LETTER of the MONTH
Heifetz with Ayke Agus
TO NOTATE OR NOT TO NOTATE
Regarding the recollections of my outstanding colleagues Ayke Agus and Zina Schiff on whether Jascha Heifetz used predetermined fingerings and bowings (‘Inside Jascha Heifetz’s teaching studio’, bit.ly/3Owzfms) I would like to comment on their observations. Mr Heifetz used fully fingered and bowed music for his own use. For public performances he had totally unmarked parts. He considered his own markings as his intellectual property. Fellow violinists from the audience were mightily surprised when rushing to his music stand to find an unmarked violin part.
Mr Heifetz was tremendously helpful to his young students, marking their music as well as guiding them to find their own solutions. Advanced students used their own markings; Mr Heifetz only criticised when necessary. A few times over his long career he had reconsidered his preferences of bowings as well as fingerings. For my edition of the Korngold Violin Concerto, I used two different copies of Mr Heifetz’s music from his estate. They are similar but by no means identical.
In my opinion Zina Schiff and Ayke Agus are both correct. Mr Heifetz used predetermined sets of fingerings and bowings that evolved over time. Likewise, he found the ideal approach to teach youngsters as well as advanced violinists.
ENDRE GRANAT
Sherman Oaks, CA, US
LETTER OF THE MONTH WINS
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GIVE IT A REST
I wonder just how many players have a drawer of unused chinrests and shoulder rests. I have tried many of them, so my drawer is something of a heritage investment of assorted rests. Over the years I have discovered that it is not just a question of finding a perfect chinrest. There is a relationship between the shoulder rest and the chinrest. It is a marriage of the two that will succeed in providing a good playing position. Beyond that, it is a question of finding a combination that will hold firm for an entire rehearsal or concert.
For some time, I was convinced that I needed the lowest shoulder rest and the lowest chinrest. In fact, I needed a shoulder rest that was adjusted to quite a good height, but I had stubbornly resisted that. It is well worth experimenting with the shoulder rest, not just buying more chinrests. The feet of the shoulder rest can be tried in different positions and adjusted to suit the player. Otherwise, the only other option may be to take up the cello.
ROB BARNES
Norwich, UK
Casals (left) and Thibaud
TWOSET PHOTO CECILIA TAN
JUST FOR LAUGHS
I enjoyed Tully Potter’s account of Jacques Thibaud’s life and times (‘Grace, charm and effortless elegance’, August 2023), but I felt the article failed to capture the man’s notorious sense of humour which made such an impression on his friend Pablo Casals. In his own memoirs Joys and Sorrows (1970), Casals called Thibaud ‘wonderfully witty and gay’ and recalled his fondness for practical jokes: ‘Sometimes our impresario, Boquel, travelled with us, and Thibaud was constantly playing jokes on him. Boquel was very fastidious – he even wore gloves when playing cards. On one occasion he went out of the room during a card game and left his gloves on the table. When he put them on after coming back, he found his fingers projecting from their ends. In his absence Thibaud had cut off the fingertips. Another time, when Boquel started to brush his hair just before one of our concerts, he found to his horror that his brush was coated with butter. It was, of course, Thibaud’s doing. Naturally, Boquel became rather piqued by this sort of thing.’
FREDERICK STARKEY
Queen Camel, UK
SOMETHING MISSING
In response to Norman Werbner’s argument (Opinion, July 2023) that Beethoven intended for the slow movement to end his op.135 quartet, instead of the famous ‘Muss es sein? Es muss sein!’ movement, I propose an additional speculation. Beethoven himself said that he could not bring himself to compose the last movement. What if we take him at his word and imagine that he did not, in fact, compose the last movement, but merely envisioned it as the fifth and final movement of this quartet? Imagine a Bartókian five-movement work in arch form, with its great central slow movement (Lento assai e cantante tranquillo) flanked by two scherzos, the first, in triple metre, more ‘traditional’ than the second, so-called ‘difficult decision’. And what exactly is this difficult decision? Could it be simply to write ‘Fine’ after the final bar of this strange beast and keep the real Finale forever locked in his brain? Or to spill the final glorious movement out on to the manuscript for the whole world to see?
Just for the record, in spite of Mr Werbner’s persuasive argument, I cannot envision the great slow movement as the final one of this quartet. There are too many examples in Beethoven’s oeuvre of profound, breathtaking, penultimate movements followed by one or sometimes two more movements of considerably lighter character. The op.74 quartet immediately comes to mind but there are plenty of examples, and not just in the string quartet genre.
SEAN R. MAC AODHA
Ventura, CA, US
ONLINE COMMENT
In response to a January 2011 article on the life of the great Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe, fans of the musician commented on his achievements, career, and even his physical appearance
bitly.ws/Pcu3
CRAIG
BEAGLEY He was the teacher of Yehudi Menuhin! Thanks, Maestro.
IKARI SHINJIKU Ruggiero Ricci’s recording of his Six Sonatas are outstanding.
JOSEPH SCHEER Here is a story about Ysaÿe. In one of Carl Flesch’s tomes he describes a young student, who dissed Sarasate in a lesson with Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe chastised him, saying ‘Do not forget that Sarasate taught us all to play in tune.’ Ysaÿe was also the first violinist to use a more or less continuous vibrato.
KURT KAMMEYER Look at the size of his hands! LUDMILA SMOLYANSKAYA Such a wonderful violinist and a magical teacher.
ZAFER TEOMETE A great violinist and great musician. Rest in peace.
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