Kreisler

Friedrich “Fritz” Kreisler was born in Vienna on 2 February 1875. A prodigy of exceptional precocity, he entered the Vienna Conservatory while still a child, studying violin with Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. and theory with Anton Bruckner. He then continued at the Paris Conservatoire with Joseph Massart and won the premier prix in 1887. These formative years gave him both the Viennese tradition of string playing and the polished Franco-Belgian technical discipline.

After an American tour in 1888–89 with pianist Moriz Rosenthal, Kreisler temporarily stepped away from a conventional virtuoso career, pursued broader studies and served in the Austrian army. His return to the concert platform in the late 1890s was decisive. A Berlin Philharmonic appearance in 1899 helped establish him, and within a few years he became one of the most sought-after violinists in Europe and the United States.

Kreisler’s sound became a style in itself. His use of vibrato, portamento, bow nuance and micro-flexibility of rhythm created a sense of continuous vocal inflection. The warmth could disguise the sophistication of the technique: articulation remained precise, double stops secure and passagework elegant. He represented neither Joachim’s severe Classical ideal nor Sarasate’s crystalline brilliance, but a highly personal Viennese synthesis that recording technology preserved exceptionally well.

Edward Elgar wrote his Violin Concerto for Kreisler, who gave the premiere in London in 1910 with the composer conducting. Kreisler also became a major chamber partner, notably recording Beethoven, Schubert and Grieg sonatas with Sergei Rachmaninoff. Their collaboration brings together two of the most distinctive instrumental personalities preserved from the early twentieth century.

As a composer Kreisler created a repertory of miniatures that became inseparable from violin culture: Liebesfreud, Liebesleid, Schön Rosmarin, Caprice viennois and Tambourin chinois among them. He also published pieces under the names of earlier composers, later revealing that many were his own works “in the style of” Couperin, Pugnani, Francoeur and others. The disclosure caused controversy but also illuminated his extraordinary command of historical idiom and pastiche.

Kreisler served briefly in the Austrian army at the beginning of the First World War and later settled increasingly in the United States. With the rise of Nazism and the annexation of Austria, his position in Europe became untenable; he became a United States citizen in 1943. A traffic accident in 1941 caused serious injury, yet he returned to performance. He gradually withdrew from public life and died in New York on 29 January 1962. His extensive acoustic and electrical recordings make him one of the indispensable primary sources for historical violin style.