, under Besekirskij and Wieniawski. From Moscow he was sent to
Vienna, where he became a pupil of Dont, and finally he studied under
Joachim in Berlin, where he gained the Mendelssohn prize.

Gregorowitsch was the last pupil of Wieniawski, and that master was so
impressed with the great promise of the boy that on first hearing him he
offered to take him as a pupil gratis. Few violinists have had the
advantage which has fallen to the lot of Gregorowitsch, of receiving
instruction from so many great teachers.

Gregorowitsch has travelled extensively throughout Europe, has been
highly honoured in Russia, where the Czar granted him exemption from
military service, and decorated by the King of Portugal. In London he
made his first appearance in 1897, at the Queen's Hall Symphony
concerts.

M. Gregorowitsch is remarkable for a large tone, and in the smoothness
and finish of his playing he has been compared with Sauret and with
Sarasate.

A far greater sensation was caused in America by Willie Burmester than
by Gregorowitsch.

Burmester was born in Hamburg in 1869, and received his first
instruction from his father. He owned his first violin when he was four
years of age, and it came to him from a Christmas tree. This served to
show the talent which he possessed, and the next year he received a
better violin, and began to study in earnest.

When he was eight years old his father took him to Berlin to consult
Joachim, who was, and is, regarded as the oracle for violinists. Joachim
gave some encouragement to the parent, although he does not seem to have
given much to the boy, who in consequence felt somewhat bitter. Four
years later he was again taken to the Berlin Hochschule, to pass his
entrance examination. On this occasion he received the recognition of
the jury, and was admitted to the school, where he began a rigorous
course of technical study. At the end of four years' study under Joachim
he was refused a certificate, for some reason not stated, and he went to
Helsingfors in Finland, where he worked according to his own ideas,
which were to unlearn all he had studied, and begin afresh. During this
period he worked with the greatest perseverance, practising nine or ten
hours a day, and thus developed the wonderful technique which has
astonished the world. For three years he continued this work, supporting
himself meanwhile with a modest appointment which he had obtained.

Before he left Berlin he had worn down the