gsscene_, its beautiful _cantilene_ and pure serenity, may profit
by them. I enjoyed editing this work because I myself had studied with
Carl Richter, a Spohr pupil, who had all his master's traditions.

*Transcriber's note: Original text read "provied".

THE MASTER VIOLINIST AS AN EDITOR

"That the editorial revisions of a number of our greatest living
violinists and teachers have passed through my editorial rooms, on their
way to press, is a fact of which I am decidedly proud. Leopold Auer, for
instance, is one of the most careful, exact and practical of editors,
and the fact is worth dwelling on since sometimes the great artist or
teacher quite naturally forgets that those for whom he is editing a
composition have neither his knowledge nor resources. Auer never loses
sight of the composer's _own ideas_.

"And when I mention great violinists with whom I have been associated as
an editor, Mischa Elman must not be forgotten. I found it at first a
difficult matter to induce an artist like Elman, for whom no technical
difficulties exist, to seriously consider the limitations of the average
player in his fingerings and interpretative demands. Elman, like every
great _virtuoso_ of his caliber, is influenced in his revisions by the
manner in which he himself does things. I remember in one instance I
could see no reason why he should mark the third finger for a
_cantilena_ passage where a certain effect was desired, and questioned
it. Catching up his violin he played the note preceding it with his
second finger, then instead of slipping the second finger down the
string, he took the next note with the third, in such a way that a most
exquisite _legato_ effect, like a breath, the echo of a sigh, was
secured. And the beauty of tone color in this instance not only proved
his point, but has led me invariably to examine very closely a fingering
on the part of a master violinist which represents a departure from the
conventional--it is often the technical key to some new beauty of
interpretation or expression.

"Fritz Kreisler's individuality is also reflected in his markings and
fingerings. Of course those in his 'educational' editions are strictly
meant for study needs. But in general they are difficult and based on
his own manner and style of playing. As he himself has remarked: 'I
could play the violin just as well with three as with four fingers.'
Kreisler is fond of 'fingered' octaves, and these,