“Then, when he first came here, I heard and saw Ysaye play, and I noticed how greatly his bowing differed from that of Joachim, the point being that his first finger was always in a position to press naturally without the least stiffness.  This led me to try to find a less constrained bowing for myself, working along perfectly natural lines.  The Joachim bowing demands a high wrist; but in the case of the Belgian school an easy position at the point is assumed naturally.  And it is not hard to understand that if the bow be drawn parallel with the bridge, allowing for the least possible movement of hands and wrist, the greatest economy of motion, there is no contravention of the laws of nature and playing is natural and unconstrained.

“And this applies to every student of the instrument, whether or no he has a long arm.  While I was studying in Berlin, Sarasate played there in public, with the most natural and unhampered grace and freedom in the use of his bow.  Yet the entire Hochschule contingent unanimously condemned his bowing as being ’stiff’—­merely because it did not conform to the Joachim tradition.  Of course, there is no question but that Joachim was the greatest quartet player of his time; and with regard to the interpretation of the classics he was not to be excelled.  His conception of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms was wonderful.  The insistence at the Hochschule on forcing the bowing which was natural to him on all others, irrespective of physical adaptability, is a matter of regret.  Wirth was somewhat deficient in teaching left hand technic, as compared with, let us say, Schradieck.  Wirth’s real strength lay in his sincerity and his ability to make clear the musical contents of the works of the great masters.  In a Beethoven or Spohr concerto he made a pupil give its due emphasis to every single note.

A PRE-TEACHING REQUISITE

“Before the violin student can even begin to study, there are certain pre-teaching requisites which are necessary if the teacher is to be of any service to him.  The violin is a singing instrument, and therefore the first thing called for is a good singing tone.  That brings up an important point—­the proper adjustment of the instrument used by the student.  If his lessons are to be of real benefit to him, the component parts of the instrument, post, bridge, bass-bar, strings, etc., must be accurately adjusted, in order that the sound values are what they should be.

“From the teaching standpoint it is far more important that whatever violin the student has is one properly built and adjusted, than that it be a fine instrument.  And the bow must have the right amount of spring, of elasticity in its stick.  A poor bow will work more harm than a poor fiddle, for if the bow is poor, if it lacks the right resilience, the student cannot acquire the correct bow pressure.  He cannot play spiccato or any of the ‘bouncing’ bowings, including various forms of arpeggios, with a poor stick.