The sun., 1901-08-11
JAN KUBELIK'S TRIUMpHS,

ShN AUDhLlA D IMUmPhS.
THE sfOO, 900 VTOLINIsT FROH.
MAN rs 70 BRING HERE.
He II Only n and the Son OF bohemian
| Market Gardener - Was the Rsrs
IN LGnden Last Season No Such
Terms q HIS Ever Granted Before.
Jan Kubelik promises to be the mos.
interesting virtuoso Of the approaching
musical season In New York. No o,hs.
violinist has In recent years been the sub.
! ject Of 30 much discussion before he ar.
Rived. Some Of this preliminary voVIs
Is due to tho fact that he has made Nd,
e~eeV0HVoeeQ<g1(4l 41gV(lVgllg' (ll(ll9ne(9gl9
London doings In music or the theatre
reaches here promptly, while happening,
Of the same kind on the Continent are not
made known In this country nearly So soon.
Then kubelik IN coming here under cir.
oumstances that make his visit interesting
apart from It's musical side. Daniel Froh.
man, one OF the noted theatrical mana.
gers Of the day. but hitherto unknown as
| an impresario, went to one of Kuhelik
concerts In London and decided that such
an artist ought to be as great a success
here as he was In London. Mr. Frohman
IL a music lover whose taste has been edu.
Gated by hearing all the noted players and
singers Of the day, and he was charmed
with the young Bohemian's Q playing Other
musical managers before him had concluded
that Kubelik would be a success here.
Some Of them had gone 80 far az 70 ap.
proach the Holinist only to learn that hls
made any negotiations out Of the ques.
! ton. His manager demanded 11O0OOG for
| tour In the United States and refused TO
discuss any other proposition.
MIR. Frohman refused to be frightened
by this ultimatum. The negotiations that
ended In the contract with him lasted for
q month, not from any attempt to reduce
the terms, but on account OF the efforts
to disentangle the player from the various
complications In which he was immeshed.
The contract guarantees to the youthful
musician approximately the sum Of $4,000
for his four or five months In this country.
Such sum was never paid by manager
to any virtuoso before. 1gnace Paderewsh
has earned az much at his recitals given
on his own responsibility Maurice Grau
has paid as much to Jean de Reszke for
a years work and has done the same thing
| IN Lne Cdbtb VI MIleo CrIIDTicH, 'dlN5
and Melba, Just as he will do II again this
year. But to an instrumentalist, no such
amount was ever guaranteed before. The
most popular violinist heard here In recent
years was Eugene Ysaye. He was quite
content to play for $500 performance.
Unless Mr.. Frohman makes q prc.t
Of sl 900 on every appearance OF you7t;
Kubelik he rs not likely to gain fortune
by the contract. He has, however, such
confidence In the great success OF the
violinist that he merely smiles when the
amount at stake in the enterprise is referred
to. A man who can smile over matter
Of business that involves 100000 must
be confident; and Mr.. Frohman Is GER
tainly not In the least worried about the
success OF Kubelik In this country-a sue
cess which must be az great as that of
Paderewski TO reward his enterprise.
After he has been heard here with orches-
ira, the violinist will be heard III recital,
the kind of entertainment In which lgnGce
Paderewski made his greatest profits.
| Kubelik, who has just passed his twenty
first birthday IL now at Prague on his
way TO Carlsbad. He has already begun
to study with the idea OF increasing his
| repertoire for his tour hero. He is not
handsome in the regular way, but his face
is most interesting. His hair grows back
from his brow and In amount satisfies the
exacting standard Of the virtuoso. His
dark eyes are wonderfully expressive.
| In manners, he Is entirely simple and he
! has never been In the least affected by his
great success
This Is the more TO his credit since he has
been a social pet in London. He was the
| popular performer In drawing rooms thers
last season and this summer he has been
more popular than ever He got 5000
| whenever he PLAYED and the handsome
C;uarneri,s on which he plays was given 20
him by an English lady of title who also
| offered to back to the extent Of $4,000 rwo
Young Englishmen who wanted TO engage
kubelik for tour OF the cities OF Great
Britain THIS proposition was given up
after Mr.. Frohman appeared on the scene.
| In addition to these marks OF favor la high
| places, the violinist had the satisfaction ~
| giving a series OF concerts in London 10
very large audiences which filed St James
| Hall as 1t had been filled previously by
Ignacc Paderewski. And during the Lon
don musical season that has just closed
| the Polish pianist appeared only twice. while
| Kubelik gave a series OF concerts
There Is not the least Of the prodigy about
| the yionist who IL no longer child, but a
man, and there never has been anything
about him that made him different from
other boys and youths OF his age H'
| father Is a market gardener at Mischle,
near Prague and, like all the people In that
part ~ Bohemia, he was a musician As
| child Jan began to play, just IA his father
before him had done. 1t soon became
apparent, however that the boy had talent
| greater than that possessed by all other
Bohemians IN that region Of the country
| His gifts at an early period seemed worth
| cultivating, and his father was convinced
that II was his duty TO have him study win
a professional teacher. He was convinced
that the boy was meant for something
besides market gardening. After pro.
| fessor OF tho Conservatory Of Prague hni
| heard Jan play on his homemade fiddle ne
| told his astonished father that the lad would
some day be a great player. So Jan was
| sent to the Conservatory at Prague o.
| study under Seveik. He was then II, aud
he remained with this first regular teacher
until he was 49,
He appeared In the meantime In some ~
| the Austrian cities as a virtuoso, lts
| attracted attention by his remarkahls
technique first, and when he later went %
| Vienna TO study. his playing Of the Pag-
anini repertoire astonished his teachers.
| He remained there for several years before
he felt himself entirely ripe for the career
Of vrtuoso. He PLAYED in Austria md
| In Italy and went 10 London last year ~hers
| his success was greater that IL had been
In any other country. He was least sue
cessful in Germany, where the music hs
plays is less popular than it Is In any other
country.
The Paganini concerto, Tartnis 'Dovis
Trill' and similar pieces are his most IA
nous numbers and exhibit his powers
Of technique better than ANYTHING else.