Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-14
MUCH INTEREST IN WIZARD
OF THE VIOLIN
Characteristics Of Him as a Teacher.
FrIghtens Music Into His Pupils.
other Oddities Of His
Methods

like most Foreign artists he speaks
English fluently and Is quite at home
IN United States idloms. He is n rath-
er small man. but his muscular de-
velopment is wonderful, especially in
his arms. Hartmann says this doesn't
come merely from playing, but that he
is physical culturlst all the time. His
favorite diversion is walking. and his
most liked jaunt when at home in Ber-
lin is stroll to Potsdam. which is
only eighteen milesi
But It is as a teacher that Hartmann
has attracted most attention at home;
his methods are so different from the
ordinary. This is not due to eccentri-
city, but to knowledge that oddity will
impress his pupils where usual ways
will not.
Budapest paper recently published
four-column appreciation of Arthur
Hartmann, written by one of his ar
tistic pupils. The description is ex-
ceptionally interesting and some ex-
tracts from 1t are given herewith, In
translation
His Methods
HE forgets himself completely dur
ing lesson and the less talented the
pupil and the more responsive, the
greater are Hartmann's exertions to
arouse the dull-witted one mentally
and to quicken the lethargic intelli-
gence into making at least an attempt
at accomplishing what the musical
faculties seem unable to achieve.
A stranger. coming suddenly upon
Hartmann at some of these moments,
would undoubtedly imagine that he
had ventured into the presence of an
escaped lunatic. On the spur of the
moment Hartmann invents operate or
dramatic scenes to illustrate various
moods which he wishes certain pass
ages to suggest to the e-pupil. When
he finds that his mere words effect no
result he stalks up and down the room,
tears a colored Buffalo rug from the
divan, grasps long Norwegian dag
ger which serves as an ornament on
his writing desk, rolls his eyes and
then and there enacts in pantomime
the drama he has been describing,
singing the tenor role in falsetto, plead
ing in soprano as the girl, threatening
in a cultural basso as the villain and
oft times frightening a female pupil
to such an extent that when she re-
sumes her performance her emotions
are all a-tingle and her tone is rich
with a certain vibrancy that had never
been there before. Then 1t Is that
Hartman throws off the Buffalo rug,
listens intently and cries out:
"'There 1t is-that's the quality;
that's what I want You've got 1t in
you, you see, but II must be brought
out. I won't do this scene again for
YOU, but whenever you play that pass
age in public think how realistically
I acted and how frightened you were.
"Of course, 1t must not be supposed
that Hartmann always tries to frighten
music into his pupils. for he fits his
tactics to each particular case.
Makes Them Real
"Sometimes he finds that a pupils
emotional temperament overbalances
his Intellectual capacity. In that event
he forces him to read, gives him a
certain work on philosophy or book
of essays to study for the next lesson.
and insists on the pupil discussing
with him. arguing, analyzing and crit
icising. At first some of the young vio-
Iinists rebel at this sort of instruc-
tion and cannot possibly conceive what
A. has to do with bowling or double
stopping on the violin. However, they
soon get interested in the new subject
and gradually understand lts appnca-
tion as Hartmann draws the analogies
between music and literature, leads
over to the domain of esthetics, ex-
nlains the wellsprings of all artistic
creation. drifts into musical history
and finally brings the talk to and end
with some special deduction that leads
teacher and listener at the very work
which Is being studied.
''He has humor, too. on one occa-
sion a pupil was playing the Saint
Saens concerto in B minor. She had
lust finished the opening phrase when
hartmann interrupted her and said:
Good heavens, play that as If 1t meant
something The girl tried again, but
made the snatch of melody sound even
more commonplace than before. Hart
mann grasped the fiddle and initiated
her. THAT phrase is all important in
the concerto. but you know what 1t
sounds like when you play 1t? Like
this and then Hartmann sang the
words, DO you like cheeseT
1.-THE effect was irresistibly humorous,
of course, and the pupil at once re-
allied the point Hartmann was trying
Tells Her to Eat
son one occasion he noticed that a
Young girl was looking pale, as II from
overwork. For the next month you
must eat more than you practice he
said to her. and at each lesson there
after she had to tell him exactly how
much she had eaten and how long she
had practiced. He made an unim-
aginative youth from Nebraska read
DUMAS. Poe and Walter Scott until the
boy developed a mania for romantic
literature, and incidentally acquired
the bold style and free delivery which
Hartmann had found Impossible TO
teach him by rule or example. He
went with some of his pupils to the
art galleries and lectured to them on
the technic and fantasy of the masters;
others he took to the opera and made
them follow the vocal score and mark
with a pencil the phrasing. breathing
pauses and natural accents with which
the great singers delivered cantabile
melodies.
"'You play as though your fiddle
were made of glass and your bow OF
iron,' Hartmann told one pupil; don't
play with. your instrument, play on It,
II won't Break 'When-you are tired
don't expect your violin to be fresh,
was another of his aphorisms.
"Once he caught a boy suddenly
around the neck with one hand. The
lad coughed and choked
" Precisely explained Hartmann;
"rhat,s the MaY Won are snuaeZlng the