Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-26

/ OF the Time. AuD6llk 10 ISAhSAehN "
/ tell of the privations that they all had
to go through in order to complete his
/ six years at the conservatory HIS
tuition was given him for nothing, Tor
! Professor Sevcik saw a world celeb
i rity in the child, but the money to sup
port him had to come from home.
Every cent that could be spared from
the maintenance of the home was sent
/ to the boy at Prague. Very often there
was barely more than enough to keep
body and soul together; many an hour
did he practice on his violin with an
empty stomach, his head aching for
want Of sufficient nourishment.
Readers of character that see Ku-
belik's face see a countenance marked
| for refinement and gentleness. But
about the mouth and chin are lines
that tell of a strong win power and
determination, and as he stood in his
| little garnet with his violin under MS
chin he shook the bow at the world.
You shall pay me for this!" he cried
| through his clenched teeth. And he
plunged again into the Paganini con-
certo, which he can play now as no.
| body but Paganini has ever been able
| to play it.
His 18th year witnessed the begin
ming of his triumph and his greatest
| sorrow. He graduated from the
Prague conservatory before an audi
| ence of the keenest critics. He was
marked right away for the success that
he has since achieved. But he played
with a sorrow hanging over him, Tor
his father had been i'll for a year AT
times he was so sick that he could not
listen to the boys playing. At the end
of 1898 he obtained his first engage
tnent. He received $40 for playing at
this concert; with S. of the money he
| bought a wreath for his fathers fun
| eral. He died just before the public
gave me the reward for which he mad
struggled" are the words or the ar
fist. But in his playing that day there
was a feeling that only man with
great grief can put into the strings of
| the violin. He played as If he were
determined that his father should hear
him dead or alive. He was playing
on his own heartstrings. He played as
never genius had played before In that
city. and that great audience rose at
him with one shout when he mad nm
ished. Thunders of applause tnat
echoed for blocks around burst out Ior
the pale faced boy who had eyes LOT
nothing but his violin.
Musicians. critics and the people at
large, men and women, emotional 30
hemians and visitors from other cities,
acclaimed the advent of new mas
ter. but when his old professors, Anton
Sevcik and Julius Skrivan, who AFTER
wards became his secretary, went 10
look for him they had long search
Finally, in the greenroom, they cams
upon a lad with his head upon the
table, his violin in one hand, sopoink
out the grief of his heart. Instead OF
the volume CT applause he heard the
diving words of his father; instead or
a concert hall crowded with people who
! seemed to have gone crazy, he saw a
/ bier in the lonely cottage at Niche.
ON his way to that concert Kubelik
had ridden in third class railway car
rage A continental third class car
riage is a vehicle one step removed
from an American cattle car; dry-eyed'
but heartbroken, he was riding to MS
first engagement. His SURROUNDINGS
! only seemed to accentuate his misery.
"a year from now" said Julius Skin
van, you will be riding first Gloss,
| and the secretary was a true prophet.
On this frail looking lad, barely IL
years old developed now the support
of his mother and brothers. For sew
eral months his earnings were barely
sufficient to meet his needs. AS ne
saws. he received his great encourage
ment from his debut in Budapest ana
his subsequent engagement at Vienna.
But he had to pay the travelling ex-
nenses of himself and his secretary,
who was teaching him the business end
| of the profession Half Of all he earned
went back to the little village OF
| Michle TO keep up the cottage and MS
widowed mother.
Narrowly escaping death in a railroad
collision, he arrived in Vienna, still In
! considerable trepidation. The critics
of Budapest acclaimed him a Veritab'e
hero of the violin. But the reputation
of the critics on the Viennese press
was redoubtable enough to make any
body quail. After he had seen the
first notice he had received in Vienna
| Kubelik uuailed no more, for he had
taken Vienna and lifted it off It's rect
bodily. Then his triumphs began to
come more easily. On the continent OF
Europe audiences succumbed readily,
but there were still qualms. London
had still to be met and conquered;
London, the rock on which so many
artistic ships had been wrecked; ships,
too. that had been turned out of fam
ous wards. London, the grave of repu-
tations, perhaps will always be dreaded
nv artists. London, that has turned
down genius and applauded medlocrity
was stirred out of It's apathetic calm
ness when Kubelik arrived. Hans
Richter, the famous Wagnerian con-
QuctOr, mad maze huuellh dh OllSA ~
NAV at his celebrated concerts, ana
London knew that an artist who played
at a Richter concert must be something
out of the ordinary, but it was not
prepared for the sensational perform
ance of Kubelik So London got wise"
and followed in the line of cities that
knew better than itself, and which had
already stamped Kubelik as genius.
Comfort the young artist had already
begun to know and appreciate by this
time; he Travelled third class no longer
He played on a $4,000 Stradivarius,
given him by Emperor Franz Josef of
Austria. But his luxuries were des-
tined to be bought with American
double eagles. In London he met Hugo
Gorlitz the manager who had piloted
Paderewski through nine tours in this
country, and he made thousands oil
dollars for the Pole. He saw the pos
abilities in the violinist. possibilities
greater than even those in Paderewskt
Kubelik, on his side, was advised that
he could find no better manager ia
steer him over the United States from
New York to Omaha, and from Mon
treal. Canada, to New Orleans. The
4 American public came through as was
expected. People combined to pay Ku-
helix such sums as had never before
been paid to any one man for his ser
vices. PaderewsH mania had beer
eclipsed; Kubelik mania was the order
of the day, and for all this Kubelik took
back with him to Europe large sizeo
check with six figures on 1t.