New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-20
YSAYE RETURNS
An Extraordinary Concert at
Carnepie Hall

There was much to wonder at and
much for the serious minded to he CRATE
full for in the recital of violin. music
which Eugene Ysaye gave in Carnegie
Hall yesterday afternoon For a series
of years he was a familiar figure I'm our
concert rooms and during that time he
set an example which did a great deal to
create an appreciation for the highest
type OF violin playing, In the course OF
time he forfeited portion Of the admira-
ton he had won by occasional laUses into
carelessness; but il was noticeable that
the large, sincere artist soul within him
always responded TO great occasions, and
he became again a representative Of the
highest type OF the reproductive artist
Seventeen years ago. the present re-
viewer, trying TO sum UP the impressions
made upon him by his first American
concerts, recognized in him a puissant
figure; a man of extraordinary physical
attributes, large sound man, a normal
man, in appearance, yet singularly en-
gaging because Of the expressive mo-
bility of his face and the freedom
from affcctation which marked his
bearing, a personihcation Of sanity
of body mind and soul. lie observed
the extraordinary degree in which he IL
Illustrated the intimacy which must exist
between the player and his instrument
If we are TO be told what violin music IS.
He sets his bow TO the strings: the hairs
seem TO bite them with human purpose;
the tone as faint as a ghOstly whisper.
or ringing like a martial shout fills the
room and is saturated with feeling. There
is an answering throb from the listeners,
the chords Of their hearts are swinging
in unison" And again: How brilliantly
all technical difficulties seem to be over
come! Are they SO? 4 thrust Of the bow
and a shower Of glittering notes comes
bursting from the strings-what was the
passage? Alas, come 10 think Of IT, we
know not. Standing out. bright strong.
self-reliant now, anon II is blurred and
unacceptable, 1t has been suggested,
not played; yet so obvious was its mu-
steal purpose so perfectly did It fit into
the symmetry Of the whole, that we
failed to notice its imperfections. Our
mind is only upon one tning-the musicH
These the impressions Of seventeen
years ago, and they We're revived yester-
day-revived and emphasized i'm their
chief aspects Mr.. Ysaye rendered q great
and timely service by playing such music
as he did and playing II as he did For
years the public has been led more and
more into sidewisc excursions. into prim-
rose paths, to loiter IN pretty dalllance
with fiddle trihes. Mr.. Ysaye brought his
audience back into the great classic high
way and expounded for them the cardi-
nal principles Of artistic beauty in tone
and phrase and expressive melodic line
he exempli1ed as no other violinlst of our
time exemplifies It, ne supreme. the di-
vine law Of repOse. His posture was firm,
commanding, compelling, but inviting TO
glad obedience. His violin part Of him
self; his bow and right arm a single
agency The tone Of his instrument pull
stated with warm blood No need OF af-
fected vibrato there. AS when he first
came, there were some technical obscuri-
ties In his playing, and except IN the
noble chaconne by Vital, with which he
concluded the classical part of his
scheme, there seemed to be a little less
depth and solidity. Of tone than former
ly; but this may have been to some ex-
tent matter OF personal equation I'm the
nearer, due TO the position Of his seat
I'm the concert room. But the deficiency
II deficiency 1t was, was all forgotten
in the great lesson Of style which he
taught He played a sonata in a by
Veracin! and one in p minor by Gemin-
iani, men who were not altogether friend
ly rivals in London in the early years of
the eighteenth ccntury-splendid speci-
mems of true violin music both. OF
them, their archaism made ravishing by
Ysayes art. Then a Mozart concerto in
G, in whose graceful beauties he revealed
with the zest of the composer-"over
young and ever fair" After this came
the climax of the chaconne by Vital for
which Mr. CASTOR Dethier provided as
mastery an organ accompaniment as the
insufficient instrument I'm Carnegie Hall
permitted. Finally there were modern
short pieces, few by the player him
self and Saint-SaGns. The hall was
crowded and hundreds of would-be lis
teners were turned away. II. u. h.