THE TECHNIC OF BOWING


Hans Letz, the gifted Alsatian violinist, is well fitted to talk on any
phase of his Art. A pupil of Joachim (he came to this country in 1908),
he was for three years concertmaster of the Thomas orchestra, appearing
as a solo artist in most of our large cities, and was not only one of
the Kneisels (he joined that organization in 1912), but the leader of a
quartet of his own. As a teacher, too, he is active in giving others an
opportunity to apply the lessons of his own experience.


VIOLIN MASTERY

When asked for his definition of the term, Mr. Letz said: "There can be
no such thing as an _absolute_ mastery of the violin. Mastery is a
relative term. The artist is first of all more or less dependent on
circumstances which he cannot control--his mood, the weather, strings,
a thousand and one incidentals. And then, the nearer he gets to his
ideal, the more apt his ideal is to escape him. Yet, discounting all
objections, I should say that a master should be able to express
perfectly the composer's idea, reflected by his own sensitive soul.


THE KEY TO INTERPRETATION

"The bow is the key to this mastery in expression, in interpretation: in
a lesser degree the left hand. The average pupil does not realize this
but believes that mere finger facility is the whole gist of technic. Yet
the richest color, the most delicate _nuance_, is mainly a matter of