been aroused in his behalf. On the evening of which I speak I played a
Chopin _Nocturne_, and I know that into my playing there went some of my
feeling for the pathos of the situation of this young stranger in a
strange land, of my own age, eating the bitter bread of exile. When I
had finished, the Marchioness of Ripon touched my arm: 'Look at the
King!' she whispered. Don Manuel had been moved to tears.

"Of course the purely mechanical must always be dominated by the
artistic personality of the player. Yet technic is also an important
part of interpretation: knowing exactly how long to hold a bow, the most
delicate inflections of its pressure on the strings. There must be
perfect sympathy also with the composer's thought; his spirit must stand
behind the personality of the artist. In the case of certain famous
compositions, like the Beethoven concerto, for instance, this is so well
established that the artist, and never the composer, is held responsible
if it is not well played. But too rigorous an adherence to 'tradition'
in playing is also an extreme. I once played privately for Joachim in
Berlin: it was the Bach _Chaconne_. Now the edition I used was a
standard one: and Joachim was extremely reverential as regards
traditions. Yet he did not hesitate to indicate some changes which he
thought should be made in the version of an authoritative edition,
because 'they sounded better.' And 'How does it sound?' is really the
true test of all interpretation."


ABSOLUTE PITCH THE FIRST ESSENTIAL OF A
PERFECTED TECHNIC

"What is the fundamental of a perfected violin technic?" was a natural
question at this point. "Absolute pitch, first of all," replied Elman