Talk:Fritz Kreisler

No reason given for the "musical hoaxes"
I'm somewhat surprised that the story about why he created all the pieces in "the style of" and attributed them to those composers as lost pieces isn't included. As I recall, he said that when he began his career there were very few compositions a young aspiring solo violinist could use without stepping on the coattails of more established soloists (ie. a soloist felt like he "owned" his signature piece) so he wrote his own. As he didn't want to seem presumptious (and give critics something else to complain about), he claimed to have "found" them in musty old archives. Mccainre (talk) 22:41, 14 February 2015 (UTC)

Comment
Austrian army, or Austria-Hungarian? -- Ortonmc


 * All the sources I've looked at (including one by Kreisler himself that I'm just going to externally linking from the article) just call it the "Austrian army", but I guess it would have served Austro-Hungary. I don't know - that bit of history isn't something I know anything much about. --Camembert


 * I'm not an expert on the subject either. I suppose there might have been separate Austrian & Hungarian armies.  Let's leave it as it is unless other info turns up. -- Ortonmc


 * For whatever it matters: Kreisler was in fourth battalion, Company 16 of the 3rd Army corps of the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian army (according to Lochner)


 * There's a Hungarian mens' dance called the verbunk (the best example is from Szatmar, or Satu Mare in Romanian); we were told by Zoltan Zsurafszky (a dance professional from Hungary) that recruiters got men in the Hungarian villages liquored up, then watched them dance to judge their physical condition and coordination. The best/most agile dancers were drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army. --MgFrobozz

Spanish text removed
Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962) Era un compositor y violinista Austriaco, quizá uno de los mas famosos de su época. Kreisler nació en Vienna. Estudió en el conservatorio de Paris y también el de Vienna, con profesores como Delibes, Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., Joseph Massart y Jules Massenet. Hizo su primer tour por América entre 1888 y 1889 con el pianista Moriz Rosenthal, luego regresó a Austria a conseguir un puesto en la Orquesta Filarmónica de Vienna, pero fué rechazado. Se dedicó después de esto a estudiar medicina y luego pintura. De hecho se enlistó en la armada antes de volver a tocar violín en 1899, durante un concierto con la filarmónica de Berlin, bajó la conducción de Arthur Nikish. Este sería el concierto que le daría reconocimiento internaciona, junto con algunas giras por Norte América entre 1901 y 1903.

I removed this additions (from ) text from the article. - Skysmith 19:16, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Jewish and/or German background
"Born to a Jewish mother and German father"?? Since when does being Jewish preclude being German, or vice-versa? I take exception to these catagories? Shouldn't this be corrected? Eliot Fintushel (talk) 05:11, 15 September 2010 (UTC)


 * It currently says, "a Jewish father and a German mother." We may never know how many of his parents were Jewish and how many were German. David Spector (user/talk) 17:50, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

What makes you say that Kreisler was born in a Jewish family? Neither of the 2 biographies, by Lochner and Biancolli, supports this. (this paragraph is unsigned)

Jewish?
Here is a paragraph from page 173 of Nathan Milstein's memoirs, "From Russia to the West" (Barrie & Jenkins Ltd., London, 1990):

Of German extraction, Mme. Kreisler regretted that "Fritz has Jewish blood." In fact, it was more than just "having blood" -- the whole Kreisler family was 100 percent Jewish. But Harriet [Mme. Kreisler] insisted that Kreisler was only part Jewish. Once she told the pianist Leopold Godowsky, "You understand, actually, Fritz has very little Jewish blood." To which Godowsky, who was never at a loss for words, replied, "I didn't realise Fritz was so anaemic." Cunningpal (talk) 00:31, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

The Kreisler Guarneri
It should also be mentioned that the Guarneri (Del Gesu) instrument he used for most of his career became known as the "Kreisler". Why just mention the that the Bergonzi took on his name? I believe that the Kreisler is in a state of preservation in the Smithsonian Institute in Whashington. (this paragraph is unsigned)

The Posthumous Waltzes
I have read in a book on frauds that some time during the 1900's Kreisler gave a concert in Berlin(?) (I'm going to have to recheck the source to confirm this). Part of the line up included the Caprice Viennois and four pieces entitled Posthumous Waltzes and attributed to Joseph Lanner, but in fact written by Kreisler. The story is that one of the critics praised the waltzes but slammed Kreizler for using them to bracket the Caprice Viennois which was referred to as a mere 'salon piece'. Kreisler is then supposed to have responded with a letter in which he confessed to writing both the waltzes and the caprice. This story might be worth running down. Graham1973 (talk) 16:19, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Kreisler: Painter?
I'm reading an old biography of Fritz that my violin teacher gave me to study, and it has a direct quote from Fritz stating that, "My inability even to draw a map should dispose once and for all of the rumor that I studied painting under Julien of Paris....I have not painted a picture in my life." So the claim that he studied painting should probably be removed, despite contradictory evidence from other sources. This biography was by Louis P. Lochner, published by The MacMillan Company of New York in 1951, OCLC #150221699.

This book also seems to have Fritz debunking a lot of myths about himself. If I see any others I'll let you know...Coandcam08 (talk) 01:43, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

I'll take the "Painter" thing out. Both the Lochner biography and the Biancolli include this denial of his ever being interested in painting. ~Vivalatosca

Source for a vital and missing portion of this article.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Fritz_Kreisler/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.189.146.128 (talk) 15:59, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Accident and deafness
The impression I get from this article is that Kreisler was left deaf and blind after he was hit by a car (taxi?). However, I remember reading about him performing after that accident, and have heard recordings from after it: several orchestrated versions of his violin/piano music, and his Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta. His tuning suffered, but he was clearly not deaf. Can someone with access to a source review this? Lochner and Biancolli both talk about it, as I recall. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.106.81.162 (talk) 20:01, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Last days blind and deaf?
Nothing is said about a car accident shortly before his death in the biography "Fritz Kreisler: Love's Sorrow, Love's Joy, by Amy Biancolli." His eyesight and hearing were both very poor in his old age, however.

An extensive obituary in the New York Times dated Jan. 30, 1962, makes no mention of an accident, saying he was in relatively good health before dying of a heart condition. The serious 1941 accident occurred, and was described. --Cunningpal (talk) 18:06, 3 July 2013 (UTC)
 * As this has been challenged for nearly two years now, and neither the biog nor the obituary appears to mention it, I've removed the bit about that second car accident. Anyone can put it back, of course, if they can find a source for it. Squinge (talk) 09:26, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Continuous Vibrato?
There's no source given for the comment that Kreisler is attributed for popularizing continuous vibrato. I think it's a false statement. Heifetz is usually attributed for popularizing continuous vibrato (sorry no source for this either).
 * and seem to argue your point well, so I am removing that reference. Joshua Scott (talk) 07:23, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * There is no such thing as "continuous vibrato". This term was obviously coined by people who have never played a string instrument. Vibrato can only be applied on long notes, as soon as quick and short notes are being played, for pure technical reasons vibrato is not possible!--62.47.136.22 (talk) 08:25, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Quality of old recordings?
There's a lot of opinion with no citations about the various recordings and their quality (bass, etc.) that reads rather silly --- clearly just one person's opinion.
 * Removed it. Feel free to revert if there are good sources to back up these opinions, but please couch them as opinions, not facts. Joshua Scott (talk) 07:19, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

"his style is nonetheless reminiscent of the gemütlich (cozy) lifestyle of pre-war Vienna"
This is pure malarkey. There is nothing "gemütlich" about this way of playing. Kreisler's style was derived from Hellmesberger's whose style of playing goes back to Mayseder, Franz Clement and the Wranizky brothers.--Suessmayr~enwiki (talk) 11:49, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

apologies
I own up to having amended a couple of examples of "Liebeslied" to "Liebesleid". "Lied" is German for "song"; "Leid" is German for "suffering", "sorrow" etc. Lied rhymes with beat, Leid rhymes with bite. Fuficius Fango (talk) 13:32, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

Conversion to Roman Catholicism
Shouldn't his conversion to Roman Catholicism be mentioned? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6000:1514:584:30F9:F04B:10B5:6561 (talk) 21:31, 29 September 2020 (UTC)