Talk:Leopold Auer

Education of Shinichi Suzuki
According to a biography by the International Suzuki Association, Suzuki's teachers were Ko Ando in Tokyo and Karl Klingler in Berlin. Neither this biography nor the Wikipedia article on Shinichi Suzuki mentions Auer as another teacher. I was surprised to see that this claim has been in the article for over a year now, originally posted by one-time editor 71.178.53.146. The claim was also never sited. Based on careful examination of the claim, I have determined it false and removed it.

Sidious1741 (talk) 01:35, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Revision Needed
This article is poor. It is florid, biased, badly organized, conversational in tone, etc. It reads like a mythology, not an objective summation of good research. I am bummed. Auer deserves better than this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.97.228.226 (talk) 04:41, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

pupils vs. students
I think the word "pupil" meaning student is unidiomatic in American English now, perhaps not British? The List of music students by teacher, important for Auer, illustrates usage of "student" in the desired sense I think. Macmarl (talk) 00:12, 14 April 2016 (UTC)

Paul Stassevich and Sasha Lasserson
These two are said to have been students of Auer, but without so apparently there may not be WP articles about them? Also, the Oxford Companion to Music does not mention either of them. Since Auer had such outstanding students, it seems there is no need to mention these? I will try Googling their names. Marlindale (talk) 22:36, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

About Paul Stassevich I found that he had an "influential place in the musical life of Chicago in the late 1950s" and about Sas(c)ha Lasserson, "his name will be unfamiliar to most music lovers" but known to British violinists. About both, there are books of reminiscences by their students, but that in itself seems to me not enough to make them notable. I plan to delete both names from the list of students. Marlindale (talk) 22:56, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Schwarz book
P. 414 in the book, about Auer, seems close to some passages in the article. I will look for other more independent references. Marlindale (talk) 03:02, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Auer textbook
In adding this as a source, I mistakenly called it Joachim's in the edit summary. Marlindale (talk) 00:44, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Violin solos in ballet scores written especially for Auer's talents?
This is said of five composers, specifically Tchaikovsky, whose most famous ballets include The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. I couldn't find so far any verification, so I plan to insert "citation needed". Marlindale (talk) 22:11, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Brahms violin and piano sonatas
There are three of these. Nos. 1, 2, and 3. The article said until today that Auer "introduced" these, without elaboration or reference. The articles on the individual sonatas say that No. 1 was premiered by Robert Heckmann, violin, and Marie Heckmann-Hirty, piano; No. 2 by Jos. Hellmesberger Sr. (violin) and Brahms (piano); and No. 3 by Jenö Hubay, violin, and Brahms (piano). (No mention of Auer.) So I plan to avoid implying Auer performed in such premieres. Auer may have prepared printed editions of these sonatas. Marlindale (talk) 20:54, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

In his book Violin Master Works and Their Interpretation Auer mentions, for Brahms, only his violin concerto. Brahms called his pieces sonatas for piano and violin (in that, unusual, order)

Also, in the book, printed editions by Auer are often cited. Marlindale (talk) 21:20, 3 February 2017 (UTC)


 * It may be that Auer premiered them in Russia or wherever, without being the first performer ever. This may bear further research.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:28, 3 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Auer's book My Long Life in Music has an index showing Brahms' name mentioned on 11 (should be at least 12) pages, but I didn't find his piano and violin sonatas mentioned there. Marlindale (talk) 18:11, 4 February 2017 (UTC)


 * I may have tracked down the source for the claim in question. The Leopold Auer Society's website says:
 * ''Until 1906 he was also leader of the string quartet for the Russian Musical Society (RMS). This quartet’s concerts were as integral a part of the Saint Petersburg musical scene as their counterparts led by Joachim in Berlin. Criticism arose in later years of less-than-perfect ensemble and insufficient attention to contemporary Russian music. Nevertheless, Auer’s group performed quartets by Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The group also played music by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, along with Louis Spohr, Joachim Raff and other secondary German composers.
 * Auer also continued performing sonatas with many great pianists. His favorite recital partner was Anna Yesipova, with whom he appeared until her death in 1914. Other partners included Anton Rubinstein, Theodor Leschetizky, Raoul Pugno, Sergei Taneyev and Eugen d’Albert. In the 1890s, he performed cycles of all 10 Beethoven violin sonatas. He also introduced the violin and piano sonatas of Brahms.


 * So, that seems to be saying he introduced the sonatas to the Russian Musical Society, and in effect to St Petersburg. I'm happy to accord him that local priority.  But it's not sufficiently encyclopedic for mention, imo. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:42, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Russian Musical Society string quartet
According to a figure caption in the RMS article, the Quartet included besides Auer, first violin, in the 1880s, Wilhelm Zacharias Pickel (second violin), Hieronymus Weickmann (viola), and Aleksandr Verzhbilovich (cello). I will see if I can find more about the latter three members. Marlindale (talk) 21:09, 7 February 2017 (UTC) So, at least three of the four quartet members have WP articles. Marlindale (talk) 21:19, 7 February 2017 (UTC) Besides Verzhbilovich, the cellist during some part of the RMS quartet's existence was Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, director of the Moscow Musical and Orchestral Union. Marlindale (talk) 21:54, 7 February 2017 (UTC)

Mozart violin concertos
There is a concerto in E-flat among three Auer (1912) selected for inclusion, but according to more recent research, footnoted in List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is not really by Mozart. So I think we do not want to repeat the outdated information. Marlindale (talk) 23:52, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Autobio - mentions of composers?
Auer's autobiography, My Long Life in Music, has an index with many listings of several composers (Brahms, Glazounoff, Glinka, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Wagner) and violinists (Elman, Heifetz, Joachim, Kreisler, Paganini) but no listings of Bach, Handel, Haydn, nor Mozart; his other book "Violin Master Works..." extensively mentions Bach, Handel, and Mozart. Marlindale (talk) 22:55, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Revising and improving references
This article had a "Refimprove" since November 2012. About one non-minor edit per day has been made this month, February 2017. There were not so many edits in October or November 2016. Auer wrote just 3 books, one of them being his autobiography My Long Life in Music, "Auer 1923", already appearing in a lot of citations. I suppose the "Refimprove" can be deleted within a few more months. Marlindale (talk) 22:35, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

The "Refimprove" was inserted 18 November 2012 when the article contained just 5 citations. It now has 47. Many more may be inserted in the course of time. I plan to delete the "Refimprove" now from the article. Maybe some instances of "citation needed" could be put in? Marlindale (talk) 00:50, 21 February 2017 (UTC) Marlindale (talk) 01:04, 21 February 2017 (UTC) Marlindale (talk) 01:04, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

Bach solo violin (and harpsichord) pieces
Although Auer wrote that the violin and harpsichord sonatas are famous, as of 1925 when he wrote, it seems to me that by now the sonatas and partitas for solo violin are more famous. Marlindale (talk) 23:23, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Second wife, and piano accompanist after 1914, Wanda Bogutska Stein
I did not find an article on her in WP nor in the Oxford Companion to Music. A website Harmonie Autographs and Music Inc., harmonieautographs.com, "LEOPOLD AUER - VIOLINIST", autographed by L. Auer 1925, shows a master class at Chicago Musical College. Among the 5 people in the front row are Auer and his second wife Wanda.Marlindale (talk) 22:25, 21 September 2017 (UTC)