Violin Resources – A Performing, Learning, Artistic, and Teaching Web Resource and Platform for Violinists and Musicians, By Orion Music and Arts, Cambridge, MA, est. 2023

Carl Flesch, Hungarian violinist, teacher, writer, and educator (1873-1944)

Born October 9th in 1873, the great Hungarian-German violinist and teacher Carl Flesch made innumerable contributions to violin pedagogy and development. Authoring highly innovative violin writings, technical exercises, articles, scale systems, as well teaching, and at some of the world’s greatest music institutions, Flesch’s was a highly effective pedagogy that saw to the rise and development of some outstanding violinists and a living tradition of sound and violin playing and teaching which we still and hear in particularly European violinists and performers today.

Education

Educated at the Vienna Conservatory from 1886 to 1890, studying with J.M. Gunn, Flesch later went to the Paris Conservatories where he was taught by Suzan and the great violin pedagogue Martin Pierre Marsick (1881-1955), who also taught the great Romanian violinist George Enescu (1881-1955). Always at the forefront of both scholarly as well as violinistically driven artistic work, he once gave a series of concerts in which he traced the history of violin writing from the seventeenth-century to his 19th-century present.

Performances and Teaching

In Berlin to which he moved in 1908, Flesch performed chamber music with Schnabel and Cecks, to critical acclaim. At first giving masterclasses at the Hochscule for Music and then rising to a full professorship, Flesch also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philaldephia from 1924-1928, serving as its head, and before leaving for the Lucerne Conservatoire where he remained to his death.

Concerts and Acclaim

Described by the music historians Boris Schwarz and Margaret Campbell as being having ‘impeccable technique’, a refined and ‘intellectual grasp of styles’, and ‘classical purity’, Flesch is known also for being able to adapt his playing style to reflect historical veracities, as seen in the classical and Neo-classical approach to his recordings of Bach and Brahms, and then his virtuosic engagements in his interpretation of Paganini and Hubby.

Books and Pedagogies

His contributions to violin pedagogy is vast, and come both by way of his teaching, as well as by way of his extensive writing. Author of The Art of Violin Playing as well as the Flesch scale system, and Urstudien, a series of technical exercises and warm-ups, just to name a few, Flesch was a thoughtful innovator whose work was designed for ease and efficacy for all, from students to professionals, and through publication as well as print. 

Students and Living Legacy

By way of his teaching and personal studios, his students remain and count among some of the greatest of all violin luminaries of all time – Max Rostal, Henryk Szeryng, Ida Haendel, Ginette Neveu, and Ali Modires.

Further Purchases and Educational Material

Purchases of these works as well as information and new educational content, as well as an e-book, can be made using the contact form; please feel free to contact or to reach us for any further information.

By the Orion Music and Arts, Cambridge, MA, Team, 2023-2024

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