THE WILHELMJ CONCERTS.

Press, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5074, 12 December 1881, Page 3

THE WILHELMJ CONCERTS.

On Thursday evening next the publio of Christohurch will hare an opportunity of listening to one of the greatest violinists of modern times in the person of August Wilhelmj, who will make hie appearance at the Theatre SoyaL Of Herr Wilhelmj and those who accompany him, " Puok," the theatrical critic of the Otago "Daily Times," writes as follows:—"August Wilhelmj was born on the 21st of September, 1845, at Usingen, the former residence of the Prince of HaseauTTeingen. His father, the well-known Doctor of Laws, August Wilbelmj, was one of the official aristocracy of North Germany, having been at one time Attorney-General of Prussia. Hie mother was Charlotte Petry, a famous artiste herself, and pupil of Anton Andre, of Frederic Chopin, and of Marco Bordogni. The first instructor of Wilhelmj ir the art of which he is such a distinguished professor was Conrad Fischer, of Wiesbaden, ooncert master to the Duke of Nassau. Such rapid progress did the young violinist make, that when Henrietta Sontag visited his parents in 1852, she was so moved by his exquisite performance— though he was scarcely seven years old—that she embraced him crying, 'Surely you will become the Paganini of your Fatherland !' He played in a stringed quartette by Haydn when only eight years old, after hearing it but once; but the first appearance in publio made by Wilhelmj was under the happiest auspices, for he contributed the earliest blossom of his genius to a concert for the benefit of the poor. It was on the Bth of January, 1854, that he made hie debut on the oonoert stage, at Limburgh on-the Lam. His second presentation to the publio took place on the 17th of Maroh 1856, in the Oonrfc Theatre of Wiesbaden, on which occasion his phrasing created a positive furore among all the musical cognoscenti who heard him. In the spring of 1861 August Wilhelmj went to Weimar, and there met Franz Liszt. Liszt desired him to display his abilities, and he played fop the great maestro Sphor's 6e»a.ng- Scene and Ernst's "Hungarian Themes," having fer an aooompanist no less a master of the piano than Liszt himself. The impression made by the young virtuoso must have been a profound one, for, after askisg him to play [some very difficult concer i at first eight, Liszt jumped up from the piano crying, "And they have doubted your ability! The violin is your destiny. Had there been no such instrument, it would have been invented for your sake. Work ! Praotice! The world will talk of yon very soon." Liizt then piesented Wilhelmj to Prince Emil yon Wittgenstein, by whom he was very considerately treated, and afterwards introduced him to Ferdinand David, of Leipsio, to whose schooling he confided him, saying, " Here I bring to you Paganini the Second. Take good care of him." From 1861 to 1864 Wilhelmj remained in the Leipsio Conservatory of Music, under the personal charge of Herr David, having for hu teachers in the theory of music, Morris Hauptmann and Ernst Friedrioh Biohter. In the autumn of 1863 he made his first European tour, spending the winter in Switzerland.- In the spring of 1865 he visited Holland and Great Britain, Jenny Linda assistance proouring for him an appearance at one of Alfred Melton's concerts in Covent Garden. There he was received with an enthusiasm comparable only to that which welcomed Paganini to the English capital. It was on the 20th January, 1867, that he made his first bow to a Parisian audience, at one of the celebrated Pasdeloup's popular classic concerts. His audience was enchanted with him. His critics pronounoed him peerless and styled him "the new Paganini" In 1867 Wilhelmj visited Italy, end mads as decided a sensation in Florence and other Italian oities as he did in the following January in St. Peterburg. In 1868-1873 he travelled through Switzerland, France, Belgium, England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, and Austria, receiving everywhere the most distinguished marks of favor, not only from the people who flocked to see and hear "The Great Maestro," but from the nobility and reigning sovereigns, by the latter of whom he was during this time decorated with no less than thirteen different Orders. He then spent nearly three years in England, where he waa invited to Windsor Castle by her Majesty Queen Victoria, who signified her delight at his performance, and requested him to pen something in her album, which should be a memorial of his visit. In England Wilhelmj advocated the claims of Wagner so successfully, that the wonderful composer visited London, and inaugurated the series of " Wagner Concerts," which beoame the rage of the metropolis. In 1878 he visited America, where for three years he was the leading musical attraction, and drew immense houees from one end of the continent to the other. In July of the present year he commenced his visit to Australia, being the first musical artist who ever visited the oolonies in the zenith of his fame. Maximillian Yogrich, the pianist of the company, wae born in Hungary. Mr Yogrich, with the passion for travel that seems a birthright to the Hungarian, has roamed through all the civilised cities of the Old and New World, and in each has won a success that has made for him a reputation enjoyed by few artists, and at an age in which most artiste were diligently pursuing their respective studies. Having travelled throughout Europe, he visited America in 1879, and has for the past two seasons traversed the length and breadth of that country, delighting immense audiences with his marvellous playing as he had before interested thousands of musicians and amateurs with the exquisite compositions which had already made his name famous, ani had gained for him from one of Europe's most famous critic the soubriquet of "the young Mozart." He is a prolific writer, a rapid and correct worker, and has devoted much of his time to composing. His "Bridal Song" is a master work. As a solo-pianist, he commands a most remarkable faculty to analyse musical phrases at a glanoe. His skill in the playing of scales, arpeggios, and in the disposition of the rhythm, is marvellous. His velocity, conceiving tones and performing them on a large scale is great and unfailing. So is his musical memory. As to proper interpretation, the result of artistic performance, he pleases to a very high degree, blending periods in a finished manner. He excels in intellectuality, vividness of fancy, and conception. The delicacy of his fingering, and his delicious rendering of the dreamy numbers of Chopin and others of the great masters will endear him to the lovers of such music as appeals to the heart. [I have the assurance of one of the finest pianists in Australia that in his treatment of classical music he has had no equal among the pianists who have visited Australia.—" Puck."] j Miss Marie Oonron, the vocalist of the troupe, is young, rather prepossessing, and has a soprano voice of some sweetness and power.