With Strings Attached - Reminiscences And Reflections

WITH STRINGS ATTACHED REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS BY JOSEPH SZIGETI NEW YORK ALFRED A KNOPF 1947 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iwiSHTOTHANKthe following writers and publishers The American Record Guide and its editor, Peter Hugh Reed, for permission to reprint an article of mine that appeared in that magazine Sir Thomas Beecham and G. P. Putnams Sons for permission to quote from A Mingled Chime, published by G. P, Putnams Sons E. P. Button Co., Inc., New York, for permission to quote from Walter F. Starkies Raggle-Taggle, published by E. P. Button Co., Inc., New York Carl Fischer, Inc., for permission to quote from The Art of Violin Playing, Book Two, Artistic Realization and Instruction, by Carl Flesch, published by Carl Fischer, Inc., New York Harper and Brothers for permission to quote from James Agates Playgoing, a part of The Pleasure of Life series, and for per mission to quote from Albert Jay Nocks Memoirs of a Superflu ous Man, both published by Harper and Brothers, New York Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., for permission to quote from Thomas Manns The Magic Mountain, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York Rudolf Kolisch and G. Schirmer, Inc., for permission to quote front Mr. Kolischs article, Tempo and Character in Beethovens Music originally published in The Music Quarterly Listen, and its editor, Kurt List, for permission to reprint two articles of mine that appeared in that magazine Longmans, Green Co., Inc., for permission to quote from Ber nard Shores The Orchestra Speaks, published by Longmans, Green Co., Inc., New York t I 4, T 77 Acknowledgments W W. NoptQiigijd C S. Inc., for permission to quote from Nicholas ince 1900, published by W. W. Norton and Hu u6s ranassie for permission toquote from Hot Jazz, published by M. Witmark Sons Hugues Panassi and Smith and Dun-ell, Inc., for permission to quote from The Real Jazz, by Hugues Panassie 5 published by Smith and Durrell, Inc., New York Princeton University Press for permission to quote from Artur Schnabels Music and the Line of Most Resistance, published by the Princeton University Press Simon Schuster, Inc., for permission to quote from Stravinsky an Autobiography, published by Simon Schuster, Inc., New York The Viking Press, Inc., for permission to quote from Sam Frankos Chords and Discords, published by The Viking Press, Inc., New York. JOSEPH SZIGETI V I introduction i HAVE ALWAYS BEEN PAKTIAL to James Agates inclu sion of musicians among manual workers. Physical fatigue, healthy sweating, loose attire, the musician shares with the manual worker. This mimicking of the complete lumber jack may conceivably be an almost studied reaction against the type of long-haired, velvet-jacketed, pallid esthete prev alent in my childhood. As G. B. Shaw told me during our long walk on the promenade deck of the Empress of Britain You fiddlers no longer look the part The only one who does look the part is Einstein In my music critic days, which were the days of Joachim, Ysaye, Remenyi, Ole Bull, it was very different . . The element of pose enters into both conceptions of the artist, I suspect but if one must choose between them, the manual worker picture is the less insincere and therefore the less objectionable. I always used to think of writing as the antithesis of manual work, as the antithesis of all active, toxin-eliminating occupations writing, the least matter-bound of all pur suits. No canvas, no oils, no chisel, no wetclay just the Word, with no residual debris left from the work that has gone into the product I should have known better. The seven or eight pounds of assorted notes that I have just finished tying up and that I am at last getting out of my sight are a reminder of how wrong I was in setting the writer apart as an unencumbered spirit. As my writing progressed v i With STRINGS ATTACHED I became gratefully aware of the advantages of the real job of my life-playing music in public to the best of my ability...