Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century. He is also known for playing what is now known as the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, a violin of superior workmanship.
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.
Leopold von Auer was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers.
Henryk Szeryng was a Polish-Mexican violinist.
Joshua David Bell is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Henri Marteau was a French violinist and composer, who obtained Swedish citizenship in 1915.
Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, is his last concerto. Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos. It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. A typical performance lasts just under half an hour.
Mischa Elman was a Russian-born American violinist famed for his passionate style, beautiful tone, and impeccable artistry and musicality.
Ernst von Dohnányi was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor. He used a German form of his name on most published compositions.
Tibor Varga was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, and world renowned music teacher who developed pedagogic methods for teaching string music. He was a founding member of the string department in the Detmold music conservatory.
William Henry Squire, ARCM was a British cellist, composer and music professor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He studied cello at the Royal College of Music, and became professor of cello at the Royal College and Guildhall schools of music.
The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 8, is a concertante work written from 1881 to 1882 by the German composer Richard Strauss.
Albert Edward Sammons CBE was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation rests mainly on his association with British composers, especially Elgar. He made a number of recordings over 40 years, many of which have been re-issued on CD.
Leonard Borwick was an English concert pianist especially associated with the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
Frederic Cliffe was an English composer, organist and teacher.
Barton McGuckin was an Irish tenor singer of renown, who made his career principally in Britain with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, but also gained a wide success in oratorio and concert. Richard Ellmann put him forward as the model for Bartell D'Arcy in James Joyce's story "The Dead", but this identification has been questioned in recent years.
St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, and Vine Street and George Court. There was a frontage on Regent Street, and another in Piccadilly. Taking the orchestra into account, the main hall had seating for slightly over 2,000 persons. It had a grand hall 140 feet (43 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) broad, the seating was distributed between ground floor, balcony, gallery and platform and it had excellent acoustics. On the ground floor were two smaller halls, one 60 feet (18 m) square; the other 60 feet (18 m) by 55 feet (17 m). The Hall was decorated in the 'Florentine' style, with features imitating the great Moorish Palace of the Alhambra. The Piccadilly facade was given a Gothic design, and the complex of two restaurants and three halls was hidden behind Nash's Quadrant. Sir George Henschel recalled its 'dear old, uncomfortable, long, narrow, green-upholstered benches with the numbers of the seats tied over the straight backs with bright pink tape, like office files.'
Arthur Catterall was an English concert violinist, orchestral leader and conductor, one of the best-known English classical violinists of the first half of the twentieth century.
Gerhard Taschner was a noted German violinist and teacher.
