YSAYE, EUGENE (1858 - 1931)
The Belgian violinist Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was
among the leading virtuosi of his day, inspiring
admiration rather than jealous rivalry from other great
contemporary performers. Born in Liège in 1858, he was
taught by his father, Nicolas-Joseph Isaye, a violinist
and opera...
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The Belgian violinist Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was
among the leading virtuosi of his day, inspiring
admiration rather than jealous rivalry from other great
contemporary performers. Born in Liège in 1858, he was
taught by his father, Nicolas-Joseph Isaye, a violinist
and opera conductor, and entered the Liège
Conservatoire in 1865, studying there with D. Heynberg.
At the death of his mother in 1868 and after
disagreement with his teacher, he left, accompanying his
father on concert tours and playing in the orchestras the
latter conducted. In 1872 he returned to Liège to study
with Rodolphe and Léon Massart, completing his
training there with distinction in 1874. He continued his
studies with Wienawski in Brussels and later, from 1876
to 1879, with Vieuxtemps in Paris.
After leaving Paris, Ysaÿe took a position as leader
of the Bilse orchestra in Berlin, where he continued until
1882. The period brought concert tours through
Scandinavia and Russia with Anton Rubinstein, a
collaboration that he found helped his own musical
development. In 1883 he returned to Paris, associating
there with leading composers, including César Franck
and Camille Saint-Saëns, and, from the younger
generation, Ernest Chausson, Gabriel Fauré, Vincent
d’Indy and Claude Debussy, exercising an important
influence on French violin music of the time. Franck’s
Violin Sonata was dedicated to him as a wedding
present, and Ysaÿe gave the first performances in
Brussels in 1886, and then in Paris. Other dedications
included Chausson’s Poème and Violin Concerto and
Debussy’s String Quartet.
Pière li houïeu (Peter the
Miner) was staged in Liège and then in Brussels. His
health allowed him to attend the second of these, three
weeks before his death on 12th May 1931.
Ysaÿe had considerable influence on the
development of violin-playing after Wienawski and
Vieuxtemps, and there are many reminiscences of his
playing and teaching. Yehudi Menuhin recalls a visit to
Brussels to see Ysaÿe, the mentor of his own teacher,
Louis Persinger, when he was, quite rightly, told to
practise scales and arpeggios, advice that other great
teachers have been heard to give. Joseph Szigeti recalled
Ysaÿe’s father’s early prohibition of premature use of
vibrato, finding here the reason for Ysaÿe’s own
disciplined use of this technique, while Carl Flesch
declared Ysaÿe’s influence the most vital and
continuing. In 1937 the Eugène Ysaÿe International
Competition was established, an event that later became
the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition. As a
composer Ysaÿe lacked formal training but wrote a
number of works for violin and orchestra, orchestral
compositions and chamber music.