Fritz Kreisler Free Sheet Music, Program Notes, Recordings and Biography

The Virtuoso's Hoax: A Scandal in Classical Style

For decades, audiences and critics alike were enchanted by the "lost" masterpieces that the great violinist Fritz Kreisler would unearth and perform. He presented these charming violin pieces as works by obscure Baroque and Classical composers like Pugnani, Francoeur, and even Vivaldi. They were hailed as brilliant rediscoveries. Then, in 1935, on his 60th birthday, Kreisler dropped a bombshell during an interview: he confessed that he had composed all of these "classical manuscripts" himself. The revelation caused an uproar. The world's most prominent music critic, Ernest Newman, launched a public attack, accusing Kreisler of fraud and of sullying the names of past masters. Kreisler, with his characteristic wit, simply replied that the name on the program didn't change the quality of the music. This famous hoax was the work of a man so gifted and so steeped in the Viennese tradition that he could not only play it flawlessly but create it anew, blurring the lines between performer, composer, and mischievous genius.

A Viennese Wunderkind

Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was born in Vienna in 1875, the son of a physician and keen amateur musician. He was a staggering child prodigy. His talent for the violin was so immense that he was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at the age of seven, becoming its youngest-ever student. There, he studied with teachers who had known Beethoven and Schubert. Not content with one conservatory, he then went to the Paris Conservatoire at age ten, where his teachers included the renowned composers Léo Delibes and Jules Massenet. At just twelve years old, he graduated, winning the coveted Premier Grand Prix in violin, a feat he shared with four other much older students. After a tour of the United States with the pianist Moriz Rosenthal, the teenage Kreisler, having seemingly conquered the musical world, made a shocking decision: he gave it all up.

An Unconventional Path

Feeling he had more to learn about life than music, Kreisler returned to Vienna and, honoring his father's wishes, enrolled to study medicine. He also fulfilled his compulsory military service as an officer in the Austrian army. For nearly a decade, he barely touched his violin. It was not until 1899, at the age of 24, that he decided to return to the concert stage, making a "second debut" with the Berlin Philharmonic. The concert was a triumph, and it launched his international career in earnest. He quickly established himself as one of the world's elite violinists, celebrated for a sound and style that was entirely his own.

The Kreisler Sound

Kreisler's playing was revolutionary. In an era when many violinists used vibrato only as an occasional ornament, Kreisler employed a near-continuous, intense vibrato that gave his playing an incredible warmth, richness, and vocal expressiveness. This "Kreisler sound" became his trademark and profoundly influenced the next generation of violinists, making a continuous vibrato the standard for solo playing. He also played with a rhythmic freedom and elegance that was deeply rooted in the dance rhythms of his native Vienna. His performances were not just technically brilliant; they were deeply personal, charismatic, and emotionally direct.

In the Style Of...: Compositions and Pastiches

It was this deep understanding of style that allowed Kreisler to create his famous "hoaxes." He explained that he began writing these pieces "in the style of" older composers because he felt it was immodest to fill an entire program of encores with short works under his own name. These pastiches, like his Praeludium and Allegro (in the style of Pugnani), were so expertly crafted that they fooled the world's best musical minds for decades. Alongside these, he composed a host of original short pieces that have become beloved staples of the violin repertoire. Works like Caprice Viennois, Liebesleid ("Love's Sorrow"), Liebesfreud ("Love's Joy"), and Schön Rosmarin ("Lovely Rosemary") are perfect miniatures, capturing the nostalgic charm and sentiment of old Vienna. He also composed brilliant and demanding cadenzas for the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, which are still widely performed by virtuosos today.

War, Exile, and a Beloved Figure

Kreisler's life was interrupted by world events. He re-joined the Austrian army at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and was wounded on the Russian front. After his recovery, he moved to the United States. With the rise of the Nazi regime in the 1930s, his music was banned in Germany (despite his Catholic faith, he was considered to have Jewish heritage by the regime). He became a naturalized French citizen in 1938, but with the fall of France, he emigrated permanently to the United States in 1939 and became an American citizen in 1943. He remained a beloved concert figure for the rest of his life, a living link to the golden age of European culture.

Legacy

Fritz Kreisler died in New York in 1962. His legacy is immense. As a performer, he redefined the sound of the violin for the 20th century. His warm, expressive tone and charismatic style influenced virtually every violinist who came after him. As a composer, he left behind a collection of perfectly crafted miniatures that continue to be the heart of the violin encore repertoire, delighting audiences with their timeless Viennese charm. He was one of the last great representatives of a bygone era of romance and elegance in music.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

• Biancolli, Amy. Fritz Kreisler: Love's Sorrow, Love's Joy. Amadeus Press, 1998.

• Kreisler, Fritz. Four Weeks in the Trenches: The War Story of a Violinist. Houghton Mifflin, 1915.

• Campbell, Margaret. The Great Violinists. Robson Books, 2004.

• Schwarz, Boris. Great Masters of the Violin. Simon & Schuster, 1983.