In the October 2013 issue, violinist Arnold Steinhardt recalls how he spent the summer of 1962 studying with Joseph Szigeti at his home in Switzerland. Just three years after Steinhardt's year with the great musician (pictured), violinist Frances Kramer wrote this account, published in the November 1965 edition, of Szigeti's teaching methods and style:
The Challenge of Perfection
High on a hill overlooking beautiful Lake Leman in Switzerland
lives one of the greatest musical artists of our day, the violinist
Joseph Szigeti. It would be difficult to measure the contribution
this man has made though the years to the musical world. It is
certain, however, that this contribution is marked not only by
virtuosity which is unexcelled, but by great musical knowledge and
integrity. Never has this man allowed music to suffer at the hands
of virtuosity. We are indeed fortunate today to have large numbers
of recordings he has made of great musical works. Standing out
among these, almost as a collector's item are his Six Sonatas and
Partitas for unaccompanied violin, by J.S. Bach. In these is
clearly seen what is foremost in this man's mind – 'Always you must
make music'. With such a guiding purpose, and the unfaltering
perfection of his fingers, he has made these Sonatas pulsate with
life and beauty, so that even the unlearned ear can reopen to the
beauty of the music.
Although Szigeti's artistry is there for the world to enjoy, only a
few have known him in another role, that of a teacher. This role is
not too often filled well by a performing artist, perhaps partly
because of the great demands performance places upon him. Many have
experienced the disappointment of study with some such artist, and
have come away from the experience feeling it would really have
been more enjoyable and less tiring to hear a recital from a
comfortable seat behind the footlights. Mr. Szigeti as a teacher
concerns himself completely with the student, and from the first
moment of contact works intensely with him. There is so much given
to be absorbed, that long before he wearies, the student longs to
pause and take a breath. Although Mr. Szigeti suffers from a
physical limitation brought on by years of playing, he is a man of
tremendous vitality and mental keenness. His unique ability to draw
a mental picture of what he wants makes the most difficult problem
seem simple in its solution.
One soon learns when in contact with Mr. Szigeti, that it is not by
chance he is such an artist. The very things he stresses in
teaching indicate the guiding principles in his own work. It would
perhaps be possible to sum up these in a limited way under four
headings:
1. Always meet a problem – never change bowing or fingering to
simplify.
2. Use of dissonances and open strings in a constant vigilance on
intonation.
3. Relate everything – similar difficulties in other works or
studies.
4. Practice musically.
Few who read this article will not be guilty of breaking the first
rule, that of avoiding meeting the technical problem by changing a
fingering or bowing. Practically speaking, in working with students
of varying degrees of talent and application, it is sometimes
difficult. If this, however, is the underlying principle always in
your approach to recognizing flaws in technique and focusing the
teacher and student's attention on overcoming the particular
technical problem. It will also contribute a great deal to
understanding and accuracy in interpretation.
Mr. Szigeti stands out among the artists of our day as one almost
flawless in his intonation. Working on the principle that we
respond emotionally to dissonance, he uses this constantly to
quicken the ear, and to feel an emotional satisfaction at its
resolution. A dissonance in tune has a certain satisfaction, but
one out of tune, then in tune, and the student soon experiences
this for himself. Constantly Mr. Szigeti uses open strings to rest
intonation, not just those that are obvious but those in the
harmonies underlying the note. One soon sees that accurate
intonation use of the harmonies involved in a passage. Most
effectively the awareness and use of them for testing contributes
to improved intonation.
Mr. Szigeti in his insistence on relating everything strikes at one
of the great educational problems of today. Students are not
encouraged enough to relate the thing they are learning to a
greater whole. The opening chord of the Vitali Chaconne with its
particular bowing problem is the same as the opening chord in the
first Bach unaccompanied Sonata, and many other compositions. A
student is kept mentally alert by not just practising the chord in
the particular work he is studying, but wherever else he might find
it. This principle constantly carried out, enhances the student's
practice as well as his understanding and knowledge of all the
literature. This too contributes most effectively to a constant
mental attitude of relating knowledge, so the student is not
hanging on desperately to a collection of little isolated facts,
with no understanding of where his little piece of knowledge fits
into a greater whole. In its application more particularly to the
violinist, this method of practice does away with the unspoken idea
of many students that if he goes over the passage often enough, he
will eventually perfect it. In the constant repetition he loses
mental alertness often and becomes purely mechanical in his
practice. Mr. Szigeti in his teaching allows for no mental lapses,
but demands constant intensive application of the mind to the
problem at hand. Today in a hundred conservatories students are
practicing Dont, Kreutzer, Sevcik, Mazas, and countless other
études and scales. One could walk past the practice rooms in any
one of these schools and hear the endless droning of unmusical
sounds. But Mr. Szigeti would have none of that – to him, even the
simplest scale must be musical. One soon sees how right he is, for
how can a student really make a piece of music beautiful if all his
preliminary work has been done unmusically. Many teachers today
were themselves taught very carefully to practise scales and études
with a straight tone. This unfortunately in being carried out has
contributed to an unconscious idea that there is no obligation to
think of these as music. But where then, if these are for the
development of left and right hand technique does the student
receive training in thinking musically? Contrary to many, Mr.
Szigeti insists on the use of vibrato in everything. To some who
would say this tend to cover up poor intonation, he would insist it
contributes to good intonation, and his own performance would bear
that out. To him it must become second nature to make musical
sounds from the first drawing of the bow across the strings to the
last. Perhaps it is this dedication that makes Mr. Szigeti stand
apart in his ability to breathe life and beauty into any work he
performs.
At the end of the intensive two hour study, Mr. Szigeti, concerned
that even the lesson might be a satisfying musical experience,
instinctively picks up his Guarnerius and brings into a musical
whole the application of all he has taught in playing of the music
that was begin studied. To the mediocre teacher who reads, the
response would be, but Mr. Szigeti gives us nothing new. But to the
teacher who aspires to greater effectiveness there is a renewed
challenge of application, for certainly he has before him a picture
of a man who has reached the pinnacle of near perfection. And Mr.
Szigeti would be the first to say it is the constant application of
these principles that makes the stepping stones to better teaching
and better trained students.
Read Andrew Watkinson's memories of his year learning with Szigeti, and download the October issue to read Arnold Steinhardt'
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