Description

JAN KUBELIK (MICHLE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 5 JULY, 1880 – PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 5 DECEMBER, 1940)

His father, a gardener by occupation, was an amateur violinist. He taught his two sons the violin and after discovering the talent of Jan, who was aged five at the time, arranged for him to study with Karel Weber and Karel Ondříček. Aged eight he studied at the Prague Conservatory with Otakar Ševčík, of whose technique he became the most famous representative. As a child, he used to practice 10 to 12 hours a day, or “until my fingers started to bleed.” After 1898, he toured as a soloist, soon becoming renowned for his great virtuosity and flawless intonation, and his very full and noble tone. He played a Guarneri del Gesù and also two Stradivarius violins: he acquired the 1715 Stradivarius Emperor in 1910. After great success following his debut in Vienna, and in London (where he first appeared at a Hans Richter concert in 1900), Kubelík toured in the USA in 1901 for the first time. He made his first appearance for the Royal Philharmonic Society, London in the season of 1901-2, and in 1902 was awarded the Society’s Gold Medal (in succession to Eugène Ysaÿe). In 1902 he brought the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra to London, having assisted it financially in the previous year. In 1903 he married Countess Anna Julie Marie Széll von Bessenyö (born 1 March 1880 in Budapest), niece of former Prime Minister of Hungary Kálmán Széll, with whom he had eight children, five violinist daughters and three sons, among them conductor Rafael Kubelík. He wrote music, including six violin concertos, and continued to perform in public until his death, with a pause between the end of World War I and 1920, during which period he composed. In 1920 he resumed his concert career, but with the advent of Jascha Heifetz, his career dwindled somewhat. In 1917, he was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity by the fraternity’s Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

TRACKLIST

1. Air on the G String, BWV 1068 (Bach) Gramophone 3-7966 А 13892
2. Ave Maria (Bach) (vocal Nellie Melba) Gramophone 03364
3. Capriccio (Fiorillo-Randegger) Gramophone 3-7955 y16573e
4. Carmen (Bizet) Fantasia Gramophone 27956 4602b
5. Chanson Bohemienne (Sarasate) Gramophone 07982 Но677m
6. Concerto Op. 35 Canzonetta (Tchaikovsky) Gramophone 07979 Ho672m
7. L´amero, saro constante (Mozart) (vocal Nellie Melba) Gramophone 2-053083
8. La ronde des lutins (Bazzini) Gramophone 027908 408с
9. Romanza andaluza (Sarasate) Gramophone 07977 Ho 670 m
10. Romance for piano in E flat major, Op 44/1 (Rubinstein) G&T 07986 z  7330f
11. Sextette from Lucia di Lammermoor (St.-Lubin) G&T 7957 2703
12. Souvenir (Drdla) Gramophone 07980 Ho674m
13. Spanish dance No 8, Op 26 (Sarasate) Gramophone 07988 z 7238f
14. Zapateado (Sarasate) Gramophone 07953 5126 f
15. Melodie de Gluck Gramophone DB674 07978
16. Zigeunerweisen (Saraste) Gramophone 07982
17. Serenade (Drdla) G&T 47952
18. Dudziarz mazurka Op 19 No 2 (Wieniawski) G&T 07952 5124f
19. Serenade (Drdla) G&T 7956 2701b