Europe's Golden Age Of Art—In The Days Before The Great War

Radio Record, 7 August 1936, Page 17

Europe's Golden Age Of Art—In The Days Before The Great War

Guido Carreras, the Man who Discovered Reif etz, Visits N.Z. An interesting Spencer Digby study of Signor Guido Carreras, specially posed for. the "Radio. Record." Signor Carreras discusses on this page the brilliance of the arts in Europe in the days before the' war.

HE dressing-room, with its glaring, garish lights, was the only warm place in the Opera House. The morning was bitter-Wellington’s coldest day-and we were glad of the radiator. As we talked-or rather, as HE talked-the dressing room with its grimy picture of the 1924 All Blacks, its drip-drip-dripping tap and its after-the-show litter, faded, and we were in the Musical Academy in Berlin ‘in the days before the war. On the stage was a little boy with the face of a Botticelli angel, golden curls, a brown velvet suit and a lace collar-he was playing a violin, a three-quarter instrument. As the last notes of the Mozart composition faded away a man in the front ow of the stalls jumped up. "This boy I will accompany myself," he cried in loud tones. It was Fritz Kreisler. The audience rose to its feet and cheered. ... Signor Guido Carreras is like that. In his charming English, with its soft foreign flavour, he has the power to banish the unpleasantness of the surroundings, to create new worlds for a person who knows them but remotely, te span the years.and bring Europe’s artistic giants of pre-war days into this year of grace, 1936. Signor Carreras is the husband of La Meri, the dancer whose season in Wellington set the whole town talking ; he is, too, a widely-travelled man whose association with:such people as Kreisler, Pavlova and, ‘Diaghileff was both intimate and sincere. The little boy with the golden curls was Jascha Heifetz. I heard the whole story of the prodigy’s discovery. ‘‘Heifetz came to Berlin as a child of ten with his father,’’ he said. ° "They had a letter to a big agent from young Jascha’s teacher, the famous Dr. Leopold:

Auer. But the agent, influenced, perhaps, by the appearance of the father who was certain.:ly no Adonis, and quite. indifferent:to the en- _ _thusiasm of Auer’s letter-and it-was enthusiastic, for I saw it-took ‘no steps to arrange for the child to-play. I took~the father, and the son toa little place nearby and heard the boy play. . "Excuse me if I seem to boast, but I knew at once that the child was-a genius. His playing -was ‘super-human-it was divine. And so I arranged a concert, a free concert, at the Musical Academy, and I invited all the great musicians who were in Berlin at the moment. I wish now that I had a photograph of the first two rows of that hall-they were packed with celebrities. The child’s first choice was Mozart and as‘he finished there was a silence followed by such applause and cheering as I may never hear again. And in the midst of it all Kreisler jumped up and insisted on accompanying the boy on the piano-for Kreisler, you know, is almost as great a genius of the piano as he is of the violin. "Everyone.was moved almost to tears and, so quickly did the young Heifetz’s fame spread that, at the second concert the police had to assist in controlling the crowds." ; : Kurope’s Golden Age. ) SIGNOR CARRERAS went on to talk about Europe’s Golden Age-the years before the war when the Russian ballet with Stravinsky,. Diaghileff, RimskyKorsakoy,. Bakst, Benois, ... Fokine,.. Pavlova. and

_ Continued from previous page).

Karsaying.was deugoiting the court at St:-Petersburg, when Berlin was scintillating’ with the names of Busoni, Kreisler, Paderewski, when Paris was _ flacking to see and hear Mischa Elman, Nijinsky, Isadore Duncan and Rossenthael, "What a period that was! While the ballet was creating tremendous attention in St. Petersburg musical genius was in full flower in Europe. Berlin was a-what can I say?-a terrifically severe place, Thirty years ago an artist conld go nowhere. without the hallmark of Berlin upon him, If Berlin approved hig talent the world was his," . *Weren’t you responsible for. Kreis. ler’s first concert in Berlin?" "Yes, I was. But I take no pride in having sat mechanically in an office. arranging bookings, renting a hall and such-like, My pride liés in. having understoog his genliis, I had heard Kreisler in Vienna and I returned te

Berlin full to overflowing with his art, Berlin had searcely heard of Kreisler then, but it was not long before he was taken to the city’s heart. That was in the nineteen-hundreds some time-about 1907, I think, "And then Busoni-ah, what a man! He was the master supreme, and musical Europe worshipped him. He kept open house in Berlin every afternoonliterally open house, with the world’? greatest musicians talking to and rub bing shoulders with unknown students from all parts of the world. On one oceasion a beautiful girl from Qhio, who was studying in HKurope, came there. "Busoni spoke to her. ‘And what can I do for a young and loyely Ameriean lady?’ "«T want some advice, master,’ she said, ‘About my playing.’ "‘Well, go away and learn the 24 Etudes of Chopin,’ replied Busoni, ‘then come back to me,’ "«But I know them all now,’ she replied. "*Then I have nothing to teach you. I do not know them all myself. 9