Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
March 23rd is not only the birthday of Johann Kruse, but also of Ernst Schiever and Hugo Olk. March has seemed to me to be a popular month for this cohort, and a quick analysis of the birth dates I have indicates that, indeed, more of these students were born in March than in any … Read more
Did Johann Kruse really stand out that much among the other violinists Joachim taught, making him the obvious choice for preferential treatment?While he was giving in concerts in London, a number of other Joachim students were also making a living in the biggest city in the world. Several were exactly his age and had been … Read more
Johann Kruse and the London Popular Concerts It is a challenge to define the parameters of this venerable and beloved fixture of nineteenth-century London concert life. Its name alone seems designed to create maximum confusion. First, “popular” is hard to define. One explanation is when they began, they were meant to be popular in content, … Read more
“Do you hear anything of Kruse? He never writes, and I long to know something about him.”–11 June 1900 In Joachim’s letters to his London brother Henry and his wife Ellen, Johann Kruse comes up over twenty times, far more than any other former student. (These letters are transcribed and available online on the Brahms … Read more
Johann Kruse (1859-1927) was one of Joachim’s more important students: he taught at the Hochschule and was a member of the Joachim Quartet for five years. My preparation for writing up a short profile has stretched out into months, and this post has grown tentacles that need to be hacked off. These are the role … Read more
F. S. Kelly (1881-1916), pianist and composer Frederick Septimus Kelly is remembered today as one of the “lost” generation killed in World War I – specifically as part of the Hood Battalion of the Royal Navy, where so many of Britain’s young elite of talent and birth served as officers before being killed. But he … Read more
An addendum to the subject of the last post on Joachim’s student Lili Schober Petschnikoff. Lili’s memoir tells of her whirlwind engagement to violinist Alexander Petschnikoff, who had become famous almost overnight after his debut in Berlin in October of 1895. She describes in her own unique language the first time she heard him: He … Read more