Leopold Auer and Jascha Heifetz

Today: On the anniversary of his death, enjoy this short c. 1920's colorized silent film clip showing hugely influential violin pedagogue Leopold Auer (1845 - 1930) "coaching" one of his greatest students -- legendary 20th Century super-virtuoso Jascha Heifetz (1901 - 1987).

Auer himself studied under the celebrated virtuoso Joseph Joachim (1831 - 1907), and by the time he was 23 years old, he was already actively teaching.

By most accounts, Auer was an exceptional concert violinist. Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) in particular was very taken with his playing, noting in a published review that Auer possessed “great expressivity, thoughtful finesse, and poetry of interpretation.”

Nevertheless, Auer’s lasting claim to fame undoubtedly lies in his incredible pedagogic legacy. Auer’s pupils included some of the greatest 20th Century violinists, including Efrem Zimbalist (1889 - 1985), Mischa Elman (1891 - 1967), Jascha Heifetz (1901 - 1987), and Nathan Milstein (1904 - 1992)… an "honor roll" that could easily be extended...

One infamous incident from Auer's career is worth recounting: Tchaikovsky initially wanted to dedicate his famous Violin Concerto to Auer, but after Auer tactlessly informed Tchaikovsky that he regarded the work as “unplayable,” a furious Tchaikovsky withdrew the proposed dedication. (Auer later changed his mind, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto came to occupy a prominent place in his extensive repertoire.)

William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist was born on January 25th 1796

Although a native of Aberdeen, MacGillivray spent his early childhood on Harris. He returned to the City to continue his education and graduated MA from King’s College in 1815. His early years were spent outdoors observing nature at first hand, a vital experience and one that confirmed in him his poor opinion of the ‘cabinet naturalist’ who never left his study. 

Aged 21, on the verge of his career as an outstanding naturalist and bird artist, when he left Aberdeen to spend a year at his childhood home at Northton in Harris. In that year he kept a detailed journal that provides a rare insight into the rural life of 19th century Scotland, especially of the Outer Isles. MacGillivray recorded details of everything that happened in his daily life, the weather, his feelings about the people that he met, the food that he ate, the clothes that he wore, even the games that his family played in the evening.

It was during his regular 360 mile commute on foot between Harris and Aberdeen that he developed a passion for natural history. In 1819 MacGillivray embarked on an even longer walk from Aberdeen to visit the museums in London. He covered 837 miles and chronicled his journey in a 60,000-word journal.

In 1821 MacGillivray moved to Edinburgh as assistant to Professor Robert Jameson, responsible for curating Jameson’s natural history collection. He was appointed conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1831. During this period he lived on meagre wages supplemented by copious writing. Ten years later, in 1841, he returned to Aberdeen as Professor of Civil and Natural History at Marischal College. He remained in post until his death in 1852.

MacGillivray was a much-loved lecturer within the college and to his extra-mural classes, impressing upon his students the importance of going out in the field and handling specimens. Over his career, MacGillivray produced books and articles at an astonishing rate, and covering a diverse range of natural history topics, but his most important works were his History of British Birds which appeared in five volumes between 1837-1852, and the posthumous Natural History of Dee Side and Braemar .

William MacGillivray was also a close friend and collaborator of the North American naturalist and painter John James Audubon. He worked with Audubon between 1826-1838, helping him write the massive text to accompany the latter's Birds of America. They remained life-long friends and MacGillivray brought with him to Aberdeen many specimens given to him by Audubon.

You can find a large collection of his drawings here at the National History Museum's website, a total of 213 watercolours of mammals, birds and fish.

Smoke marks   -  Maija Paavola , 1994.

Finnish,  b.  1946 -

Jascha Heifetz Plays Bach Sonata No.1

how not to love music…

Autumn England   -    Tom Roberts

Australian, 1856-1931

Landscape Arkö  -  Svenolov Ehrén, 1978

Swedish, 1927-2004