talents exclusively to the concert stage. So great an authority as the
last edition of the Riemann _Musik-Lexicon_ cannot forbear, even in
1915, to emphasize his "technic, absolutely developed in its every
detail, and his fiery and poetic manner of interpretation."

But Mr. Thibaud does not see any great difference between the ideals of
_la grande ecole belge_, that of Vieuxtemps, De Beriot, Leonard, Massart
and Marsick, whose greatest present-day exponent is Eugene Ysaye, and
the French. Himself a pupil of Marsick, he inherited the French
traditions of Alard through his father, who was Alard's pupil and handed
them on to his son. "The two schools have married and are as one,"
declared Mr. Thibaud. "They may differ in the interpretation of music,
but to me they seem to have merged so far as their systems of finger
technic, bowing and tone production goes.

THE GREATEST DIFFICULTY TO OVERCOME

"You ask me what is most difficult in playing the violin? It is bowing.
Bowing makes up approximately eighty per cent. of the sum total of
violinistic difficulties. One reason for it is that many teachers with
excellent ideas on the subject present it to their pupils in too
complicated a manner. The bow must be used in an absolutely natural way,
and over elaboration in explaining what should be a simple and natural
development often prevents the student from securing a good bowing, the
end in view. Sarasate (he was an intimate friend of mine) always used
his bow in the most natural way, his control of it was unsought and
unconscious. Were I a teacher I should not say: 'You must bow as I do';
but rather: 'Find the way of bowing most convenient and natural to
you and use it!' Bowing is largely a physical and individual matter. I
am slender but have long, large fingers; Kreisler is a larger man than I
am but his fingers are small. It stands to reason that there must be a
difference in the way in which we hold and use the bow. The difference
between a great and a mediocre teacher lies in the fact that the first
recognizes that bowing is an individual matter, different in the case of
each individual pupil; and that the greatest perfection is attained by
the development of the individual's capabilities within his own norm.

[Illustration: JACQUES THIBAUD, with signature]

MARSICK AS A TEACHER

"Marsick was a teacher of this type. At each of the lessons I took from
him at