"Violin mastery? To me it represents the sum total of accomplishment on the part of those who live in the history of the Art. All those who may have died long since, yet the memory of whose work and whose creations still lives, are the true masters of the violin,and its mastery is the record of their accomplishment. As a child I remember the
well-known composers of the day were Marschner, Hiller, Nicolai and othersyet most of what they have written has been forgotten. On the other hand there are Tartini, Nardini,Paganini, Kreutzer, Dont and Rodethey still live; and so do Ernst, Sarasate,Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski. Joachim (incidentally the only great German violinist of
whom I knowand he was a Hungarian!), though he had but few great pupils, and
composed but little, will always be remembered because he, together with David, gave violin virtuosity a nobler trend, and introduced a higher ideal in the music played for violin. It is men such as these who always will remain violin 'masters,' just as 'violin
mastery' is defined by what they have done."