• Miniature Viennese March
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Austrian-born composer Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) was one of the greatest violinists of his day. He was a child prodigy, entering the Vienna Conservatory at age seven and graduating from the Paris Conservatory--where his teachers included Leo Délibes and Jules Massenet --at age twelve. The next year, he made his New York City debut and embarked on a concert tour of the United States. From then on, Kreisler enjoyed a distinguished performing career throughout Europe and America and was much beloved by the concert-going public for his sweet tone and expressive musicality. He emigrated to the United States at the outbreak of World War II and remained there for the rest of his life.
Gifted as a transcriber/arranger as well as a composer, Kreisler’s original compositions include operettas and vocal works, a string quartet, and short pieces and cadenzas for violin. In 1935, he caused quite a stir among music critics by revealing that he had penned many works which had been ascribed to earlier composers such as Giuseppe Tartini and Antonio Vivaldi. Confronted by the critics’ outrage, Kreisler responded that they had already deemed the compositions worthy, saying: “The name changes, the value remains.”
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