Johannes Wolff

Johannes Aloysius Wolff (The Hague , 12 May 1861 - 1931) was a Dutch violinist . He was a virtuoso. He played difficult works as if they were simple; the reverse was sometimes also the case.

He was born within the family of an official at Home Affairs , [1] both father and mother were amateur musicians. His father, an amateur cellist , took him to a concert that Henryk Wieniawski gave in The Hague; the young Wollf stepped down at Wieniawski: "I want to be a violinist." He had never held a violin before. [2]

He received the first music lessons at the Conservatory of Rotterdam from JG Mulder. This was followed by studies in Dresden under financial encouragement from King William III of the Netherlands . He then went with Johan Smit to the Conservatory in Paris to follow lessons from Joseph Massart , who was once again a pupil of Rudolphe Kreutzer . He completed this study after three years with Premier Prix de violon . He was based in London for a long time. From 1896 he taught at the Guildhall School of Music for two years . Later he lived in Paris.

At the beginning of the 20th century he played a number of concerts with William Henry Squire (cellist). John Singer Sargent fixed it on the canvas. Wolff had connections up to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia . In 1911 he received the Medal of Honor for Art and Science associated with the House Order of Orange . [3] He was appointed in 1927 in the Legion of Honor . [4]

Wolff died in 1931, he was buried at the cimetière des Gonards in Versailles . [5]

A number of composers contributed works to him:

Camille Saint-Saëns are Caprice Andalou

Gabriel Fauré are Andante for violin and piano in Bes major opus 75

Johan Halvorsen are Air norvégien

Benjamin Godard his Violin Concerto No. 2

A number of concerts:

31 October 1884: Stavanger with Helene Sontum

20 March 1889: in St James Hall, Wolff played together with Edvard Grieg and Nina Hagerup ; on the program the Violin Sonata No. 3 ; Grieg was extremely satisfied with Wolff as a violinist: Grieg would have said that Wollf had composed the sonata and not he.

13 July 1889: Princes' Hall in London: a chamber music program with Agathe Backer Grøndahl with the third violin sonata by Edvard Grieg

March 13, 1891: Concert Hall Brødrene Hals in Oslo: Kreuzer Sonate , again with Backer Grøndahl behind the piano

10 April 1892 Faestningens Gymnastics Center in Oslo: Concert with Helene Sontum behind the piano

December 1892 / January 1893: Concerts in Boston

March 29, 1894: Concert Hall Brødrene Hals: a violin sonata by Anton Rubinstein with Backer Grøndahl; other works accompanied by Helene Sontum

summer 1894: three concerts under the Wolff Musical Union flag

December 6, 1897: Concert with Edvard and Nina Grieg at Windsor Castle ; Queen Victoria was present

1896-1899: seven gigs in the context of the Proms in London, often with work by Henryk Wieniawski

1890-1899: five concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of successive Willem Kes , Richard Hol and Willem Mengelberg

1903: a number of concerts he played Air norvégien by Johan Halvorsen (himself violinist).

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Wolff I.S. 1/11/2018