Biography
Ysaÿe took up the violin at four and entered the Liège conservatory at eight. Further training followed at the Brussels Conservatory, where he received aesthetic advice from Vieuxtemps. Tours with Anton Rubenstein sharpened his interpretive insight through direct contact with the pianist. While resident in France he formed close ties with Franck, Fauré and Debussy, becoming a committed advocate of their violin music. He taught violin at the Brussels Conservatory for twelve years. Engagements as soloist and conductor carried him across Europe to considerable renown; comparable success in the United States led to a four-year post as conductor of the Cincinnati SO. In later life unsteadiness in his hands and bowing arm obliged him to concentrate on conducting. Diabetes added to his difficulties, and in 1929 the disease cost him his right foot. He collapsed during the first rehearsal of his opera Piére li houïeu and died soon after attending its second performance. He is recalled as a pioneer of twentieth-century violin playing whose interpretations were both intense and majestic. Although he lacked formal compositional schooling, his works display original harmonic thinking and strive to enlarge the instrument’s expressive range.