Among musicians it is generally agreed that string chamber music is the highest, purest medium of expression. The wealthy patrons of art have taken heed: Felix M. Warburg, Clarence H. Mackay, James P. Warburg, Mrs. Robert Bliss, Mrs. Otto H. Kahn, Mrs. Alma Gluck Zimbalist. So, in Manhattan's Aeolian Hall, last week, a new quartet was heard, enthusiastically applauded for a lovely rendition of the Mozart C Major, Schubert D Minor—the Musical Art Quartet. Three of the artists are pupils of Franz Kneisel:—Sascha Jacobsen, Bernard Ocko, Louis Kaufman; one, Marie Roemaet-Rosanov, cellist, pupil of one of the world's greatest interpretive musicians, Pablo Casals.
A peculiar responsibility rests upon these four: to match the tradition of Kneisel, to play upon the instruments of Antonio Stradivari. Felix M. Warburg provided each one with a precious Stradivari, a taut, light, sensitive, beautiful creature that quivers to the slightest vibration of a string, laughs, cries, pleads, cajoles to the mood and art of the musician. These are not things. They are temperaments, identified by their own names for centuries, treasured, loved by the men who have been fortunate to know their richness. The "Titian" was once owned by Efrem Zimbalist. The "Viola Mac Donald" was born in 1701. "La Belle Blondine," the cello that was heard in Spain, was bundled off in silks and felts to the U. S. in return for a fabulous sum of money. The fourth, a "Red" Stradivari, was just recently released from a physician's care; its tone wanted strengthening. For these four fiddles Mr. Warburg paid $200,000. It is not for antiquity this sum has been paid. It is for workmanship. After 200 years, they are still the work of a hand that has never found a rival. Though it is rumored that Mischa Elman has discovered a young Russian exile in Oregon whose work is unique for its artistry, and musicians are hoping that he will in time become the 20th Century Stradivari, there has been nothing in two centuries to compare in brightness, power, softness of tone with the work of the old master. "Even God could not make a Stradivari without Antonio Stradivari." There has been but one Antonio Stradivari in musical history.