Page 277 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
P. 277
jan šlais’s contr ibution to ljubljana’s violin school
system. He also initiated a master class for violin and chamber music and
established curricula for violin teaching.
He was also very active as a performer. From 1920 until the 1940s, he
was regularly playing concerts in Slovenia, mostly accompanied on the pi-
ano variously by Ruža Deylová, Janko Ravnik, and Anton Trost (as the Lju-
bljana Duo). As a performer, he “virtuosically mastered violin” and had an
“excellent violin technique.” A review of one of his concerts stated that he
impressed the audience with
such pure intonation, such ideal flageolets, virtuosic precision and
at the same time interpretative perfection, which we have not heard
for a long time.
His performance was “energetic and fiery.”29 He died on June 14th, 1975 in
Brno.
Jan Šlais and Ševčík’s violin method
In the early twentieth century, Jan Šlais was one of many Prague violinists
that greatly influenced violin playing in Europe. They taught successful vio-
linists that became soloists, concertmasters, and teachers at conservatories
and other institutions in Europe and the United States. Some of the Prague
violinists became founders of national violin schools, such as Ševčík’s pu-
pils Franz Stupka in Odessa, Václav Huml in Zagreb, and Jan Šlais in Ljub
ljana. All followed Ševčík’s system of teaching violin.
When Otokar Ševčík was residing in Kiev, he developed an eye disease
and decided to devote himself more to violin teaching. Thus it was there
that he started to develop his famous violin teaching method and where he
also wrote his two fundamental method books: School of Violin Techniques,
Op. 1 and School of Bowing Techniques, Op. 2. After returning to Prague
in 1892, despite meeting with skepticism throughout the conservatory, he
started to teach his first class of violin pupils using his new violin method.
The first generations of Ševčík’s students included the above-mentioned Vá-
clav Huml, Franz Stupka, Václav Talich, and Šlais’s teacher at the conserv-
atory, Štěpán Suchy. The students made such great progress in such a short
29 Orig. “Šlais razpolaga z izborno tehniko. Tako čiste intonacije, tako idealnih flagio-
letov, virtuozne natančnosti ter obenem interpretacijske dovršenosti že dolgo nismo
čuli” and “Šlais virtuozno obvladuje gosli. Njegova igra je energična, ognjevita …” See
Anon., “Koncert Šlais-Deylova-Röthlova,” Jutro, January 5th, 1922, 2; N. N., “Kon-
certna poročila,” Cerkveni glasbenik 45, no. 1/2 (1922): 16, http://www.dlib.si/?UR-
N=URN:NBN:SI:doc-T10R9VVA.
275
system. He also initiated a master class for violin and chamber music and
established curricula for violin teaching.
He was also very active as a performer. From 1920 until the 1940s, he
was regularly playing concerts in Slovenia, mostly accompanied on the pi-
ano variously by Ruža Deylová, Janko Ravnik, and Anton Trost (as the Lju-
bljana Duo). As a performer, he “virtuosically mastered violin” and had an
“excellent violin technique.” A review of one of his concerts stated that he
impressed the audience with
such pure intonation, such ideal flageolets, virtuosic precision and
at the same time interpretative perfection, which we have not heard
for a long time.
His performance was “energetic and fiery.”29 He died on June 14th, 1975 in
Brno.
Jan Šlais and Ševčík’s violin method
In the early twentieth century, Jan Šlais was one of many Prague violinists
that greatly influenced violin playing in Europe. They taught successful vio-
linists that became soloists, concertmasters, and teachers at conservatories
and other institutions in Europe and the United States. Some of the Prague
violinists became founders of national violin schools, such as Ševčík’s pu-
pils Franz Stupka in Odessa, Václav Huml in Zagreb, and Jan Šlais in Ljub
ljana. All followed Ševčík’s system of teaching violin.
When Otokar Ševčík was residing in Kiev, he developed an eye disease
and decided to devote himself more to violin teaching. Thus it was there
that he started to develop his famous violin teaching method and where he
also wrote his two fundamental method books: School of Violin Techniques,
Op. 1 and School of Bowing Techniques, Op. 2. After returning to Prague
in 1892, despite meeting with skepticism throughout the conservatory, he
started to teach his first class of violin pupils using his new violin method.
The first generations of Ševčík’s students included the above-mentioned Vá-
clav Huml, Franz Stupka, Václav Talich, and Šlais’s teacher at the conserv-
atory, Štěpán Suchy. The students made such great progress in such a short
29 Orig. “Šlais razpolaga z izborno tehniko. Tako čiste intonacije, tako idealnih flagio-
letov, virtuozne natančnosti ter obenem interpretacijske dovršenosti že dolgo nismo
čuli” and “Šlais virtuozno obvladuje gosli. Njegova igra je energična, ognjevita …” See
Anon., “Koncert Šlais-Deylova-Röthlova,” Jutro, January 5th, 1922, 2; N. N., “Kon-
certna poročila,” Cerkveni glasbenik 45, no. 1/2 (1922): 16, http://www.dlib.si/?UR-
N=URN:NBN:SI:doc-T10R9VVA.
275
