Achille Rivarde (31 October 186531 March 1940) was an American-born British violinist and teacher, who worked mainly in Europe and London.

Biography

Serge Achille Rivarde was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to a Spanish father and an American mother. He studied under Felix Simon,

Henryk Wieniawski Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer and pedagogue who is regarded amongst the greatest violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski were a ...

and José White Lafitte.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954, Vo. VII, pp. 185-6 At the age of eleven, he became a pupil of

Charles Dancla (Jean Baptiste) Charles Dancla (19 December 1817 – 10 October 1907) was a French violinist, composer and teacher. Biography Dancla was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre. When he was nine years old, violinist Pierre Rode in Bordeaux heard his music; h ...

at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, sharing the first prize with

František Ondříček František Ondříček (29 April 1857 – 12 April 1922) was a Czech violinist and composer. He gave the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák, and his achievements were recognised by the rare award of honorary membe ...

in 1879. He returned to America for three years 1881-84. In 1885, aged only 19, he returned to Paris to become principal violinist with the Orchestre Lamoureux. He remained in that post till 1891. In 1893, in Paris, he and Harold Bauer premiered

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

's Violin Sonata in B major. He made his debut in London in 1894. In 1895 he gave Édouard Lalo's '' Symphonie espagnole'' its UK premiere. His American debut came at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

in November 1895 (where he was described as "a Spanish violinist". He was also said to have "just entered his 28th year", but he was in fact 30). The ''

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'' critic said he "combines artistic sensibility with a lovely, fluent, polished execution", and also noted a resemblance to

Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works includ ...

, both in his playing and his physical appearance. (A photograph of Rivarde can be see
here
) Some sources say he was also a pupil of Sarasate. In 1899 he became a professor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

. Apart from occasional appearances as a soloist in London and abroad (he shared the stage with

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

at a 1913 concert), he remained a teacher at the RCM till 1936 and was held in great esteem.

Carl Flesch Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy. Life and career Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmag ...

referred to him as "an important violinist and pedagogue". His pupils there included Anthony Collins, Eugene Goossens, the violinist and instrument valuer Robert Lewin, and Margaret Harrison (sister of

Beatrice Harrison Beatrice Harrison (9 December 1892 – 10 March 1965) was a British cellist active in the first half of the 20th century. She gave first performances of several important English works, especially those of Frederick Delius, and made the first or ...

; she was aged only 4 when she entered the RCM to study with Rivarde). Eugene Goossens wrote a piece for violin and piano called ''Old Chinese Folk Song 'To Achille Rivarde, Esq. Op. 4/1.

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known ...

dedicated to Rivarde his transcription of Dvořák's 1st Slavonic Dance. In 1922 Rivarde published ''The Violin and Its Technique As a Means to the Interpretation of Music'', a small manual of his own method in which he advocated elasticity of movement in every bar. In 1924 he started a separate school of violin playing in London. He died in 1940 in London, aged 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivarde, Achille 1865 births 1940 deaths American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists British classical violinists British music educators Musicians from New York City Musicians from London Academics of the Royal College of Music American people of Spanish descent British people of Spanish descent Conservatoire de Paris alumni American emigrants to the United Kingdom Classical musicians from New York (state)