BRONISLAU HUBERMANN AND LEONORA JACKSON.

BY W. J. HENDERSON.

Bronislau Hubermann is a boy who plays the violin very much like a grown man. Now that means something more than merely sounding the tones correctly and smoothly. It means to show an understanding of the music and an artistic taste in its performance—two things which many adult players fail to do. Young Hubermann is therefore a remarkable boy, and it is not surprising that thousands of persons go to his concerts and sit as if spellbound while the youngster plays, for amazement joins with admiration to deepen the emotions caused by his fine performances. Just how old Hubermann is it is difficult to tell. He looks like a lad of sixteen; but his parents say that he was born in 1883 in Warsaw. They ought to know; but sometimes people like to make a gifted child appear younger than he really is, so as to increase the public wonder at his achievements. It really is not necessary in the case of Hubermann, because his playing would be sufficiently astonishing in a boy of sixteen.

He showed his musical ear when a mere child by singing the melodies which he heard. When he was six years of age he began the serious study of the violin, and in three months he had made such marvellous progress that he was able to play Rode's Seventh Concerto, a very difficult composition. This story sounds incredible, but we must remember that Mozart actually played the second violin part in a quartet when he had never had any instruction at all. He told his father it was not necessary to study in order to play the violin. After his childish appearances in public little Hubermann devoted a few years to further study, and then left his native land to seek glory in the most musical of all countries—Germany. He was enthusiastically praised there by the critics, while the public applauded him wildly. He made his first appearance in America at a concert in Carnegie Hall, New York, early in November, and achieved an immediate success.

He is a tall and rather awkward boy, but all his awkwardness disappears as soon as he begins to play. He produces from his instrument a very beautiful tone, and he always plays in tune, which shows that his ear is correct, and that his left hand has been trained carefully. But what is of more importance is that he plays with a great deal of feeling, and with an insight into the emotional meaning of the music which is altogether uncommon in so young a person. It is an interesting fact that Hubermann comes from Poland, which has produced so many admirable musicians. Among those who are familiar to living music-lovers are Paderewski, the great pianist, Jean and Edouard de Reszké, the famous singers, and young Josef Hofmann, who created so great a sensation when he gave his piano concerts at the age of ten.

Perhaps, however, we would do well to remember that all the musical genius of the world does not belong to those who are born on the other side of the Atlantic. To be sure, we are likely to incline to the opinion that it does, when we read about Mozart and Hofmann and other "wonderful children," as the Germans call them. But American boys and girls are just as full of artistic possibilities as those born abroad. And sometimes intelligence and hard work accomplish wonders even in music. Pasta, the famous soprano, had a very poor voice to begin with, and in our own time Lillian Norton, a Maine farmer's daughter, has made herself one of the foremost singers of the world just by study, and she is now famous everywhere as Madame Nordica. Now comes the story of Leonora Jackson, a California girl, who has carried off one of the great musical prizes of Germany.

She is the daughter of a merchant and banker, Charles P. Jackson, who lives in a very modest town with the unpoetic name of Mud Springs. When the Californians dislike that name they call it El Dorado; but Mud Springs is its real name. Miss Jackson's parents settled in this town in 1852, and she was born there in 1878, so that she is now eighteen years old. Mrs. Jackson was an amateur musician of real ability, and early in life Leonora showed that she had inherited her mother's inclinations. After her birth her parents moved to Chicago, where Mrs. Jackson became a successful music-teacher. The little girl began to study violin-playing, and she soon showed such gifts that her parents decided to place her under the most famous of teachers. At the age of fourteen she was sent to Berlin, where she became a pupil in the great Conservatorium.

The world-renowned violinist Dr. Joseph Joachim, who is regarded as the finest living player in the classic style, became her teacher, and took the deepest interest in her progress. She was afforded opportunities to appear in public, in order that she might acquire confidence in herself, and everything was done to enable her to make progress in her art. About two months ago she entered the competition for the Mendelssohn prize medal, for which she had as rivals players from various parts of Europe. It was a tremendous undertaking for a girl of eighteen, but Leonora won. Dr. Joachim embraced her with tears in his eyes, and the Berlin newspapers described her as a "girl wonder." It will be gratifying to all patriotic boys and girls to know that this girl's greatest pride in her triumph was that America had conquered. "I have held up the stars and stripes," she wrote home, "and I am satisfied."

After a time Leonora will undoubtedly set out as a concert performer, and of course that means that she will come to America to play. Then her countrymen will have an opportunity to enjoy the exhibition of her gifts and accomplishments, and to applaud her not only for her violin-playing, but for her courage, her perseverance, and her patriotism. She will hardly be a great violinist at eighteen, but she is young and talented, and the future is full of promise for her, while her example ought to be an inspiration to all her young compatriots.