César Thomson (18 March 1857 – 21 August 1931) was a Belgian violinist, teacher and composer.
He was born in
In 1875 he travelled in Italy, and became a member of the private orchestra of Baron de Derwies. In 1877 he built the Castello di Trevano at Lugano, Switzerland, and married a local noblewoman, Luisa Riva.[3] In 1879 he played in a Berlin orchestra, and in 1882 was appointed violin professor at his alma mater, the Liège Conservatory. In 1897 he succeeded Eugène Ysaÿe as principal professor at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1898 he established a string quartet, with himself as first violin.
He had great success as a concert soloist at Leipzig in 1891 and Brussels in 1898. His appearances in Britain and the United States were less favourably received, but he was popular in South America. He taught at Ithaca College in New York 1924-27 and at the Juilliard School.[4]
César Thomson revived many of the then obscure works of Niccolò Paganini, and he did much work in editing, arranging and transcribing works from the early Italian school, by composers such as Corelli, Handel, Tartini, J. S. Bach, Nardini and Vitali. [3] His own compositions included a Zigeuner Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1909).[5]
César Thomson died in Lugano in 1931.
His notable students included: Hugo Alfvén, Johan Halvorsen, Paul Kochanski, Alma Moodie, Guillermo Uribe Holguín, Haydn Wood, and three members of the Flonzaley Quartet[6]
There is a Boulevarde César Thomson in Liège.
References
- ^ Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed.
- ^ Sheila M. Nelson, The Violin and Viola
- ^ a b Ricercarmusica (Italian)
- ^ Ithaca College Scrapbook
- ^ University of Rochester
- ^ Robin Stowell, The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
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