second nature in the course of time. I was able to find my way about in
all seven positions within a year's time, and could play the Kayser
_études_; but that does not mean to say I was a virtuoso by any means.

"My first teacher? My first teacher was my father, a good violinist and
concertmaster of the Vilna Symphony Orchestra. My first appearance in
public took place in an overcrowded auditorium of the Imperial Music
School in Vilna, Russia, when I was not quite five. I played the
_Fantaisie Pastorale_ with piano accompaniment. Later, at the age of
six, I played the Mendelssohn concerto in Kovno to a full house.
Stage-fright? No, I cannot say I have ever had it. Of course, something
may happen to upset one before a concert, and one does not feel quite at
ease when first stepping on the stage; but then I hope that is not
stage-fright!

"At the Imperial Music School in Vilna, and before, I worked at all the
things every violinist studies--I think that I played almost everything.
I did not work too hard, but I worked hard enough. In Vilna my teacher
was Malkin, a pupil of Professor Auer, and when I had graduated from the
Vilna school I went to Auer. Did I go directly to his classes? Well,
no, but I had only a very short time to wait before I joined the
classes conducted by Auer personally.


PROFESSOR AUER AS A TEACHER

"Yes, he is a wonderful and an incomparable teacher; I do not believe
there is one in the world who can possibly approach him. Do not ask me
just how he does it, for I would not know how to tell you. But he is
different with each pupil--perhaps that is one reason he is so great a