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I played the fiddle, not the violin, because I was small. Fiddles are not made by professional violin makers; they’re mass-produced, you can buy them in shops very cheaply. I only learned the fiddle for a very short time, but both Leopold and Maurycy learned well and systematically.
I suspect they learned for at least five or six years. But none of the girls played. They probably didn’t have the leaning, weren’t interested. Leopold could play proper things, he played a Mendelssohn concerto, for instance. In Sweden, where he settled after the war, he belonged to a quartet, which he still played in at the age of 70.
I had lessons with a music teacher, a German, who had moved to Kielce with his family to live. He was called Rommel. Leopold learned with him too. He was a colorful figure, tall, with a closely shaven head, quite strict – I felt the strap across my hands a few times, with the addition of: ‘du verfluchter Kerl,’ ‘you accursed rogue,’ when I played out of tune.
I went to those lessons because I was forced to, and waiting my turn, because he had a few pupils, I would sit in this garden at his house – the garden was well kept up – and there we would sneakily eat his gooseberries. It was quite a way out of the center of town.
I went there for about six months, maybe even a year. I think I was about ten or eight then.
I suspect they learned for at least five or six years. But none of the girls played. They probably didn’t have the leaning, weren’t interested. Leopold could play proper things, he played a Mendelssohn concerto, for instance. In Sweden, where he settled after the war, he belonged to a quartet, which he still played in at the age of 70.
I had lessons with a music teacher, a German, who had moved to Kielce with his family to live. He was called Rommel. Leopold learned with him too. He was a colorful figure, tall, with a closely shaven head, quite strict – I felt the strap across my hands a few times, with the addition of: ‘du verfluchter Kerl,’ ‘you accursed rogue,’ when I played out of tune.
I went to those lessons because I was forced to, and waiting my turn, because he had a few pupils, I would sit in this garden at his house – the garden was well kept up – and there we would sneakily eat his gooseberries. It was quite a way out of the center of town.
I went there for about six months, maybe even a year. I think I was about ten or eight then.
Period
Interview
Julian Gringras
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