Martin Marsick
Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick was a Belgian violinist, composer, and music teacher. He was born on 9 March 1847 in Jupille, now part of Liège, and died in Paris on 21 October 1924. He received his first music lessons from his father and entered the Royal Conservatory of Liège at the age of seven, studying violin with Désiré Heynberg as well as piano and organ. From the age of twelve, he worked as a church organist.
After graduating from the Liège Conservatory with a gold medal in 1864, Marsick continued his studies at the Brussels Conservatory, where he studied composition with I. G. Kufferath and violin with Hubert Léonard. From 1868 he studied violin with Lambert Massart, a professor at the Paris Conservatory, and in 1870–1871 he furthered his training with Joseph Joachim in Berlin.
Marsick joined the newly founded National Music Society in Paris in 1871 and made his debut at the Popular Concerts there in 1873. Between 1875 and 1895, he appeared in concerts with leading Parisian conductors including Charles Lamoureux, Jules Pasdeloup, and Édouard Colonne. He toured widely in Europe, including appearances in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1880 and 1885, and later performed in the United States. As an ensemble musician, he played first or second violin in various distinguished groups alongside musicians including Camillo Sivori, Louis van Waefelghem, Paul Viardot, Guillaume Rémy, and Jules Delsart.
Known for his polished virtuosity and energetic, temperamental playing, Marsick performed chiefly classical music. He promoted Pyotr Tchaikovsky's violin and chamber works, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in Paris under the composer's direction in 1888. In 1880, he took part in the premiere performance of César Franck's quintet. From 1892 to 1900 he was a professor at the Paris Conservatory; his pupils included Shimon Pullman, Carl Flesch, Jacques Thibaud, and George Enescu.
As a composer, Marsick wrote three violin concertos, numerous works for violin and piano, violin arrangements including Anton Rubinstein's Valse-Caprice, and a violin method. His publications included the finger-exercise collection Eureka (1906) and The Grammar of the Violin (1924), and he also composed the septet Memories of Naples. He performed on a 1715 Stradivari violin later known as the Marsick Stradivarius; David Oistrakh played the instrument from 1966 to 1974. After a personal scandal damaged his professional career, Marsick returned to Paris in 1903 and died in poverty.