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Tribute to violinist Fritz Kreisler, on 50th anniversary of his death

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January 29, 2012|By Jeremy Eichler

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Fritz Kreisler, one of classical… (COPYRIGHTED 1912, BY AIME…)

Like any violinist starting out, Fritz Kreisler simply needed a few attractive pieces to complete his recital programs. He loved to arrange the music of others, and was lucky enough to stumble upon a trove of unknown manuscripts, gems by older Baroque composers moldering away in a monastery in Europe. He convinced the monks to sell him the entire collection.

The pieces were by then-little known composers like Pugnani, Louis Couperin, and an Italian fellow named Vivaldi, but it mattered little. In the first three decades of the 20th century, legions of fans came to adore Kreisler’s arrangements, which were no doubt faithful to their originals yet also spoke with an unmistakable musical accent, that prewar Viennese lilt that was his alone.

There was just this one problem with Kreisler’s back story. None of it was true.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of this inimitable Viennese fiddler. And at a time when it so often seems that the joke is on the violinists - Joshua Bell busking in a subway while almost no one stops to listen, or, as a recent study showed, professional players allegedly unable to hear the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern instrument - it seems a good occasion to recall a moment when the tables were turned in the greatest hoax ever perpetrated with four strings.

Kreisler’s ruse, sustained over some three decades, deceived thousands if not millions of listeners - critics, scholars, and fans. The violinist did, in fact, create many legitimate arrangements, but he also composed outright a full 17 of the works he attributed to those Baroque composers. There were no originals.

The hoax today is barely remembered, but many of these delightful pieces still turn up frequently, credited now to Kreisler himself. For newcomers, “A Tribute to Fritz Kreisler,’’ just released by Deutsche Grammophon, is a welcome two-disc sampler of other violinists performing Kreisler’s music alongside a few of Kreisler’s own historic recordings. Or, if you prefer a live performance, New England Conservatory students of the violinist Miriam Fried will serve up some of this repertoire in a free concert on Thursday, which happens to be the birthday of both Kreisler (b. 1875) and Jascha Heifetz (b. 1901).