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One of the greatest violinists of all time<\/a>, Eug\u00e8ne Ysa\u00ffe broke the 19th-century Romantic virtuoso mould with a unique fusion of sleight-of-hand technique and profound musicianship. <\/strong><\/p> Eug\u00e8ne Ysa\u00ffe mesmerised audiences with his devil-may-care spontaneity, which extended to changing fingerings and bowings as the mood inspired him in mid-performance. There was something of the subversive renegade about him \u2013 he could run temporal rings around insensitive conductors \u2013 yet he excelled at whatever he turned his hand to. <\/p> Ysa\u00ffe\u2019s impact as a teacher was incalculable. His pupils included Louis Persinger (Yehudi Menuhin\u2019s first major tutor), Joshua Bell<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s mentor Josef Gingold, composer Ernest Bloch<\/a><\/strong> and Nathan Milstein. <\/p> Carl Flesch \u2013 whose pupils included Henryk Szeryng and Ida Haendel \u2013 considered Ysa\u00ffe \u2018the most outstanding and individual violinist I have heard in my life,\u2019 while celebrated French virtuoso Jacques Thibaud felt he was \u2018the great apostle of the truly musical\u2019. <\/p> Ysa\u00ffe was also an outstanding chamber musician<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 the original Quatuor Ysa\u00ffe made its debut in 1888 \u2013 and following the creation of the Orchestre des Concerts Ysa\u00ffe in 1895 proved to be a first-rate conductor. Of course, he was also a composer. <\/p> Although much of his music (amounting to some 35 opuses) appeared in print, he himself remained unconvinced as to its true worth. Remarkably, not one of his eight violin concertos saw publication over the course of his lifetime, yet they trace a fascinating creative journey that saw Ysa\u00ffe develop from a poetic dreamer in the Schumann<\/a><\/strong> tradition into a post-Wagnerian<\/a><\/strong> sensualist. <\/p>Who was Eug\u00e8ne Ysa\u00ffe?<\/h2>