He has been compared with some of the most eminent violinists thus:--Vieuxtemps was an artist with an ardent mind, and a magnificent interpreter of Beethoven; Joachim towers aloft in the heights of serene poetry, upon the Olympic summits inaccessible to the tumults of passion; Sivori was a dazzling virtuoso; Sarasate is an incomparable charmer.
There are doubtless many who remember the tour of August Wilhelmj, the celebrated violinist, who visited the United States about twenty years ago. He was considered second to no artist then living in his general command over the resources of his instrument, and he excelled in the purity and volume of his tone, no less than in the brilliancy of his execution. He did not possess the warmth and impulsiveness which constituted the charm of Wieniawski, but his performances appealed to his audiences in a different and more legitimate manner. He was even a greater traveller than Remenyi, and visited almost, if not quite, every civilised country. His travels took him throughout Europe, America, Australia, and Asia. He was, in 1885, invited by the Sultan of Turkey to perform in his seraglio, the only violinist to whom such a compliment had ever been paid. The Sultan on this occasion decorated him with the Order of the Medjidie, second class, and presented him with some beautiful diamonds.
August Wilhelmj was born in 1845 at Usingen, in the Duchy of Nassau, and, showing his aptitude, was placed under Konrad Fischer, a violinist of Wiesbaden, at the age of six. His progress was so rapid that when nine years old he played in a concert in Limburg and received great applause. Wilhelmj's father was a lawyer of distinction and a wealthy vine-grower, and, in spite of the boy's progress, he did not favour the idea of allowing him to take to the violin as a profession, for he felt that the majority of infant prodigies fail as they reach manhood. But the boy had received much encouragement, and persisted in his desire. Henrietta Sontag, the celebrated singer, heard him play Spohr's ninth concerto and "The Carnival of Venice," and was so charmed that she said he would become the German Paganini.
In the course of time Wilhelmj succeeded in obtaining a concession from his father:--he was to get the judgment of a musical authority on his capabilities, and, if favourable, no objection should be made to his becoming a virtuoso. On the recommendation of Prince Emil of Wittgenstein, the young violinist went in 1861 to Liszt at Weimar, and after playing to him Spohr's "Scena Cantante" and the Hungarian fantasia by Ernst, he was asked to play several pieces at sight. At the end of this trial Liszt sprang from his seat, calling out in a loud voice, "Ay! indeed you are predestinated to become a violinist--so much so that for you the violin must have been invented if it had not already existed." This judgment satisfied the father, and a few days later Liszt himself took the boy to Leipzig and introduced him to Ferdinand David, saying, "Let me present to you a future Paganini. Look well to him!" For three years Wilhelm; was a pupil of David, and at the same time studied the theory of music with Richter and Hausmann. In due course he passed his examinations at the Leipzig Conservatory, playing Joachim's Hungarian concerto.