Background
Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmagyaróvár) in Hungary in 1873.
Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmagyaróvár) in Hungary in 1873.
He began playing the violin at seven years of age. At 10, he was taken to Vienna, and began to study with Jakob Grün. At 17, he left for Paris, and joined the Paris Conservatoire.
He settled in Berlin, and in 1934 in London.
He was known for his solo performances in a very wide range of repertoire (from Baroque music to contemporary), gaining fame as a chamber music performer. He also taught at Bucharest 1897-1902, Amsterdam 1903-1908, Philadelphia 1924-1928) and the Berlin High School for Music 1929-1934.
He published a number of instructional books, including Die Kunst des Violin-Spiels (The Art of Violin Playing, 1923) in which he advocated the concept of the violinist as an artist, rather than merely a virtuoso. He was consulted (as was Oskar Adler) by Louis Krasner over technical difficulties in the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg, which Krasner was to premiere.
Carl Flesch"s Scale System is a staple of violin pedagogy.
Flesch owned the Brancaccio Stradivarius, but had to sell it in 1928 after losing all his money on the New York Stock Exchange. Flesch lived in London during the 1930s, was arrested by the Gestapo in the Netherlands in 1939, was released, and died in Lucerne, Switzerland, in November 1944.