Fritz Kreisler - "Liebesleid" (Love's Sorrow)

Image via Wikipedia

It's arguable that Fritz Kreisler was the greatest composer for violin in the 20th Century.  It seems a good bet that he's the greatest composer and performer of the violin in the 20th Century.  It's quite strange that he's almost unknown today, perhaps because he really only recorded through the 1940s, and the technology then was much more primitive than later performers had to deal with.

But in his day, he was considered to have the sweetest tone of any violinist.  He also wrote compositions, influenced by the turn of the century composers like Sir Edward Elgar, Léo Delibes, and Jules Massenet.  Austrian by birth, he served briefly in the Great War until he was wounded and then moved to America.  Returning in the 1920s, he once again moved to the New World's shores (this time for good) at the outbreak of World War II.  These shores were a haven for his gemütlich style of music.

It's very easy to listen to, particularly on a weekend morning with a good cup of coffee (also a very Austrian thing). Me, I like to add a pinch of salt, a pinch of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of sugar (as a spice) to the coffee grounds before brewing. The resulting coffee is remarkably delicious.  Gemütlich, even.



Fritz Kreisler's birthday was yesterday, so my timing is not so sweet.  May your morning be more gemütlich.