The Pedagogy of Imre Waldbauer, First Violinist of the Hungarian String Quartet

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Imre Waldbauer was a distinguished violinist-musician-teacher. He was born in Hungary in 1892 and lived and taught there until 1945, when he came to the United States. From that time he taught at the School of Music at the University of Iowa until his death in 1952. Waldbauer attained his greatest stature as a performer in his position as first violinist with the internationally famous Waldbauer-Kerpely String Quartet which existed from 1910 to 1945. He was closely associated with such composers as Bartok. Kodaly and Dohnanyi and premiered their works at a time when their music was generally treated with indifference and hostility.
The main thrust of this presentation will be about Waldbauer’s teaching of violin, viola and chamber music based on my 1977 dissertation for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In order to obtain information about his teaching, I made inquiries of his former students and colleagues from both Hungary and North America. The main instrument of inquiry was a detailed questionnaire which I devised. Altogether, forty persons out of the sixty-two contacted responded to these questions.
Details of his teaching include descriptions of his analytical manner of teaching, his attitude toward teaching children, his interest in and philosophy of the so-called “vocal method,” and his major influence upon his students. Probably the most distinctive feature was his emphasis on the physiological aspects of playing the violin, including right and left hand techniques on muscle functions and tone production.



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