César Thomson

César Thomson ( born March 18, 1857 in Liege, † August 21 1931 in Bissone, Switzerland ) was a Belgian violinist, violin teacher and composer.

Life and work

César Thomson came at the age of seven years in the class of Heynberg Désiré (1831-1897) to the Royal Conservatory of Liege, he received another violin lessons there from Rodolphe Massart, Jacques Dupuis (1830-1870) and Hubert Léonard. His friends included Eugène Ysaÿe study, Martin Marsick and Ovide Musin, with whom he played under the direction of Nicolas Ysaÿe, Eugène's father, the orchestra of the " Pavillon de Flore ," a vaudeville theater.

At the age of 16 years, certified Thomson exceptional fiddle innovative technique. At the Brussels Conservatory, he received further lessons from Hubert Léonard, Henryk Wieniawski and Henri Vieuxtemps.

In 1875 he traveled to Italy and was in Lugano member of the private orchestra of the Russian banker and railroad magnate, Baron Paul von Derwies. In 1877 he married Louisa Lugano in Riva, the daughter of a local noble family.

Since 1879 Thomson was concertmaster of the Bilseschen Chapel in Berlin, two years later, he took the violin class at the Liège Conservatory. In 1897, he was followed by Eugène Ysaÿe in the same position to the Brussels Conservatory. In Brussels Thomson founded a string quartet in 1898, which he served as first violinist.

Thomson, who was regarded as an outstanding Paganini artist, has performed in most European countries, and was considered one of the most significant violin virtuosi of his time, especially in Leipzig, Brussels, and Latin America, he celebrated solo success, while less successful occurred in England and the United States. He taught from 1924 to 1927 at Ithaca College, originally a music school and at the Juilliard School in New York.

Thomson worked as an arranger and editor, then little- known works in the Italian Baroque style of Corelli, Handel, Tartini, Vitalis, Nardini, Vitalis, Paganini but also Bach.

The city of Liege honored him by naming a street, the "Boulevard César Thomson " and the setting up of a bust on the Boulevard Piercot, before the building of the Philharmonic, an artwork of the Belgian sculptor Louis Dupont ( 1896-1967 ).

Student

Among his significant students count Hugo Alfvén, Johan Halvorsen, Eduardo Fabini, Paul Kochanski, Alma Moodie, Guillermo Uribe Holguín, Haydn Wood, Augusto Brandt, Demetrius Constantine Dounis and three members of the Flonzaley Quartets.

Works (selection)

• Gypsy Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra