JOHANNES WOLFF - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 154538

JOHANNES WOLFF
Handwritten letter from the violinist asking if he can come to lunch at the recipient's house
Autograph Letter signed: "Johannes Wolff", 1p, 4¼x6. London, no date. To “Dear Madam”. In French, translated in full: “Grant me permission to come to lunch at your house next Friday at 1:30 perhaps? and I will be happy to see you again. Please accept dear Madam my most sincere greetings/ [signature]/ 266 Vauxhall Bridge Road - S.W./ Monday morning”. Johannes Wolff (1863-1931) was a Dutch violinist who was a favorite musician of both Queen Victoria and Czar Nicholas II. The child of amateur musicians, a young Wolff decided he wanted to play the violin after attending a concert featuring Henryk Wieniawski. He studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory as a young man and moved on to the Paris Conservatory. After traveling across Europe and even across the Atlantic (playing in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1893), he eventually settled down in London, in the nation where he was most popular. A year later he formed his own company, the Wolff Musical Union. He prided himself on playing unique compositions not often heard in popular classical music circles, including Charles-Marie Widor and Cecile Chaminade. From 1896 to 1898, he was a music teacher at the Guildhall School of Music in London. In 1897 he was the subject of a famous painting by American portrait artist John Singer Sargent. Several composers, Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré being two of the most notable, dedicated pieces to him. Lifting from mounting adhesive on verso shows through lightly at top and left edges. Ink smudging near salutation, but writing is still legible. Otherwise, fine condition.