JOHANNES WOLFF - AUTOGRAPH SENTIMENT SIGNED - HFSID 154542

JOHANNES WOLFF
Letter fragment penned by the famed Dutch violinist in black ink
Autograph Sentiment signed in French, translated in full: "Your completely devoted/ Johannes Wolff", in black ink, 3¾x1¼. 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 pieces byCharles-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. Final sentence of letter before closing clipped. Lightly toned. Stained at left edge. Otherwise, fine condition.