César Thomson

César Thomson (18 March 1857 – 21 August 1931) was a Belgian violinist, teacher, and composer.

Biography

He was born in Liège in 1857. At age seven, he entered the Royal Conservatory of Liège, and studied under Désiré Heynberg, Rodolphe Massart and Jacques Dupuis (1830-1870). By age 16, he was considered to have "a technique unrivalled by any other violinist then living". He was also a student of Hubert Léonard, Henryk Wieniawski and Henri Vieuxtemps.

In 1873, he became concertmaster of the private orchestra (52 players) of Baron , a Russian banker and railroad magnate, who, in 1870, had built the Castello di Trevano as a temple to music, in the vicinity of Canobbio, by Lugano, Switzerland. After von Derwies lost his mind and disappeared, Thomson left Lugano in 1877, but not before he had married a local noblewoman, Luisa Riva.

César Thomson revived many of the then obscure works of Niccolò Paganini, and he did much work in editing, arranging and transcribing works from the early Italian school, by composers such as Corelli, Handel, Tartini, J. S. Bach, Nardini and Vitali. His own compositions included a Zigeuner Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1909). Many well-known violinists studied with him, including Charlotte Ruegger, who also worked as his assistant at the Brussels Conservatory.

César Thomson died in Bissone, near Lugano, in 1931.

Honours 1919 : Commander of the Order of Leopold.

Students His notable students included: Hugo Alfvén, Oskar Back, Aylmer Buesst, Max Donner, Demetrius Dounis, Edwin Grasse, Johan Halvorsen, Guillermo Uribe Holguín, Paul Kochanski, Alma Moodie, Celia Torrá, and Haydn Wood. Thomson played an important role in training two significant American chamber groups, having taught three members of the Flonzaley Quartet and at least two of the Zoellner Quartet, which made its first European appearances at his private soirees.

Other There is a Boulevarde César Thomson in Liège.