Ernest Toy: Australia's celebrated violinist

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Ernest Toy
Australia's Celebrated
Violinist
MANAGEMENT OF
ERNEST TOY
4352 GREENWOOD AVE.
CHICAGO

Licentiate Royal Academy of Music, London, and of the Queen's Hall, Albert Hall, Bechstein, and other leading London Concert Halls, Bournemouth and Eastbourne Symphony Concerts, Newcastle-on-Tyne Popular Concerts, Edinburgh and Glasgow Guards' Concerts etc., and the Principal Concerts of Leeds, Bristol, Bath, Walsall, etc., etc.



ERNEST TOY
THE FOREMOST OF AUSTRALIAN VIOLINISTS enters on his third season in America.  Each season he has gained in his art until now it may be safely said that he occupies a top niche in the violin world of this country.

At six years of age Toy handled his first violin and at ten he proceeded to London where he immediately began his public performances, attracting the attention of many musical celebrities, among them Melba herself.  At sixteen a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, London; and a protege of the Earl of Winchelsea, Toy made his first extended tour of Australia and New Zealand, since then three times repeated.  At the conclusion of the first tour, on the advice of Ysaye, the young artist became for two years a pupil of the late Gustave Hollaender and was offered a master's position in the great Stern Conservatorium in Berlin.  Refusing this opportunity, Toy made a successful tour of France and then returned to London, where he did much playing, as well as in the English provinces.  Before his arrival in America he resided some years in Australia, where his activity included the position of concert master of the Melba Grand Opera season, leader of the Lady Northcote Quartet and concert master of the Marshall-Hall Symphony Orchestra.  For eight months prior to the outbreak of the war he toured Australasia jointly with the Canadian tenor, Paul Dufault, whom he accompanied to the United States.  Since being in this country Ernest Toy has concertized extensively.

Mr. Toy has been acclaimed an interpreter of the classic school par excellence, for indeed his playing of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms places him at once in the foremost rank of world violinists, while a large measure of his success has come from his playing of the modern school of violin literature.  To Mr. Toy has fallen the distinction of introducing to concert audiences new and important works for the violin.  His tone is broad, beautiful, and in all, American music-lovers will be afforded an opportunity during the coming season of hearing a new violinist of lofty attainments, charming personality, and with a distinct style of his own.




PRESS NOTICES

CHICAGO
Ernest Toy is a real find.


A tone of surprising breadth and warmth is his most striking violinistic possession.  In the Wilhemji arrangement of the Bach air on the G string his superb legato set off the singing, vibrant quality of his tone to perfection.  Technically he is also quite proficient.  In all a delightful violinist.—
Chicago American.



MEMPHIS.

The members of the Beethoven Club scored an artistic triumph yesterday afternoon when they presented the Australian Violinist, Ernest Toy, in a recital.  With the first number the audience realized that Ernest Toy was master of his violin—and he was forced to respond to repeated encores.  It is seldom that a Memphis audience cares to sit through a program on which the name of only one artist appears—but the audience yesterday not only enjoyed every number but insisted on the return of the artist following his final program number.—
The Commercial Appeal.



LONDON.

In Vieuxtemps' Concerto in A Minor, Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, and sundry works by Sarasate, Saint-Saens, and others, he exhibited an admirable tone and very free bow.  The slow movement of the Concerto was especially well played, with considerable charm, accuracy of technique and feeling.—
The Times.


Mr. Ernest Toy, who gave the first of three recitals last evening at the Bechstein Hall, has at command a sweet and powerful tone, which at times is, in quality, almost flute-like, and serves him well in slow and sustained passages, such as abound in the Andante Religioso of the Vieuxtemps' Concerto in D Minor.—
The Daily Telegraph.


Mr. Ernest Toy is an artist whom it is a pleasure to hear.  He has a thorough command of his difficult instrument, and he has the art of holding the attention of his audience.—
The Daily News.


Ernest Toy was especially successful in the second movement of Mendelssohn's Concerto, giving the naturally sentimental melody a clean sweep, which was quite refreshing.  On the ground where so many violinists have fallen—the interpretation of Bach—Toy stood firmly, his rendering of the Gavotte in E Major being certainly the most convincing performance of the evening.—
The Echo.


Mr. Ernest Toy gave a really fine performance of Schumann's Sonata in A Minor.—
The Evening Standard.


Mr. Ernest Toy's equipment as a violinist is complete.  To technical skill, good tone, and unerring intonation he adds an intelligent and clear reading and great variety of effect.  His playing of Sarasate's Fantasie on Faust, an ornate piece of virtuosity, was a brilliant, animated performance.—
Musical Courier.


The violin playing of Mr. Ernest Toy proved a delicious treat.  We have rarely heard a violinist we liked better, his performances (which were devoid of extravagant and pyrotechnical effects) being characterized by fine breadth and purity of tone, rare delicacy of treatment, and perfect phrasing.  Mr. Toy was equally successful in the 'Souvenir de Haydn,' in the dreamy 'Legende' and in the fantastic and lively 'Witches' Dance,' the last-named item being vociferously encored.—
North Western Daily Mail.





AUSTRALASIAN PRESS NOTICES

MELBOURNE.

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, for violin alone, was finely interpreted.  The spirited and characteristic Fugue, with its complicated double and triple stopping, gave the performer a great opportunity for displaying his excellent technique.  The various 'voices' were well distinguished, and the whole performance was a masterly one.—
The Argus.


Mr. Ernest Toy's concert yesterday was a big success.  The Concerto in A Minor, by Vieuxtemps, relies too much upon bravura work to be a real 'classic'; but Mr. Toy is quite at home at this business; he knows all the rules of the game.  But in Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, for unaccompanied violin, he did even better.  The fugue is for three 'voices', and though it is plainly impossible to keep three separate parts going each its own way on a single violin, it was extraordinary how the third voice made itself heard, while the other two were still in conspicuous evidence.  Such a performance stamps the man as an artist, and no encore ever accorded in Melbourne was more richly merited.  It is a pity that Mr. Toy's Melbourne appearances have been so limited as he is a performer to whom it is a genuine pleasure to listen.—
The Age.


His interpretations of the great works he produced last night were beyond cavil.  His harmonics, perhaps the severest test of virtuosity, were absolutely perfect.  He had a most enthusiastic reception, and was recalled again and again.—
Argus.


Ernest Toy is one of those local products of which the most loyal Australian has every right to feel proud.  His playing was a mastery of style and purity of tone.  Mr. Ernest Toy is a grand artist.—
Age.



SYDNEY.

His tone is rich, his phrasing displays artistic sentiment, and his execution is highly finished, and, indeed, brilliant.  Some of the more rapid passages in these and other pieces which he played were absolute marvels of crispness and digital facility; whilst in several of the slow movements he exhibited a breadth of tone and full sonorousness that charmed his audience.—
Sydney Morning Herald.


Mr. Toy opened the concert with the No. 4 Concerto of Vieuxtemps, in the performance of which the most notable point was the elevated interpretation of the 'Andante Religioso,' and the beauty of tone displayed.—
The Daily Telegraph.



BRISBANE.

He subjected himself to the severe test of one of the most difficult pieces of violin music—the Chaconne from J. S. Bach's 'Fourth Sonata in D Minor.'  This is a work associated with the greatest of violinists, and it bristles with difficulties of a technical kind.  Mr. Toy's interpretation revealed a confident command of the resources of the instrument, a brilliant technique, and a fine musical tone, and the real merit of the performance drew from the audience demonstrative recognition.—
Courier.