Figure 1.--This image of Floriel Von Reuter was taken about 1905. An HBC contributor has forwared a post card with this image that was cancelled in 1905. The photograph may be slightly older. He wears a dark knee pants sailor suit with a button-up jacket and white shirt underneath.
There are many famous child music prodigies. The most famous is certainly Mozart in the 18th Century, but there have been many others in the 19th and 20th Century. The clothing they wore for their performances were often examples of contemporary formal boys'
clothing. Often as they began to grow up their parents liked to keep dressing them in juvenile clothes to emphasize that they were childhood prodigies. I've just begun this page, but would be interested in any comments or contributions by HBC viewers. Here are some of the child prodigies I know of any available information on how they were dressed as boys:
Segovia, Andrés (Spain, 1893?- ): Andrés Segovia was the seminal force in the development of the guitar as a concert instrument in the 20th century. He made his public debut in Granada in 1909, at the age of 16 years, and established his reputation in his native country with appearances in Madrid, Barcelona, and other leading centers of Spanish music during the next several years. His tour of South Americain 1919 created a sensation, as did his debuts in Paris (1924), Moscow (1926), and New York (1928).
Segovia's aims for the guitar, however, extended far beyond merely establishing a career for himself as a virtuoso. "From my youthful years," he wrote, "I dreamed of raising the guitar from the sad artistic level in which it lay. Since then, I have dedicated my life to four essential tasks.Thefirst: to separate the guitar from
mindless folklore-type entertainment. My second purpose: to make the beauty of the guitar known to the public of the entire world. The third task: that of influencing the authorities at conservatories, academies, and universities to include the guitar in their instruction programs on the same basis as the violin, cello, piano, etc. And my fourth item of labor: to endow it with a repertory of high quality, made up of
works possessing intrinsic musical value, from the pens of composers accustomed to writing for orchestra, piano, violin, etc. The first symphonic composer to heed my request, offering to collaborate with me, was Federico Moreno Torroba." Moreno was the last of the great Spanish Romantics.
Sgouros, Dmitris (Greece, 1974- ): Dmitris at 14 years of age perfor ed one of the best Rachmaninoff Nr. 3 concertos ever recorded. He played several times at the TV (more than all other prodigy children
around the world). He was compared with Maria Callas who was from Greece as he. It was said he could play the 2nd Brahms concerto after reading one time. I remember having seen him in short pants at the age of 12 playing the 1st ballada by Chopin. It was during 4 years when he was regularly accompanied by the press. This was in 1988, and since that he has disappeared.
Simons, Hendrik (Nethrerlands, 1955- ): Heintje is a very popular boy singer/actor in the Netherlands. His full name is Hendrik Simons, born on August 12, 1955, in Kerkrade, Netherlands. The town is in the Limburg province near the Dutch/German border, and that may explain why Heintje sang mostly in German, sometimes in Dutch, and also in English. His recordings were very popular in Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and some Chinese bloggers write of hearing his songs and seeing some his films. Heintje's first well-known hit song was "Mama" in German, released in 1967. His songs are sentimental, very gentle and wholesome. One of his songs in English is "I'm Your Little Boy", in which he sings that even when he's been bad, he's very sorry because he loves mom, and that if ever she went away he couldn't sleep a day "cause you're the best mama in the world." Heintje appeared in about a half dozen German made films from 1968 - 1971. They are made for a young audience and are somthing of a vehicle for Heintje's songs. Heintje's singing career ended as his voice changed, but in the 1990's he made something of a comeback, calling himself Hein Simons now. (Heintje is a little boy nickname for Hendrik.) There are some You Tube clips of Heintje singing from one of his films, and he has a website, heinsimons.com, that is quite comprehensive. There is also a recording of "I'm Your Little Boy" online.
Stern, Issac (Russia/U.S., 1920- ): HBC has not yet had time to research Issac Stern in any detail. We know that he is considered by most musical experts to be one of the greatest musicians of all time. One scholar hailed Stern as "one of the supreme violinists of this century". He also has been called "the first American violin virtuoso." He calls himself "a fiddle player." Issac was born on July 21, 1920, at Kreminiwcz, Russia. Before Issac was less than 1-year old, his parents in 1921 fled with him from the caos and fighting of the Russian Revolution and subsequent civi war between the Reds and Whites. The Stern family settled in San Francisco, California. Stern of course does not remember Russia as he left at such an early age. His parents were talented musisians in their own right. His mother studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. She began teaching Issac the piano when he was 6 years old. Issac began playing the Violin at the advanced age 8 years. Most violin prodigies began at an earlier age. It was not until age 13-14 that he made his first public recital with the San Francisco Symphony playing a Brahms Violin Concerto. Some biographers clainm his debut was at age 11, so we are not sure at this time. Issac 2 yerars later at the age of 16 launched his professional career. He performed with Naoum Blinder, his major teacher and concertmaster of the orchestra. On October 11, 1937, at the age of 17, he made his New York debut at Town Hall. In 1943, he debuted at Carnegie Hall, and in 1944, with the New York Philharmonic under Arthur Rodzinski. He played with the New York Philharmonic for more than 4 decades. A reader reports, "It is my understanding that the impression of dressing a prodigy younger than they were went on in the 20th century. Isaac Stern is a good example of this. In his case it was done to make him look younger and thus more remarkable than he really was."
Stretton, Gordon (England, 1887-1982): Jazz is often seen as an African-American musical genre. This may be essentially true, at least in its origins, but it sent ripples out, at first affecting white American music culture and eventually Europe. One of those ripples was Gordon Stretton. Gordon Stretton was born in Liverpool as William Masters. His father was of African, probably African-Caribbean. His mother was Welsh, Ann J Masters Nee Williams (1862- ). He came from from a poverty-stricken childhood. This was not unudual in Liverpool among the working class, but William's childhood was also racially marginalized. he was an unrcognized child prodigy. The prodigies we are familiar with are parents with means or who found patrons. The young William had no such advantages. He cerainly had no drum set. His talentbemtged as a yiung dancer and singer. He proved to be a pioneer. Liverpool today is known as a hot bed of popular nusic. It is of course where the Beatles emerged. Stretton was interestingly the first important international music figure to energe from Liverpool. As a child, he played with Charlie Chaplin in the 'Lancashire Lads Dancing Troupe'. He toured Britain as a member of a Jamaican choir (1908). He performed in locales including London and Paris, eventualy settling in Buenos Aires. He gained fame as a spectacular jazz drummer (1910s). He recorded in New York Ciuty with the Syncopated Jazz Band ('Satanic Blues'/'Lucky Dog Blues' (1921). He led the Orchestre Syncopated Six in Paris, recording 'Fate' and 'Tu Verras'. (1923). He founded Gordon Stretton's Symphonic Jazz Band in Buenos Aires (1929).
Thibaud, Jacques (France, 1880-1953): Jacques Thibaud was born in Bordeaux in 1880. His graceful, elegant style of the Franco-Belgian viloin school. His father was a music teacher, at wanted Jacques to be a pianist, but it was the violin that young Jacques loved. His first recital was at age 8 years. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 12 and studied under Martin Marsick. He palyed poorly in the 1894 contest, but took a first prize in 1896. Edouard Colonne heard him in the Paris Café Rouge and recruited for his orchestra. When the leader was not able to play the Prélude to le Saint-Saint-Saëns Le Déluge, Thibaud substituted for him and was soon a regular soloist, appearing 54 times in the 1898-99 season. He toured America in 1903-04 and his success made him into a recognized master.
Thibaud helped set up the Ecole Normale. He was a friend of the pianist Marguerite Long. The two reciorded together and established a school and musical competition which bear
their names. Thibaud loved to teach. He taught both at the school, and in summer at his St Jean de Luz estate on the Bay of Biscay near Beritz. One of his important students was American prodigy Grisha Goluboff during the early 1930s. Thibaud died in 1953 when the plane taking him on an Asian tour crashed on Mont Cemet, near Barcelonette.
Tomokazu Murakami: (Japan, 1980- ) Tomokazu Murakami was a boy soparano singer. He isn't well-known now because boy soparanoa are not especially popular in Japan and he performed in the late-1980s and early-90s.
Tyler, Cyril: (United States, 1890s) We have virtually no information on Cyril Tyler, except that he was billed as a phenomenal boy soprano. A portrait of him was taken in New Yourl City. It is undated, bit looks to have been taken in the 1890s. Cyril wears short curls and an all white outfit including a fancy Fauntleroy blouse. He looks to be about 13 years old.
Underwood, Willie F.: (United States, 1851?- ) We have been able to find virtually no information on this American child prodigy. He is, however, of special interest becuause we have obtained a quarter-plate daguerreotype of him. This is the oldest photographic image that we have of any prodigy. The boy is identified in the intact full-case as Willie F. Underwood, and dated 1855. He looks to be about 4 or 5 years old. Willie appears seated on a draped stool or chair with the drapery slightly tinted red. The boy is dressed in finery that only a mother could love, with ruffles, velvet, and the wildest plaid stockings.
Ustinovsky, Vova (Russia, 1950?- ): We note Russian boy violin prodigy V. Ustinovsky in the 1950s. This press photo was captioned. "Prodigy: Shown during a practice session is 5 year-old Vova Ustinovsky, son of a Russian metal worker, Vova woin such a reputation as a musician that the Soviet Ministry of Culture has placed him in the Leningrad Conservatory for further training." We know nothing more about his music career.
Figure 2.--This is Franz Von Vecsev. We assume he is German, but we also know little about him. The image suggests that he was a rather self-assured boy. He looks to about 13 years old here.
Vecsey, Franz (Hungary: 1893-1935): This is Franz von Vecsey born in Budapest, Hungary (1893). He was also known as Frenc de Vecsey / Vecsey Ferenc is the Hugarian form of his name. Hungary at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The image suggests that he was a rather self-assured boy. He looks to about 10 years old here, perhaps at the time of his Berlin debut (1903).
He was a was a Hungarian child violin prodigy who became a composerand popular virtuoso in Europe during the early-20th century. Franz's father, Lajos Vecsey, cognizing his son's phenomenal capabilities began violin studies. He then entered the studio of Jenő Hubay at age 8 years (1901). Two years later at age 10 years, he played unf=der the supervision of Joseph Joachim in Berlin (1903). He made his début at '"Beethoven Halle' (1903). He immediately became known as a child virtuoso. As a boy he wore knee pants sailor suits, including whitesuits with a striped dickey (figure 2). Here he wears his knee pants and short socks, more commonly hev wore long stockings. The image suggests that he was a rather self-assured boy. As a boy, he toured with Béla Bartók who did with the piano accompanying. At only 12 years of age. He became the re-dedicatee of Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D minor (1905). The original dedicatee, Willy Burmester, refused to play the work after he was unable to appear at the premiere of the revised version. Vecsey proceeded to champion the Sibelius concerto which he performed when he was only 13 years old. Franz took a serious interest in composing from a very early age. He composed a number of virtuosic salon pieces for the violin. He would emerge as one of the pre-eminent European violinists of the early-20th century (1910s-20s). he lived with his wife in Venice (1926). , at the "Palazzo Giustinian de'Vescovi" on Canal Grande. His career steadily faltered after the World War I, as he grew tired of constant touring and wanted to concentrate more on conducting. As he began focusing on his composing dream, it was tragically cut short. He became seriously ill with a pulmonary embolism that had been growing since childhood (1935). He found doctors in Rome who operated on him. The surgery was,however, unsuccessful and Vecsey died of the disease (1935).
Vernon Brothers (United States: 1890s): The American traveling Vernon brothers played, sang, whistled. They were a three brother musical group age about 5-14 years of age. Tghey were not precisely prodigies, but certainly musically talented. We see violins, flute annd what looks like a chello. They seem to have been based in Willimantic, Connecticut. They were styled the Little Verson Brithers, although only the youngest boy was really little. Je wears a Fauntleroy suit and has long uncurled hair. We do not know how widely they traveled. We do note them performing at the Philipstown Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896 under the auspices of the Epworth League Society. Philipstown is just a few miles north of New York City.
Volans, Kevin Volans (South Africa, 1949- ): Kevin has lived in Ireland since 1986 and is an Irish citizen. He was born on July 26, 1949 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. In 1972 he graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, followed by post-graduate study at the University of Aberdeen. From 1973 until 1981 he lived in Cologne where he was a pupil of Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Musikhochschule and later his teaching assistant (1975-76). He also studied with Mauricio Kagel (music theatre), Aloys Kontarsky (piano), and electronic music (1976-1980). During this time he worked as a freelance composer, where, before moving on to his African-based pieces, his work was associated with the so-called New Simplicity. His other activities included four field trips recording African music on behalf of the West German Radio (WDR Köln), writing many programmes for the WDR, Belgian Radio and the Deutsche Welle (Voice of Germany) and co-editing Feedback Papers with Johannes Fritsch. From 1982 to 1984 he taught composition at the University of Natal, Durban, where he was awarded a D Mus in 1985. After this he returned to freelance composition, moving to Paris in 1985 and to Cork in 1986. In 1984 and 1986 he was on the board of professors of the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music and in 1988 on the jury of the International Computer Music Conference (Cologne). From 1986 to 1989
he was Composer-in-Residence at Queen's University, Belfast, and in 1992 he was
Composer-in-Residence at Princeton University, New Jersey. He is currently resident in
Dublin.
Von Reuter, Floriel (US, 1890-1985): Floriel Von Reuter was an accomplished violinist. As a boy a photograph shows that he wore an elegant kneepants sailor suit with long stockings. It had a button blouse with a white short waist underneath. A cancelled British postcard was dated 1905, but Floriel looks to be about 10 years old. Florizel was born Florizel Reuter on January 21, 1890 in Davenport, Iowa. His father was a musician and minor composer named Jacob Reuter. His first professional concert was in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in about 1900. This was presumably at about the same time the photograph was taken. One HBC contributor notes that he read some short comment by him about Paganinni, so he clearly became a rather important violin virtuoso, after being a musical prodigy.
Walker, Dudley (United States. 1854?- ): We note an American prodigy during the 1860s. Based on a 1864 CDV, we believe he ws born about 1854. Unfortunately we have been able to find very little information about him. We note that in 1864 CDV portraits were being sold. People liked to buy portraits of famous people for scrapbooking. This was a relatively new phenomenon which began with the CDV because negative-based CDVs were so cheap to reproduce. Dudley wears a matching blouse and long bloomer knicker outfit. There were all kinds of buttons and a lace collar, rather large for the time. We think it ia a button on outfit covered by a waist band, He has white socks which were common at the time. He has curly hair grown out, but not long. We also notice a newspaper article from the Hillside Standard (August 11, 1868). It is not relly clear what his tlent was, but I take it from the newspaper article that it was singing.
Wiggins, Thomas (United States, 1849-1908): Thomas Wiggins for much of his life was known as Thomas Bethune which was the name of his slave master, "General" James Bethune. (Slave women and their children commonly took the last name of their owner.) The American public came to know him as Blind Tom the negro boy pianist. Thomas was the son slaves Domingo Wiggins and Charity Greene. Thomas was born blind and appears to have also been autistic. It is diificult to properly diagnose Tom's conditionbecause of the limitations of 19th century medecine. He might be called a "autistic savant". Bethune purchased the two adults and Thomas was included at no extra cost--quite a irony as he was to prove arguably the most valuable slave in America. Thomas's father was a field hand, but his mother worked in the plantation mannor house and it was here that Tom was introduced to music.
Figure 3.--This is famed English boy soprano, Denis Wright about 1936. He is sitting next to Harry Smith, his singing teacher who Denis said was responsible for making him famous.
Wright, Denis (England, 1926- ): Denis Wright is another of the famed English boy sophtanos during the 1930s and 40s. The choristers became greatly appreciated during the early days of radio before the advent of television. Commercial radio and the BBC appeared in the 1920s and the advent of programs to educate and entertain. Radio made many singers household names and the record companies supplied the demand for their records. Throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s many exceptional choir boy singers found fame on the radio because of their extraordinary singing ability. One of these youthful radio and record personalities was Denis Wright. Denis was born in Mansfield on St Swithin's Day (1926). He grew up with brothers and sisters and was the youngest member of the family. After the school day Denis began his woirk as a singer. When he fisished tea which he had with his singing teacher there was a daily practice from around 5pm until 9 pm. Then it was home to bed and a goodnights sleep. At the weekend Denis would often be on a train to some location where he was participotig in a concert. He commonlypracticed on the train. A reader tells us, "Sorry to say Demmis died January 15, 2010 from a chest infection."
Unknown boy (American, early 1920s): HBC has no details about the provinance of this portrait. We believe that the boy is American. He is probably having his portrait taken before or after a music reciatal in an outfirt his mother created. It is possible, however, that he was a minor prodigy involved in show business. This is suggested by the inscription on the portrait, "Mike, the Boy Wonder". We believe the poortrait was taken in the early 1920s. Interestingly, while the boy presumably had little to say about his outfit, he almost ceratinly selected the drums himself. It seems unlikely that the mother who chose this outfit would have chosen the drums for her aspiring musician.
