Others showed up for lessons with Ysaÿe – a violinist from Odessa whose name was Volchikis, a very good American woman violinist named Mitchell, and William Primrose, the famous future violist. Primrose played the violin then. He was a real virtuoso and could rattle off all the Paganini caprices. While fiddling, Primrose literally tore apart his instrument. (When we met in Gstaad a few years later, I said to him, “You can’t play like that on a violin, but on a viola – trust me – it’ll sound terrific.” I don’t know whether it was my advice or not, but shortly Primrose switched to the viola.) << less