He believed that with a substantial third movement, the work could stand as a great American violin concerto. Briselli decided to hold his ground regarding the finale and chose to forgo the concerto's premier and relinquish his claim on it.
Meiff was a Russian student of Leopold Auer at St. Petersburg in the early 1900s. Instead, he believed the book, with its factual errors and relatively limited distribution, would simply fade with time.
I don't even know the people who are making movies today.
On an evening at the very beginning of May 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Fels met personally with Barber to discuss the possibility of his writing a work for Briselli, such as a fantasy or concertino for violin and orchestra.
He continues: "I should like to understand the reasons for rejection so I can properly talk to Barber and shall not use your name if you do not wish it."
[From the time of its premier in 1941 to the present, critics remain divided as to the finale's musical value and effectiveness. In Briselli's recollection, it was Gama Gilbert--an old Curtis classmate and a close friend of each--who thought a commission (Barber's first major one) would be a good move for both violinist and composer in furthering their careers.
[Mr. Fels sat on the Philadelphia Orchestra board and Mrs. Fels was a founding board member of the Curtis Institute of Music.] The most likely answer is that either Barber did not review Broder's account before the book was published, or he was "overruled" by Schirmer and Broder. ZIMBALIST, EFREM (1889–1985), violinist and composer. He told Barber that it did not have a sense of belonging; it seemed musically unrelated to the first two movements, and he thought it was insufficient in compositional form or development to stand as the finale of a major work. Born in New York City on November 30, 1918, surrounded by people of wealth and privilege throughout his childhood, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. received a boarding school education.
Barber gave Briselli the first two movements in the middle of October and Briselli was pleased.
Barber should have done the same." He writes his phone number for Fels to contact him.
Actor
Mrs. Briselli states she never heard him mention it again until...(see below). There seemed to be good chemistry, and after leaving the Institute, Briselli continued to coach with Meiff in New York until Briselli left the concert stage in the early forties.
She remembers that when she went to the library with him to read the account, he reacted as though in pain and with tremendous dismay.
Briselli's repertoire included all the major violin concertos as well as many difficult bravura pieces by such composers as Sarasate, Wieniawski, Ernst, Vieuxtemps, and Ysaye. [Although we have no written record of their actual meeting, we can conclude that Fels let Barber keep the $500 advance but did not pay the $500 balance. But for whatever reasons, this was a big disappointment for Briselli.