Introduction

For Clara Schumann, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst was the only violinist able 'to win over all parties whenever he pleases'; for liszt, his playing was 'admirable'; for Heinrich Heine, he was 'perhaps the greatest violinist of our time.' Ernst's character, and the cultural background which formed it, must also be held partially responsible for his present invisibility, and they are worth looking at in their own rights. Besides being one of the most expressive and technically gifted of all nineteenthcentury violinists, there are several other reasons for thinking Ernst important. He successfully advised Schumann to take up music professionally, and saved the career of the young Joachim. By a systematic reading of the music press and nineteenth-century reference books, Elun establishes for the first time a reliable chronology of Ernst's life, and shows that a number of stories about Ernst – for example that he played with Joachim in London in 1859 – are myths.