Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962) wrote several operettes, countless songs and even a string quartet, but never touted himself as an important composer; nevertheless, he made a huge contribution to the broadening of the violin repertoire with his transcriptions, arrangements, his part in performing them, and, last but not least, his own original works. Some of these little pieces became wildly popular almost the moment they were written, appearing in the programme of almost all the important violinists of the time from Ysaÿe to Elman, Szigeti to Heifetz, and Vecsey to Zimbalist.

Kreisler’s seductive tone, his particular vibrato, his portamento never breaching the boundaries of good taste, are first-hand remnants of the magic of the Viennese Secession, of the musical Babel of Austria-Hungary in its final years of peace. These pieces, short or sometimes more extended ones, represent a special “notebook” of the fin de siècle and the beginning of the [twentieth] century, perhaps one of the most interesting periods in music history. They reflect the mood of the era just as in his time Franz Liszt, with his transcriptions and paraphrases held up a mirror to the styles and characteristics of the period from the Baroque up to his contemporaries. No wonder their popularity outlived the changes in period, style, and approach.