A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Becker, Jean

BECKER, Jean, eminent violin-player, born at Mannheim in 1836 [App. p.533 "May 11, 1833"]. His first teacher was Kettenus, then leader of the Mannheim orchestra, and he afterwards learned from Alard in Paris. He began to perform in public when only eleven, and was still very young when he became the successor of Kettenus. In 1859 he played with great success in Paris, and thence went to London, where he appeared at the Monday Popular Concerts, and was for one season leader of the Philharmonic Concerts. After travelling for some years through most parts of Europe, he settled in 1866 at Florence, and associated himself with two Italian musicians, Mael and Chiostri, and the German violoncellist Hilpert. These artists, well known under the name of the 'Florentiner Quartett,' have earned, by their careful and spirited performances of the classical masterpieces of quartet literature, a great and well-deserved reputation in most musical centres of the continent. Becker's style as a solo-player appears to be a compromise between the severe style of the German school and the lighter and more brilliant one of the French. [App. p.533 "date of death, Oct. 10, 1884."]

[ P. D. ]