Ottokar Sevcik

(1852 - 1934)

Sevcik was a student at the Prague conservatory (even though he failed his entrance exam twice). Sevcik taught at the Imperial Music school, Kiev, in the Ukraine from 1875 to 1892), then at the Prague Conservatoire and at the Vienna Conservatoire from 1909 to 1919. Sevcik returned to Prague in 1919 when the Czechoslovak Republic became established and held International Summer School in Pisek, S. Bohemia. Sevcik did much to improve violin technique by adopting the "semitone system". Overall, Sevcik taught 5000 pupils including Jan Kubelik, Zacharewitch, Zimbalist, Marie Hall and Joseph Karbulka, the teacher of P. Stolyarsky (teacher of D. Oistrach).