If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On Marie
Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski.

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On Marie

Three beautiful things appeared on the stage of Michelsen Hall Saturday night: a young musician, her violin and the music they created together.

Marie Von Rueden gave her junior violin recital on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Von Rueden is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point pursuing a bachelor’s degree of music in violin performance. She has been playing violin since she was four years old.

“The violin is special to me because it’s a unique instrument in the sense that it can display a variety of emotions very well and is capable of communicating the thoughts and feelings of those who shared their stories through composition,” Von Reuden said.

This versatility of the instrument was displayed in the pieces Von Reuden performed at her recital.

The first piece was Ciaccona from Partita II BWV 1004 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Von Reuden’s unaccompanied performance brought to life the emotion she described through sweeping melodies that seemed to come from more than one instrument, a secondary melody emitting from the lower strings of the violin.

Von Reuden’s second piece conveyed a completely different feeling to the audience. The second movement of Edvard Grieg’s Sonata No. 3, op. 45, Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza demonstrated Von Reuden’s ability to use a variety of techniques and collaborate with her piano accompaniest, Tatiana Woller.

After the intermission, Von Rueden performed three movements of the Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 by Jean Sibelius.

As a continuation of her first two pieces, this concerto brought together the variety in musicality and technique that Von Rueden displayed. From deep to driving, each movement created a different emotion, bringing in a little bit of everything: low and high notes, broad and precise bowing as well as fleet and elongated melodies.

Though violin has been a part of Von Rueden’s life since her early years in a Suzuki program in Milwaukee, her journey is far from complete.

“I decided to pursue music in college when Professor Bjella approached me in high school at the American Suzuki Institute summer camp and told me he would like to have me as a student if I was interested in studying music in college,” Von Rueden said.

She also hopes to continue her studies of music in graduate school.

Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski.

Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski.

As a requirement for her major, Von Rueden began work on her pieces for the recital seven months ago. It wasn’t until two months ago that she began working with her accompanist.

After months of work, she had to do a recital hearing where she played her pieces with the accompanist for two professors who had to approve it in order for her to perform.

Von Rueden’s recipe for success at the recital was practice, something she typically does for four hours every day.

“Part of preparing for a recital is being able to build up the endurance to make it through,” Von Rueden said.

With all of Von Rueden’s success and talent, it is difficult to say where she’ll go from here. The one thing that is certain is that what she does will be carried out with talent, love and a quite a bit of hard work.

Von Rueden said, “It’s such a pleasure to play violin that for me it is truly a gift to be able to give that gift of music to others.”

“Music in itself is another language,” Von Rueden said. “It’s so important because it expresses so much that we aren’t able to communicate through words. The composer Claude Debussy once said, ‘I believe with all my heart that Music remains for all time the finest means of expression we have.’ Music really does express so much and can connect people in a very profound way.”

 

Kathryn Wisniewski

Reporter

kathryn.e.wisniewski@uwsp.edu

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