Works for Violin and Piano

Miska Hauser was a native of Bratislava, a Hungarian violin virtuoso, and a composer. Just as the works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel mark the beginning of the Romantic piano tradition, and those of Johann Kaspar Mertz stand at the origins of the Romantic guitar repertoire, Hauser’s music may be regarded as a comparable point of departure for Romantic violin literature. His compositions are characterized more by their faithful adherence to established compositional principles than by innovation, yet they played an important role in developing the virtuoso violin idiom.

As a touring performer, Hauser sought not to shock his audiences but rather to establish an immediate rapport with them through a shared musical language. From this perspective, his artistic career was remarkably successful, even though history has tended to preserve the legacy of those composers who pushed beyond and transformed the musical language of Romanticism.