Campoli was born in Rome. His first teacher
was his father - a professor of violin and leader of the St.Cecilia
Conservatoire. His mother, a dramatic soprano, had toured with Caruso
and played young Alfredo recordings of the great tenor Mattia
Battistini who later acknowledged as a major influence on the bel canto
style of playing which gave him an early reputation as a singing
violinist and evinced praise from many conductors. He made his London
debut in 1911 when he was only 5 and by the age of 10 was regularly
playing recitals. Two years later he was temporarily banned from
entering violin competitions because he always walked away with first
prize! However, as early as 1919 he won a gold medal for his
performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto which was presented by HRH
Princess (later, Queen) Mary. At 15, he appeared at the Wigmore Hall
and toured the British Isles with possibly the greatest women singers
of the day, Dames Nellie Melba and Clara Butt.
In the difficult economic situation following the
first war Campoli was
forced to extend his musical activities to earn extra money and he
formed his own highly successful light orchestra. It made him famous.
For several years his was the resident orchestra at the fashionable
Dorchester Hotel and his recordings on HMV, Columbia and Decca labels
sold in thousands, although he still toured nationally as a classical
artist when circumstances permitted. Campoli disbanded the orchestra in
the second war to work untiringly for ENSA and CEMA, visiting forces
training camps and playing in hospitals and munitions factories, where
the enthusiasm of the public prompted him to enlarge his concerto
repertory. Consequently, a Prom under Sir Henry Wood in 1944 saw him
dazzling audiences with the Brahms Concerto, followed the next year by
the Tchaikovsky.
Britain's four leading conductors - Beecham, Boult,
Barbirolli and
Sargent all adored him. After one BBC Home Service broadcast of the
Brahms from Maida Vale Studios, Boult and his players cheered and
applauded for a full three minutes, much to his delight and
embarrassment. His performance of the Elgar Concerto with the Hallé
Orchestra under Barbirolli at the Royal Festival Hall still lives in
the memory of all who were privileged to see it, but Barbirolli refused
to record the work for EMI as he had never forgiven them for not asking
Kreisler to make the premiere recording. Over the years Campoli owned
and played a Landolfi, a Rogarius and a Guadagnini violin. A most
self-effacing, modest artist who hated to be labelled a Œvirtuoso¹, he
would come quietly onto the platform, acknowledging the audience with a
simple bow of the head and a smile. Wedging his violin under his
generous double chin with a voluminous white silk handkerchief he would
tune discreetly and speedily and be ready to play in seconds. The
purity, simplicity, clarity and intonation of his playing were
legendary as was his fabulous spiccato - achieved by lifting his fourth
finger to enable the bow to rebound more easily. This became his
trademark, instantly identifying him. Young violinists today could
learn much from the recording.
"Campoli makes a beautiful thing of the
Max Bruch; he has the right idea about it and the power to express that
idea. The spacings of the rubatos is admirable-- never overdone and
always affecting. Bruch was associated much of his life with choral
singing, and Campoli brings out the singing quality in his romantically
musing piece. The performance is entirely convincing. From the point of
view of recording, the violinist is given favoured-nation treatment ;
most of the time it is good that he should dominate the music, but the
positioning leads to a slight excess of vibrato in the slow movement
(though the orchestral balance here is good) and to an almost isolated
prominence in parts of the finale. The New Symphony Orchestra comes out
well if not brilliantly as the accompanying medium. Its tone as
reproduced here leans towards the reedy, but is variable; even the
warmer-toned passages are never full-bodied, and this facts tends to
minimise the proportions of the Concerto. The bass seems a little more
remote than the rest of the orchestra. The whole work as thus presented
is very enjoyable." H. F. writing in the Gramophone August 1951
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