Eugène Ysaÿe (French: [øʒɛn iza.i]; 16 July 1858 – 12 May 1931) was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe came from a background of "artisans", though a large part of his family played instruments. As violinist Arnold Steinhardt recounts, a legend was passed down through the Ysaÿe family about the first violin brought to the lineage:
Off with your head
Dance 'til you're dead
Heads will roll, heads will roll
Heads will roll on the floor
Glitter on the wet streets
Silver over everything
The river's all wet
You're all cold
Dripping with alchemy
Shiver stop shivering
The glitter's all wet
You're all chrome
The men cry out, the girls cry out
The men cry out, the girls cry out
The men cry out, oh no
The men cry out, the girls cry out
The men cry out, the girls cry out
The men cry out, oh no
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Off, off with your head
Dance, dance 'til you're dead
Heads will roll, heads will roll
Heads will roll on the floor
Looking glass, take the past
Shut your eyes, you realize
Looking glass, take the past
Shut your eyes, you realize
Glitter on the wet streets
Silver over everything
The glitter's all wet
You're all chrome, you're all chrome
Oh, oh, oh
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance 'til you're dead
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance 'til you're dead
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance 'til you're dead
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance 'til you're dead
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance 'til you're dead
Off, off, off with your head