He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubelík and Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

He was among the founders of the Kammermusikverein, whose nationalist ideals stimulated Smetana to write his String Quartet in E minor, From My Life.

[4] On 25 February 1895, Bennewitz conducted the first complete performance of Josef Suk's Serenade for Strings in E flat, Op.

[5] On 3 June 1896, at the Prague Conservatory, Bennewitz conducted the first (semi-public) performances of Dvořák's symphonic poems The Noon Witch, The Water Goblin, and The Golden Spinning Wheel.

[7] Bennewitz's pupils included František Ondříček (who premiered the Dvořák's violin concerto), Karel Halíř (who premiered the revised version of the Sibelius violin concerto), Otakar Ševčík, Franz Lehár, and three members of the Bohemian Quartet (later known as the Czech Quartet)[8]—Karel Hoffmann and Josef Suk (violinists), and Oskar Nedbal (violist).