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diff --git a/14884.txt b/14884.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21b5b88 --- /dev/null +++ b/14884.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6997 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday +by Henry C. Lahee + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday + +Author: Henry C. Lahee + +Release Date: February 2, 2005 [EBook #14884] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS VIOLINISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif, Leonard Johnson and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +[Illustration: OLE BULL] + + + + +Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday + +By + +Henry C. Lahee + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + +Boston +The Page Company +Publishers + +1899 +L.C. PAGE AND COMPANY +(INCORPORATED) + +Ninth Impression, February, 1912 +Tenth Impression, January, 1916 + +THE COLONIAL PRESS +C.H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In "Famous Violinists" the writer has endeavoured to follow the same +general plan as in "Famous Singers," viz., to give a "bird's-eye view" +of the most celebrated violinists from the earliest times to the present +day rather than a detailed account of a very few. Necessarily, those who +have been prominently before the public as performers are selected in +preference to those who have been more celebrated as teachers. + +It was at first intended to arrange the chapters according to "schools," +but it soon became evident that such a plan would lead to inextricable +confusion, and it was found best to follow the chronological order of +birth. + +The "Chronological Table" is compiled from the best existing +authorities, and is not an effort to bring together a large number of +names. If such were the desire, there would be no difficulty in filling +up a large volume with names of the violinists of good capabilities, who +are well known in their own cities. + +HENRY C. LAHEE. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + PREFACE ix + + I. INTRODUCTORY 11 + II. 1650 TO 1750 30 + III. 1750 TO 1800 60 + IV. PAGANINI 104 + V. 1800 TO 1830 135 + VI. OLE BULL 172 + VII. 1830 TO 1850 204 + VIII. JOACHIM 244 + IX. VIOLINISTS OF TO-DAY 261 + X. WOMEN AS VIOLINISTS 300 + XI. FAMOUS QUARTETS 345 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE +OLE BULL _Frontispiece_ +ARCANGELO CORELLI 30 +NICOLO PAGANINI 104 +CAMILLO SIVORI 154 +MARTIN PIERRE JOSEPH MARSICK 238 +JOSEPH JOACHIM 244 +EMIL SAURET 264 +MAUD POWELL 340 +FRANZ KNEISEL 362 + + + + +FAMOUS VIOLINISTS OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +There is no instrument of music made by the hands of man that holds such +a powerful sway over the emotions of every living thing capable of +hearing, as the violin. The singular powers of this beautiful instrument +have been eloquently eulogised by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the +following words: + +"Violins, too. The sweet old Amati! the divine Stradivari! played on by +ancient maestros until the bow hand lost its power, and the flying +fingers stiffened. Bequeathed to the passionate young enthusiast, who +made it whisper his hidden love, and cry his inarticulate longings, and +scream his untold agonies, and wail his monotonous despair. Passed from +his dying hand to the cold virtuoso, who let it slumber in its case for +a generation, till, when his hoard was broken up, it came forth once +more, and rode the stormy symphonies of royal orchestras, beneath the +rushing bow of their lord and leader. Into lonely prisons with +improvident artists; into convents from which arose, day and night, the +holy hymns with which its tones were blended; and back again to orgies, +in which it learned to howl and laugh as if a legion of devils were shut +up in it; then, again, to the gentle _dilettante_, who calmed it down +with easy melodies until it answered him softly as in the days of the +old maestros; and so given into our hands, its pores all full of music, +stained like the meerschaum through and through with the concentrated +hue and sweetness of all the harmonies which have kindled and faded on +its strings." + +Such, indeed, has been the history of many a noble instrument fashioned +years and years ago, in the days when violin playing did not hold the +same respect and admiration that it commands at the present time. + +The evolution of the violin is a matter which can be traced back to the +dark ages, but the fifteenth century may be considered as the period +when the art of making instruments of the viol class took root in Italy. +It cannot be said, however, that the violin, with the modelled back +which gives its distinctive tone, made its appearance until the middle +of the sixteenth century. In France, England, and Germany, there was +very little violin making until the beginning of the following century. +Andrea Amati was born in 1520, and he was the founder of the great +Cremona school of violin makers, of which Nicolo Amati, the grandson of +Andrea, was the most eminent. The art of violin making reached its +zenith in Italy at the time of Antonio Stradivari, who lived at Cremona. +He was born in 1644, and lived until 1737, continuing his labours almost +to the day of his death, for an instrument is in existence made by him +in the year in which he died. It is an interesting fact that the art of +violin making in Italy developed at the time when the painters of Italy +displayed their greatest genius, and when the fine arts were encouraged +by the most distinguished patronage. + +As the art of violin making developed, so did that of violin playing, +but, whereas the former reached its climax with Stradivari, the latter +is still being developed, as new writers and players find new +difficulties and new effects. While there are many proofs that +orchestras existed, and that violins of all sizes were used in +ecclesiastical music, there is still some doubt as to who was the first +solo violinist of eminence. The earliest of whom we have any account +worthy of mention, was Baltazarini, a native of Piedmont, who went to +France in 1577 to superintend the music of Catharine de Medici. In 1581 +he composed the music for the nuptials of the Duke de Joyeuse with Mlle. +de Vaudemont, sister of the queen, and this is said to have been the +origin of the heroic and historical ballet in France. + +The progress of violin playing can also be judged somewhat by the +compositions written for the instrument. Of these the earliest known is +a "Romanesca per violone Solo e Basso se piaci," and some dances, by +Biagio Marini, published in 1620. This contains the "shake." Then there +is a "Toccata" for violin solo, by Paolo Quagliati, published in 1623, +and a collection of violin pieces by Carlo Farina, published in 1627 at +Dresden, in which the variety of bowing, double stopping, and chords +shows a great advance in the demands upon the execution. + +Farina held the position of solo violinist at the Court of Saxony, and +has been called the founder of the race of violin virtuosi. One of his +compositions, named "Cappriccio Stravagante," requires the instrument to +imitate the braying of an ass, and other sounds belonging to the animal +kingdom, as well as the twanging of guitars and the fife and drum of the +soldier. + +Eighteen sonatas composed by Giovanni Battista Fontana, and published at +Venice in 1641, show a distinct advance in style, and Tomasso Antonio +Vitali, himself a famous violinist, wrote a "Chaconne" of such merit +that it was played by no less a virtuoso than Joachim, at the Monday +popular concerts in London, in 1870, nearly two hundred years after its +composition. + +Italy was the home of the violin, of composition for the violin, and of +violin playing, for the first school was the old Italian school, and +from Italy, by means of her celebrated violinists, who travelled and +spread throughout Europe, the other schools were established. + +Violin playing grew in favour in Italy, France, Germany, and England at +about the same time, but in England it was many years before the +violinist held a position of any dignity. The fiddle, as it was called, +was regarded by the gentry with profound contempt. Butler, in +"Hudibras," refers to one Jackson, who lost a leg in the service of the +Roundheads, and became a professional "fiddler:" + + "A squeaking engine he apply'd + Unto his neck, on northeast side, + Just where the hangman does dispose, + To special friends, the knot or noose; + For 'tis great grace, when statesmen straight + Dispatch a friend, let others wait. + + His grisly beard was long and thick, + With which he strung his fiddle-stick; + For he to horse-tail scorned to owe, + For what on his own chin did grow." + +Many years later Purcell, the composer, wrote a catch in which the +merits of a violin maker named Young, and his son, a violin player, are +recorded. The words are as follows: + + "You scrapers that want a good fiddle, well strung, + You must go to the man that is old while he's Young; + But if this same Fiddle, you fain would play bold, + You must go to his son, who'll be Young when he's old. + There's old Young and young Young, both men of renown, + Old sells and young plays the best Fiddle in town, + Young and old live together, and may they live long, + Young to play an old Fiddle; old to sell a new song." + +In the course of time the English learned to esteem all arts more +highly, and in no country was a great musician more sure of a warm +welcome. + +Two celebrated violinists were born in the year 1630, Thomas Baltzar, +and John Banister, the former in Germany, at Lubec, and the latter in +London. + +Baltzar was esteemed the finest performer of his time, and is said to +have been the first to have introduced the practice of "shifting." In +1656 Baltzar went to England, where he quite eclipsed Davis Mell, a +clockmaker, who was considered a fine player, and did much to give the +violin an impetus toward popularity. The wonder caused by his +performances in England, shortly after his arrival, is best described in +the quaint language of Anthony Wood, who "did, to his very great +astonishment, hear him play on the violin. He then saw him run up his +Fingers to the end of the Fingerboard of the Violin, and run them back +insensibly, and all with alacrity, and in very good tune, which he nor +any in England saw the like before." + +At the Restoration Baltzar was appointed leader of the king's celebrated +band of twenty-four violins, but, sad to relate, "Being much admired by +all lovers of musick, his company was therefore desired; and company, +especially musical company, delighting in drinking, made him drink more +than ordinary, which brought him to his grave." And he was buried in the +cloister of Westminster Abbey. + +John Banister was taught music by his father, one of the _waits_ of the +parish of St. Giles, and acquiring great proficiency on the violin was +noticed by King Charles II., who sent him to France for improvement. On +his return he was appointed chief of the king's violins. King Charles +was an admirer of everything French, and he appears, according to Pepys, +to have aroused the wrath of Banister by giving prominence to a French +fiddler named Grabu, who is said to have been an "impudent pretender." +Banister lost his place for saying, either to or in the hearing of the +king, that English performers on the violin were superior to those of +France. + +John Banister lived in times when fiddle playing was not highly +esteemed, if we may judge by the following ordinance, made in 1658: "And +be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person or +persons, commonly called Fiddlers, or minstrels, shall at any time after +the said first day of July be taken playing, Fiddling, or making music +in any inn, alehouse, or tavern or shall be proffering themselves, or +desiring, or entreating any person or persons to hear them play ... +shall be adjudged ... rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars." + +John Banister seems to have been a somewhat "sturdy beggar," though not +exactly in the sense meant by the ordinance, for he established regular +concerts at his house, "now called the Musick-school, over against the +George Tavern in Whitefriars." These concerts began in 1672, and +continued till near his death, which occurred in 1679. He too, was +buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey. His son, also, was an +excellent performer on the violin, and played first violin in the +Italian opera when it was first introduced into England. He was one of +the musicians of Charles II., James II., William and Mary, and of Queen +Anne. + +Henry Eccles, who lived about the end of the seventeenth century, went +to France, where he became a member of the king's band, and William +Corbett, who went to Italy to study the violin in 1710, was a player of +much ability; but one of the most eminent of English violinists was +Matthew Dubourg, born 1703, who played at a concert when he was so small +that he was placed on a stool in order that he might be seen. At eleven +years of age he was placed under Geminiani, who had recently established +himself in London. Dubourg was appointed, in 1728, Master and Composer +of State-Music in Ireland, and on the death of Festing, in 1752, he +became leader of the king's band in London, and held both posts until +his death in 1767. + +An amusing incident is related of Dubourg and Handel. The latter visited +Dublin and presided at a performance of the "Messiah." A few evenings +later, Dubourg, who was leader of the band at the Theatre, had to +improvise a "close," and wandered about in a fit of abstract modulation +for so long that he forgot the original key. At last, however, after a +protracted shake, he landed safely on the key-note, when Handel called +out in a voice loud enough to be heard in the remotest parts of the +theatre, "Welcome home, welcome home, Mr. Dubourg." + +Dubourg's name is the first on record in connection with the +performance of a concerto in an English theatre. + +John Clegg, a pupil of Dubourg, was a violinist of great ability, whom +Handel placed at the head of the opera band, but his faculties became +deranged by intense study and practice, and he died at a comparatively +early age, in 1742, an inmate of Bedlam. + +Another very promising young English violinist was Thomas Linley, who +exhibited great musical powers, and performed a concerto in public when +eight years old. He was sent to Italy to study under Nardini, and +through the mediation of that artist he became acquainted with Mozart, +who was about the same age. Linley's career was prematurely closed, for +at the age of twenty-two he was drowned through the capsizing of a +pleasure-boat. + +This completes the list of English violinists of note who were born +previous to the nineteenth century. The later ones we shall find in +their place in succeeding chapters, but there have been very few +violinists of English birth who have followed the career of the +"virtuoso." Even Antonio James Oury, who made a series of concert tours +lasting nine years, during which he occasionally appeared in conjunction +with De Beriot and Malibran, is hardly known as a "virtuoso," and was +not all English. But there are pathetic circumstances in regard to the +career of Oury. He was the son of an Italian of noble descent, who had +served as an officer in the army of Napoleon, and had been taken +prisoner by the English. Making the best of his misfortunes the elder +Oury settled in England, married a Miss Hughes, and became a professor +of dancing and music. + +The son, Antonio, began to learn the violin at the age of three, in +which he was a year or two ahead of the average virtuoso, and he made +great progress. By and by he heard Spohr, and after that his diligence +increased, for he practised, during seven months, not less than fourteen +hours a day. Even Paganini used to sink exhausted after ten hours' +practice. In 1820, we are told, he went to Paris and studied under +Baillot, Kreutzer, and Lafont, receiving from each two lessons a week +for several successive winters. With such an imposing array of talent at +his service much might be expected of Mr. Oury, and he actually made his +debut at the Philharmonic concerts in London. + +There was another unfortunate officer of Napoleon who became tutor to +the Princesses of Bavaria. His name was Belleville. Mr. Oury met his +daughter, and, there being naturally a bond of sympathy between them, +they married. She was an amiable and accomplished pianist, and together +they made the nine years' concert tour. + +During the period in which the art of violin playing was being perfected +on the Continent, the English were too fully occupied with commercial +pursuits to foster and develop the art. Up to the present day the most +eminent virtuoso is commonly spoken of as a "fiddler." Even Joachim, +when he went to a barber's shop in High Street, Kensington, and declined +to accept the advice of the tonsorial artist, and have his hair cropped +short, was warned that "he'd look like one o' them there fiddler chaps." +The barber apparently had no greater estimation of the violinist's art +than the latter had of the tonsorial profession, and the situation was +sufficiently ludicrous to form the subject of a picture in _Punch_, and +thus the matter assumed a serious aspect. + +England has not been the home of any particular school of violin +playing, but has received her stimulus from Continental schools, to +which her sons have gone to study, and from which many eminent +violinists have been imported. + +The word "school," so frequently used in connection with the art of +violin playing, seems to lead to confusion. The Italian school, +established by Corelli, appears to have been the only original school. +Its pupils scattered to various parts of Europe, and there established +other schools. To illustrate this statement, we will follow in a direct +line from Corelli, according to the table given in Grove's Dictionary. + +The pupils of Corelli were Somis, Locatelli, Geminiani (Italians), and +Anet (a Frenchman), whose pupil Senaille was also French. The greatest +pupil of Somis was Pugnani, an Italian, and his greatest pupil was +Viotti, a Piedmontese, who founded the French school, and from him came +Roberrechts, his pupil De Beriot and his pupil Vieuxtemps, the two +latter Belgians, also Baillot, etc., down to Marsick and Sarasate, a +Spaniard, while through Rode, a Frenchman, we have Boehm (school of +Vienna) and his pupil Joachim, a Hungarian (school of Berlin). + +Several violinists are found under two schools, as for instance, +Pugnani, who was first a pupil of Tartini and later of Somis, and Teresa +Milanollo, pupil of Lafont and of De Beriot, who appear under different +schools. + +The only conclusion to be drawn is that the greatest violinists were +really independent of any school, and, by their own genius, broke loose +from tradition and established schools of their own. Some of them, on +the other hand, had but few pupils, as for instance, Paganini, who had +but two, and Sarasate. Many also were teachers rather than performers. +We have to deal chiefly with the virtuosi. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +1650 TO 1750. + + +Arcangelo Corelli, whose name is recognised as one of the greatest in +the history of violin playing and composition, and who laid the +foundation for all future development of technique, was born in 1653, at +Fusignano, near Imola, in the territory of Bologna. + +He showed an early propensity for the violin, and studied under Bassani, +a man of extensive knowledge and capabilities, while Mattei Simonelli +was his instructor in counterpoint. + +Corelli at one time sought fame away from home, and he is said to have +visited Paris, where Lulli, the chief violinist of that city, +exhibited such jealousy and violence that the mild-tempered Corelli +withdrew. In 1680 he went to Germany, where he was well received, and +entered the service of the Elector of Bavaria, but he soon returned to +Rome. His proficiency had now become so great that his fame extended +throughout Europe, and pupils flocked to him. His playing was +characterised by refined taste and elegance, and by a firm and even +tone. + +[Illustration: ARCHANGE CORELLI] + +When the opera was well established in Rome, about 1690, Corelli led the +band. His chief patron in Rome was Cardinal Ottoboni, and it was at his +house that an incident occurred which places Corelli at the head of +those musicians who have from time to time boldly maintained the rights +of music against conversation. He was playing a solo when he noticed the +cardinal engaged in conversation with another person. He immediately +laid down his violin, and, on being asked the reason, answered that "he +feared the music might interrupt the conversation." + +Corelli was a man of gentle disposition and simple habits. His plainness +of dress and freedom from ostentation gave the impression that he was +parsimonious, and Handel says of him that "he liked nothing better than +seeing pictures without paying for it, and saving money," He was also +noted for his objection to riding in carriages. + +He lived on terms of intimacy with the leading artists of his time, and +had a great fondness for pictures, of which he had a valuable +collection. These he left at his death to Cardinal Ottoboni. + +It was at Cardinal Ottoboni's that Corelli became acquainted with +Handel, and at one of the musical evenings there a "Serenata," written +by the latter, was performed. Corelli does not seem to have played it +according to the ideas of the composer, for Handel, giving way to his +impetuous temper, snatched the fiddle out of Correlli's hand. Corelli +mildly remarked, "My dear Saxon, this music is in the French style, with +which I am not acquainted." + +For many years Corelli remained at Rome, but at last he yielded to +temptation and went to Naples, where Scarlatti induced him to play some +of his concertos before the king. This he did in great fear, for he had +not his own orchestra with him. He found Scarlatti's musicians able to +play at first sight as well as his own did after rehearsals, and, the +performance going off well, he was again admitted to play, this time one +of his sonatas, in the royal presence. The king found the adagio so long +and dry that he quitted the room, much to Corelli's mortification. But +greater trouble was in store for the virtuoso. Scarlatti had written a +masque, which was to be played before the king, but owing to the +composer's limited knowledge of the violin, Corelli's part was very +awkward and difficult, and he failed to execute it, while the Neapolitan +violinists played it with ease. To make matters worse, Corelli made an +unfortunate mistake in the next piece, which was written in the key of C +minor, and led off in C major. The mistake was repeated, and Scarlatti +had to call out to him to set him right. His mortification was so great +that he quietly left Naples and returned to Rome. He found here a new +violinist, Valentini, who had won the admiration of the people, and he +took it so much to heart that his health failed, and he died in January, +1713. + +Corelli was buried in princely style in the Pantheon, not far from +Raphael's tomb, and Cardinal Ottoboni erected a monument over his grave. +During many years after his death a solemn service, consisting of +selections from his own works, was performed in the Pantheon on the +anniversary of his funeral. On this occasion, the works were performed +in a slow, firm, and distinct manner, just as they were written, without +changing the passages in the way of embellishment, and this is probably +the way in which he himself played them. + +Corelli's compositions are remarkable for delicate taste and pleasing +melodies and harmonies. He must be considered as the author of the +greatest improvement which violin music underwent at the beginning of +the eighteenth century. These compositions are regarded as invaluable +for the instruction of young players, and some of them may be frequently +heard in the concert-room at the present day, two hundred years since +they were written. Corelli's most celebrated pupils, Somis, Locatelli, +Geminiani, and Anet, settled respectively in Italy, Holland, England, +and Poland. + +Giovanni Battista Somis was born in Piedmont, and, after studying under +Corelli, he went to Venice and studied under Vivaldi. He was appointed +solo violinist to the king at Turin and leader of the royal band, and +seems scarcely ever to have left Turin after these appointments. Little +is known of his playing or his compositions, but, by the work of his +pupils, it is evident that he possessed originality. He formed a style +more brilliant and more emotional, and caused a decided step forward in +the art of violin playing. He was the teacher of Leclair, Giardini, and +Chiabran, as well as Pugnani, and he forms a connecting link between the +classical schools of Italy and France. + +Pietro Locatelli was born at Bergamo, and became a pupil of Corelli at a +very early age. He travelled considerably, and was undoubtedly a great +and original virtuoso. He has been accused of charlatanism, inasmuch as +he overstepped all reasonable limits in his endeavours to enlarge the +powers of execution of the violin, and has, on that account, been +called the grandfather of our modern "finger-heroes." + +Locatelli settled in Amsterdam, where he died in 1764. There he +established regular public concerts, and he left a number of +compositions, some of which are used at the present day. + +Jean Baptiste Lulli, one of the earliest violinists in France, is +perhaps associated with the violin in a manner disproportionate to the +part he actually played in its progress. He was a musician of great +ability, and his compositions are occasionally heard even to this day. +Lulli was born near Florence about 1633. When quite young he was taken +to France by the Chevalier de Guise, and entered the service of Mlle. de +Montpensier. He was employed in the kitchen, where he seems to have +lightened his burdens by playing tricks on the cook and tunes on the +stewpans. He also beguiled his leisure hours by playing the violin, in +which art he made such progress that the princess engaged a regular +instructor for him. Fortunately, as it turned out, his wit led him into +composing a satirical song on his employer, and he was sent off, but +shortly afterwards secured a post as one of the king's violinists in the +celebrated band of the twenty-four violins. Soon after this a special +band called _Les Petits Violons_ was formed with Lulli at their head, +and under his direction it surpassed the band of twenty-four. + +Lulli found great favour at court, and, indeed, astonished the world +with his exquisite taste and skill. That he was firmly established in +the favour of the king is shown by the story that, when Corelli came to +France and played one of his sonatas, King Louis listened without +showing any sign of pleasure, and, sending for one of his own +violinists, requested him to play an aria from Lulli's opera of "Cadmus +et Hermione," which, he declared, suited his taste. + +There is little doubt that the principles of the great Italian school +of violin playing were, some years later, brought into France by Anet, +who was born in 1680, and returned from Italy about 1700, but owing to +the jealousies of his colleagues, he found it advisable to leave France +in a short time, and he is said to have spent the rest of his life as +conductor of the private band of a nobleman in Poland. + +Lulli is said to have been very avaricious, and his wealth included four +houses, all in the best quarters of Paris, together with securities and +appointments worth about $70,000. His death, in 1687, was caused by a +peculiar accident. While conducting a performance of his orchestra he +struck his foot with the cane which he used for marking the time. The +bruise gradually assumed such a serious condition that it ended his +life. + +Jean Baptiste Senaille, who was a pupil of Anet, was born in 1687, and +turned to the Italian school. In 1719 he entered the service of the Duke +of Orleans. + +Francesco Geminiani was considered the ablest of the pupils of Corelli, +and was born about 1680. When about twenty-four years of age he went to +England, where his talent secured a great reputation for him, some +people even declaring him to be superior, as a player, to Corelli. He +lived to an advanced age, and was in Dublin visiting his pupil Dubourg +at the time of his death. He was a man of unsettled habits, and was +frequently in dire necessity, caused chiefly by his love of pictures, +which led him into unwise purchases, and thus frequently into debt. + +About the year 1650 three violinists were born in Italy, who all left +their mark upon the history of violin playing. + +Tommaso Vitali was born at Bologna, and was leader of the orchestra in +that city, and later in Modena. + +Giuseppe Torelli was leader of a church orchestra in Bologna, and +afterwards accepted the post of leader of the band of the Markgraf of +Brandenburg-Anspach, at Anspach, in Germany. To him is generally +ascribed the invention of the "Concerto." + +Antonio Vivaldi was the son of a violinist, and sought his fortune in +Germany, but returned to his native city in 1713. He wrote extensively +for the violin, and is said to have added something to the development +of its technique. An anecdote is told of him to the effect that one day +during mass a theme for a fugue struck him. He immediately quitted the +altar at which he was officiating, for he united clerical with musical +duties, and, hastening to the sacristy to write down the theme, +afterwards returned and finished the mass. For this he was brought +before the Inquisition, but being considered only as a "musician," a +term synonymous with "madman," the sentence was mild,--he was forbidden +to say mass in the future. + +The most illustrious pupil of Vivaldi was Francesco Maria Veracini, who +was born about 1685. He is said to have been a teacher of Tartini, who, +if he did not actually receive instruction from him, at least profited +by his example. + +Veracini's travels were extensive, for he visited London in 1714 and +remained there two years, during which time he was very successful. He +then went to Dresden, where he was made composer and chamber virtuoso to +the King of Poland. + +While in Dresden he threw himself out of a window and broke his leg, an +injury from which he never entirely recovered. This act is said to have +been caused by his mortification at a trick which was played upon him +for his humiliation by Pisendel, an eminent violinist, but this story is +discredited by some of the best authorities. + +He left Dresden and went to Prague, where he entered the service of +Count Kinsky. In 1736 he again visited London, but met with little +success, owing to the fact that Geminiani had ingratiated himself with +the public. In 1847 Veracini returned to Pisa. + +Veracini has been sometimes ranked with Tartini as a performer. He was +also a composer of ability. In making a comparison of him with Geminiani +it has been said that Geminiani was the spirit of Corelli much diluted, +while Veracini was the essence of the great master fortified with _l'eau +de vie_. + +Veracini was conceited and vainglorious, and these traits of his +character have given rise to a number of rather inconsequential stories. +He was a most excellent conductor of orchestra, and Doctor Burney +mentions having heard him lead a band in such a bold and masterly manner +as he had never before witnessed. Soon after leaving London Veracini was +shipwrecked, and lost his two Stainer violins, which he stated were the +best in the world. These instruments he named St. Peter and St. Paul. + +The name of Giuseppe Tartini will ever live as that of one of the +greatest performers on, and composers for, the violin. Born at Pirano, +in 1692, his career may be said to have commenced with the eighteenth +century. He was not only one of the greatest violinists of all time, and +an eminent composer, but he was a scientific writer on musical physics, +and was the first to discover the fact that, in playing double stops, +their accuracy can be determined by the production of a third sound. He +also wrote a little work on the execution and employment of the various +kinds of shakes, mordents, cadenzas, etc., according to the usage of the +classical Italian school. + +Tartini's father, who was an elected Nobile of Parenzo, being a pious +Church benefactor, intended his son for the Church, and sent him to an +ecclesiastical school at Capo d'Istria, where he received his first +instruction in music. Finding himself very much averse to an +ecclesiastical career, Tartini entered the University of Padua to study +law, but this also proved distasteful to him. He was a youth of highly +impulsive temperament, and became so much enamoured of the art of +fencing that he, at one time, seriously contemplated adopting it as a +profession. This very impulsive nature caused him to fall in love with a +niece of the Archbishop of Padua, to whom he was secretly married before +he was twenty years of age. + +The news of this marriage caused Tartini's parents to withdraw their +support from him, and it so enraged the archbishop that the bridegroom +was obliged to fly from Padua. After some wanderings he was received +into a monastery at Assisi, of which a relative was an inmate. Here he +resumed his musical studies, but though he learned composition of Padre +Boemo, the organist of the monastery, he was his own teacher on the +violin. The influence of the quiet monastic life caused a complete +change in his character, and he acquired the modesty of manner and +serenity of mind for which he was noted later in life. + +One day, during the service, a gust of wind blew aside the curtain +behind which Tartini was playing, and a Paduan, who remembered the +archbishop's wrath and recognised the object of it, carried the news of +his discovery to the worthy prelate. Time had, however, mollified him, +and instead of still further persecuting the refugee, he gave his +consent to the union of the young couple, and Tartini and his wife went +to Venice, where he intended to follow the profession of a violinist. + +Here he met and heard Francesco Maria Veracini, who was some seven years +his senior, and whose style of playing made such a deep impression on +him that he at once withdrew to Ancona, to correct the errors of his own +technique, which, as he was self-taught, were not a few. + +After some years of study and retirement, he reappeared at Padua, where +he was appointed solo violinist in the chapel of San Antonio, the choir +and orchestra of which already enjoyed a high reputation. It is said +that the performance of Veracini had an effect upon Tartini beyond that +of causing him to quit Venice. It made him dream, and the dream as told +by Tartini himself to M. de Lalande is as follows: + +"He dreamed one night (in 1713) that he had made a compact with the +devil, who promised to be at his service on all occasions; and, during +this vision, everything succeeded according to his mind; his wishes were +anticipated, and his desires always surpassed, by the assistance of his +new servant. In short, he imagined that he presented the devil with his +violin, in order to discover what kind of a musician he was, when, to +his great astonishment, he heard him play a solo so singularly +beautiful, which he executed with such superior taste and precision, +that it surpassed all the music he had ever heard or conceived in his +life. So great was his surprise, and so exquisite his delight upon this +occasion, that it deprived him of the power of breathing. He awoke with +the violence of his sensations, and instantly seized his fiddle in hopes +of expressing what he had just heard; but in vain. He, however, directly +composed a piece, which is perhaps the best of all his works, and called +it the 'Devil's Sonata;' he knew it, however, to be so inferior to what +his sleep had produced, that he stated he would have broken his +instrument, and abandoned music for ever, if he could have subsisted by +other means." + +This composition is said to have secured for him the position in the +chapel of San Antonio, where he remained until 1723, in which year he +was invited to play at the coronation festivities of Charles VI. at +Prague. On this occasion he met Count Kinsky, a rich and enthusiastic +amateur, who kept an excellent private orchestra. Tartini was engaged as +conductor and remained in that position three years, then returning to +his old post at Padua, from which nothing induced him to part, except +for brief intervals. At Padua Tartini carried on the chief work of his +life and established the Paduan school of violin playing. His ability as +a teacher is proved by the large number of excellent pupils he formed. +Nardini, Bini, Manfredi, Ferrari, Graun, and Lahoussaye are among the +most eminent, and were attached to him by bonds of most intimate +friendship to his life's end. + +Tartini's contemporaries all agree in crediting him with those +qualities which make a great player. He had a fine tone, unlimited +command of finger-board and bow, enabling him to overcome the greatest +difficulties with remarkable ease, perfect intonation in double stops, +and a most brilliant shake and double-shake, which he executed equally +well with all fingers. The spirit of rivalry had no place in his amiable +and gentle disposition. Both as a player and composer Tartini was the +true successor of Corelli, representing in both respects the next step +in the development of the art. + +Tartini lived until the year 1770. He had, as Doctor Burney says, "no +other children than his scholars, of whom his care was constantly +paternal," Nardini, his first and favourite pupil, came from Leghorn to +see him in his sickness and attend him in his last moments with true +filial affection and tenderness. He was buried in the Church of St. +Catharine, a solemn requiem being held in the chapel of San Antonio, +and at a later period his memory was honoured by a statue which was +erected in the Prato della Valle, a public walk at Padua, where it may +be seen among the statues of the most eminent men connected with that +famous university. + +Jean Marie Leclair, a pupil of Somis, was a Frenchman, born at Lyons, +and he began life as a dancer at the Rouen Theatre. He went to Turin as +ballet master and met Somis, who induced him to take up the violin and +apply himself to serious study. On returning to Paris, he was appointed +ripieno-violinist at the Opera, and in 1731 became a member of the royal +band, but he, although undoubtedly superior to any violinist in Paris at +that time, never seems to have made much of a success, for he resigned +his positions and occupied himself exclusively with teaching and +composition, and it is on the merits of his works that he occupies a +high place among the great classical masters of the violin. Leclair was +murdered late one night close to the door of his own house, shortly +after his return from Amsterdam, to which place he had gone solely for +the purpose of hearing Locatelli. No motive for the crime was ever +discovered, nor was the murderer found. + +Gaetano Pugnani was a native of Turin, and to him more than to any other +master is due the preservation of the pure, grand style of Corelli, +Tartini, and Vivaldi, for he combined the prominent qualities of style +and technique of all three. He became first violin to the Sardinian +court in 1752, but travelled extensively. He made long stays in Paris +and London, where he was for a time leader of the opera band, and +produced an opera of his own, also publishing a number of his +compositions. In 1770 he was at Turin, where he remained to the end of +his life as teacher, conductor, and composer. + +Felice Giardini, another pupil of Somis, was born at Turin and became +one of the foremost violinists in Europe. In 1750 he went to England +where he made his first appearance at a benefit concert for Cuzzoni, the +celebrated opera singer, then in the sere and yellow leaf of her career. +His performance was so brilliant that he became established as the best +violinist who had yet appeared in England, and in 1754 he was placed at +the head of the opera orchestra, succeeding Festing. Soon afterwards he +joined with the singer Mingotti in the management of opera, but the +attempt was not a financial success. Notwithstanding his excellence as a +performer and composer and the fine appointment which he held, Giardini +died in abject poverty at Moscow, to which place he had gone after +finding himself superseded in England by newcomers. + +Among the pupils of Tartini the most eminent was Pietro Nardini, who was +born at Fibiano, a village of Tuscany, in 1722. He became solo violinist +at the court of Stuttgart and remained there fifteen years. In 1767 he +went to Leghorn for a short time, and then returned to Padua, where he +remained with his old master Tartini until the latter's death, when he +was appointed director of music to the court of the Duke of Tuscany, in +whose service he remained many years. + +Of his playing, Leopold Mozart, himself an eminent violinist, writes: +"The beauty, purity and equality of his tone, and the tastefulness of +his cantabile playing, cannot be surpassed; but he does not execute +great difficulties." His compositions are marked by vivacity, grace, and +sweet sentimentality, but he has neither the depth of feeling, the grand +pathos, nor the concentrated energy of his master Tartini. + +Antonio Lolli, who was born at Bergamo about 1730, appears to have been +somewhat of a charlatan. He was self-taught, and, though a performer of +a good deal of brilliancy, was but a poor musician. He was restless, +vain, and conceited, and addicted to gambling. He is said to have played +the most difficult double-stops, octaves, tenths, double-shakes in +thirds and sixths, harmonics, etc., with the greatest ease and +certainty. At one time he appeared as a rival of Nardini, with whom he +is said to have had a contest, and whom he is supposed to have defeated. +According to some accounts, he managed to excite such universal +admiration in advance of the contest that Nardini withdrew. + +Lolli was so eccentric that he was considered by many people to be +insane, and Doctor Burney, in writing of him, says, "I am convinced that +in his lucid intervals, he was in a serious style a very great, +expressive, and admirable performer;" but Doctor Burney does not mention +any lucid interval. + +Early in the eighteenth century Franz Benda was born in Bohemia at the +village of Altbenatky, and Benda became the founder of a German school +of violin playing. In his youth he was a chorister at Prague and +afterward in the Chapel Royal at Dresden. At the same time he began to +study the violin, and soon joined a company of strolling musicians who +attended fetes, fairs, etc. At eighteen years of age Benda abandoned +this wandering life and returned to Prague, going thence to Vienna, +where he pursued his study of the violin under Graun, a pupil of +Tartini. After two years he was appointed chapel master at Warsaw, and +eventually he became a member of the Prince Royal of Prussia's band, and +then concert master to the king. + +Benda was a master of all the difficulties of violin playing, and the +rapidity of his execution and the mellow sweetness of his highest notes +were unequalled. He had many pupils and wrote a number of works, chiefly +exercises and studies for the violin. + +A violinist whose career had a great influence on musical life in +England was Johann Peter Salomon, a pupil of Benda, and it is necessary +to speak of him because his name is so frequently mentioned in +connection with other artists during the latter half of the eighteenth +century. + +Salomon was born at Bonn in the same house in which Beethoven was born, +and of Salomon, after his death, Beethoven wrote: "Salomon's death +grieves me much, for he was a noble man, and I remember him ever since I +was a child." + +Salomon became an expert violinist at an early age, and travelled a good +deal in Europe before he settled in England, which was in 1781, when he +made his appearance at Covent Garden Theatre. He was criticised thus: +"He does not play in the most graceful style, it must be confessed, but +his tone and execution are such as cannot fail to secure him a number of +admirers in the musical world." + +He established a series of subscription concerts at the Hanover Square +rooms, and produced symphonies of Mozart and Haydn. In fact, he was +connected with almost every celebrity who appeared in England for many +years. He was instrumental in bringing Haydn to England, and toward the +end of his career he was actively interested in the foundation of the +Philharmonic Society. He was noted more as a quartet player than as a +soloist, and Haydn's last quartets were composed especially to suit his +style of playing. He was a man of much cultivation and moved in +distinguished society. His death was caused by a fall from his horse. He +was the possessor of a Stradivarius violin which was said to have +belonged to Corelli and to have had his name upon it. This he bequeathed +to Sir Patrick Blake of Bury St. Edmunds. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +1750 TO 1800. + + +Giovanni Baptiste Viotti has been called the last great representative +of the classical Italian school, and it is also stated that with Viotti +began the modern school of the violin. In whatever light he may be +regarded, he was undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists of all. He +retained in his style of playing and composing the dignified simplicity +and noble pathos of the great masters of the Italian school, treating +his instrument above all as a singing voice, and keeping strictly within +its natural resources. According to Baillot, one of his most +distinguished pupils, his style was "perfection," a word which covers a +host of virtues. + +Viotti was born in 1753 at Fontanetto, a village in Piedmont. His first +musical instruction was received from his father, who is severally +mentioned as a blacksmith and as a horn player. His musical talent being +early noticeable, he was sent to Turin and placed by Prince Pozzo de la +Cisterna under the tutelage of Pugnani, and was soon received into the +royal band. In 1780 he travelled extensively, visiting Germany, Poland, +and Russia, and meeting with great success. The Empress Catharine +endeavoured to induce him to remain at St. Petersburg, but without +success, and he proceeded to London, where he soon eclipsed all other +violinists. In 1782 he went to Paris and made his debut at the +celebrated Concert Spirituels. He was at once acknowledged as the +greatest living violinist, but soon after this he ceased altogether to +play in public. This decision seems to have been caused by the fact that +an inferior player once achieved a greater success than he. He was +evidently of a sensitive nature, and there is an anecdote told of him +which is amusing even if its authenticity is open to question. Viotti +was commanded to play a concerto at the Court of Louis XVI., at +Versailles, and had proceeded through about half of his performance, +when the attention of the audience was diverted by the arrival of a +distinguished guest. Noise and confusion reigned where silence should +have been observed, and Viotti, in a fit of indignation, removed the +music from the desk and left the platform. + +In 1783 Viotti returned to Italy for a short time, but the following +year he was back in Paris teaching, composing, and benefiting the art of +music in every way except by public performance. He became the artistic +manager of the Italian Opera, and brought together a brilliant number of +singers. In this business he came in contact with Cherubini, the +composer, with whom he was on great terms of friendship. This +enterprise was suddenly stopped by the revolution, and Viotti was +obliged to leave France, having lost almost everything that he +possessed. + +He went to London and renewed his former successes, playing again in +public at Salomon's concerts, and in the drawing-rooms of the +aristocracy. But here his ill-luck followed him, for London being full +of French refugees, and the officials being suspicious of them all, he +was warned to leave England, as it was feared that he was connected with +some political conspiracy. + +This misfortune occurred in 1798, and Viotti retired to a small village +called Schoenfeld, not far from Hamburg, where he lived in strict +seclusion. During this time he was by no means idle, for he composed +some of his finest works, notably the six duets for violins, which he +prefaced by these words: "This book is the fruit of leisure afforded me +by misfortune. Some of the pieces were dictated by trouble, others by +hope." It was also during this period of retirement that he perfected +his pupil Pixis, who, with his father, lived at Schoenfeld a whole +summer for the express purpose of receiving Viotti's instruction. + +In 1801 Viotti found himself at liberty to visit England once more, but +when he returned he astonished the world by going into the wine +business, in which he succeeded in getting rid of the remainder of his +fortune. As a man of business the strictest integrity and honour +regulated his transactions, and his feelings were kind and benevolent, +whilst as a musician, he is said never to have been surpassed in any of +the highest qualities of violin playing. + +At the close of his career as a wine merchant, he returned to Paris to +resume his regular profession, and was appointed director of the Grand +Opera, but he failed to rescue the opera from its state of decadence, +and, finding the duties too arduous for one of his age and state of +health, he retired on a small pension. In 1822 he returned once more to +England, where he passed the remainder of his life in quietude. + +While travelling in Switzerland, and enjoying the beauties of the +scenery, Viotti heard for the first time the plaintive notes of the Ranz +des Vaches given forth by a mountain horn, and this melody so impressed +him that he learned it and frequently played it on his violin. The +subject was referred to by him with great enthusiasm in his letters to +his friends. + +There are numerous anecdotes about Viotti in reference to his ready +repartee and to his generous nature. One of the most interesting is that +concerning a tin violin. He had been strolling one evening on the Champs +Elysees, in Paris, with a friend (Langle), when his attention was +arrested by some harsh, discordant sounds, which, on investigation, +proved to be the tones of a tin fiddle, played by a blind and aged +street musician. Viotti offered the man twenty francs for the curious +instrument, which had been made by the old man's nephew, who was a +tinker. Viotti took the instrument and played upon it, producing some +most remarkable effects. The performance drew a small crowd, and Langle, +with true instinct, took the old man's hat and, passing it round, +collected a respectable sum, which was handed to the aged beggar. + +When Viotti got out his purse to give the twenty francs the old man +thought better of his bargain, for, said he, "I did not know the violin +was so good. I ought to have at least double the amount for it." + +Viotti, pleased with the implied compliment, did not hesitate to give +the forty francs, and then walked off with his newly acquired curiosity. +The nephew, however, who now arrived to take the old man home, on +hearing the story ran after Viotti, and offered to supply him with as +many as he would like for six francs apiece. + +Violin literature owes much to Viotti, for his compositions are numerous +and contain beauties that have never been surpassed. His advice was +sought by many young musicians, and among these was Rossini, who was +destined to become great. De Beriot also sought out Viotti and played +before him, but the old violinist told him that he had already acquired +an original style which only required cultivating to lead to success, +and that he could do nothing for him. + +Viotti was one of the first to use the Tourte bow, and he studied its +effects closely, so that the sweep of his bow became his great +characteristic, and was alike the admiration of his friends and the +despair of his rivals. He died in 1824, after about two years of +retirement. + +Among Viotti's most prominent pupils were Roberrechts, Pixis, Alday le +jeune, Cartier, Rode, Mori, Durand, and Baillot, also Mlle. Gerbini and +Madame Paravicini. Roberrechts became the teacher of De Beriot, who in +turn taught Vieuxtemps, Teresa Milanollo, and Lauterbach. Baillot taught +Habeneck, who taught Alard, Leonard, Prume, Cuvillon, and Mazas. From +Alard we have Sarasate, and from Leonard, Marsick and Dengremont, while +through Rode we have Boehm, and from him a large number of eminent +violinists, including G. Hellmesberger, Ernst, Dont, Singer, L. Strauss, +Joachim, Rappoldi. Some of them we shall refer to at length as great +performers, others were celebrated more as teachers. + +Rodolphe Kreutzer, who was born at Versailles in 1766, is the third in +order of development of the four great representative masters of the +classical violin school of Paris; the others being Viotti, first, Rode, +second, and Baillot, fourth. With Baillot he compiled the famous +"Methode de Violon" for the use of the students at the Conservatoire. +Kreutzer's first teacher was his father, who was a musician in the +king's chapel, but he was soon placed under Anton Stamitz, and at the +age of thirteen he played a concerto in public, with great success. This +is said by some writers to have been his own composition, though by +others it was attributed to his teacher. + +Kreutzer made a tour through the north of Italy, Germany, and Holland, +during which he acquired the reputation of being one of the first +violinists in Europe. On his return to Paris, he turned his attention to +dramatic music, and composed two grand operas, which were performed +before the court, and secured for him the patronage of Marie Antoinette. +He also became first violin at the Opera Comique, and professor at the +Conservatoire, where he formed some excellent pupils, among them being +D'Artot, Rovelli, the teacher of Molique, Massart, the teacher of +Wieniawski and Teresina Tua, and Lafont, who also became a pupil of De +Beriot. On Rode's departure for Russia, Kreutzer succeeded him as solo +violin at the Opera, later becoming Chef d'Orchestre, and after fourteen +years' service in this capacity he was decorated with the insignia of +the Legion of Honour, and became General Director of the Music at the +Opera. In 1826 he resigned his post and retired to Geneva, where he died +in 1831. Kreutzer was a prolific composer, and his compositions include +forty dramatic works and a great number of pieces for the violin. + +In 1798, when Kreutzer was at Vienna in the service of the French +ambassador, Bernadotte, he made the acquaintance of Beethoven, and was +afterwards honoured by that great composer with the dedication to him of +the famous Sonata, Op. 47, which was first played by Beethoven and the +violinist Bridgetower, at the Augarten, in May, 1803, either the 17th +or the 24th. This is the sonata the name of which Count Leo Tolstoi took +for his famous book, though to the vast majority of hearers it will +always remain a mystery how the classical harmonies of the sonata could +have aroused the passions which form the _raison d'etre_ of the book. + +Kreutzer was noted for his style of bowing, his splendid tone, and the +clearness of his execution. + +With three such masters as Baillot, Rode, and Kreutzer, besides Viotti, +who was frequently in Paris, the French school of violin playing had now +superseded the Italian. + +Pierre Marie Francois de Sales Baillot, who was associated with Rode and +Kreutzer in the compilation of the celebrated "Methode du Violon," was +born at Passy, near Paris, in 1771, and became one of the most excellent +violinists that France ever produced. His eminence in his profession +was not obtained without a long struggle against great difficulties, for +at the age of twelve he lost his father, who had kept a school, and +became dependent upon friends for his education. His musical talent was +remarkable at an early age, and he received his first instruction from +an Italian named Polidori. At the age of nine he was placed under a +French teacher named Sainte-Marie, whose training gave him the severe +state and methodical qualities by which his playing was always +distinguished. + +His love for his instrument was greatly augmented when, at the age of +ten, he heard Viotti play one of his concertos, and from that day the +great violinist became his model. + +When his father died a year or two later, a government official, M. de +Boucheporn, sent him, with his own children, to Rome, where he was +placed with Pollani, a pupil of Nardini, under whom he made rapid +progress, and soon began to play in public. He was, however, unable to +follow directly in the path of his profession, and for five years he +travelled with his benefactor, acting as private secretary, and securing +but little time for his violin playing. + +In 1791 he returned to Paris, and Viotti secured a place for him in the +opera orchestra, but on being offered a position in the Ministere des +Finances, he gave up his operatic work, and for some years devoted only +his leisure to the study of the violin. He now had to serve with the +army for twenty months, at the end of which time he once more determined +to take up music as a profession, and soon appeared in public with a +concerto of Viotti. This performance established his reputation, and he +was offered a professorship of violin playing at the Conservatoire, then +recently opened. + +His next appointment was to the private band of Napoleon, after which +he travelled for three years in Russia with the violoncello player +Lemare, earning great fame. + +Returning to Paris, he established concerts for chamber music, which +proved successful, and built up for him a reputation as an unrivalled +quartet player. He travelled again, visiting Holland, Belgium, and +England, and then he became leader of the opera band in Paris and of the +royal band. He made a final tour in Switzerland in 1833, and died in +1842. + +Baillot is considered to have been the last distinguished representative +of the great classical school of violin playing in Paris. In his "L'Art +du Violon" he points out the chief distinction between the old and the +modern style of violin playing to be the absence of the dramatic element +in the former, and its predominance in the latter, thus enabling the +executive art to follow the progress marked out by the composer, and to +bring out the powerful contrasts and enlarged ideas of the modern +musical compositions. After the time of Baillot and his contemporaries +the style of Paganini became predominant in Paris, but the influence of +the Paris school extended to Germany, where Spohr must be considered the +direct descendant artistically of Viotti and Rode. + +Perhaps the most illustrious pupil of Viotti was Pierre Rode, who was +born at Bordeaux in 1774, and exhibited such exceptional talent that at +the age of sixteen he was one of the violins at the Theatre Feydeau in +Paris. He had made his debut in Paris at the Theatre de Monsieur, when +he played Viotti's thirteenth concerto with complete success. In 1794 he +began to travel, and made a tour through Holland and North Germany, +visiting England, driven there by stress of weather, on his way home. He +appeared once in London, and then left for Holland and Germany again. On +his return to France he was appointed professor of the violin at the +Conservatoire, then newly established. In 1799 ne made a trip to Spain, +where he met Boccherini. The following year he returned to Paris, where +he was made solo violinist to the First Consul, and it was at this +period that he gained his greatest success, when he played with Kreutzer +a duo concertante of the latter's composition. After this he went to +Russia, where he was enthusiastically received, and was appointed one of +the emperor's musicians. The life in Russia, however, overtaxing his +strength, from that time his powers began to fail, and he met with many +disappointments. In 1814 he married, and, although he made an +unsuccessful attempt to renew his public career, he may be said to have +retired. He died at Bordeaux in 1830. + +Of Rode's playing in his best days we are told that he displayed all the +best qualities of a grand, noble, pure, and thoroughly musical style. +His intonation was perfect, his tone large and pure, and boldness, +vigour, deep and tender feeling characterised his performances. In fact +he was no mere virtuoso but a true artist. His musical nature shows +itself in his compositions, which are thoroughly suited to the nature of +the violin, and have a noble, dignified character and considerable charm +of melody, though they show only moderate creative power. He had few +pupils, but his influence through his example during his travels, and +through his compositions, was very great indeed. + +Beethoven wrote for Rode, after hearing him play in Vienna, the famous +violin Romance in F, Op. 50, one of the highest possible testimonials to +Rode's ability as a violinist. It is known, however, that he was obliged +to seek assistance in scoring his own compositions, and therefore lacked +an important part of a musical education. + +The most celebrated pupil of Baillot was Francois Antoine Habeneck, the +son of a musician in a French regimental band. During his early youth +Habeneck was taught by his father, and at the age of ten played +concertos in public. He visited many places with his father's regiment, +which was finally stationed at Brest. At the age of twenty he went to +Paris and entered the Conservatoire, where in 1804 he was awarded first +prize for violin playing, and became a sub-professor. + +The Empress Josephine, on hearing him play, was so pleased that she +granted him a pension of twelve hundred francs. He became one of the +first violins at the Opera, but his special forte was as leader of +orchestras, and he held that post at the Conservatoire, on account of +his efficiency, until 1815, when the advent of the allied armies caused +it to be closed. + +Habeneck was instrumental in bringing forward the great orchestral works +of Beethoven. He became director of the Grand Opera, and +inspector-general of the Conservatoire. + +Habeneck is said to have been greatly addicted to taking snuff, and this +habit led to an amusing episode with Berlioz, which the latter regarded +in a very unfriendly light. At a public performance of the Requiem of +Berlioz, the composer had arranged with Habeneck to conduct the music, +Berlioz taking his seat close behind the conductor. The work was +commenced, and had been proceeded with some little time, when Habeneck +(presumably taking advantage of what seemed to him a favourable moment) +placed his baton on the desk, took out his snuff-box, and proceeded to +take a pinch. Berlioz, aware of the breakers ahead, rushed to the helm +and saved the wreck of his composition by beating time with his arm. +Habeneck, when the danger was passed, said, "What a cold perspiration I +was in! Without you we should assuredly have been lost." "Yes," said +the composer, "I know it well," accompanying his words with an +expression of countenance betokening suspicion of Habeneck's honesty of +purpose. The violinist little dreamed that this gratification of his +weakness for snuff-taking would be regarded in the pages of Berlioz's +Memoirs as having been indulged in from base motives. + +Habeneck died in 1849. He published only a few of his compositions. + +One of the most eminent violinists of the French school, who flourished +during the early part of the nineteenth century, was Charles Philippe +Lafont. Besides brilliant technical capabilities he had a sympathetic +tone and a most elegant style, and these qualities gave him a very high +position in the ranks of performers. + +Lafont was born at Paris, December 7, 1781, and received his first +lessons from his mother, who afterward placed him under her brother, +Berthaume. Under his care he made a successful concert tour through +Germany and other countries as early as 1792, after which he returned to +Paris and settled down to study under Rudolf Kreutzer. + +For a time his studies were interrupted by an attempt to become a +singer, and he appeared at the Theatre Feydeau, which had then been +opened by Viotti. This diversion being soon at an end, he returned to +the violin, but on the outbreak of the revolution in France he left the +country and travelled throughout Europe, being absent from Paris, with +the exception of a short visit in 1805, until 1815. + +During his travels he was made chamber virtuoso to the Czar Alexander, +and on his return to France he became first violinist of the royal +chamber musicians of Louis XVIII., and musical accompanist to the +Duchesse de Berry. + +Lafont's career came to a sudden end by the overturning of a carriage +while on a concert tour in the south of France in 1839. + +He was one of the numerous violinists who challenged Paganini to an +artistic duel, in which he got the worst of it, though his admirers +accounted for his defeat by the fact that the contest took place at La +Scala, in Milan, where the sympathy of the audience was in favour of the +Italian virtuoso. + +Lafont was a prolific composer, but few of his works have survived. He +was also the owner of a magnificent Guarnerius violin, which is now said +to be the property of Adolf Brodsky. + +As a composer Spohr probably influenced the modern style of violin +playing even more than as a player, for he lifted the concerto to the +dignity of a work of art, whereas it had formerly been simply a show +piece, though not always without merit. He set a great example of +purity of style and legitimate treatment of the instrument, and is +considered to have had a more beneficial effect on violin playing than +Paganini, who was born in the same year, 1784. + +Louis Spohr was the son of a physician, who, two years after Louis was +born at Brunswick, took up his residence at Seesen, where the childhood +of the future virtuoso was passed. Both father and mother were musical, +the former playing the flute, while the latter was a pianist and singer. +It is said that young Spohr showed his talents remarkably early, and was +able to sing duets with his mother when only four years of age. At five +he began to learn the violin and at six he could take part in +Kalkbrenner's trios. He also began to compose music, and under his +father's methodical guidance acquired the habit of finishing everything +that he began to write, without erasure or alteration. His instruction +in the art of composition was confined to the mere rudiments, and he +acquired the art chiefly by studying the scores of the great composers. + +Spohr's first public appearance was at a school concert, and such was +his success that he was asked to repeat the performance at a concert +given by the duke's band. More study ensued, and then, at the age of +fourteen, he undertook to make his first artistic tour, and set out for +Hamburg, carrying with him some letters of introduction. + +It seems that the people of Hamburg did not show much enthusiasm over +the young artist, for he was unable to arrange a hearing, and, having +exhausted his funds, he returned to Brunswick in the time-honoured +manner of unsuccessful artists,--on foot. Spohr's experience seems to +have produced upon him the same effect that many aspiring young players +have since felt, viz., that he had better go on with his studies. He +accordingly presented a petition to the Duke of Brunswick asking for +means to carry out his desires. The duke was pleased with him, and not +only gave him a place in his band, but also agreed to pay his expenses +while he studied with one of the most eminent teachers of the day. + +Neither Viotti nor Ferdinand Eck could receive him as a pupil, but by +the advice of the latter, young Spohr was placed under his brother, +Franz Eck, who was then travelling in Germany. With Franz Eck an +agreement was made by the duke, under which Spohr should travel with +him, and study _en route_. During the continuance of this agreement +Spohr practised sometimes ten hours a day, and being so constantly with +his teacher he made great progress. On his return to Brunswick he was +appointed first violinist in the duke's band, and the following year he +once more undertook a concert tour on his own account, travelling +through Saxony and Prussia, and meeting with great enthusiasm. + +While in Russia he met Clementi and Field, and he was presented with a +most valuable Guarnerius violin by an enthusiast. This instrument he +lost while on the way to France, where he intended to make a concert +tour. Just before entering Goettingen the portmanteau which contained the +violin was taken from the coach, and owing to the delays of officialism +it was never recovered. The thieves had been seen with the booty in +their possession, but in order to arrest them it was necessary to travel +some nine miles for the necessary warrant and officer. In the meantime +they had disappeared, as thieves occasionally do. + +In 1805 Spohr was appointed concert-master in the band of the Duke of +Gotha, and while holding this position he met, wooed, and wedded the +Frauelein Dorothea Scheidler, an excellent harp player, who for many +years afterwards appeared with him in all his concerts, and for whom he +wrote many solo pieces as well as some sonatas for violin and harp. In +view of this important step the following description of Spohr's +personal appearance may be interesting: "The front of Jove himself is +expressed in the expansive forehead, massive, high, and broad; the +speaking eyes that glance steadfastly and clearly under the finely +pencilled arches of the eyebrows, which add a new grace to their +lustrous fire; the long, straight nose with sharply curved nostrils, +imperial with the pride of sensibility and spiritual power; the firm, +handsome mouth, and the powerful chin, with its strong outlines melted +into the utter grace of oval curves. In its calmness and repose, in its +subdued strength and pervading serenity, it is the picture of the man's +life in little." Spohr seems to have been somewhat attractive. + +Another authority tells us, in less flowery language, that he was of +herculean frame and very strong constitution. + +In 1807 he made a tour, with his wife, through Germany, and while at +Munich the king showed his gallantry to Madame Spohr in a most gracious +manner. The usher had neglected to place a chair on the platform for +her, and the king handed up his own gilded throne chair, in spite of her +protestations. The anecdote would be more satisfactory if it stated what +the king sat upon during the concert, but that is left to the +imagination. The king had some bad habits, and, we are told, was very +fond of playing cards during the concerts. Spohr was not accustomed to +having his audiences indulge in cards, and so informed the chamberlain, +absolutely declining to play unless the cards were put aside for the +time being. It was a delicate task that fell to the lot of the +chamberlain, but he carried it through with the greatest diplomacy, each +side making a slight concession: the king on his part promising to +abstain from card playing during Spohr's performance on condition that +the violinist's two pieces should immediately follow each other on the +program, and Spohr withdrawing his embargo from the whole concert on +condition that the king would abstain from his favourite amusement +during his particular performance. The king, however, seems to have put +in the last blow, for on the conclusion of the violin solos he gave no +signal for applause, and as it would be a breach of court manners for +any one to applaud without his Majesty's consent, the artist was obliged +to make his bow and retire amidst deathly silence. + +In 1808 Spohr wrote his first opera, but although it was accepted for +representation, it was never performed in public. + +During this year Napoleon held his celebrated congress of princes at +Erfurt. Spohr was consumed by a burning desire to behold Napoleon and +the surrounding princes, and went to Erfurt. Here he found that a +French theatrical troupe was performing every evening before the august +assembly, but only the privileged few could by any possibility gain +admittance to the theatre. Spohr's ingenuity was equal to the emergency, +and making friends with the second horn player, he induced that artist +to allow him to substitute for him one night. Spohr had never in his +life attempted to play the horn, but it was now necessary for him to +acquire the art before night, and he set to work with such vim that by +the time of the performance his lips were swollen and black, but he was +able to produce the requisite tones. The orchestra having received +strict injunctions to sit with their backs to the brilliant assembly, +probably to protect their eyesight from its dazzling effects, Spohr +fitted himself out with a small mirror, and placing this upon his +music-rack, he was able to enjoy for a couple of hours the vision of the +great Napoleon, who, with his most distinguished guests, occupied the +front row of the stalls. + +Spohr remained at Gotha until 1813, when he was offered and accepted the +post of the leadership at the Theatre an der Wien at Vienna, and while +here he composed his opera of "Faust," which, however, was not produced +at that time. He also wrote a cantata in celebration of the battle of +Leipzig, which he did not succeed in producing, and not feeling +satisfied with his position, and having various disagreements with the +management, the engagement was cancelled by mutual consent. During his +stay in Vienna Spohr was frequently in contact with Beethoven, and +though he admired that great master he criticised some of his +compositions very severely, and is said to have remarked that "Beethoven +was wanting in aesthetic culture and sense of beauty," a remark +difficult to understand in these later days. It is the more +incomprehensible from the fact that Spohr in after years was the very +first musician of eminence to interest himself in Wagner's talent, for +he brought out at Cassel "Der Fliegende Hollaender," and continued with +"Tannhaeuser," notwithstanding the opposition of the court. He considered +Wagner to be by far the greatest of all dramatic composers living at +that time. In 1815 he made a concert tour in France and Italy, during +which he met Rossini and Paganini, playing at Venice a sinfonia +concertante of his own composition, with the latter. + +On his return to Germany in 1817 Spohr was appointed conductor of the +Opera at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where his opera "Faust" was now +produced, also "Zemire and Azor." Owing to difficulties with managers +again he left Frankfort after a stay of only two years, and his next +venture was a visit to England, where he appeared at the concerts of the +Philharmonic Society in London. His success was brilliant, for his +clear style and high artistic capacity, added to his reputation as a +composer, carried him into popularity, and the artistic world vied with +the public in doing honour to him. At his farewell concert, his wife +made her last appearance as a harp player, for on account of ill-health +she was obliged to give it up, and thereafter she played only the +pianoforte. + +On his way home from England Spohr visited Paris for the first time, and +made the personal acquaintance of Kreutzer, Viotti, Habeneck, Cherubini, +and other eminent musicians, who received him with the greatest +cordiality. But the public did not seem to appreciate his merits, for +his quiet, unpretentious style was not quite in keeping with the taste +of the French. + +On his return to Germany Spohr settled in Dresden, and remained there +until 1822, when he became Hofkapellmeister to the Elector of +Hesse-Cassel, and he remained in Cassel for the rest of his life. This +position he obtained on the advice of Weber. + +In 1831 he completed his great "Violin School," which has ever since its +publication been considered a standard work. The following year the +political disturbances interfered with the opera performances at Cassel, +and caused him much annoyance. In 1834 he lost his wife, but his work of +composition proceeded with vigour. + +In 1839 he again visited England, where his music had become very +popular, and during the remainder of his career he repeated his visit +several times, many of his works being produced by the various +societies. + +His life at Cassel was not free from cares and friction, and he was +subjected to many indignities and annoyances by the elector. Perhaps his +sympathy with the revolutionists of 1848 was the chief cause of these +petty persecutions. When Spohr married his second wife, Marianne +Pfeiffer, the elector objected, and only gave his reluctant consent when +Spohr agreed to waive the right of his wife to a pension. All his +proposals were met with opposition. "Tannhaeuser" was produced and well +received, but a repetition of the performance was not allowed, and +"Lohengrin" was ordered to be withdrawn from rehearsal, for Wagner was +one of the revolutionists and was obliged to live in seclusion. + +America is indebted to this revolution of 1848 for some excellent +musicians, for the Germania Orchestra, an organisation of young +revolutionists, sought these shores, and after a prosperous career, +begun under great trials and discouragements, the various members +settled in different cities and became identified with the musical life +of the nation. + +In 1851 the elector refused to sign the permit for Spohr's two months' +leave of absence, to which he was entitled under his contract, and when +the musician departed without the permit, a portion of his salary was +deducted. In 1857 he was pensioned off, much against his own wish, and +in the winter of the same year he had the misfortune to break his arm, +an accident which put an end to his violin playing. Nevertheless he +conducted his opera "Jessonda" at the fiftieth anniversary of the Prague +Conservatorium in the following year, with all his old-time energy. In +1859 he died at Cassel. + +Through all his long career Spohr had lived up to the ideal he had +conceived in his youth. He was a man of strong individuality, and +invariably maintained the dignity of his art with unflinching +independence. Even the mistakes that he made, as for instance his +criticism of Beethoven, bore the strongest testimony to his manly +straightforwardness and sincerity in word and deed. He was a most +prolific composer, leaving over two hundred works in all. His violin +concertos stand foremost among his works, and are distinguished as much +by noble and elevated ideas as by masterly thematic treatment, yet there +is a certain monotony of treatment in all, and his style and manner are +entirely his own. + +As an executant Spohr stands among the greatest of all time. In slow +movements he played with a breadth and beauty of tone, and a delicacy +and refinement of expression almost unequalled. His hands were of +exceptional size and strength, and enabled him to execute the most +difficult double stops and stretches with the greatest facility. Even in +quick passages he preserved a broad, full tone, and his staccato was +brilliant and effective. He disliked the use of the "springing bow," +which came with the modern style of playing. + +Spohr had a great many pupils, of whom the best known were Ries, Ferd. +David, Blagrove, Bargheer, Koempel, and Henry Holmes. He was also +considered one of the best conductors of his time, and introduced into +England the custom of conducting with a baton. + +Amongst the amusing episodes in the life of Spohr was one which took +place in London, when a servant brought him a letter desiring M. Spohr +to "be present at four o'clock to-morrow evening at the closet of the +undersigned," Spohr had not the faintest idea as to the identity of "the +undersigned," nor the least inkling of that gentleman's design. He +therefore replied that he had an engagement at that time. To this note +he received another polite epistle asking him to be good enough to +honour the "undersigned" with an interview, and to choose his own time. +He therefore made an appointment, which he kept punctually, and on +arriving at the house to which he was directed, he found an old +gentleman, who was very genial, but who could speak neither French nor +German. As Spohr spoke no English the communication between them was of +necessity carried on by pantomime. The old gentleman led the way into a +room, the walls of which were literally covered with violins, from which +Spohr gathered the idea that he was to pick out that which he considered +the best. After trying them all he had to decide between the merits of +half a dozen, and, when he finally gave his opinion, the gentleman +seemed delighted, and offered him a five pound note to compensate him +for his trouble. This the violinist declined to accept, for he had found +as much enjoyment as his host, and considered it a privilege to be able +to examine such a fine collection of beautiful instruments. The +gentleman found a way of satisfying his ideas of compensation by buying +tickets to the value of ten pounds, for one of Spohr's concerts. + +Among the most talented violinists of the early part of the nineteenth +century was Karl Joseph Lipinski, the son of a Polish violin player +whose gifts were uncultivated. He was born in Poland, in 1790, at a +small town named Radzyn. After learning, with the aid of his father, to +play the violin, he took up the 'cello, and taught himself to play that +instrument, and in later days he attributed his full tone on the violin +to the power which his 'cello practice gave to his bow arm. + +Lipinski seems to have been an energetic and original man. He was in the +habit of appearing at concerts both as violinist and 'cellist. He was +unable to play the piano, so when he was conductor of the opera at +Lemberg he directed with the violin, and frequently had to play two +parts, which gave him great command over his double stops. When the fame +of Paganini reached him he set forth to Italy, that he might profit by +hearing the great virtuoso, and when the opportunity came at Piacenza, +he distinguished himself by being the only person in the audience to +applaud the first adagio. After the concert he was introduced to +Paganini, and he did not fail to improve the acquaintance, frequently +visiting Paganini and playing with him, sometimes even in his concerts. + +Lipinski declined the honour of going on a concert tour with Paganini, +as he wished to return to his home. On stopping at Trieste he heard of +an old man, over ninety years of age, who had once been a pupil of +Tartini, and sought him out in order to "get some points" on Tartini's +style. The old man, Doctor Mazzurana, declared himself too old to play +the violin, but suggested that if Lipinski would play a Tartini sonata +he would tell him if his style reminded him of the great master. It did +not, but Doctor Mazzurana brought out of a cupboard a volume of +Tartini's sonatas having letter-press under the music, and this Lipinski +was ordered to read in a loud tone and with all possible expression. +Then he had to play the sonata, and after numerous attempts and +corrections, the old man began to applaud his efforts. Lipinski ever +afterwards profited by these lessons. + +Later on he met Paganini again at Warsaw, where they were rivals, for +the time being, and different factions waxed warm over their respective +merits. Paganini himself, who is said to have been asked whom he +considered to be the greatest violinist, replied, with conscious +modesty, "The _second_ greatest is certainly Lipinski." + +Lipinski travelled throughout Europe, meeting with great success, until +in 1839 he was appointed concert-meister at the Royal Opera in Dresden, +where he remained for many years. He also organised a string quartet, +and was considered a most excellent performer of chamber-music. He wrote +a large quantity of music for the violin, but little of it was of a +lasting quality. In 1861 he was pensioned, and retired to Urlow, near +Lemberg, where he had some property, and there he died in December of +the same year. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PAGANINI. + + +The name Paganini stands for the quintessence of eccentric genius,--one +of the most remarkable types of mankind on record. Paganini was able to +excite wonder and admiration by his marvellous technical skill, or to +sway the emotions of his hearers by his musical genius, while his +peculiar habits, eccentric doings, and weird aspect caused the +superstitious to attribute his talent to the power of his Satanic +Majesty. Yet Paganini was not only mortal, but in many respects a weak +mortal, although the most extraordinary and the most renowned violinist +of the nineteenth century. + +[Illustration: NICCOLO PAGANINI] + +Nicolo Paganini was the son of a commercial broker, Antonio Paganini, +and was born at Genoa, February 18, 1784. He was a child of nervous and +delicate constitution, and the harsh treatment accorded to him by his +father tended to accentuate and develop the peculiarities of his +character. He was a good violinist at the age of six, and before he was +eight years of age he had outgrown, not only his father's instruction, +but also that of one Servetto, a musician at the theatre, and that of +Costa, the director of music and principal violinist to the churches of +Genoa. He had also written a sonata for violin, which was afterwards +lost. At the age of nine he appeared in his first concert, given by +Marchesi and Albertinatti in a large theatre at Genoa. At the age of +twelve he was taken to Rolla, the celebrated violinist and composer at +Parma, upon whom he made a great impression. When Paganini arrived with +his father at Rolla's house they found him ill in bed, and not at all +disposed to receive them. Whilst awaiting him, young Paganini found on +the table a copy of Rolla's last concerto, and a violin. Taking up the +violin, he played the piece off at first sight. This brought Rolla out +of bed, for he would not believe, without seeing, that such a feat could +be accomplished by so young a boy. Rolla said that he could teach him +nothing, and advised him to go to Paer, but Paer was then in Germany, +and the boy went to Ghiretti. + +Although Paganini denied ever having taken lessons with Rolla, he +nevertheless had frequent discussions with him concerning the new +effects which he was continually attempting, and which did not always +meet with the unqualified approval of the older musician. + +The music which he wrote for his instrument contained so many +difficulties that he had to practise unremittingly to overcome them, +often working ten or twelve hours a day and being overwhelmed with +exhaustion. + +In 1797 Paganini made his first tour, with his father, through the chief +towns of Lombardy, and now he determined to release himself, on the +first opportunity, from the bondage in which he was held by his father. +This opportunity presented itself when the fete of St. Martin was +celebrated at Lucca, and after much opposition he at last obtained the +consent of his father to attend the celebration. Meeting with much +success, he went on to Pisa, and then to other places, in all of which +he was well received. Being now free from the restraint of his home he +fell into bad company, and took to gambling and other vices, the most +natural result of his father's harsh training showing itself in lack of +moral stamina. + +For a time his careless life had its allurements, but the young virtuoso +was frequently reduced to great straits, and on one occasion, if not +more, pawned his violin. This happened at Leghorn, where he was to play +at a concert, and it was only through the kindness of a French merchant, +M. Livron, who lent him a beautiful Guarnieri, that he was able to +appear. When the concert was over, and Paganini brought back the +instrument, its owner was so delighted with what he had heard that he +refused to receive it. "Never will I profane strings which your fingers +have touched," he said, "the instrument is now yours." And Paganini used +that violin afterwards in all his concerts. + +This violin was, some time later, the means by which he was cured of +gambling, for having been reduced to extreme poverty, he was tempted to +sell it. The price offered was a large one. At this juncture he won one +hundred and sixty francs, which saved the violin, but the mental agony +he endured through the affair convinced him that a gamester is an +object of contempt to all well regulated minds. + +Paganini won another violin by his ability to read music at sight. +Pasini, an eminent painter and an amateur violinist, refused to believe +the wonderful faculty for playing at sight, which had been imputed to +Paganini, and in order to test it brought him a manuscript concerto +containing some difficulties considered as insurmountable. "This +instrument shall be yours," said Pasini, placing in his hands an +excellent Stradivari, "if you can play, in a masterly manner, this +concerto, at first sight." Paganini accepted the challenge, threw Pasini +into ecstasies, and became the owner of the instrument. + +The severe course of dissipation in which Paganini indulged during these +days of his youth ruined his health, and caused him frequently to +disappear from the public gaze for long periods, throughout his career. +With the fair sex he had more than one romantic episode. At one time a +lady of high rank fell in love with him and led him captive to her +castle in Tuscany. Here the lovers solaced themselves with duets on the +guitar, and the violinist attained a proficiency, on that instrument, +equal to the expression of the tenderest passion. This adventure brought +retribution in after days, and in a most unexpected manner, for as his +genius began to excite the wonder of the world, sundry malicious stories +concerning him were invented and circulated. One of these stories was to +the effect that he had been imprisoned for stabbing one of his friends, +another rumour said that he strangled his wife, and that during his +imprisonment he had been allowed only the solace of playing his violin +with but one string. This story was told in order to account for his +wonderful one-stringed performances, and it was absolutely untrue, but +the time allotted by rumour to his supposed imprisonment coincided with +the period which was really occupied with this romance. + +At the end of three years he resumed his travels and his violin playing, +returning to Genoa in 1804, where he set to work on some compositions. +At this time he became interested in a little girl, Catarina Calcagno, +to whom he gave lessons on the violin. She was then about seven years of +age, and a few years later she became well known as a concert violinist. + +Paganini did not remain long in Genoa, for the following year found him +wandering again, and another love affair in Lucca led to the composition +of a piece to be played on two strings, the first and the fourth: the +first to express the sentiments of a young girl, and the fourth the +passionate language of her lover. The performance of this extremely +expressive composition was rewarded by the most languishing glances from +his lady-love in the audience, but the most important result was that +the Princess Elise Bacchiochi, sister of Napoleon, declared to him that +he had performed impossibilities. "Would not a single string suffice for +your talent?" she asked. Paganini was delighted, and shortly afterward +composed his military sonata entitled "Napoleon," which is performed on +the G string only. + +At Ferrara he once nearly lost his life through unwittingly trampling +upon the susceptibilities of the people, in the following manner. It +appears that the peasantry in the suburbs of Ferrara bore ill-will +toward the citizens of that town and called them "asses." This little +pleasantry was manifested by the suburbanites in "hee-hawing" at the +citizens when fitting opportunity presented itself. Now it happened that +Paganini played at a concert, and some of the audience expressed +dissatisfaction with the singer, Madame Pallerini, and hissed her. +Paganini decided to have revenge, and when about to commence his last +solo, he amused the public by giving an imitation of the notes and cries +of various animals. The chirping of various birds, the crowing of the +chanticleer, the mewing of cats, the barking of dogs were all imitated +and the audience was delighted. Now was the time to punish the +reprobates who hissed. Paganini advanced to the footlights exclaiming, +"This for the men who hissed," and gave a vivid imitation of the braying +of an ass. Instead of exciting laughter and thus causing the confusion +of the enemy as he expected, the whole audience rose as one man, scaled +the orchestra and footlights, and swore they would have his blood. +Paganini sought safety in flight. He was eventually enlightened as to +the mistake he had made. + +Once, when he was at Naples, Paganini was taken ill, and in his desire +to secure lodgings where the conditions would be favourable for his +recovery, he made a mistake and soon became worse. It was said that he +was consumptive, and consumption being considered a contagious disease, +his landlord put him out in the street, with all his possessions. Here +he was found by Ciandelli, the violoncellist, who, after giving the +landlord a practical and emphatic expression of his opinion by means of +a stick, conveyed his friend Paganini to a comfortable lodging, where he +was carefully attended until restored to health. + +In 1817 Paganini was urged by Count Metternich and by Count de Kannitz, +the Austrian ambassador to Italy, to visit Vienna, but several times he +was prevented from carrying out his plans by illness, and it was not +until 1828 that he reached Vienna and gave his first concert. His +success was prodigious. "He stood before us like a miraculous apparition +in the domain of art," wrote one of the critics. The public seemed to be +intoxicated. Hats, dresses, shoes, everything bore his name. His +portrait was to be found everywhere, he was decorated and presented with +medals and honours. + +He continued his tour through Germany, being received everywhere with +the utmost enthusiasm, and he visited England, after a sojourn in Paris, +in 1831. + +When he reached home after an absence of six years, he was the possessor +of a considerable fortune, part of which he lost by injudicious +investments. Some friends induced him to join them in the establishment +of a casino in a fashionable locality in Paris. It was called the Casino +Paganini, and was intended to be a gambling-house. The authorities, +however, refused to grant a license, and it was found impossible to +support it by concerts only. After some vicissitudes a law-suit was +established against Paganini, who was condemned to pay fifty thousand +francs, and to be imprisoned until the amount was paid, but this +decision was not reached until Paganini was in a dying condition, and +he went, by the advice of his physicians, to Marseilles, where he +remained but a short time. Finding that his health did not improve, he +decided to pass the winter at Nice, but the progress of his ailment was +not checked, and on May 27, 1840, he expired. + +By his will, made three years previously, he left an immense fortune and +the title of baron, which had been conferred on him in Germany, to his +son Achille,--the fruit of a liaison with the singer Antonia Bianchi of +Como,--whose birth had been legitimised by deeds of law. His fortune +amounted to about four hundred thousand dollars, besides which he had a +valuable collection of musical instruments. His large Guarnieri violin +he bequeathed to the town of Genoa, that no artist might possess it +after him. + +During his last illness Paganini, not realising that death was so near, +devoted himself to music and to arranging for another concert tour. +During his lifetime he had never paid much attention to religion and +there were some doubts as to his belief. Although he expressed his +adherence to the Roman Church, yet he dallied with its formalities, and +when the priest visited him three days before his death to administer +the final consolations of religion, the dying man put him off on the +ground that he was not yet ready, and would send for him when the time +came. Death prevented this, and burial in consecrated ground was +therefore denied him. An appeal was made to the spiritual tribunal and +in the meantime the body was embalmed and kept in a hall in the palace +of the Conte di Cessole, whose guest he was during his last illness. + +People now began to come from all parts of Italy to pay honour to the +dead artist, and this so angered the bishop and priests that an order +was obtained for the removal of the body. Under military escort the +remains of the great violinist were taken to Villafranca and placed in +a small room, which was then sealed up. And now Paganini became a terror +to the ignorant peasants and fishermen, who crossed themselves as they +hurried past the spot where the excommunicated remains lay. It was said +that in the dead of night the spectre of Paganini appeared and played +the violin outside his resting-place. + +In the meantime every effort was being made to secure Christian burial. +The spiritual tribunal decided that Paganini had died a good Catholic. +The bishop refused to accept the decision, and an appeal to the +archbishop was unavailing. Eventually the case was brought before the +Pope himself by the friends of the dead man, and the Pope overruled the +decision of the archbishop and ordained that Christian burial should be +accorded to the artist. On the 21st of August, 1843, the Conte di +Cessole took away the coffin from Villafranca, and interred it in the +churchyard near Paganini's old residence at Villa Gavona, near Parma. +Thus even after death he was the victim of superstition, as he had been +during his lifetime. + +Paganini resolved not to publish his compositions until after he had +ceased to travel, for he was aware that his performances would lose much +of their interest if his works were available to everybody. He seldom +carried with him the solo parts, but only the orchestral scores of the +pieces that he played. His studies were pronounced impossible by some of +the best violinists of the day, so great were the difficulties which +they contained, and in his mastery of these difficulties, which he +himself created, may be found the true secret of his success. People +accounted for it in many ways, one man declaring that he saw the devil +standing at his elbow, and others stating that he was a child of the +devil, and that he was bewitched. + +His compositions are remarkable for novelty in ideas, elegance of form, +richness of harmony, and variety in the effects of instrumentation. Few +compositions ever attained such fame as the "Streghe," of which the +theme was taken from the music of Suessmayer to the ballet of "Il Noce di +Benevento." + +While it may be readily admitted that many of the effects with which +Paganini dazzled the multitude were tainted with charlatanism, yet the +fact remains that no one ever equalled him in surmounting difficulties, +and it is doubtful if, among all the excellent violinists of the present +day, any of them compares with that remarkable man. + +Some of his studies have been adapted to the pianoforte by Schumann and +by Liszt, and of the collection arranged by Liszt, consisting of five +numbers from the Caprices, Schumann says: "It must be highly interesting +to find the compositions of the greatest violin virtuoso of this +century in regard to bold bravura--Paganini--illustrated by the boldest +of modern pianoforte virtuosi--Liszt." This collection is probably the +most difficult ever written for the pianoforte, as its original is the +most difficult work that exists for the violin. Paganini knew this well, +and expressed it in his short dedication, "Agli Artisti," that is to +say, "I am only accessible to artists." + +It is doubtful whether any violinist ever lived concerning whom more +fantastic stories were told. His gruesome aspect, his frequent +disappearances from public life, his peculiar habits, all tended to make +him an object of interest,--and interest is sometimes shown in eagerness +to hear anything at all about the subject. + +He enjoyed conversation when he was in the company of a small circle of +friends. He was cheerful at evening parties,--if music was not +mentioned. He had an excellent memory for features and names of persons +whom he had met, but it is said that he never remembered the names of +towns at which he had given concerts. He was very severe with +orchestras, and any mistakes made by them would bring forth a tempest of +rage, though satisfactory work would be rewarded with expressions of +approval. When he came to a pause for the introduction of a cadenza, at +rehearsal, the musicians would frequently rise, eager to watch his +performance, but Paganini would merely play a few notes, and then +stopping suddenly would smile and say, "Et cetera, messieurs!" and +reserve his strength for the public performance. + +His peculiarities were shown strongly in his arrangements for personal +comfort while travelling, for his constant suffering precluded the +enjoyment of the beauties of nature. He was always cold, and even in +summer kept a large cloak wrapped around him, and the windows of the +carriage carefully closed. Before starting he took merely a basin of +soup or a cup of chocolate, and though he frequently remained nearly the +whole day without further refreshment, he slept a great deal and thus +escaped some of the pain which the jolting of the carriage caused him. +His luggage consisted of a small dilapidated trunk, which contained his +violin, his jewels, his money, and a few fine linen articles. Besides +this he had only a hat-case and a carpet-bag, and frequently a napkin +would contain his entire wardrobe. In a small red pocketbook he kept his +accounts and his papers, which represented an immense value, and nobody +but himself could decipher the hieroglyphics which indicated his +expenses and receipts. He cared not whether his apartment, at the inns +on the road, was elegantly furnished or a mere garret, but he always +kept the windows open in order to get an "air-bath," contrary to his +custom while in a carriage. + +While the secret of Paganini's marvellous technique was incessant hard +work, to which he was urged not less by his own ambition than by his +father's cruelty, yet in later years he seldom practised, and his +playing was chiefly confined to his concerts and rehearsals. There are +several good stories dealing with this peculiarity. One man is said to +have followed him around for months, taking the adjoining room at +hotels, in order to find the secret of his success by hearing him +practise. Once, when looking through the keyhole, he saw the virtuoso go +to the violin case, take out the instrument, and after seeing that it +was in tune,--put it back again. + +Sir Charles Halle tells about seeing Paganini in Paris, where he used to +spend an hour every day sitting in a publisher's shop, "a striking, +awe-inspiring, ghostlike figure." Halle was introduced to him, but +conversation was difficult, for Paganini sat there taciturn, rigid, +hardly ever moving a muscle of his face. He made the young pianist play +for him frequently, indicating his desire by pointing at the piano with +his long, bony hand, without speaking. Halle was dying to hear the great +violinist play, and one day, after they had enjoyed a long silence, +Paganini rose and went to his violin case. He took the violin out, and +began to tune it carefully with his fingers, without using the bow. +Halle's agitation was becoming intolerable, for he thought that the +moment had arrived at which his desire was to be gratified. But when +Paganini had satisfied himself that his violin was all right, he +carefully put it back in the case and shut it up. + +Paganini was notoriously parsimonious, and it was related that one +evening in Florence he left his hotel rather late, jumped into a coach +and ordered the man to drive him to the theatre. The distance was short, +but he felt that it would not do to keep the public waiting. He was to +play the prayer from "Moses" on one string. On arrival at the theatre he +asked the driver, "How much?" "For you," replied the Jehu, "ten francs." +"What? Ten francs? You joke," replied the virtuoso. "It is only the +price of a ticket to your concert," was the excuse. Paganini hesitated a +moment, and then handed to the man what he considered to be a fair +remuneration, saying, "I will pay you ten francs when you drive me on +one wheel." + +At one time Paganini astonished the world by making to Hector Berlioz +the magnificent present of twenty thousand francs. Berlioz was at that +time almost in a state of despair. His compositions were not +appreciated, and he was at a loss to know which way to turn. He made a +final effort and gave a last concert, at which Paganini was present and +congratulated him. + +Jules Janin, the celebrated critic and writer, went into ecstasies over +the affair. Paganini, he said, who had been attacked for +hard-heartedness and avarice, was present at the concert, and at the end +prostrated himself before Berlioz, and shed tears. Hope returned and +Berlioz went home in triumph, for he had satisfied one great musical +critic. The next day he received a note from Paganini enclosing twenty +thousand francs, to be devoted to three years of repose, study, liberty, +and happiness. + +In Sir Charles Halle's biography, however, this story receives important +modifications. It appears that Armand Bertin, the wealthy proprietor of +the _Journal des Debates_, had a high regard for Berlioz, who was on his +staff, and knew of his struggles, which he was anxious to lighten. He +resolved, therefore, to make him a present of twenty thousand francs, +and to enhance the moral effect of this gift he persuaded Paganini to +appear as the donor of the money. What would have appeared as a simple +gratuity from a rich and powerful editor toward one of his staff, became +a significant tribute from one genius to another. The secret was well +kept and was never divulged to Berlioz. It was known only to two of +Bertin's friends, and Halle learned it about seven years later, when he +had become an intimate friend of Madame Bertin, and she had been for +years one of his best pupils. + +Paganini created the difficulties which he performed. He had a style of +his own, and was most successful in playing his own compositions. In +Paris, when, out of respect to the Parisians, he played a concerto by +Rode, and one by Kreutzer, he scarcely rose above mediocrity, and he was +well aware of his failure. He adopted the ideas of his predecessors, +resuscitated forgotten effects and added to them, and the chief features +of his performance were, the diversity of tones produced, the different +methods of tuning his instrument, the frequent employment of double and +single harmonics, the simultaneous use of pizzicato and bow passages, +the use of double and triple notes, the various staccati, and a +wonderful facility for executing wide intervals with unerring accuracy, +together with a great variety of styles of bowing. The quality of tone +which he produced was clear and pure, but not excessively full, and, +according to Fetis, he was a master of technique and phrasing rather +than a pathetic player,--there was no tenderness in his accents. + +It is said that Baillot used to hide his face when Paganini played a +pizzicato with the left hand, harmonics, or a passage in staccato. +Dancla, in his recollections, says: "I had noticed in Paganini his +large, dry hand, of an astonishing elasticity; his fingers long and +pointed, which enabled him to make enormous stretches, and double and +triple extensions, with the utmost facility. The double and triple +harmonics, the successions of harmonics in thirds and sixths, so +difficult for small hands, owing to the stretch they require, were to +him as child's play. When playing an accentuated pizzicato with the left +hand, while the melody was played by the hand of the bow, the fourth +finger pinched the string with prodigious power even when the other +three fingers were placed." + +There are anecdotes told of Paganini's artistic contests with rival +violinists, chief among whom were Lafont and Lipinski, both of whom he +eclipsed, and of his playing a concerto in manuscript at sight, with the +music upside down on the rack. + +Of his appearance we are told, in an account of a concert in London: "A +tall, haggard figure, with long, black hair, strangely falling down to +his shoulders, slid forward like a spectral apparition. There was +something awful, unearthly in that countenance; but his play! our pen +seems involuntarily to evade the difficult task of giving utterance to +sensations which are beyond the reach of language." After detailing the +performance, the account continues: "These excellencies consist in the +combination of absolute mechanical perfection of every imaginable kind, +perfection hitherto unknown and unthought of, with the higher attributes +of the human mind, inseparable from eminence in the fine arts, +intellectual superiority, sensibility, deep feeling, poesy, genius." + +In regard to this accomplishment of playing on one string, a critic +said: "To effect so much on a single string is truly wonderful; +nevertheless any good player can extract more from two than from one. If +Paganini really produces so much effect on a single string, he would +certainly obtain more from two. Then why not employ them? We answer, +because he is waxing exceedingly wealthy by playing on one." Paganini +seems to have reasoned from the opposite point, viz., that if the +retention of two strings be regarded with such wonder, how much greater +the marvel will be if only one is used. + +To offset these suggestions of charlatanism, or perhaps rather to show +that, with all his charlatanism, Paganini was a marvel, we may see what +effect his playing had upon some men who were not likely to be caught by +mere trickery. Rossini, upon being asked how he liked Paganini, replied: +"I have wept but three times in my life; the first, on the failure of my +earliest opera; the second time, when, in a boat with some friends, a +turkey stuffed with truffles fell overboard; and thirdly, when I heard +Paganini play for the first time." + +Spohr, after hearing him play, in 1830, said: "Paganini came to Cassel +and gave two concerts, which I heard with great interest. His left hand +and his constantly pure intonation were, to me, astonishing; but in his +compositions and his execution I found a strange mixture of the highly +genial and the childishly tasteless, by which one felt alternately +charmed and disappointed." + +George Hogarth, the musical critic, writes about Paganini's "running up +and down a single string, from the nut to the bridge, for ten minutes +together, or playing with the bow and the fingers of his right hand, +mingling pizzicato and arcato notes with the dexterity of an Indian +juggler." It was not, however, by such tricks as these, but in spite of +them, that he gained the suffrages of those who were charmed by his +truly great qualities,--his soul of fire, his boundless fancy, his +energy, tenderness, and passion; these are the qualities which give him +a claim to a place among the greatest masters of the art. + +Perhaps the finest description of Paganini is the one written by Leigh +Hunt: + + "So play'd of late to every passing thought + With finest change (might I but half as well + So write) the pale magician of the bow, + Who brought from Italy the tales, made true, + Of Grecian lyres; and on his sphery hand, + Loading the air with dumb expectancy, + Suspended, ere it fell, a nation's breath; + + "Of witches' dance, ghastly with whinings thin, + And palsied nods--mirth, wicked, sad, and weak; + And then with show of skill mechanical, + Marvellous as witchcraft he would overthrow + That vision with a show'r of notes like hail; + Flashing the sharp tones now, + In downward leaps like swords; now rising fine + Into some utmost tip of minute sound, + From whence he stepp'd into a higher and higher + On viewless points, till laugh took leave of him. + + "Then from one chord of his amazing shell + Would he fetch out the voice of quires, and weight + Of the built organ; or some twofold strain + Moving before him like some sweet-going yoke, + Ride like an Eastern conqueror, round whose state + Some light Morisco leaps with his guitar; + And ever and anon o'er these he'd throw + Jets of small notes like pearl." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +1800 TO 1830. + + +Paganini was an epoch-making artist. He revolutionised the art of violin +playing, and to his influence, or through his example, were developed +the modern French and Belgian schools. While Paganini was a genius, a +great musician, and a wonderful violinist, he combined with these +qualities that of a trickster, and the exponents of the modern French +school adopted some of the less commendable features of Paganini's +playing, while the Belgian school followed the more serious lines, and +became a much sounder school. + +Alard, Dancla, and Maurin were exponents of the French school, while in +that of Belgium we have De Beriot, Massart, Vieuxtemps, Leonard, +Wieniawski. + +Lambert Joseph Massart was born at Liege in 1811, and was first taught +by an amateur named Delavau, who, delighted with the remarkable talent +displayed by his young pupil, succeeded in securing for him, from the +municipal authorities of Liege, a scholarship which enabled him to go to +Paris. + +On his arrival at the Conservatoire, Cherubini, who was splenetive and +rash, refused him admission without assigning any reason for his +decision, but Rudolph Kreutzer took upon his shoulders the task of +forming the future artist. + +Notwithstanding Massart's great talent and excellent capabilities as an +artist, he never became a success as a concert player, because of his +inordinate shyness, but as a teacher few have equalled him. + +Sir Charles Halle, in his autobiography, tells a good anecdote +concerning Massart's shyness and modesty. Massart was to play, with +Franz Liszt, a program which included the Kreutzer sonata. Just as the +sonata was begun a voice from the audience called out "Robert le +Diable," referring to Liszt's brilliant fantasia on themes from that +opera, which he had recently composed, and had played several times with +immense success. The call was taken up by other voices, and the sonata +was drowned. Liszt rose and bowed, and presently, in response to the +continued applause, he said: "I am always the humble servant of the +public. But do you wish to hear the fantasia before or after the +sonata?" + +Renewed cries of "Robert" were the only reply, upon which Liszt turned +half around to Massart and dismissed him with a wave of the hand, but +without a word of excuse or apology. Liszt's performance roused the +audience to a perfect frenzy, but Massart nevertheless most dutifully +returned and played the Kreutzer sonata, which fell entirely flat after +the dazzling display of the great pianist. + +Few teachers have formed as many distinguished pupils as Massart, for in +1843 he was appointed professor of violin at the Paris Conservatoire, +where his energy, care, exactness, and thoroughness brought him an +immense reputation. Lotto, Wieniawski, Teresina Tua, and a host of other +distinguished violinists studied under him: among them also was Charles +M. Loeffler, of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. + +Massart was also an excellent quartet player and gave many delightful +chamber concerts, with his wife, who was a pianist. He died in Paris, +February 13, 1892. + +Charles Auguste de Beriot, who holds a position of great importance in +the history of violin playing and composition, was born in 1802 at +Louvain. He had the misfortune to be left an orphan at the age of nine. +His parents were of noble extraction, but at their death he was left +entirely without fortune, and was taken in charge by M. Tiby, a +professor of music, who had noticed the little boy's love of the musical +art, and had already taught him to such good purpose that he was able +even at that time to play one of Viotti's concertos in public so +skilfully that he received the hearty applause of the audience. He also +took lessons of Roberrechts, one of Viotti's most noted pupils. + +De Beriot was a youth of contemplative mind and of high moral character. +He formed the acquaintance of the scholar and philosopher Jacotot, who +imbued him with principles of self-reliance, and exerted an influence +over him which lasted throughout his life. + +De Beriot learned from his guide, philosopher, and friend that +"perseverance triumphs over all obstacles," and that "we are not willing +to do all that we are able to do." + +At the age of nineteen De Beriot went to Paris, taking with him a letter +of introduction to Viotti, who was then the director of music at the +Opera, and he succeeded in gratifying his greatest ambition, which was +to be heard by that illustrious violinist. + +Viotti gave him the following advice: "You have a fine style. Give +yourself up to the business of perfecting it. Hear all men of talent, +profit by everything, but imitate nothing." + +De Beriot applied himself assiduously to his studies, entering the Paris +Conservatoire and taking lessons of Baillot. In a few months, however, +he withdrew from the Conservatoire and relied upon his own resources. He +soon began to appear in concerts, generally playing compositions of his +own, which won him universal applause by their freshness and originality +as much as by his finished execution and large style of cantabile. + +In 1826 he went to London from Paris, his first appearance taking place +on May 1st, before the Philharmonic Society. Wherever he appeared, +either in London or the provinces, he was greeted with enthusiasm, and +he established a lasting reputation. + +His appearance in England antedated that of Paganini by about five +years, and it has been questioned whether the impression which he made +would have been less if he had appeared after instead of before the +great Italian. It seems, however that De Beriot continued to meet with +success even after the advent of Paganini. His playing was distinguished +by unfailing accuracy of intonation, great neatness and facility of +bowing, grace, elegance, and piquancy. + +After travelling for some years he returned to Belgium, where he was +appointed solo violin to the King of the Netherlands. He had held the +position but a short time when the revolution of 1830 broke out and +deprived him of it. + +He returned to Paris, and now began the most romantic portion of his +life. Madame Malibran, whose brilliant career was then at its height, +was singing in opera, and De Beriot became acquainted with her. The +acquaintance ripened into the most intimate friendship, and in 1832 a +concert company was formed, consisting of Malibran, De Beriot, and Luigi +Lablache, the celebrated and gigantic basso. They made a tour of Italy, +meeting with the most extraordinary success. + +De Beriot and the beautiful Madame Malibran were now inseparable. +Malibran had for some years been living apart from her husband, an +American merchant, who, with the view of supporting himself by her +talents, had married her when on the brink of financial collapse. In +1835 she succeeded in securing a divorce from him, and then she married +De Beriot. + +A few months after their marriage Malibran was thrown from her horse +and sustained internal injuries of such severity that she died after an +illness of nine days, and De Beriot became frantic with grief. + +More than a year elapsed before he could at all recover from the effects +of his irreparable loss, and his first appearance in concert, after this +tragic event, was when Pauline Garcia, the sister of Madame Malibran, +made her first debut in a concert at Brussels given for the benefit of +the poor. + +In 1841 De Beriot married Mlle. Huber, daughter of a magistrate of +Vienna. He returned to Brussels, and became director of the violin +classes at the Conservatoire, after which he ceased giving concerts. He +remained in this position until 1852, when failing eyesight caused him +to retire, and he died at Louvain in 1870. + +Before his acquaintance with Madame Malibran, De Beriot was a suitor for +the hand of Mlle. Sontag, and her rejection of him threw him into a +state of despondency, from which it required the brilliancy and wit of +Malibran to rouse him. + +De Beriot left a number of compositions which abound in pleasing +melodies, have a certain easy, natural flow, and bring out the +characteristic effects of the instrument in the most brilliant manner. +There are seven concertos, eleven "airs variees," several books of +studies, four trios and a number of duets for piano and violin. His +"Violin School" has been published in many languages and used a great +deal by students. + +Delphin Jean Alard was at one time a favourite violinist in France. In +1842 he succeeded Baillot as professor of violin at the Conservatoire in +Paris. He was first soloist in the royal band, to which post he was +appointed in 1858, and he was presented with the Cross of the Legion of +Honour. + +Alard was born at Bayonne in March, 1815, and was well taught from his +earliest youth. He appeared in concerts at the age of ten, and at +twelve entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he became a pupil of +Habeneck, while Fetis taught him composition. He was the winner of +numerous prizes, and he also wrote a great deal of music for the violin. +His greatest pupil was Sarasate. + +Alard married the daughter of Vuillaume, one of the best violin makers +of France, and through him became the owner of one of the most beautiful +Stradivarius violins. Alard died in Paris, February 22, 1881. + +Hubert Leonard was born at Bellaire, near Liege, in 1819, but unlike the +majority of violinists he did not appear in concerts at an early age, +nor did he enter the Paris Conservatoire until he was seventeen. At this +time the wife of a wealthy merchant in Brussels took interest in him and +provided the means necessary for him to go to Paris. In 1844 he appeared +at Leipzig, and created a deep impression by the beauty of his tone and +his elegant performance. He travelled through Europe and played chiefly +his own compositions, of which there are a great many, but his greatest +fame was earned after he was appointed professor at the Brussels +Conservatoire, where he had many pupils, of whom the most celebrated is, +perhaps, Martin Marsick. + +Concerning the merits of Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst there seems to be a wide +difference of opinion between various commentators. He was a man of +warm, impulsive nature, whose playing was distinguished by great +boldness in the execution of technical difficulties of the most +hazardous nature. His tone had a peculiar charm, and at the same time +his fiery, impetuous nature and uneven disposition led to certain +occasional errors in technique and faulty intonation. Nevertheless, he +was one of the most welcome performers in the concert halls of Europe +for a number of years. He was a thorough musician and a good composer, +though his works are so full of technical difficulties as to be almost +impossible of performance. Indeed it is said that some of them contained +difficulties which even he could not always overcome. + +Born in Moravia at the town of Bruenn in 1814, he entered the Vienna +conservatory, and in 1830 made his first concert tour through Munich and +Paris. Paganini was at that time travelling in Europe, and Ernst, in the +desire to learn something from this great artist, followed him from town +to town, and endeavoured to model his own playing upon the style of the +Italian virtuoso, an effort which seems to have brought down upon him +the censure of some critics, but which others have considered highly +praiseworthy. + +In 1832 he settled in Paris, where he studied hard under De Beriot, and +played in concerts frequently. After 1844 he lived chiefly in England, +where he was highly appreciated, until the approach of his fatal +disease made it necessary for him to give up, first, public +performances, and then violin playing of any kind. He died at Nice after +eight years of intense suffering, in 1865. + +When Ernst died the critic of the _Atheneum_ compared him with other +players of his day in the following words: "Less perfection in his +polish, less unimpeachable in the diamond lustre and clearness of his +tone, than De Beriot, Ernst had as much elegance as that exquisite +violinist, with greater depth of feeling. Less audaciously inventive and +extravagant than Paganini, he was sounder in taste, and, in his music, +with no lack of fantasy, more scientific in construction.... The secret, +however, of Ernst's success, whether as a composer or a virtuoso, lay in +his expressive power and accent. There has been nothing to exceed these +as exhibited by him in his best days. The passion was carried to its +utmost point, but never torn to tatters, the freest use of _tempo +rubato_ permitted, but always within the limits of the most just +regulation." + +Among the violinists of this period (those who were born between 1800 +and 1830) will be found those who first visited the United States. In +1843 Ole Bull found his way to these shores, and in the following year +both Vieuxtemps and Artot were giving concerts in New York. A kind of +triangular duel took place, for the admirers of Artot and Vieuxtemps, +who were chiefly the French residents of the city, endeavoured to +belittle the capabilities of Ole Bull, who nevertheless appears to have +been very successful, and if anything, to have benefited by the +competition. Musical culture was, at that time, in a very low state in +America, and one may judge somewhat of its progress by the press +criticisms of the artists who visited the country from time to time. It +will be seen that those who, like Ole Bull, Sivori, and Remenyi, +applied their talents to the elaboration of popular airs and operatic +themes were able to elicit the warmest praise. Vieuxtemps appears to +have appealed to the cultured minority and was understood and +appreciated by very few. + +Flowery language was used without stint, and was frequently misapplied +in the most ludicrous manner, as will be seen by the following extract: + + "Since the death of his great master, the weird Paganini, Ole Bull + had been left without a rival in Europe. Herwig, Nagel, Wallace, + Artot, and De Beriot can only 'play second fiddle' to this king of + the violin. His entrance upon the stage is remarkably modest, and + after the Parisian graces of Artot seems a little awkward; a tip of + his bow brings a crash from the orchestra. He then lays his cheek + caressingly on the instrument, which gradually awakes, and wails, + and moans, like an infant broken of its slumber. Every tone seems + fraught with human passion. At one time he introduces a dialogue, + in which a sweet voice complains so sadly that it makes the heart + ache with pity, which is answered from another string with + imprecations so violent and threatening that one almost trembles + with fear. We fancied that a young girl was pleading for the life + of her lover, and receiving only curses in reply. At the close of + the first piece, the 'Adagio Maestoso,' there was one universal + shout of applause, which afforded an infinite relief to a most + enthusiastic house that had held its breath for fifteen minutes. + Ole Bull came before the curtain and bowed, with his hand upon his + heart. There is something different in his performance from that of + any other artist, and yet it is difficult to describe the + peculiarity of his style, except that he touches all the strings at + once, and plays a distinct accompaniment with the fingers of his + right hand. But the charm is in the genius of the man and the + grandeur of his compositions. He knows how to play upon the silver + cord of the heart which binds us to a world of beauty, and vibrates + only when touched by a master hand." + +The sentiments and emotions aroused in the breast of this critic appear +to have been those with which Paganini inspired his audience, when he +played a duet on two strings, as related in an earlier chapter. Ole Bull +was a child of nature, he gave his audience a description of the +beauties of nature, and behold! it is interpreted as a story of human +passions,--a high tribute to descriptive music. + +The following criticism seems more in keeping with the ideas known to +have been held by the violinist, and almost leads one to imagine that +the critic was fortunate enough to obtain an interview with the virtuoso +before writing his account: + + "FEBRUARY, 1844. + + "To what shall we compare Ole Bull's playing? Was it like some + well-informed individual who has seen the world and who spices his + tales of men and things with song and story--now describing the + beauties of Swiss scenery, now repeating the air which he caught up + one moonlight night on the Bosphorus, and anon relating a stirring + joke which he gleaned on the Boulevard. Such a man would create an + impression on any small tea-party, but that violin did more--the + comparison fails. There might be to him who chose to give rein to + his fancy a vision at one moment of the old ivy-covered church and + the quiet graveyard, the evening sun streaming through the rich + stained glass, the organ faintly heard through the long aisles and + the deep chancel, and around and about the singing of some bird of + late hours, and the hum of the bee as he flew by, well laden, to + his storehouse of sweets. + + "Then the clouds flew fearfully, and the wind moaned through the + boughs of the old oak-tree in its winter dishabille, and so down to + the seashore, when it rushed over cliffs and crags and knocked off + the caps of the mad waves and sped on like a tyrant, crashing + everything in its way and rejoicing in its might. And so we glided + oddly but easily enough into the ballroom, where mirth and + laughter, bright eyes, fairy feet, and all that was good and + pleasant to behold flitted by. It was not all music that Ole Bull's + violin gave out. There were old memories and pleasant ones, ideas + which shaped themselves into all manners of queer visions; and the + main difference between Ole Bull and those I have heard before him + seemed to me to consist in this--that whereas many others may + excite and hold by the button, as it were, the organ of hearing and + the mind therewith immediately connected, Ole Bull awakens the + other senses along with it and occupies them in the field of + imagination." + +In 1846 came Sivori, and in 1848 Remenyi, both artists whose desire to +please their audiences took them far from the path of the highest +musical standard. It may be said with truth that the country was hardly +ready for musicianship of the highest quality, and even in 1872, when +Wieniawski came with the great pianist and composer, Rubinstein, the two +were accepted on their reputation rather than on their merits, which +were understood by a comparatively small proportion of their audiences. + +Although several violinists endeavoured to copy Paganini's style, or at +least to learn as much as possible from hearing and seeing him play, +there was only one, excepting Catarina Calcagno, who received direct +instruction from him, and on whom his mantle was said, by his admirers, +to have fallen. That one was Camillo Sivori, born at Genoa, June 6, +1817. + +[Illustration: CAMILLO SIVORI] + +The connecting link between Sivori and Paganini began very early in the +career of the former. Indeed it is said that the excitement of his +mother, on hearing Paganini play at a concert, caused the premature +birth of the future disciple of the great artist. Marvellous stories +are told of Sivori's infancy. At the age of eighteen months, before he +had ever seen or heard a violin player, he continually amused himself by +using two pieces of stick after the manner of the violin and bow, and +singing to himself. It is fair to say that similar precocity in other +children has not always resulted in virtuosity. A case might be cited of +a very young person who amused himself by inverting a small chair, and +imagining that he was a street organist, but he grew to maturity without +adopting that profession. + +At two years of age, the account continues, he cried out lustily for a +violin, and when his father, reduced to submission by the boy's +importunity, bought him a child's violin, he at once began to apply +himself, morning, noon, and night, to practising on this instrument, and +without any aid he was able in a short time to play many airs he had +heard his sisters play or sing. His renown spread through Genoa, and he +was invited everywhere. At concerts and parties he was placed upon a +table to play, and he was frequently called upon to perform before the +king and the queen-dowager. He must have been a most wilful and +embarrassing child, for the account goes on to say that he would not +enter a church unless he heard music; but on the other hand, if he did +hear music he insisted on going in, or else he would scream and make a +terrible scene. + +These anecdotes, told by an effusive admirer, seem rather ridiculous, +but when Paganini visited Genoa, and Sivori was six years old, the +virtuoso took a great deal of interest in the little fellow and gave him +lessons. He also wrote a concerto for him, and six short sonatas with +accompaniment for guitar, tenor, and 'cello, and these the young artist +soon played in public. In six months Paganini left Genoa and desired to +take his young pupil with him, but this was not allowed by the parents, +and Sivori was placed under the tuition of Costa. Three years later +Paganini returned to Genoa, and by his advice his protege was placed +under M. Dellepaine, who taught him taste and expression, his lessons +with Costa in technique continuing. In 1827 Sivori made a concert tour +with M. Dellepaine, and visited Paris, where his playing at the +Conservatoire won him great applause. He also appeared in England, after +which he entered upon another serious course of study for several years, +and perfected the tone which enraptured the world for so long, and at +the same time he studied composition under Serra. + +In 1839 his concert tours began again, and he visited Germany, Russia, +Belgium, and Paris, where he played at the Conservatoire concerts and +received the medal of honour. + +Sivori now set out on extensive travels, and, after visiting England, +proceeded, in 1846, to America, travelling through the United States, +Mexico, and various parts of South America, spending eight years in +these peregrinations, and amassing a considerable fortune. During this +great tour he met with many adventures, frequently travelling on +horseback, and at one time being at death's door with yellow fever. On +his return to Europe he shared the fate of many musicians who have +achieved financial success, and lost his money by unfortunate +investment, which made it necessary for him to resume his travels. He +therefore visited Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, +etc. + +He was, of course, compared to many of the great violinists of his time, +who all had their special merits. One criticism, in which Sivori is +compared with Spohr, may be interesting: "Spohr is of colossal stature, +and looks more like an ancient Roman than a Brunswicker; Sivori is the +antithesis of Spohr in stature. Spohr has the severe phlegmatic +Teutonic aspect; Sivori has the flashing Italian eye and variability of +feature. Spohr stands firm and still; Sivori's body is all on the swing, +he tears the notes, as it were, from his instrument. Spohr's refinement +and polish have been the characteristics of his playing; in Sivori it is +wild energy--the soul in arms--the determination to be up and doing--the +daring impulse of youthful genius. Spohr's playing is remarkable for its +repose and finish; Sivori electrifies by the most powerful appeals to +the affections." + +Sivori was a man of generous impulses, and was seldom appealed to in +vain to assist in a good cause. When his teacher, M. Dellepaine, was +taken ill and was unable temporarily to fill his post of first violin at +the theatre, and of director of the conservatoire at Genoa, Sivori +replaced him in both and gave him the entire benefit of his services. +After two years the teacher died, and Sivori still held the two places +an entire year for the benefit of the widow, until a situation was +procured for her which enabled her to live without further assistance. + +At one time Sivori felt that the instrument which he played was not so +perfect as to satisfy him. He asked Paganini to sell him one, and the +reply was, "I will not sell you the violin, but I will present it to you +in compliment to your high talents." Sivori travelled to Nice to receive +the instrument from his master's own hands. Paganini was then--it was in +1840--in a deplorable condition, and could hardly speak. He signified a +desire to hear his pupil play once more, and Sivori, withdrawing to a +room a little way off, so that the sound of the instrument would not be +too loud, played whatever Paganini called for. About two weeks later +Paganini died. + +In 1851 Halle wrote of him as follows: + +"Sivori was here lately, but caused little furore; such rubbish as the +man plays now I had never heard, and really, as an artist, felt ashamed +of him." + +Sivori continued to play in public until 1864, when he visited London +and played at the Musical Union and elsewhere, but his triumph in Paris +in 1862 must not be forgotten. On that occasion he executed Paganini's B +minor concerto, and aroused immense enthusiasm, although he played +immediately after Alard, who was at that time a prime favourite. During +his later years Sivori lived in retirement, and he died February 18, +1894. + +He was the first person allowed to play on the celebrated violin which +Paganini bequeathed to the city of Genoa. He was also the first to play, +with orchestra, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in England. This +performance was at the Philharmonic Society concert, June 29, 1846. + +Henry Vieuxtemps was one of the greatest violinists of his time. He was +born at Verviers, in Belgium, in 1820, and was brought up in a musical +atmosphere. So early did his talent develop, that he played a concerto +of Rode in public at the age of six, and the following year made a tour +with his father and his teacher, Lecloux, during which he had the good +fortune to meet De Beriot, before whom he played. During four years he +remained a pupil of De Beriot, and when that artist left Paris, in 1831, +Vieuxtemps went to Brussels, where he practised hard, but without a +teacher, until 1833, when he again set out on a prolonged concert tour. + +From this time on he seems to have spent the greater part of his time in +travelling, for which he had a passion. He visited all parts of Europe +and met most of the celebrated musicians of the day. Spohr, Molique, +Schumann, Paganini, Henselt, and Richard Wagner were among the +celebrities whom he met, and in his tours he was associated with +Servais, Thalberg, and other well-known artists. + +Not content with Europe as a field for conquest, he visited America in +1844, and again in 1857 and in 1870. + +He was offered many excellent positions, some of which he held for a +time and others he declined. In 1845 he married Josephine Eder, an +eminent pianist of Vienna, and shortly after was appointed solo +violinist to the Emperor of Russia, relinquishing that post six years +later in order to travel again. He was professor at the Brussels +conservatoire from 1871 to 1873, and in 1872 he was elected a member of +the Academic Royale of Belgium, on which occasion he read a memoir of +Etienne Jean Soubre. + +In 1868 he suffered a double bereavement through the deaths, first of +his father, and a short time later of his wife, and, to divert his mind +from these troubles, he undertook a tour which lasted three years. +During 1873 his active career was cut short by a stroke of paralysis +which disabled his left side. He now travelled for health's sake, and +went to Algiers, where he lived quietly for several years. His life was +brought to an end by a drunken Arab, who threw a large stone at him +while he was riding in his carriage one day, striking him on the head. + +As a violinist Vieuxtemps possessed a wonderful staccato, both on the up +and down bow. His intonation was perfect. He was fond of strong dramatic +accents and contrasts. As a composer for the violin he had wider success +than any one since Spohr, but while some of his works contain really +fine ideas worked out with much skill, others are merely show pieces of +no particular value. + +As a man Vieuxtemps had a gay and restless disposition. He was not +easily depressed by trifles, and he enjoyed the freedom of a life of +constant change and travel, and it was during his travels that most of +his best compositions were written. + +During the last few years of his active life, after his paralytic stroke +had prevented his playing, he suffered much from his inability to +demonstrate to his pupils the way in which certain passages should be +played. Frequent outbursts of rage ensued, of which his pupils were +obliged to bear the brunt, even to being prodded with his iron-shod +stick. Sometimes scenes more amusing would occur, as when some grandees +would visit the class, and Vieuxtemps would change his manner from +smiles and affability while addressing them, to scowls and grimaces +while talking to his pupils, the latter, of course, being invisible to +the visitors. + +When Vieuxtemps visited America in 1857, he was associated with +Thalberg, the pianist, and together they visited many towns and cities. +Amongst the gems of American newspaper criticism they no doubt took with +them several copies of the following, which appeared in the local paper +of a town in Tennessee, and was headed "Thalberg and Vieuxtemps:" + + "These distinguished individuals are now at Nashville, giving high + pressure concerts, and selling tickets at two dollars apiece, when + convenient. A stage-load and a half or two stage-loads of ladies + and gentlemen went down from this place to hear them. Thalberg is + said to be death, in its most horried shape, on the piano, and it + is probably true; while Vieuxtemps is represented as a fiddler of + considerable skill, considering his opportunities, which he no + doubt is. We haven't heard either of them since they were quite + small, and unless they come out here and reduce the price of their + tickets to their value,--say about sixty-two and a half cents a + dozen,--it is possible that we sha'n't hear them any more. When we + ride forty miles, at an expense of at least ten dollars, extras not + included, to hear a couple of itinerant Dutchmen torture a brace of + unoffending instruments into fits, until the very spirit of music + howls in sympathy, if some one will cave in our head with a + brickbat, we will feel greatly obliged. + + "But seriously, Thalberg and Vieuxtemps have never done us any + harm that we know of, and we don't suppose they intend to. We + wouldn't much mind hearing their music, for no doubt it is nearly, + if not quite, as good as that of the average common run of + Dutchmen, which, as the latter will tell you, is saying a good + deal." + +And yet musical culture was said to be in its infancy in America at that +time! + +In Boston, Vieuxtemps, after an absence of fourteen years, was +criticised thus: "We cannot see in M. Vieuxtemps the spark of genius, +but he is a complete musician, and the master of his instrument. Tone so +rich, so pure, so admirably prolonged and nourished, so literally drawn +from the instrument, we have scarcely heard before; nor such vigour, +certainty, and precision, such nobility and truth in every motion and +effect. We recognise the weakness for sterile difficulties of extreme +harmonics." + +Vieuxtemps was also subject to comparison with Sivori, rather to the +former's disparagement. "The one plays the violin like a great +musician, the other like a spoiled child of nature, who has endowed him +with the most precious gifts. Intrepid wrestlers, both, and masters of +their instrument, they each employ a different manner. M. Vieuxtemps +never lets you forget that he plays the violin, that the wonders of +mechanism which he accomplishes under your eye are of the greatest +difficulty and have cost him immense pains, whereas M. Sivori has the +air of being ignorant that he holds in his hands one of the most +complicated instruments that exists, and he sings to you like Malibran. +He sings, he weeps, he laughs on the violin like a very demon." + +The following paragraph is a good sample of New York musical journalism +in the year 1844: + + "Vieuxtemps's first concert on Monday night was a very stylish jam. + He is a small, puny-built man, with gold rings in his ears, and a + face of genteel ugliness, but touchingly lugubrious in its + expression. With his violin at his shoulder, he has the air of a + husband undergoing the nocturnal penance of walking the room with + 'the child'--and performing it, too, with unaffected pity. He plays + with the purest and coldest perfection of art, and is doubtless + more learned on the violin than either of the rival performers [Ole + Bull and Artot], but there is a vitreous clearness and precision in + his notes that would make them more germane to the humour of before + breakfast than to the warm abandon of vespertide. His sister + travels with him (a pretty blonde, very unlike him), and + accompanies him on the piano." + +Vieuxtemps also visited America in 1870, with the celebrated singer +Christine Nilsson. + +Among the celebrated violinists of this period must be mentioned +Bernhard Molique, of whom Sir Charles Halle says that he was a good +executant, knowing no difficulties, but his style was polished and cold, +and he never carried his public with him. "Ernst," he continues, "was +all passion and fire, regulated by reverence for and clear understanding +of the masterpieces he had to interpret. Sainton was extremely elegant +and finished in his phrasing, but vastly inferior to the others. +Vieuxtemps was an admirable violinist and a great musician, whose +compositions deserve a much higher rank than it is the fashion to accord +them." + +Molique was the son of a town musician of Nuremberg, and became a +composer whose works have stood the test of time. He was a pupil of +Kreutzer and of Spohr, and held the position of director and first +violinist of the royal band at Stuttgart. He had a number of excellent +pupils, of whom John T. Carrodus was the best known. He died at +Stuttgart in 1869. + +Henry Gamble Blagrove was a musical prodigy, who began the study of the +violin at the age of four, and appeared in public a year later. He was +born at Nottingham in 1811, and at six years of age played at Drury +Lane. He studied abroad with Spohr, and appeared in Vienna in 1836, but +the greater part of his life was spent in England, where he was soloist +in several of the best orchestras. He was a man of refreshing modesty, +and was held in high esteem. He died in London in 1872. + +Jacob Dont, of Vienna, and Jean Dancla, a French violinist, both belong +to this period, and were teachers of reputation. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +OLE BULL. + + +"A typical Norseman, erect of bearing, with a commanding presence and +mobile, kindly face, from which the eyes shone clear and fearless as the +spirits of old Norway hovering over his native mountains. He was a man +to evoke respect and love under all conditions, and, when he stepped +before an audience, roused an instantaneous throb of sympathy, of +interest, before the sweep of his magical bow enthralled their souls +with its melodious measures." Such is an excellent pen picture of Ole +Bull, who during the middle of the nineteenth century was known far and +wide as a great violinist. + +Among the celebrated musicians of all nations, Ole Bull will always +remain a striking figure. As a musician, none so eminent has been so +essentially a self-made man, none has grown up with so little influence +from outside, none with a technique so essentially self-discovered. As a +son of his country, none has retained so sturdy a sense of patriotism; +none has, amid the more brilliant surroundings of a life spent in the +gayest cities of the world, refused to be weaned from the poor northern, +half-dependent state from which he issued a penniless lad. + +Olaus Borneman Bull was born at Bergen, in Norway, February 5, 1810, and +was the eldest of ten children. His father was a physician and +apothecary. He was musical, as were several other members of his family, +and little Ole's love for music was fostered to a great degree at home +by the Tuesday quartet meetings, at which his Uncle Jens played the +'cello. + +In the early part of the century, the proverb, "Spare the rod and spoil +the child," was regarded as the foundation of education in most +countries, and few children were allowed to spoil. All childish desires +which conflicted with parental ideas were promptly suppressed by "the +rod," until by sheer strength they proved to be unsuppressible. Then +they became great virtues. It was thus with Ole Bull. His first desire +to hear the quartet music, which he gratified by hiding under sofas or +behind curtains, was rewarded with the rod,--for he should have been in +bed. After a time a concession was made through the intervention of +Uncle Jens, and Ole was allowed to become familiar with the best music +of the day. + +Uncle Jens used to amuse himself with the small boy's susceptibility to +music, and would sometimes shut him up in the 'cello case, promising him +some candy if he would stay there while he (Uncle Jens) played. But Ole +could never endure the ordeal for long. He had to come out where he +could see and hear. + +His first violin was given him by Uncle Jens when he was five years old, +and he soon learned to play it well without any instructor. He was not +allowed to practise music until his study hours were over, and +occasional breaches of this rule kept "the rod" active. + +Ole Bull's first instructor was a violinist named Paulsen, a man of +convivial temperament, who used to come and enjoy the hospitality of +Ole's father and play "as long as there was a drop in the decanter," +with a view to educating the young artist, as he said. But Ole's parents +were thinking of prohibiting the violin altogether on the plea that it +interfered too much with his studies, when the tide of affairs was +changed by the following incident. + +One Tuesday evening, Paulsen, who played first violin in the quartet, +had been so convivial that he was unable to continue. In this +unfortunate dilemma Uncle Jens called upon Ole, saying, "Come, my boy, +do your best, and you shall have a stick of candy." Ole quickly accepted +the challenge, and as the quartet was one which he had several times +heard, he played each movement correctly, much to the astonishment of +all present. + +This happened on his eighth birthday, and the event marked an epoch in +his life, for he was elected an active member of the Tuesday club, and +began to take lessons regularly of the convivial Paulsen. + +There is a pathetic story of how Ole induced his father to buy a new +violin for him, and, unable to restrain his desire to play it, he got up +in the night, opened the case, and touched the strings. This furtive +touch merely served to whet his appetite, and he tried the bow. Then he +began to play very softly; then, carried away with enthusiasm, he +played louder and louder, until suddenly he felt the sharp sting of his +father's whip across his shoulders, and the little violin fell to the +floor and was broken. + +From 1819 to 1822 Ole Bull received no violin instruction, for Paulsen +had left Bergen without explanation, though it has been hinted that Ole +Bull had outgrown him, and on that account he thought it wise to depart. + +In 1822 a Swedish violinist came to Bergen, and Ole took lessons of him. +His name was Lundholm, and he was a pupil of Baillot. Lundholm was very +strict and would admit of no departure from established rules. He quite +failed to make the boy hold his instrument according to the accepted +method, but his custom of making his pupil stand upright, with his head +and back against the wall while playing, no doubt gave to him that +repose and grace of bearing which was so noticeable in later years. +Lundholm was, however, quite unable to control his precocious pupil and +a coolness soon sprung up between them, which appears to have culminated +in the following incident. + +On a Tuesday evening, at one of the regular meetings, Lundholm played +Baillot's "Caprizzi," but Ole Bull was much disappointed at the +pedantic, phlegmatic manner in which he rendered the passionate phrases. +When the company went to supper Ole found on the leader's music-rack a +concerto of Spohr's, and began to try it over. Carried away with the +music, he forgot himself, and was discovered by Lundholm on his return, +and scolded for his presumption. + +"What impudence!" said the violinist. "Perhaps you think you could play +this at sight, boy?" "Yes," was the reply, "I think I could." His remark +was heard by the rest of the company, who were now returning, and they +all insisted that he should try it. He played the allegro, and all +applauded except Lundholm, who looked angry. "You think you can play +anything," he said, and, taking a caprice of Paganini's from the stand, +he added, "Try this." It happened that this caprice was a favourite of +the young violinist, who had learned it by heart. He therefore played it +in fine style, and received the hearty applause of the little audience. +Lundholm, however, instead of raving, was more polite and kind than he +had ever been before, and told Ole that with practice he might hope to +equal him (Lundholm) some day. + +Years afterwards, when Ole Bull was making a concert tour through +Norway, and was travelling in a sleigh over the snow-covered ground, he +met another sleigh coming from the opposite direction, of which the +occupant recognised him, and made signs to him to stop. It was Lundholm. +"Well," shouted he, "now that you are a famous violinist, remember that +when I heard you play Paganini I predicted that your career would be a +remarkable one." + +"Oh," exclaimed Ole Bull, "you were mistaken, for I did not read that +piece, I knew it before." "It makes no difference," was the reply, as +the sleighs parted. + +As young Ole approached manhood, and developed in strength and stature, +we find him asserting his independence. His father, who intended him to +be a clergyman, engaged a private tutor named Musaeus, who, when he +found that Ole's musical tastes conflicted with his studies, forbade him +to play the violin, so that the boy could only indulge at night in an +inclination which, under restraint, became a passion. Ole and his +brothers had long and patiently borne both with cross words and blows +from this worthy pedagogue, and at length decided to rebel. Accordingly +when one morning at half-past four the tutor appeared and dragged out +the youngest from his warm bed, Ole sprang upon him and a violent +struggle ensued. The household was aroused, and in a few moments the +parents appeared on the spot in time to see Musaeus prostrate upon the +floor and suing for peace. Contrary to his expectations, Ole found +himself taken more into his father's confidence, and as a result he +became more desirous than ever of carrying out his father's wishes. + +In 1828 he went to the university in Christiania, where, in spite of the +best intentions, he soon found himself musical director of the +Philharmonic and Dramatic Societies, a position which gave him +independence, and somewhat consoled him for his failure to pass his +entrance examinations for the university. His father reluctantly forgave +him, and he was now, in spite of everything, fairly launched upon a +musical career. + +He was not long contented to remain in Christiania. His mind was in a +state of restless agitation, and he determined to go to Cassel, and +seek out Spohr, whose opinion he desired to secure. He accordingly left +Christiania on May 18, 1829. His departure was so hurried that he left +his violin behind, and it had to be forwarded to him by his friends. +This suddenness was probably caused by the fact that he had taken part +in the observance of Independence Day on May 17th, a celebration which +had been interdicted by the government. + +On reaching Cassel he went to Spohr, who accorded him a cold reception. +"I have come more than five hundred miles to hear you," said Ole Bull, +wishing to be polite. "Very well," was the reply, "you can now go to +Nordhausen; I am to attend a musical festival there," Bull therefore +went to Nordhausen, where he heard a quartet by Maurer, of which Spohr +played the first violin part. He was so overwhelmed with disappointment +at the manner in which the quartet was played by the four masters that +he came to the conclusion that he was deceived in his aspirations, and +had no true calling for music. + +Spohr was a most methodical man, and had no appreciation for wild +genius. He saw only the many faults of the self-taught youth, and coldly +advised him to give up his idea of a musical career, declining to accept +him as a pupil. Some five years later, Bull having in the meantime +refused to accept this advice, which did not coincide with his own +inclinations, Spohr heard him play, and wrote thus of him: "His +wonderful playing and sureness of his left hand are worthy of the +highest admiration, but, unfortunately, like Paganini, he sacrifices +what is artistic to something that is not quite suitable to the noble +instrument. His tone, too, is bad, and since he prefers a bridge that is +quite plain, he can use A and D strings only in the lower positions, and +even then pianissimo. This renders his playing (when he does not let +himself loose with some of his own pieces) monotonous in the extreme. We +noticed this particularly in two Mozart quartets he played at my house. +Otherwise he plays with a good deal of feeling, but without refined +taste." + +After his discouraging interview with Spohr, Ole Bull returned to +Norway, making, on the way, a short visit to Goettingen, where he became +involved in a duel. + +Feeling that his own capabilities were worth nothing, after what he had +seen and heard in Germany, Ole Bull returned home in a despondent state +of mind, but, on passing through a town where he had once led the +theatre orchestra, he was recognised, welcomed, and compelled to direct +a performance, and thus he once more fell under the influence of music, +and began to apply himself vigorously to improvement. + +In 1831 he went to Paris in order to hear Paganini, and if possible to +find some opportunity to improve himself. He failed to enter the +Conservatoire, but he succeeded in hearing Paganini, and this, according +to his own account, was the turning-point of his life. Paganini's +playing made an immense impression on him, and he threw himself with the +greatest ardour into his technical studies, in order that he might +emulate the feats performed by the great Italian. + +His stay in Paris was full of adventure. He was hampered by poverty, and +frequently in the depths of despair. At one time he is said to have +attempted suicide by drowning in the Seine. There is also a story told +to the effect that the notorious detective, Vidocq, who lived in the +same house with him, and knew something of his circumstances, prevailed +upon him to risk five francs in a gambling saloon. Vidocq stood by and +watched the game, and Ole Bull came away the winner of eight hundred +francs, presumably because the detective was known, and the proprietors +of the saloon considered discretion to be the better part of valour. It +was a delicate method of making the young man a present in a time of +difficulty, but one of which the moral effect could hardly fail to be +injurious. + +At one time, when he was ill and homeless, he entered a house in the Rue +des Martyrs in which there were rooms to let. He was received and +treated kindly, and was nursed through a long illness by the landlady +and her granddaughter. + +He tried to secure a place in the orchestra of the Opera Comique, but +his arrogance lost him the position, for when he was requested to play a +piece at sight, it seemed to him so simple that he asked at which end he +should begin. This offence caused him to be rejected without a hearing. + +Fortune, however, began at last to smile upon him when he made the +acquaintance of M. Lacour, a violin maker, who conceived the idea of +engaging him to show off his violins. Ole Bull accordingly played on one +of them at a soiree given by the Duke of Riario, Italian charge +d'affaires in Paris. He was almost overcome by the smell of assafoetida +which emanated from the varnish, and which was caused by the heat. +Nevertheless, he played finely, and as a result was invited to breakfast +the next morning by the Duke of Montebello, Marshal Ney's son. This +brought him into contact with Chopin, and shortly afterwards he gave his +first concert under the duke's patronage, and with the assistance of +Ernst, Chopin, and other celebrated artists. + +He now made a concert tour through Switzerland to Italy, and on reaching +Milan he played at La Scala, where he made an immense popular success, +but drew from one of the journals a scathing criticism, which, however +humiliating it may have been, struck him by its truth. + + "M. Bull played compositions by Spohr, Mayseder, and Paganini + without understanding the true character of the music, which he + marred by adding something of his own. It is quite obvious that + what he adds comes from genuine and original talent, from his own + musical individuality; but he is not master of himself; he has no + style; he is an untrained musician. If he be a diamond, he is + certainly in the rough and unpolished." + +Ole Bull sought out the writer of this criticism, who gave him valuable +advice, and for six months he devoted himself to ardent study under the +guidance of able masters. In this way he learned to know himself, the +nature and limitations of his own talent. + +We now arrive at the point in Ole Bull's career at which he became +celebrated, and this was due to accident. He was at Bologna, where De +Beriot and Malibran were to appear at one of the Philharmonic concerts. +By chance Malibran heard that De Beriot was to receive a smaller sum +than that which had been agreed upon for her services, and in a moment +of pique she sent word that she was unable to appear on account of +indisposition. De Beriot also declared himself to be suffering from a +sprained thumb. + +It happened that Madame Colbran (Rossini's first wife) had one day heard +Ole Bull practising as she passed his window, and now she remembered the +fact, and advised the Marquis Zampieri, who was the director of the +concerts, to hunt up the young violinist. Accordingly, Ole Bull, who had +gone to bed very early, was roused by a tap on the door, and invited to +improvise on the spot for Zampieri. Bull was then hurried off, without +even time to dress himself suitably for the occasion, and placed before +a most distinguished audience, which contained the Duke of Tuscany and +other celebrities, besides De Beriot, with his arm in a sling. + +His playing charmed and captivated the audience, although he was almost +overcome with exhaustion. After taking some food and wine he appeared +again, and this time he asked for a theme on which to improvise. He was +given three, and, instead of making a selection, he took all three and +interwove them in so brilliant a manner that he carried the audience by +storm. He was at once engaged for the next concert, and made such +success that he was accompanied to his hotel by a torchlight procession, +and his carriage drawn home by the excited people. + +Ole Bull continued his triumphant course through Italy. At Lucca he +played at the duke's residence, where the queen-dowager met with a +surprise, as Ole refused to begin playing until she stopped talking. At +Naples he experienced the misfortune of having his violin stolen, and he +was obliged to buy a Nicholas Amati, for which he paid a very high +price. After playing and making a great success in Rome, he returned to +Paris, where he now found the doors of the Grand Opera open to him, and +he gave several concerts there. + +In 1836 he married Felicie Villernot, the granddaughter of the lady in +whose house he had met with so much kindness during his first stay in +Paris. + +Following the advice of Rossini, he went to London, where he made his +usual success, notwithstanding the intrigues of certain musicians, who +endeavoured to discredit him. Such was his popularity in England that he +received for one concert, at Liverpool, the sum of L800, and in sixteen +months' time he gave two hundred and seventy-four concerts in the United +Kingdom. + +He now decided to visit Germany, and on his way through Paris he made +the acquaintance of Paganini, who greeted him with the utmost +cordiality. He went through Germany giving many concerts, and visited +Cassel, where he was now received by Spohr with every mark of +distinction. He played in Berlin, where his success was great, +notwithstanding some adverse criticism. He also played in Vienna and +Buda-Pesth, and so on through Russia. At St. Petersburg he gave several +concerts before audiences of five thousand people. He now went through +Finland and so on to Sweden and Norway, where he was feted. + +Although closely followed by Vieuxtemps and Artot, Ole Bull was the +first celebrated violinist to visit America, and in 1843 he made his +first trip, landing in Boston in November of that year and proceeding +directly to New York, playing for the first time on Evacuation Day. +"John Bull went out on this day," he said, "and Ole Bull comes in." He +remained two years in the United States, during which time he played in +two hundred concerts and met with many remarkable adventures. During his +sojourn he wrote a piece called "Niagara," which he played for the first +time in New York, and which became very popular. He also wrote "The +Solitude of the Prairies," which won more immediate success. + +He travelled during these two years more than one hundred thousand +miles, and played in every city of importance. He is estimated to have +netted by his trip over $80,000, besides which he contributed more than +$20,000, by concerts, to charitable institutions. No artist ever visited +the United States and received so many honours. + +In 1852 he returned to America, and this time he was destined to meet +with tribulation. It was his desire to aid the poor of his country by +founding a colony. He therefore bought a tract of land of 125,000 acres +in Potter County, Pennsylvania, on the inauguration of which he stated +his purpose: "We are to found a New Norway, consecrated to liberty, +baptised with independence, and protected by the Union's mighty flag." +Some three hundred houses were built, with a store and a church, and a +castle on a mountain, which was designed for his permanent home. +Hundreds flocked to the new colony, and the scheme took nearly the +whole of his fortune. + +Ole Bull now started on a concert tour together with little Adelina +Patti, her sister Amalia Patti Strakosch, and Mr. Maurice Strakosch. +Patti was then only eight years old, and was already exciting the wonder +of all who heard her. + +When crossing the Isthmus of Panama his violin was stolen by a native +porter, and Ole Bull was obliged to remain behind to find his +instrument, while the company went on to California. He was now taken +down with yellow fever, and owing to a riot in the town he was entirely +neglected, and was obliged to creep off his bed on to the floor in order +to escape the bullets which were flying about. On his recovery he set +out for San Francisco, but the season was too late for successful +concerts. He was miserably weak, and when he played his skin would break +and bleed as he pressed the strings. + +He now heard that there was some trouble in regard to his title to the +land in Pennsylvania, and, hastening to Philadelphia, he was legally +notified that he was trespassing. + +It transpired that the man who had sold the land to Ole Bull had no +claim to it whatever, and had perpetrated a barefaced swindle, and now, +having the money, he dared his victim to do his worst. The actual owner +of the land, who had come forward to assert his rights, became +interested in the scheme, and was willing to sell the land at a low +price, but Ole now had no money. He instituted legal proceedings against +the swindler, who, in return, harassed the violinist as much as +possible, trying to prevent his concerts by arrests, and bringing suits +against him for services supposed to have been rendered. It is even +stated that an attempt was made to poison him, which only failed because +the state of excitement in which he was at the time prevented his desire +for food. + +Ole Bull now set to work to retrieve his fortunes, but ill luck still +followed him, and he fell a victim to chills and fever, was abandoned by +his manager, and taken to a farm-house on a prairie in Illinois, where +he endured a long illness. For five years he continued his struggle +against misfortune, and during that period he made hosts of friends who +did much to help him in one way and another. Nevertheless, when he gave +his last concerts in New York, in 1857, he was still so ill that he had +to be helped on and off the stage. + +He now returned to Bergen, where the air of his native land soon +restored him to health. On his arrival, however, he found that the +report had been circulated that he had been speculating at the expense +of his countrymen, and that they were the only sufferers by his +misfortunes. + +For a short time he assumed control of the National Theatre, but before +long he was again on the road, giving concerts in various parts of +Europe. While he was in Paris, in 1862, his wife died. + +The year 1867 found him again in the United States, and during this tour +he met at Madison, Wis., Miss Sara C. Thorpe, the lady who was to become +his second wife. He also took part in the Peace Jubilee in Boston, in +1869. + +When he sailed for Norway, in April, 1870 (he was to be married on his +arrival), the New York Philharmonic Society presented him with a +beautiful silken flag. This flag--the Norwegian colours with the +star-spangled banner inserted in the upper staff section--was always +carried in the seventeenth of May processions in Bergen, and floated on +the fourth of July. + +The remaining years of Ole Bull's life were spent in comparative freedom +from strife and struggle. He spent much of his time in Norway, but also +found time for many concert tours. His sixty-sixth birthday was spent +in Egypt, and he solemnised the occasion by ascending the Pyramid of +Cheops and playing, on its pinnacle, his "Saeter-besoeg." This +performance took place at the suggestion of the King of Sweden, to whom +the account was duly telegraphed the next morning from Cairo. + +In Boston Ole Bull was always a great favourite and had many friends. He +felt much interest in the Norsemen's discovery of America, and took +steps to bring the subject before the people of Boston. The result of +his efforts is to be seen in the statue of Lief Ericsson, commemorative +of the event, which adorns the Public Gardens. + +In March and April, 1880, Ole Bull appeared at a few concerts in the +Eastern cities, with Miss Thursby, and in June he sailed, for the last +time, from America. He was in poor health, but, contrary to all hopes, +the sea voyage did not improve his condition, and much anxiety was felt +until his home was reached. A few weeks later he died, and, at the +funeral, honours more than royal were shown. In the city of Bergen all +business was suspended, and the whole population of the city stood +waiting to pay their last respects to the celebrated musician and +patriot. + +Ole Bull was a man of remarkable character and an artist of undoubted +genius. All who heard him, or came in contact with him, agree that he +was far from being an ordinary man. Tall, of athletic build, with large +blue eyes and rich flaxen hair, he was the very type of the Norseman, +and there was something in his personal appearance and conversation +which acted with almost magnetic power on those who approached him. He +was a prince of story-tellers, and his fascination in this respect was +irresistible to young and old alike, and its effect not unlike his +violin playing. + +In regard to his playing, his technical proficiency was such as very few +violinists have ever attained to. His double stopping was perfect, his +staccato, both upward and downward, of the utmost brilliancy, and though +he cannot be considered a serious musician in the highest sense of the +word, he played with warm and poetical, if somewhat sentimental, +feeling. He has often been described as the "flaxen-haired Paganini," +and his style was to a great extent influenced by Paganini, but only so +far as technicalities are concerned. In every other respect there was a +wide difference, for while Paganini's manner was such as to induce his +hearers to believe that they were under the spell of a demon, Ole Bull +took his hearers to the dreamy moonlit regions of the North. It is this +power of conveying a highly poetic charm which enabled him to fascinate +his audiences, and it is a power far beyond any mere trickster or +charlatan. He was frequently condemned by the critics for playing +popular airs, which indeed formed his greatest attraction for the masses +of the people. He seldom played the most serious music, in fact, he +confined himself almost entirely to his own compositions, most of which +were of a nature to meet the demand of his American audiences. + +When Ole Bull played in Boston in 1852, after having been absent for +several years, during which time other violinists had been heard, John +S. Dwight wrote of his performance thus: "We are wearied and confused by +any music, however strongly tinged with any national or individual +spirit, however expressive in detail, skilful in execution, and original +or bold, or intense in feeling, if it does not at the same time impress +us by its unity as a whole, by its development from first to last of one +or more pregnant themes. As compositions, therefore, we do not feel +reconciled to what Ole Bull seems fond of playing.... He cannot be +judged by the usual standards, his genius is exceptional, intensely +individual in all its forms and methods, belongs to the very extreme of +the romantic as distinguished from the classical in art. He makes use of +the violin and of the orchestra, in short of music, simply and mainly to +impress his own personal moods, his own personal experience, upon the +audiences. You go to hear Ole Bull, rather than to hear and feel his +music. It is eminently a personal matter.... Considered simply as an +executive power, he seems, after hearing so many good violinists for +years past, to exceed them all--always excepting Henri Vieuxtemps." + +It may be said with truth that Ole Bull achieved his reputation at a +time when it was comparatively easy to do so. There was very little +musical cultivation in this country when he first appeared here, as may +be easily imagined by a glance at the extracts from criticisms, given +here and there. By his strong personality, apparent mastery of his +instrument, and by being practically the sole occupant of the field, he +became famous and popular. He prided himself on the fact that his +playing was addressed rather to the hearts than to the sensitive ears of +his audiences, and during his later years he adopted certain mannerisms +by way of distracting attention from his somewhat imperfect +performances. He never made any pretension to being a musician of the +modern school, nor of any regularly recognised school of music, but his +concert pieces were his own compositions, of no great merit, and he +still more delighted his audiences by playing national airs as no one +had ever played them before. He was a minstrel rather than a musician in +the broad sense of the word, but he held the hearts of the people as +few, if any, minstrels had previously done. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +1830 TO 1850. + + +One of the most noticeable features of the biography of the violin +virtuoso is that he invariably displays great talent at an early age and +plays in public at any time from eight to twelve years old. There are +doubtless more who do this than are ever heard of at a later day, for +the idea of the infant phenomenon is alluring. The way of the violinist +is hard. He has many years of study and self-denial before him, if he is +to excel as a musician. Therefore the infant who can be exploited in +such a manner as to make money provides for his future education, unless +hard work or flattery kill him physically or intellectually before he is +ripe. Many prodigies sink into oblivion,--some few rise to celebrity. +It will be noticed that the violinists who played in public while very +young have invariably settled down afterward to serious study, and at a +more mature age have thus been able to take their place in the musical +world. + +Year by year, too, the demands upon the violinist have been greater. A +virtuoso is judged rather by the standard of Beethoven's concerto than +by his ability to perform musical gymnastics with operatic selections. +Nevertheless, it is a fact that many of the best known violinists were +those who catered to the taste of the multitude, while many better +musicians have been comparatively unknown. + +Among celebrated violinists few have led more romantic or adventurous +lives than Edouard Remenyi, whose name is not yet forgotten in this +country. Born at Hewes, in Hungary, in 1830, he possessed the restless +spirit of his race, fought in the insurrection of 1848, escaped to the +United States when the insurrection was crushed, but was received into +favour again a few years later, on his return to his native land. + +From his twelfth to his fifteenth year he studied the violin at the +Vienna Conservatoire under Boehm, who was also the teacher of Joachim. In +1848 he became adjutant to the distinguished General Goergey, and fought +under Kossuth and Klapka in the war with Austria. Then came the flight +to America, where he made a tour as a virtuoso, but in 1853 he visited +Weimar, and sought out Franz Liszt, who at once recognised his genius +and became his friend and guide. + +In 1854 he went to London and was appointed solo violinist in the +queen's band, but when in 1860 he obtained his amnesty and returned to +Hungary he was created solo violinist in the band of the Emperor of +Austria. + +His restless disposition would not allow him to remain long in one +place, and in 1865 he once more began to travel. He visited Paris, +where he created a perfect furore, and then continued his triumphant +course through Germany, Holland, and Belgium. After settling in Paris +for about two years, he returned in 1877 to London, where he repeated +his Parisian successes, appearing, as in Paris, chiefly in the salons of +wealthy patrons. During this visit to London he appeared in public only +once, at Mapleson's benefit at the Crystal Palace, when he played a +fantasia on themes from the "Huguenots." The following year he went once +more to the United States, and on his way played at the promenade +concerts in London. In America he remained for some years, and then +proceeded in 1887 to the Cape of Good Hope and Madagascar. While on this +voyage it was reported that his ship was wrecked and that he was +drowned, and numerous obituary notices of him appeared in the newspapers +throughout the world. + +In 1891 he was once more in London, and played at the house of the late +Colonel North, "the Nitrate King." He now returned to the United States, +where he passed the remainder of his days. His powers were, however, +failing, and other violinists had brought new and perhaps higher +interest to American audiences. + +When Remenyi visited the United States in 1878, he arrived a few weeks +after Wilhelmj, and notwithstanding the fact that the two violinists +were widely different in temperament, ideas, musicianship, in fact in +every particular, they were frequently made the subjects of comparison. +At this time Remenyi played an "Otello Fantaisie," "Suwanee River," +"Grandfather's Clock," etc. He was well sketched in a journal of the +time, which said: + + "Remenyi is gifted with a vivacious, generous, rather mocking + disposition which rebels against monotony, and whose originality + shines through everything, and in spite of everything. He is + fluent in five or six languages, and entertains with droll + conceits, or with reminiscences of famous artists and composers.... + In the wild rhythms of the gypsy dance, in the fierce splendour of + the patriotic hymn, the player and audience alike are fired with + excitement. The passion rises, the tumult waxes furious; a + tremendous sweep of the bow brings the music to an end; and then we + can say that we have heard Remenyi." + +The gypsy dance and the patriotic hymn! And yet he was weighed in the +balance with Wilhelmj, who played the grandest and best music in the +most refined, musicianly manner, and whose tour in America marked an +epoch in the musical life of the country. + +In his prime Remenyi was the master of an enormous technique, and the +possessor of a strongly pronounced poetic individuality. His whole soul +was in his playing, and his impulse carried him away with it as he +warmed to his task, and it carried the audience too. His greatest +success was in the playing of Hungarian music, some of which he adapted +for his instrument, but the stormier pieces of Chopin which he arranged +for the violin were given by him with tremendous effect. In the more +tender pieces, such as the nocturnes of Field and of Chopin, he played +with the utmost dreaminess. + +His individuality showed in his playing. He was impulsive and +uncertain,--a wandering musician, who, when the whim took him, would +disappear from public view altogether. When he made a success in any +place his restless nature would not allow him to follow it up, so that +when his prime was past, instead of having formed connections which +should have lasted him for the rest of his life, he was still the +wandering musician, but without the marvellous powers which he had +wielded only a few years before. + +During his long career he toured Australia and almost all the islands of +the Pacific, also Java, China, and Japan; in fact, he went where few, +if any, violinists of his ability had been before. + +Once upon a time the representative of a London newspaper went to +interview Remenyi, and was surprised to find that the violinist was not +only willing to tell him much, but even proposed questions which he +should answer. He said that he had played in the 60's before the natives +of South Africa, and had been shipwrecked, after which he had the +pleasure of reading some very fine obituary notices. In New Zealand he +found the Maoris perfectly reckless in their demand for encores, and +instead of playing six pieces, as announced on his programmes, he +frequently had to play sixteen. + +In South Africa he discovered thirty out of his collection of +forty-seven old and valuable violins. Most of them were probably the +property of the Huguenots, who after the edict of Nantes went to Holland +and thence to South Africa, to which place they were banished by the +Dutch government. + +It was related by Remenyi that when he was a young man in Hamburg, in +1853, he was to appear at a fashionable soiree one night, but at the +last moment his accompanist was too ill to play. Remenyi went to a music +store and asked for an accompanist. The proprietor sent Johannes Brahms, +then a lad of sixteen, who was struggling for existence and teaching for +a very small sum. Remenyi and Brahms became so interested in each other +that they forgot all about the soiree, and sat up till four the next +morning chatting and playing together. Remenyi's negligence of his +engagement resulted in the loss of any further business in Hamburg, and +together with Brahms he set out for Hanover, giving concerts as they +went, and thus earning sufficient funds to carry them on their way. + +At Hanover they called upon Joachim, who arranged for them to play +before the court. After this they proceeded to the Altenberg to see +Liszt, who received them warmly, and offered them a home. During all +this time Brahms received little or no recognition, in spite of +Remenyi's enthusiasm in his cause, neither did he find very much favour +with Liszt, although the latter recognised his talent. He therefore +returned to Hanover, where Joachim gave him a letter to Schumann, and it +was Schumann's enthusiastic welcome and declaration that a new genius +had arisen that established Brahms's reputation in musical circles. + +Remenyi said that Brahms, shortly after his arrival at the Altenberg, +offended Liszt and his pupils by comfortably sleeping during one of the +famous lessons, which were in the nature of a general class. This breach +of manners Brahms justified on the score of being exhausted by his +previous journey. + +The death of Remenyi, which occurred on May 15, 1898, created a +sensation throughout the country. He had, after many misgivings, +consented to appear in "vaudeville." The financial inducement was large, +and he soothed his artistic conscience with the argument that his music +would tend to elevate the vaudeville rather than that the vaudeville +would tend to degrade him. It was at the Orpheus Theatre in San +Francisco, and it was his first appearance. He played one or two +selections, and being tremendously applauded, and correspondingly +gratified, he returned and answered the encore with the well-known "Old +Glory." He was in his best vein, and played as one inspired. The +audience literally rose with him, leaving their seats in their +excitement, and the applause lasted several minutes. He came forward, +and in response to another burst of applause commenced to play Delibes's +"Fizzicati." He had played but a few measures when he leaned over as if +to speak to one of the musicians in the orchestra. He paused a moment, +and then fell slowly forward on his face. One of the musicians caught +him before he touched the stage, and thus prevented his rolling off. All +was over. + +Remenyi left a widow, a son, and a daughter, who lived in New York. His +health had been failing for some time, for in 1896, for the first time +in thirty years, he had, while in Davenport, Iowa, been compelled to +cancel all his engagements and rest. It is said that Remenyi's real name +was Hoffmann. + +The name of Miska Hauser is seldom mentioned in these days, and yet it +was once known all over the world. No virtuoso of his time travelled +more extensively, and few created more enthusiasm than did Hauser. He +was born in Pressburg, Hungary, in 1822, and became a pupil of Boehm and +of Mayseder at Vienna, also of Kreutzer and Sechter. He is said to have +acquired more of Mayseder's elegant style and incisive tone than of the +characteristics of his other teachers, but his talent was devoted to the +acquisition of virtuoso effects, which appeal to the majority rather +than to the most cultivated. + +As a boy of twelve Hauser made an extensive and successful concert tour. +In 1840 he toured Europe, and ten years later went to London, and thence +to the West Indies and the United States, where he made quite a +sensation, and was a member of Jenny Lind's company. He afterwards +visited San Francisco, where he got himself into difficulties on account +of Lola Montes. Then he went to South America, visiting Lima, where +passionate creoles languished for him, Santiago, where a set of fanatics +excited the mob against him, declaring that he was charmed by the devil, +and Valparaiso, where he suffered shipwreck. + +He then proceeded to the Sandwich Islands, where he played before the +royal family and all the dusky nobles. They listened solemnly, but made +no sign of approbation, and Hauser felt that he was sinking into a mere +nothing in their esteem. In desperation he tore the strings from his +violin and played, with all his power, several sentimental songs on the +G string only. Then he gave them Paganini's witches' dance. This +succeeded, and they gave a yell of joy and wanted more. They +particularly delighted in harmonic effects, and before long were willing +to do anything for the foreigner who could pipe on the wood as well as +any bird. He became a hero at Otaheite, but was obliged to continue on +his journey. He next visited Australia, and while in Sydney he made such +a success that he was presented with the freedom of the city and thanked +by the government for his playing. + +In 1860 he reached Turkey, where he played before the Sultan, who beat +time to his music and seemed highly delighted. Hauser had many amusing +stories to tell of his travels, and especially of his experiences in the +Sandwich Islands and Turkey, Cairo and Alexandria. His adventures, which +were numerous and thrilling, were published in two volumes, in Vienna. + +Hauser was not the possessor of a great technique, but there was +something characteristic and charming in his tone and mannerisms, which +were especially pleasing to the fair sex. He was a man of restless, and, +in some respects, dissatisfied nature. Some of his compositions are +still to be found on concert programmes, and these he used to play +exquisitely. Hauser lived in retirement in Vienna after concluding his +travels, and in 1887 he died practically forgotten. + +Few violinists succeeded more completely in captivating their audiences +than Henri Wieniawski, whose impetuous Slavonic temperament, with its +warm and tender feeling, gave a colour to his playing, which placed his +hearers entirely under his control, went straight to their hearts, and +enlisted their sympathy from the very first note. Both fingering and +bowing were examples of the highest degree of excellence in violin +technique, and difficulties did not exist for him. At times his fiery +temperament may have led him to exaggeration, and to a step beyond the +bounds of good taste, but this was lost sight of in the peculiar charm +of his playing, its gracefulness and piquancy. + +Wieniawski's tour in America, which took place in 1872, when he +accompanied Rubinstein, may be said to mark an era in the musical life +of this nation. These two great artists revealed the possibilities of +the musical art to a people who, while loving music, were still in their +infancy as far as musical development is concerned. + +Wieniawski, like nearly all the great performers, showed his talent +while very young. He was born in 1835 at Lublin, in Poland, where his +father was a medical man. He was taken to Paris by his mother when he +was only eight years old, and he entered the Conservatoire, where he +soon joined Massart's class, and when only eleven gained the first prize +for violin playing. + +After this he made a concert tour in Poland and Russia, but soon +returned to Paris to renew his studies, especially composition. In 1850 +he went again on the road, and with his brother Joseph, a pianist, he +gave concerts in most of the principal towns in the Netherlands, France, +England, and Germany. In 1860 he was appointed solo violinist to the +Emperor of Russia, and held that position for twelve years, residing +chiefly at St. Petersburg. + +It was at the conclusion of this engagement that he made his tour in the +United States with Rubinstein, who was his intimate friend, and when the +great pianist returned to Europe Wieniawski remained in America and +succeeded in making a large fortune, travelling all over the country and +creating a furore by his performances. This tour was cut short toward +the end of 1874 by a telegram from Brussels offering him the position of +professor of violin at the Conservatoire, during the illness of +Vieuxtemps. + +He remained in Brussels until 1877, when, Vieuxtemps becoming +convalescent, Wieniawski set forth once more on his travels. + +At this time his health was failing, and an incident took place at +Berlin which is well worth recording. During a concert he was seized +with a sudden spasm, and was compelled to stop in the middle of a +concerto. Joachim was amongst the audience, and came to the rescue, +taking up Wieniawski's violin and finishing the programme, thus showing +his friendship for the sufferer and earning the enthusiastic applause of +an appreciative audience. + +Notwithstanding his sufferings, Wieniawski continued his tour, but at +Odessa he broke down altogether. + +It has been stated that he died unknown and friendless in the hospital +at Moscow, and was buried by public charity; but his son, Jules +Wieniawski, has contradicted this, and states that he died in the house +of the Countess of Meek, and was buried by the Czar Alexander III., of +whom he was the friend as well as the favourite violinist. + +Wieniawski was a man of somewhat enthusiastic nature, and his actions +were not always tempered by the most perfect wisdom. It was said that +just before his marriage to Miss Hampton he took a run up the Rhine, +not, like a wise man, waiting until he had some one to take proper care +of him. The consequence was that he must just take an hour's look into +Wiesbaden to see several old friends, and this led naturally to passing +an idle moment looking at the green table doings. Here the excitement +became too great for one of his temperament, and he felt compelled to +stake a small sum. A small sum led to a larger amount, and when he left +the place he was poorer to the tune of forty thousand francs, and he +came away to his bride a sadder and wiser man. + +Although a great gambler, Wieniawski owed the loss of a large part of +his fortune to the failure of a New York banking firm in 1873, rather +than to his favourite propensity. + +The friendship between him and Vieuxtemps was very strong, in fact it +was described as being ideal. Once, while Wieniawski was playing at a +concert, Vieuxtemps was among the audience, and, at the conclusion of +one of the violinist's solos, Vieuxtemps called, at the top of his +voice, "Bravo, Wieniawski!" This drew attention to Vieuxtemps, who was +immediately recognised by the audience and enthusiastically welcomed. + +Wieniawski's compositions number two and twenty. As a proof of the old +adage that "doctors do not always agree," we are told by one excellent +authority that his D minor concerto, the two polonaises, and his +"Legende" will probably never vanish from the violinist's repertoire, +and by another that Wieniawski's compositions are not of much +importance. Both statements are no doubt true, for there are many +fascinating concert pieces which, from the strictly classical point of +view, are not important additions to musical literature. + +An American critic wrote of him, after his first appearance: "In +Wieniawski we have the greatest violinist who has yet been heard in +America.... Of all now living Joachim alone can claim superiority over +him." + +This sweeping enthusiasm was not universal, for a critic more difficult +to please wrote as follows: "Wieniawski's playing is as perfect as a +faultless technique, artistic culture, great aesthetic sensibility, and +perfect mastery over himself and his instrument can make it But with +all its perfection we cannot but feel that the great original, +heaven-and-earth-moving master-soul is wanting." + +He was also severely scathed by a critic in New York in 1872, who wrote: +"Some people like pure, clear tone,--others don't. Those who admire +scratching and false stopping, together with sundry other things of the +same nature, would have experienced wild joy upon hearing Beethoven's +"Violin Concerto" as it was played by Wieniawski; but for those who +regard a correct intonation as a thing of primal importance, it could +not have been pleasing. Wieniawski belongs to that school of which Ole +Bull is a prominent member, whose first article of belief is that +genuine passion and fervour is signified by rasping the strings." + +Other criticisms of the same concert, however, were of a very different +tenor, and when, a week or two later, Wieniawski played the same +concerto in Boston, John S. Dwight praised the performance highly, and +took occasion to specially record his disagreement with the eminent +critic in New York. + +While not technically the equal of one or two of his contemporaries, +Wieniawski played with so much fire, and knew so well how to reach the +heart of his audience by methods perfectly legitimate, that he must be +ranked among the greatest violinists. + +Don Pablo Martin Meliton de Sarasate is a name known throughout Europe +and America, if not throughout the civilised world. Sarasate was born in +Spain, in Pampeluna, the chief city of Navarre. He was a youthful +prodigy, and played before the court of Madrid at the age of ten, when +Queen Isabella was so delighted with him that she presented him with a +fine Stradivarius violin. + +A couple of years later he was sent to Paris, where he entered the +Conservatoire, and was admitted into Alard's class, while M. +Lassabathie, who was then administrator of the institution, took him +into his house and boarded him. This arrangement continued until the +death, about ten years later, of M. Lassabathie. + +In the course of a year after entering the Conservatoire, Sarasate won +the first prize for violin playing. From the first he manifested +remarkable facility in mechanical execution, and his playing was +distinguished for elegance and delicacy, though nothing indicated that +his talent would become extraordinary. + +For ten years after gaining the prize Sarasate remained a salon +violinist, of amiable disposition, a ladies' virtuoso, with a somewhat +mincing style, who played only variations on opera motives, and who was +an entire stranger to classical music. + +Then came a complete change; the character of his playing becoming +serious, a large and noble style replaced the mincing manner which he +had previously affected, and, instead of the showy trifles which had +filled his repertoire, he took to the works of the great masters. By +hard work he developed his technical ability, so that he reached the +limit beyond which few, if any, violinists succeed in passing. And all +this he accomplished without losing anything of the elegance of his +phrasing or of the infinite charm of his tone. + +Although Sarasate made Paris his home, he began to travel as early as +1859, and in 1872, when he played in Paris, he was welcomed as a new +star. When his prestige was well established in Paris his friends +advised him to go to Germany, but he feared that so soon after the +Franco-German war he, who by long residence was practically a Frenchman, +would not be welcome. At last, however, the entreaties of his friends +prevailed, and when Sarasate appeared at Leipzig he produced an immense +sensation. Then followed a series of tours in Germany, Russia, Austria, +England, and Belgium, which lasted three years, and brought him much +glory and pecuniary gain. + +In Vienna the celebrated critic, Hanslick, wrote of him as follows: +"There are few violinists whose playing gives such unalloyed enjoyment +as the performance of this Spaniard. His tone is incomparable,--not +powerfully or deeply affecting, but of enchanting sweetness. The +infallible correctness of the player contributes greatly to the +enjoyment. The moment the bow touches the Stradivarius a stream of +beautiful sound flows toward the hearer. A pure tone seems to me the +prime quality of violin playing--unfortunately, also, it is a rare +quality. Sarasate's virtuosity shines and pleases and surprises the +audience continually. He is distinguished, not because he plays great +difficulties, but because he plays with them." + +Both in France and Germany Sarasate has always been a great favourite, +and is always sure of a large and enthusiastic audience, even though he +has passed the zenith of his powers. He has never taken pupils, but has +confined himself to concert playing only, and he has been called the +highest-priced player in Germany, where it was said that he received +three thousand marks for a concert, while even Joachim received only one +thousand. He has received many valuable gifts during his career, and +these he has presented to his native city, Pampeluna, where they have +been placed in a museum by the municipal council. The collection +includes articles of great worth from the Emperor William I. of Germany, +Napoleon III., the Emperor of Brazil, and the Queen of Spain, and its +value is estimated at one hundred thousand francs. + +Sarasate has visited the United States twice, and won great favour, for +his playing is of the kind which appeals to the fancy, graceful, +vivacious, and pure toned, and he plays Spanish dances in a manner +never to be surpassed. + +He has been compared with some of the most eminent violinists +thus:--Vieuxtemps was an artist with an ardent mind, and a magnificent +interpreter of Beethoven; Joachim towers aloft in the heights of serene +poetry, upon the Olympic summits inaccessible to the tumults of passion; +Sivori was a dazzling virtuoso; Sarasate is an incomparable charmer. + +There are doubtless many who remember the tour of August Wilhelmj, the +celebrated violinist, who visited the United States about twenty years +ago. He was considered second to no artist then living in his general +command over the resources of his instrument, and he excelled in the +purity and volume of his tone, no less than in the brilliancy of his +execution. He did not possess the warmth and impulsiveness which +constituted the charm of Wieniawski, but his performances appealed to +his audiences in a different and more legitimate manner. He was even a +greater traveller than Remenyi, and visited almost, if not quite, every +civilised country. His travels took him throughout Europe, America, +Australia, and Asia. He was, in 1885, invited by the Sultan of Turkey to +perform in his seraglio, the only violinist to whom such a compliment +had ever been paid. The Sultan on this occasion decorated him with the +Order of the Medjidie, second class, and presented him with some +beautiful diamonds. + +August Wilhelmj was born in 1845 at Usingen, in the Duchy of Nassau, +and, showing his aptitude, was placed under Konrad Fischer, a violinist +of Wiesbaden, at the age of six. His progress was so rapid that when +nine years old he played in a concert in Limburg and received great +applause. Wilhelmj's father was a lawyer of distinction and a wealthy +vine-grower, and, in spite of the boy's progress, he did not favour the +idea of allowing him to take to the violin as a profession, for he felt +that the majority of infant prodigies fail as they reach manhood. But +the boy had received much encouragement, and persisted in his desire. +Henrietta Sontag, the celebrated singer, heard him play Spohr's ninth +concerto and "The Carnival of Venice," and was so charmed that she said +he would become the German Paganini. + +In the course of time Wilhelmj succeeded in obtaining a concession from +his father:--he was to get the judgment of a musical authority on his +capabilities, and, if favourable, no objection should be made to his +becoming a virtuoso. On the recommendation of Prince Emil of +Wittgenstein, the young violinist went in 1861 to Liszt at Weimar, and +after playing to him Spohr's "Scena Cantante" and the Hungarian fantasia +by Ernst, he was asked to play several pieces at sight. At the end of +this trial Liszt sprang from his seat, calling out in a loud voice, +"Ay! indeed you are predestinated to become a violinist--so much so that +for you the violin must have been invented if it had not already +existed." This judgment satisfied the father, and a few days later Liszt +himself took the boy to Leipzig and introduced him to Ferdinand David, +saying, "Let me present to you a future Paganini. Look well to him!" For +three years Wilhelm; was a pupil of David, and at the same time studied +the theory of music with Richter and Hausmann. In due course he passed +his examinations at the Leipzig Conservatory, playing Joachim's +Hungarian concerto. + +In 1865 he began his concert tours, travelling through Switzerland and +Holland to England, and from this time he seems to have been almost +continually travelling. During 1869, 1870, and 1871 he made a long tour +in England with Charles Santley, the great singer. In 1876 he led the +violins at the Nibelungen performance at Bayreuth, and the Wagner +concerts in London, at the Albert Hall, in 1877, were due to his +representations. In 1882, after travelling all over the globe, he spent +some time in Russia, but presently returned to Germany and established a +violin school at Biberich, which, however, he abandoned after a time. + +From time to time he continued to play in public, but gradually withdrew +and lived in retirement at Blasewitz, near Dresden. Eventually he went +to London, where he was appointed professor at the Guildhall School of +Music. Unfortunately, his powers have been on the wane for some years +past, but though the days of his public performances are past, he is +known as a most patient and painstaking teacher. The high esteem in +which he has been held was quaintly expressed by an eminent musician, +who referred to his decadence in these words: "Ah, if Wilhelmj had not +been what he _is_, Joachim would never have been what _he_ is." By which +one may infer that Wilhelmj was, in some respects, a greater man than +Joachim. + +In 1894 Wilhelmj married Marcella Mausch-Jerret, of Dresden, a +distinguished pianist. + +Wilhelmj's first appearance in America took place on September 26, 1878, +in New York, and his playing caused an unusual demonstration. He was +described in the following words: "His figure is stately, his face and +attitude suggest reserve force and that majestic calm which seems to +befit great power.... A famous philosopher once said that beauty +consists of an exact balance between the intellect and the imagination. +The violin performance of Wilhelmj exhibits this just proportion more +perfectly than the work of any other artist of whom we have personal +knowledge. Wilhelmj himself has said, 'After all, what the people want +is intellectual playing,' that is, playing with a clear under +standing." + +Neither his character nor his playing was of such a nature as to appeal +to the great mass of people in the way in which Remenyi and Ole Bull won +their hearts. Wilhelmj was massive in person and in tone. He stood for +dignity in his actions, appearance, and playing, and was honoured by the +more cultivated and educated portion of the people. + +He is regarded by musicians as one of the greatest violinists who ever +visited America, and at the present day visiting artists are spoken of +as "one of the best since Wilhelmj," or, "not to be compared with +Wilhelmj," and by many Ysaye is regarded as "the best--since Wilhelmj." + +Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick, who was born at Jupille, near Liege, on +March 9, 1848, is one of the foremost solo and quartet violinists of the +day, with a remarkable technique and admirable intelligence, power, and +fire. + +When eight years of age he was placed at the music school at Liege, +where in two years he gained the first prize in the preparatory classes. +In 1864 he secured the gold medal, which is awarded only to pupils of +extraordinary talent. + +[Illustration: MARTIN PIERRE JOSEPH MARSICK] + +He now entered the Brussels Conservatoire, where his expenses were met +by a lady who was a musical enthusiast, and he studied for two years +under Leonard, working at the same time in composition under Kufferath. +In 1868 he went to Paris, where he studied for a season under Massart. + +In 1870 Marsick proceeded to Berlin, where, through the instrumentality +of a government subvention, he was enabled to study under Joachim. After +that he began to travel, and soon acquired a great reputation. He was +said to equal, if not exceed, Sarasate in the wonderful celerity of his +scales, and in lightness and certainty. His tone is not very full, but +is sweet and clear. His playing is also marked by exceptional +smoothness, scholarly phrasing, and graceful accentuation, but, in +comparison with some of the other great players, he lacks breadth and +passion. He appeals rather to the educated musician than to the general +public, and for that reason many people were somewhat disappointed when +he played in the United States in 1896. He was compared with Ysaye, a +player of an entirely different stamp, and he suffered in popular +estimation by the comparison. + +To this period also belong a number of excellent violinists whose names +are seldom heard in America. Edmund Singer, a Hungarian, born in 1831, +by dint of hard work and talent reached a high position. He became +celebrated as a teacher, and was for years professor of violin at the +conservatory in Stuttgart. He was also largely instrumental in the +establishment of the Musical Artists' Society of that place. + +Ferdinand Laub was a virtuoso of high rank who was born in Prague in +1832. He succeeded Joachim at Weimar, but two years later became violin +teacher at the Stern-Marx conservatory in Berlin, also concert-master of +the royal orchestra and chamber virtuoso. + +Heinrich Karl de Ahna was an excellent artist, and was for some years +second violin in the famous Joachim quartet. At the age of fourteen he +had already made a successful concert tour, and become chamber virtuoso +to the Duke of Coburg-Gotha. He then abandoned the musical profession +and entered the army, fighting in the Italian campaign as lieutenant. +After the war he returned to his profession, and became leader of the +royal band in Berlin and professor at the Hochschule. He died in 1892. + +Russia also produced an excellent violinist, Wasil Wasilewic +Besekirskij, who was born at Moscow, and after a career as virtuoso in +the west of Europe returned to his native city. He is the composer of +some good violin music and has formed some excellent pupils, of whom +Gregorowitsch is perhaps best known. + +In England, John Tiplady Carrodus and the Holmes brothers attained high +rank. Carrodus was a native of Keighley, Yorkshire. His father was a +barber, and it was only by the most constant self-denial and incessant +hard work that the boy succeeded in securing his education. He walked +with his father twelve miles in order to hear Vieuxtemps play, and to +take his lessons he walked each week ten miles to Bradford, usually +getting a ride back in the carrier's cart. He became a pupil of Molique, +and eventually one of the best known violinists of England, where his +character as a man was always highly respected. + +Alfred Holmes was born in 1837 and his brother Henry in 1839. They +appeared together at the Haymarket Theatre in 1847, but immediately +withdrew from public life and continued their studies for six more +years. In 1853 they again appeared in London, and then made a long +concert tour through the north of Europe. Finally they settled in Paris, +where, nine years later, Alfred died. Henry Holmes became the chief +professor of violin at the Royal College of Music in London, and has +been also active as a composer and editor of violin works. + +Jacob Gruen, too, who was born in 1837 at Buda-Pesth, and who, after a +career as concert soloist in Europe, became a teacher in the Vienna +conservatory, should not be forgotten. Several of his pupils are now +holding valuable positions in the United States, and he is an excellent +teacher, besides being popular and kind-hearted. + +Eduard Rappoldi, the leader of the Royal Court Orchestra at Dresden, has +a high reputation as a sound and earnest player and excellent teacher. +He was born in Vienna in 1839, and was at one time a teacher in the +Hochschule at Berlin, but went to Dresden in 1877. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JOACHIM. + + +Joseph Joachim is one of the musical giants of the nineteenth century. +He will be remembered as one whose life has been interwoven with the +lives of the greatest musicians of his day, as one of the greatest +educators in his line who ever lived, and as the embodiment of the +purest and highest ideas in public performance. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH JOACHIM] + +Joachim is called the greatest violinist of modern times, and no better +words can be found to describe his characteristics than those of +Wasielewski, who says: "Joachim's incomparable violin playing is the +true _chef-d'oeuvre_, the ideal of a perfect violinist (so far as we +present-day critics can judge). Less cannot, dare not, be said, but, +at the same time, more cannot be said of him or of any one, and it is +enough. But that which raises him above all other contemporary +violinists and musicians generally is the line he takes in his +professional life. He is no virtuoso in the ordinary sense, for he is +far more,--before all he will be a musician. And that he unquestionably +is,--a magnificent example to young people, who are to some extent +possessed of the demon of vanity, of what they should do and what they +should leave undone. Joachim makes music, and his preeminent +capabilities are directed toward the serving one true, genuine art, and +he is right." + +Joachim was born on June 28, 1831, in the village of Kittsee, in +Hungary, within the small radius which has produced three other great +musicians,--Haydn, Hummel, and Liszt. He began to study the violin when +he was five years old, and was placed under Servaczinski, leader of the +opera orchestra at Pesth. In two years he made his first public +appearance at a concert at Pesth, when he played a duet concerto for two +violins and orchestra with his master, and a solo on a theme by +Schubert, with variations. He was now (1841) sent to Vienna, where he +entered the conservatoire and studied under Boehm for two years. At the +end of this time he went to Leipzig, where he met with Mendelssohn and +played in a concert of Madame Viardot's. A few months later he appeared +as a finished artist in a Gewandhaus concert, and played Ernst's "Otello +Fantasie." Leipzig was then, under Mendelssohn's guidance, in the zenith +of its fame, and for a boy of twelve to appear in a Gewandhaus concert +and earn, not only the applause of the audience, but also the praise of +the critics, was something very unusual. But a still greater honour was +in store for him,--the following year he took part, in a Gewandhaus +concert, in a concertante for four violins by Maurer, the other +performers being Ernst, Bazzini, and David, all violinists of renown and +very much his seniors. + +Joachim remained in Leipzig until 1850, studying with Ferdinand David, +while Hauptmann gave him instruction in composition, though during this +time he occasionally travelled in Germany and elsewhere to play in +concerts. Thus in 1844 Mendelssohn brought him to England, where he +played in public for the first time at a benefit concert of Mr. Bunn's +at Drury Lane, in March, 1844, and in May of the same year he appeared +at the fifth Philharmonic concert and played Beethoven's concerto with +very great success. In this year two other violinists of note made their +first appearance at the Philharmonic concerts,--Ernst and Sainton, also +Piatti, the great violoncellist. Joachim visited England again in 1847, +and since that time so frequently that he became one of the regular +features of musical life in that country, where he has been so highly +honoured. + +Joachim's first appearance in Paris was made in 1849, when he spent two +months in that city, and began his successes by playing in an orchestral +concert given by Hector Berlioz. About this time Franz Liszt, who had +heard of Joachim's rapidly increasing reputation, invited him to go to +Weimar and lead the orchestra which he conducted. Joachim accepted the +invitation and remained in Weimar two years. He could never be brought +to see the beauty of the new school of music, and while he recognised +the extraordinary gifts, and admired the personality and brilliant +qualities of Liszt, he could not be prevailed upon to remain in Weimar +longer than two years. + +In 1854 he accepted the post of conductor and solo violinist to the King +of Hanover, a position which he retained for twelve years, during which +time he enhanced his reputation as a musician, and married Amalia +Weiss, a celebrated contralto singer. In 1866 the troubles which +enveloped Germany brought Joachim's engagement in Hanover to an end, but +two years later he entered upon what has proved to be the most important +part of his career, when he was appointed professor of violin at the +Hochschule for music in Berlin. This school was a new branch of the +already existing Academy of Arts, and was to be a high school for +musical execution, as apart from composition. + +Joachim threw his whole heart into the new work before him, and the +branch of the school under his direction soon rivalled any similar +school. Various branches were added to the school,--in 1871 a class for +organ, in 1872 classes for brass instruments, double-bass, and solo +vocalists, in 1873 a chorus class. In 1875 the Royal Academy of Arts was +reorganised and became the Royal High School for Music, with Joachim as +director. That Joachim had earned a very high position as early as 1859 +is shown by an extract from the _Musical World_ of London, in that year. + +"So long as virtuosi walked (or galloped) in their proper sphere, they +amused by their mechanical _tours de force_, charmed by their _finesse_ +and did no great harm to musical taste. They were accepted _cum grano +salis_, applauded for their dexterity, and admired for the elegance with +which they were able to elaborate thoughts in themselves of every slight +artistic worth. But recently our 'virtuosi' have been oppressed with a +notion that, to succeed in this country, they must invade and carry by +storm the 'classics' of the art, instead of adhering exclusively as of +old to their own fantasies and _jeux de marteaux_. One composition after +another by the great masters is seized upon and worried. If they were +things of flesh and blood, and could feel the gripe, be conscious of the +teeth, and appreciate the fangs of these rapid-devouring 'virtuosi,' +concertos, sonatas, trios, etc., would indeed be in a pitiable +condition. Happily, being of the spirit, they bleed not, but are +immortal. + +"One great result attending Herr Joachim's professional visit to London +is, that it enables both professors and amateurs opportunity after +opportunity of studying _his_ manner of playing the works of the giants +of music. _How_ Herr Joachim executes these compositions--how +differently from the self-styled 'virtuosi,' how purely, how modestly, +how wholly forgetful of himself in the text he considers it an honour +being allowed to interpret to the crowd--we need scarcely remind our +readers. Not a single eccentricity of carriage or demeanour, not a +moment of egotistical display, to remind his hearers that, although +Beethoven is being played, it is Joachim who is playing, ever escapes +this truly admirable and (if words might be allowed to bear their +legitimate signification) most accomplished of 'virtuosi.'" + +As an example of Joachim's conscientiousness, the following little +anecdote will serve to give an idea. Joachim once introduced into the +_point d'orgue_ of Beethoven's concerto a cadence terminated by a _trait +en octave_, which caused an extraordinary effect. People spoke only of +this cadence; it was the event of the evening wherever he played. This +success wounded his feelings of artistic probity; he considered it +unbecoming that people should be more taken up with the skill of the +executant than with the beauties of the music, and the cadence was +suppressed. + +During the many years of his connection with the Hochschule, Joachim's +personal influence has been exerted upon a large number of pupils, in +fact almost every well-known violin player has been to Berlin to seek +his advice and instruction, and the players he has perfected are almost +without number. Many anecdotes are told concerning his kindness to his +pupils, but so greatly is he sought after that comparatively few of the +hundreds who flock to Berlin are able to reach him. + +Joachim's early training and education developed his character both as a +musician and as a man. The influence of Mendelssohn, whose friendship +ended only with his death, of David, Schumann, Liszt, Berlioz, and +Brahms, who was largely indebted to Joachim for the introduction of many +of his works to the public, brought out the thorough uprightness, +firmness of character and earnestness of purpose, and that intense +dislike of all that is artificial or untrue in art, which have made him +a great moral power in the musical world. + +He combines in a unique degree the highest executive powers with the +most excellent musicianship. Unsurpassed as a master of the instrument, +he uses his powers of execution in the services of art, and represents +the perfection of a pure style and legitimate school, with breadth and +fidelity of interpretation. His performances undoubtedly derive their +charm and merit from the strength of his talent and of his artistic +character, and are stamped with a striking originality of conception; at +the same time fidelity to the text, and careful endeavour to enter into +the spirit and feeling of the composer, are the principles of executive +art which Joachim has invariably practised. + +In the rendering of Bach's solos, Beethoven's concertos and quartets, he +has no rival, and for the revival of many great works the musical world +is indebted to him. Of these, one instance may be cited, viz., the +violin concerto (Op. 61) of Beethoven, which was first played by +Clement, December 23, 1806. This concerto bears evidence of having been +written in a hurry. Clement played it at sight without rehearsal, and, +as a consequence of its being brought forward in such a slipshod manner, +it was very seldom heard until its revival by Joachim. The MS. shows +that the solo part was the object of much thought and alteration by the +composer, but evidently after the first performance. + +As a composer, Joachim has contributed work of value to the literature +of the violin. His "Hungarian Concerto" is a creation of real grandeur, +built up in noble symphonic proportions. Most of his works are of a +grave, somewhat melancholy character, and all of them are marked by +earnestness of purpose and a high ideal. + +The jubilee of Joachim's life as a violin player was celebrated in +Berlin with great ceremony and with unusual honour, and in England a +demonstration was made in his honour by the public, who subscribed a +sum of about $6,000, with which was purchased an instrument of +wonderful beauty, a celebrated "Red Strad," which was presented to him +at a public meeting held at the conclusion of the Monday Popular +Concerts, in 1888. + +This celebration was, however, quite eclipsed by that of the sixtieth +anniversary of his first public appearance, which was held at Berlin on +April 22, 1899. A grand concert was given at the Philharmonie, with an +orchestra consisting of two hundred performers. There were ninety +violins, thirty violas, twenty-one 'celli, and twenty double-basses, and +of these all except the double-basses had been pupils of Joachim, the +violas and 'celli having been his pupils in chamber music. They had come +from all over Europe to take part in the festival. Nearly half of the +violins were concert-masters, and many of them famous soloists, as Carl +Halir, Henri Petri, Jeno Hubay, Willy Hess, Gustav Hollaender, +Gabrielle Wietrowitz, Marie Soldat, and others. + +Joachim entered the hall at half-past six, and was greeted with a +deafening fanfare played by the combined trumpeters of the military +bands stationed in Berlin. The audience rose in a body and added its +cheers to the noise of the trumpets. A large armchair, beautifully +decorated with flowers and wreaths, was reserved as a seat of honour for +the great musician. + +The seventh number on the programme was left vacant, but when it was +reached the orchestra began the introduction to Beethoven's concerto. No +soloist was in sight, but Gabrielle Wietrowitz and Marie Soldat, his +most celebrated women pupils, came slowly down toward Joachim's chair, +one carrying a violin and the other a bow, which they placed in his +hands. Joachim, however, did not wish to play, and did not yield except +under the force of persuasion, and then he said: "I have not had a +violin in my hands for three days; I am in no mood to play; moreover, +there are many in the orchestra who can play it better than I, but I +don't want to refuse." So Joachim played the great concerto, and +received an ovation such as had probably never been accorded to him +before. Then he conducted Bach's concerto in G major for strings, which +was played by sixty-six violins, fifty-seven violas, twenty-four 'celli, +and twenty double-basses, and this brought the concert to a close. + +The concert was followed by a banquet at which there were eight hundred +guests, and the festivities lasted until four o'clock the next morning. +No violinist was ever more respected or beloved by his pupils, nor did +one ever wield a more powerful influence in the musical world. To be put +forward by Joachim gives one a high standing in the musical world to +begin with, but few indeed are those who receive this privilege in +comparison with those who desire it. + +Joachim is not a builder of technique or a teacher of beginners. Pupils +who are accepted by him must be already proficient technicians, and it +may be stated that the teacher who can prepare pupils for Joachim stands +high in the profession. Joachim is a great adviser, a former of style, +and a master of interpretation, to whom pupils flock two or three years +too early, and feel aggrieved if they are not at once accepted. + +"What else can you do?" he once asked of a young man who desired to +become a great violinist, and had sought Joachim's advice. + +"I think I would like to study for the ministry," was the reply. + +"It is much better to be a good minister than a poor violinist," said +Joachim, looking him full in the face. + +His liberality is proverbial, and after a long and successful life, +during which he has received high salaries, he is not rich. He seldom +refuses to play gratis for any really worthy object, and the anecdotes +of his kindness toward his pupils are without number. + +Few men have shone with such an even, steady lustre, through a long +life. Others have come up, flourished, and sunk into oblivion, but the +light of Joachim has shone steadily for more than sixty years, and as an +interpreter of the classics he has never been excelled, and perhaps +never will be. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +VIOLINISTS OF TO-DAY. + + +In these latter days the number of good violinists seems to have +increased greatly. A season seldom passes without witnessing the debut +of some half-dozen aspirants for public approbation, but the great +majority of them settle down into some special field of labour, and do +not acquire world-wide fame as virtuosi. + +Virtuosity to-day depends very largely on the art of advertising. In the +old days of Viotti and Spohr, the violinist would remain in a city for +months, make acquaintances, and gradually acquire a reputation which +would justify his giving some concerts. A tour lasting from three to +six years would cover a comparatively small amount of territory. + +To-day the concert agent searches among the new lights for one or two +who seem, in his judgment, likely to please the audiences to whom he +caters, and who will justify the curiosity roused by the wholesale +advertising done in their behalf. + +The violinist is rushed from one place to another with mechanical +precision, and flits from Maine to California and from Canada to the +Gulf in a few short weeks. There are more soloists, more concerts, more +musical organisations than ever before. + +It does not follow by any means that the travelling virtuoso is one of +the _greatest_ violinists of his time. There are, in every city of +Europe and in many cities of America, violinists who equal or even excel +many of those who are exploited as virtuosi. The _great_ violinists are +not to be found every day. In the past twenty years, perhaps, not more +than two can be recalled who have visited the United States as mature, +great artists,--Wilhelmj and Ysaye. Many violinists of excellent ability +have been heard, and to some of them some day the adjective _great_ may +be applied. The fact that they have devoted their energies to concert +work, and have been favourably received by the most important musical +organisations, makes them celebrated, but the word _great_ can apply but +to few. + +Adolf Brodsky, who came to America in 1892, and who is a violinist of +much ability, with a beautiful tone, facile and brilliant technique, but +somewhat lacking in elegance and polish, did not come to tour the +country as a virtuoso. He was engaged by Mr. Walter Damrosch as +concert-master for the New York orchestra, but during his stay in this +country he appeared in many of the most important concerts, and was +considered one of the best violinists who had ever come to live in +America. + +Brodsky was born in 1851 at Taganrog, in Southern Russia, and was one of +those who found his profession at the age of four, when he bought a +violin at a fair, and began to pick out Russian folk-tunes. + +For four years he was taught music at home, and made good progress. Then +a wealthy gentleman was attracted by his talent, hearing him play at a +concert at Odessa, and provided the funds necessary for him to go to +Vienna and study under Hellmesberger. He became second violin in the +celebrated Hellmesberger Quartet, and thus gained a great reputation as +a quartet player. + + +After travelling all over Europe for four years, he was appointed second +professor of the violin at the Conservatory of Moscow, where he remained +another four years. Then followed more study and more travel until, +when Schradieck accepted the position of violin teacher at the +Cincinnati conservatory, Brodsky was appointed to fill his place at +Leipzig. In 1892 he was called to New York, but, owing to troubles which +arose in the musical profession, he returned to Europe the following +year, and, after a short sojourn in Berlin, received the appointment of +director of the Royal College of Music at Manchester, England, where he +succeeded Sir Charles Halle. + +Emil Sauret is well known in America, for he visited the United States +in 1872-73, and made a tour which was so successful, that it was +repeated in 1874, when he travelled with Ilma di Murska, the great +singer, and his wife, Teresa Careno, the pianist. + +[Illustration: EMIL SAURET] + +Sauret began his public career at the age of eight. He was born at +Dun-le-Roi, in the department of Cher, in France, in 1852, and at the +age of six entered the conservatory at Strasburg, after some +preliminary instruction at home. In two years he began his travels, and +for several years he divided his time between study and travel. + +As a boy he was taken up by De Beriot, who was much interested in his +welfare. He studied under Vieuxtemps in Paris, and in 1872 was one of +the artists engaged for the tour organised by the President of the +French Republic for the relief of the sufferers by the Franco-German +war. + +In 1879 ne was appointed teacher at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, a +post which he relinquished on being offered the position made vacant in +the Royal Academy of Music, London, by the death of Sainton. + +M. Sauret is pronounced conservative and conscientious to the last +degree in handling the classics, and, although he has great +individuality, passion, and fire, he would consider it a sacrilege to +obtrude his own personality upon the listener. He is distinguished for +elegance rather than perfection of technique. He may be considered a +representative of the extreme French school. + +In temperament he is quick and somewhat impatient. He expects much of +his pupils, and is the very opposite of the painstaking, phlegmatic +Wilhelmj. + +In 1896 M. Sauret again visited the United States, when it was admitted +by those who had heard him twenty years before that he had grown to a +consummate and astounding virtuoso. His tone was firm, pure, and +beautiful, though not large. Marsick and Ondricek had preceded him by a +few weeks, but Sauret did not suffer by comparison. + +One of the most remarkable violinists of the present day is Cesar +Thomson, who was born at Liege in 1857. He entered the conservatory of +his native place, after receiving some instruction from his father, and +had completed the regular course by the time he was twelve years of +age, after which he became a pupil of Leonard. + +At the age of eighteen he made a concert tour through Italy, and while +there became a member of the private orchestra of the Baron de Derwies. +In 1879 he became a member of the Bilse Orchestra, and in 1882, having +won distinction at the musical festival at Brussels, he was appointed +professor of the violin in the Liege conservatory. + +Most of his travelling has been done since that time, and he has +acquired an immense reputation in Europe. In Leipzig, at a Gewandhaus +concert in 1891, he made a phenomenal success, and in 1898 at Brussels +he received five enthusiastic recalls from a cold and critical audience, +for his magnificent performance of the Brahms concerto. + +M. Thomson's command of all the technical resources of the violin is so +great that he can play the most terrific passages without sacrificing +his tone or clearness of phrasing, and his octave playing almost equals +that of Paganini himself. Yet he is lacking in personal magnetism, and +is a player for the musically cultivated rather than for the multitude, +though his technique fills the listener with wonder. He visited the +United States in 1896, and was, like Marsick, compared with Ysaye, who +at that time swept everything before him and carried the country by +storm. + +In 1897 Cesar Thomson left Liege, owing, it is said, to disagreements at +the Conservatoire, and made his home at Brussels. + +The greatest of Belgian violinists of to-day is Eugene Ysaye, who +possesses that magnetism which charms alike the musician and the +amateur, because of his perfect musical expression. He possesses the +inexplicable and inexpressible something which takes cold judgment off +its feet and leads criticism captive. + +Ysaye was born at Liege in 1858, and, after studying at the +conservatories of his native town under his father and at Brussels, +entered that of Paris, where he completed the course in 1881, and +immediately afterward started on a series of concert tours. Ysaye's +eminence as a violinist has been gained by hard work. He did not burst +meteor-like upon the world, but he earned his position in the violin +firmament by ten years of concert touring, during which time he passed +successively through the stages of extreme sentimentality until he +reached the "sea" of real sentiment. + +It was in 1873 that Ysaye, after preparation given chiefly by his +father, made his way to Brussels and sought out Wieniawski, then +professor at the Conservatoire. Wieniawski was teaching, when a note was +brought to him marked "private and important." The servant was told to +show the bearer in, and Ysaye, then about fifteen years of age, timidly +entered the room carrying his violin. After a little preliminary +conversation which allowed the youth to tell his history, Wieniawski +asked him what he would play, and in reply he placed on the piano desk a +concerto of Vieuxtemps. The result of his performance was that he at +once became a pupil of Wieniawski, with whom he remained some three +years, during the period in which Vieuxtemps was recovering from his +paralytic shock. In 1876 Vieuxtemps heard him at Antwerp, and through +his influence the Belgian government was induced to grant Ysaye a +stipend in order to allow him to pursue his studies at Paris. There he +was the pupil of Massart, who had also been the teacher of Wieniawski, +Ysaye's master at Brussels. Vieuxtemps is said to have expressed the +desire, while in Algiers during his latter years, to have Ysaye stay +with him to play his compositions, but Ysaye was at that time in St. +Petersburg. When Vieuxtemps died and his remains were brought to +Verviers, his birthplace, Ysaye carried in the procession the violin and +bow of the virtuoso on a black velvet cushion fringed with silver. + +When Ysaye first appeared in America he was a mature artist, the +recognised leader of the Belgian school of violinists, the first +professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatoire, and the possessor of +many decorations and honours bestowed upon him by various royalties. + +Before he had been in America a month he was acknowledged to be the +greatest violinist who had visited this country for many years. + +A man of large and powerful physique, he plays with a bold and manly +vigour, and yet with exquisite delicacy. He is a master of phrasing and +of all beauties of detail, has a wonderfully perfect technique, but that +quality which places him at the head of all rivals is his musical +feeling, his temperament. He has been compared to Rubinstein and to +Paderewski. He inspires his hearers, or, as it was once expressed, very +neatly, "he creeps up under your vest." He disarms criticism, and he +seems to be more completely part of his violin and his violin of him +than has been the case with any other player who has visited these +shores for some years. He has given the greatest performance of the +celebrated Bach chaconne ever heard in America. He has been declared to +be not inferior to Joachim in his performance of this work, though he +has not so broad a tone as the latter, nor as Wieniawski. He combines +Sarasate's tenderness of tone and showy technique with more manliness +and sincerity than Sarasate gives. + +The student, perhaps, can learn more from Cesar Thomson than from Ysaye, +but he will receive from the latter the greater inspiration. + +Ysaye is noted, too, for sincerity of purpose and seriousness such as +few of the virtuosi have possessed. He is free from all traits of +charlatanism and trickery. Once, when in California, he was asked for an +autograph copy of a few measures of his original cadenza to the +Beethoven concerto (an embellishment which all violinists seem obliged +to compose), but he declared that he did not like the idea of an +original cadenza to Beethoven's work, that it was much better to omit +it, as it formed no part of the concerto. "In original cadenzas by +virtuosi," he said, "we find too much violin and too little music," for +which confession from such an artist the world may be truly grateful. + +When Ysaye came to America in 1894 he was prepared with a repertoire +consisting of ninety-one pieces. Of these, fourteen were concertos, +seventeen sonatas, and eleven were compositions of his own. + +He made a second tour in America in 1898, when he confirmed the +opinions already formed as to his wonderful qualities. + +In March, 1899, he went to Berlin, which city he had not visited for +several years, and appeared as soloist of the tenth Nikisch Philharmonic +concert, when he played the E major concerto by Bach, and scored an +overwhelming success. At the end of the concert he was recalled some +fifteen times, and had completely exploded the idea so firmly held in +Berlin, that the Belgians cannot play the classics. + +Of late years M. Ysaye has made his mark as a conductor, and has given a +series of orchestral concerts in Brussels. He organised and managed this +enterprise entirely by himself, without any guarantee fund, and the +concerts were so successful, financially as well as artistically, that +at the end of the season it was found that they had paid all expenses, +and this, as all who know anything about the financial side of +orchestral concerts, is a most remarkable showing. + +Few, if any, artists have been made the recipients of more ridiculous +adulation from women Paderewski perhaps being the only exception, and at +the conclusion of his concerts scenes have been witnessed which are +simply nauseating. This fashion is not confined, by any means, to the +United States, for there are anecdotes from all countries illustrative +of the manner in which members of the fair sex vie with each other in +the effort to do the silliest things. + +Ysaye has a home near the Palais de Justice in Brussels. He is married +to the daughter of a Belgian army officer, and has several children. He +is a man of much modesty, and is devoted to his family. As a violinist +he may be considered to rank next to Joachim. + +Carl Halir, who visited America in 1896, was born in 1859 at Hohenelbe +in Bohemia, and was first taught by his father. He entered the +conservatory at Prague at the age of eight, and remained there until he +was fourteen, studying under Bennewitz, after which he went to Berlin +and became a pupil of Joachim. + +For some time he was a member of the Bilse orchestra, and then went to +Koenigsberg as concert-master, after which he held a similar position for +three years at Mannheim, and then at Weimar, where he married the +well-known singer, Theresa Zerbst. + +On his first appearance, at the Bach festival at Eisenath, he played +with Joachim the Bach double concerto, and was very successful. He has +made concert tours throughout the greater part of Europe, and while in +America he was recognised as a broad artist. He is no virtuoso in the +ordinary sense of the word, but a classical, non-sensational, +well-educated musician, whose playing was not dazzling or magnetic, but +delighted by its intellectuality. He has an even and sympathetic tone, +and inspires the greatest respect as an artist and as a man, and, while +other players may make greater popular successes, Halir stands on a high +artistic plane which few can reach. + +Franz Ondricek, who visited the United States also in 1896, was born at +Prague in 1859, the same year as Halir, but is an artist of an entirely +different stamp. In his early youth he was a member of a dance music +band, and his father taught him to play the violin. It was not until he +was fourteen years of age that he was able to enter the conservatory of +his native town. Three years later he was sent, through the generosity +of a wealthy merchant, to Paris, where he became a pupil of Massart. He +shared with Achille Rivarde the honour of the first prize at the +Conservatoire, since which time he has been a wandering star, and has +never sought any permanent engagement. His playing is marked by +individuality and dash, but he does not show to the best advantage in +the interpretation of the classics. + +Charles Martin Loeffler, who shares the first desk of the first violins +in the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Mr. Kneisel, is a musician of the +highest ability. + +He was born in Muhlhausen, Alsace, in 1861. He enjoyed the advantages of +instruction under Joachim, in Berlin, after which he continued his +studies in Paris, with Massart and Leonard, studying composition with +Guiraud. While in Paris he was a member of Pasdeloup's celebrated +orchestra, and was afterward appointed first violin and soloist in the +private orchestra of Baron Derwies, at Nice, of which orchestra Cesar +Thomson was also a member. + +In 1880 Mr. Loeffler crossed the Atlantic, and took up his residence in +New York, but the following year he was engaged as second concert-master +and soloist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position which he has +held ever since, and in which he has had opportunity to display his +exceptional talents. + +As a violinist he plays with largeness of style, boldness of contrast, +and exquisite grace. He has a technique equalled by few, and his +performances have been confined to music of the highest class. Mr. +Loeffler has never made a tour of the country as a virtuoso, but as +soloist of the orchestra he has been heard under the best conditions in +most of the large cities of the United States, and has shown himself to +be a virtuoso in the best sense of the word. + +As a composer Mr. Loeffler is distinctly original and imaginative. His +works are both poetical and musical, and they display high thought and +exceptional knowledge. His compositions include a sextet, a quintet, and +an octet, also a suite for violin and orchestra, "Les Veillees de +l'Ukraine;" a concerto for violoncello, which has been played by Mr. +Alwyn Schroeder; a divertimento for violin and orchestra, and a +symphonic poem, "La Mort de Tintagiles." Besides these large works he +has written a number of songs, of which five are with viola obligato. +These works have been performed by the Kneisel Quartet and the Symphony +Orchestra, the solo parts of the suite and divertimento by the composer +himself, and they have gained for him a reputation as a gifted and +scholarly tone artist. + +One of the most promising young violinists of the century was a native +of Brazil, Maurice Dengremont, who was born in Rio Janeiro, in 1867. He +was the son of a French musician who had settled in Brazil, and who gave +him his first lessons to such good effect that, when only eight years of +age, he gave a concert, and the Brazilian orchestra was so delighted +with his playing that its members presented him with a medal, to which +the emperor added an imperial crown, as a recognition of his talent. + +He now became a pupil of Leonard, and after three years' study he +appeared in many concerts, travelling throughout Europe and England, and +being received with enthusiasm. About 1880 he visited America, but his +career ended shortly after, as he fell a victim to dissipation. + +Dengremont was compared with Sarasate and Wilhelmj, but all that could +be said about him was that he might have developed into a player of +their rank. As it was, he disappointed his admirers, and died while +still quite young. + +Of the many violinists who have made their home in the United States +there are few whose accomplishments better entitle them to a position +among celebrated violinists than Mr. Franz Kneisel. + +Mr. Kneisel was called to Boston to fill the position of concert-master +of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885, and has held that place for +fourteen years, during which time he has done much toward the +cultivation of musical taste in America. + +He was born in Roumania, of German parents, in 1865, and gained his +musical education at Bucharest and at Vienna, where he studied under +Gruen and Hellmesberger. He then received the appointment of +concert-master of the Hofburg Theatre Orchestra, after which he went to +Berlin to fill the same position in Bilse's orchestra, following Halir, +Ysaye, and Cesar Thomson. + +When he was called to Boston, at the instance of Mr. Gericke, who was +then the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, he was only twenty years +of age. He played, on his first appearance as soloist, the Beethoven +concerto, and was at once recognised as a violinist of remarkable +ability. + +Mr. Kneisel has never toured the country as a virtuoso, but has been +heard in many of the great cities of America, as solo violinist with +the Symphony Orchestra, and as first violin of the Kneisel Quartet. + +He is a master of technique, and surmounts all difficulties with ease; +his tone is pure, and, though not large, is satisfying, and in his +interpretation of the great works he never attempts to enforce his +personality upon the hearer,--in short, he is a true artist. As a +conductor he has marked ability, and as a quartet player he has made a +reputation which will live in the history of music in America, if not in +the whole world. + +Charles Gregorowitsch, who visited America in 1898, has risen in a very +short time to a place among the leading violinists of the world. + +He was born in 1867 at St. Petersburg, and, his talent making itself +manifest in the usual manner, he was taught by his father until he was +of an age to be sent to Moscow, where he studied until his fifteenth +year, under Besekirskij and Wieniawski. From Moscow he was sent to +Vienna, where he became a pupil of Dont, and finally he studied under +Joachim in Berlin, where he gained the Mendelssohn prize. + +Gregorowitsch was the last pupil of Wieniawski, and that master was so +impressed with the great promise of the boy that on first hearing him he +offered to take him as a pupil gratis. Few violinists have had the +advantage which has fallen to the lot of Gregorowitsch, of receiving +instruction from so many great teachers. + +Gregorowitsch has travelled extensively throughout Europe, has been +highly honoured in Russia, where the Czar granted him exemption from +military service, and decorated by the King of Portugal. In London he +made his first appearance in 1897, at the Queen's Hall Symphony +concerts. + +M. Gregorowitsch is remarkable for a large tone, and in the smoothness +and finish of his playing he has been compared with Sauret and with +Sarasate. + +A far greater sensation was caused in America by Willie Burmester than +by Gregorowitsch. + +Burmester was born in Hamburg in 1869, and received his first +instruction from his father. He owned his first violin when he was four +years of age, and it came to him from a Christmas tree. This served to +show the talent which he possessed, and the next year he received a +better violin, and began to study in earnest. + +When he was eight years old his father took him to Berlin to consult +Joachim, who was, and is, regarded as the oracle for violinists. Joachim +gave some encouragement to the parent, although he does not seem to have +given much to the boy, who in consequence felt somewhat bitter. Four +years later he was again taken to the Berlin Hochschule, to pass his +entrance examination. On this occasion he received the recognition of +the jury, and was admitted to the school, where he began a rigorous +course of technical study. At the end of four years' study under Joachim +he was refused a certificate, for some reason not stated, and he went to +Helsingfors in Finland, where he worked according to his own ideas, +which were to unlearn all he had studied, and begin afresh. During this +period he worked with the greatest perseverance, practising nine or ten +hours a day, and thus developed the wonderful technique which has +astonished the world. For three years he continued this work, supporting +himself meanwhile with a modest appointment which he had obtained. + +Before he left Berlin he had worn down the end of his first finger to +the nerve. This troubled him to such a degree that he had several +operations for the purpose of removing it, but the result was not wholly +satisfactory. + +Emerging from his retirement in 1894, he went to Berlin again, and gave +a recital in which he met with the most remarkable success. It was +written at the time: "Mr. Burmester comes from an obscure town, +unheralded, and, in the face of indifference, prejudice, and jealousy, +conquered the metropolis off-hand. For nearly half an hour recall +followed recall." + +The following season he created an equal impression in London, and +shortly afterward in America. + +His technique has been described as "marvellous, almost diabolical." +Difficult pizzicato passages and runs in thirds and tenths at top speed +are but as child's play to him. His left hand pizzicato is marvellous, +and he makes runs in single and artificial harmonics as quickly as most +violinists can play an ordinary scale. He plays harmonics with a vibrato +(Paganini played a double shake in harmonics), and his staccato volante +is developed to an astounding degree of perfection. + +When Burmester played in London his success was at once attributed to +Joachim, and he resented it, in view of the fact that he had been denied +his certificate and had narrowly escaped musical suffocation at the +hands of that great master. He had already made the same statement in +Berlin, referring to the fact of his retirement to Helsingfors, and the +development which he had acquired there in solitude. + +This announcement brought forth a deluge of letters from "pupils of +Joachim," and in a couple of weeks Burmester wrote another letter +stating that he did not know the Hochschule had as many pupils as those +who had claimed Joachim as their teacher, and who were all unknown. "If +one known pupil of Joachim," he wrote, "will appoint a meeting to +interview me on the subject, I shall be glad to continue it." But the +one known pupil did not come. + +The complaint of Mr. Burmester, that the one idea at the Hochschule is +technique, is not new by any means. In every school there are students +with great talent, who find it difficult to subject themselves to the +rigid discipline required by the teacher. It is the stumbling-block on +which many fall. It is, nevertheless, a fact that without a solid +technique the highest perfection in playing cannot be reached, and it is +usually regarded as a hopeless case when the pupil antagonises the +teacher. Many pupils are apt to try and run ahead of their technical +ability, and do not find out their mistake until it is too late. The +argument that Paganini was self-taught leads many a young violinist into +error. + +If Burmester is to be judged by his playing of the Beethoven concerto in +Boston, good musicians will declare that Joachim was right in refusing +the certificate, for while his technique was brilliant it appeared to +lack foundation. Time may justify the stand which the young virtuoso has +taken in opposition to his teacher, for he is still young and has time +in which to develop. He has undoubted musical talent and great ability, +but while he may be a celebrated violinist he can hardly yet be +considered a great one, notwithstanding the furore which he caused in +Berlin. + +Burmester plays with unassuming simplicity and without cheap display. He +is sincere, but without authority or distinction of style. His tone is +warm and pleasing, but not large, his intonation is not always sure. + +One of Burmester's earliest musical friends was Hans Von Buelow, and the +friendship extended over a period of three and a half years, until Von +Buelow went to Cairo shortly before his death. + +Von Buelow had inaugurated a series of orchestral concerts in Berlin, and +as they interfered with the Philharmonic series every effort was made to +put a stop to them. Musicians were forbidden to play for Von Buellow, +and many obstacles were placed in his way. Von Buellow's temperament was +such as to intensify the hostility rather than succumb to it. Burmester +was then only sixteen years old, but his sympathy was with Von Buellow, +and he wrote a letter to him offering his services, and expressing his +contempt for the injustice to which he was being subjected. Von Buellow +invited him to attend the rehearsals, and printed the letter which he +had received. Burmester accepted the invitation, and, going to the +rehearsal, found vacant a seat amongst the first violins, which he took. + +The rehearsal was about to commence when Von Buellow paused and asked, +"Which of you gentlemen is Burmester?" + +The young fellow approached Von Buellow, who had motioned him to come. + +"Mr. Burmester," he said, "I have no desk in the first row to offer you +or it would be yours. Gentlemen," he added, turning to the musicians, +"I wish to introduce to you the guest of honour of my orchestra, Mr. +Burmester." + +This was the beginning of a friendship, through which the young +violinist showed unswerving loyalty, and it is now one of his greatest +desires to reach a point of independence which will enable him to build +a monument to Von Buelow's memory. + +In 1893 a sensation was created in America by the visit of Henri +Marteau, a young French violinist whose excellent playing and charming +personality delighted all who heard him. Marteau was called "the +Paderewski of the Catgut," and he met with a most cordial reception +among musicians. + +Marteau was born at Reims in 1874. His father was an amateur violinist +and president of the Philharmonic Society of Reims. His mother was an +accomplished pianist, a pupil of Madame Schumann. He therefore had +every advantage in his early youth for the development of musical taste. +When he was about five years of age Sivori paid a visit to the family, +and was so charmed with the little fellow that he gave him a violin, and +persuaded his parents to let him become a professional violinist. +Marteau now began to take lessons of Bunzl, a pupil of Molique, but +three years later he went to Paris, and was placed under Leonard. In +1884, when ten years of age, he played in public before an audience of +2,500 people, and in the following year he was selected by Gounod to +play the obligato of a piece composed for the Joan of Arc Centenary +celebration at Reims, which piece was dedicated to him. + +In 1892 Marteau carried off the first prize for violin playing at the +Paris Conservatoire, and Massenet, the celebrated French composer, wrote +a concerto for him. + +When Marteau played in Boston at the Symphony concerts he received +twelve recalls, and immediately became the idol of the hour. The +concerto selected was that in G minor by Bruch, and it was played +without a rehearsal, a fact which reflects great credit on the +orchestra, which was at that time conducted by Mr. Arthur Nikisch. + +In the following year Marteau again visited America and brought with him +a concerto composed for him by Dubois. This was played for the first +time by the Colonne orchestra, with Marteau as soloist, at Paris, on +November 28, 1894, and again on the following Sunday. It was next given +at Marseilles on December 12th, and the next performances were at +Pittsburg, Louisville, and Nashville during the second American tour. + +Marteau's tone is large, brilliant, and penetrating. His technique is +sure, and he plays with contagious warmth of sentiment and great +artistic charm. + +The violin which he used during his American tours was a Maggini, which +once belonged to Maria Theresa of Austria. She gave it to a Belgian +musician who had played chamber music with her in Vienna. He took it to +Belgium, where at his death it became the property of Leonard, who, at +his death, gave it to Marteau. + +Alexander Petschnikoff, the son of a Russian soldier, is the latest +violinist who has created a furore in Europe. When he was quite young +his parents moved to Moscow, near which city he was born, and one day a +musician of the Royal Opera House happened to hear the boy, who had +already endeavoured to master the difficulties of the instrument, and he +used his influence to get the lad into the conservatory. Petschnikoff +now became a pupil of Hrimaly, and devoted himself to hard work, earning +some money by teaching even at the age of ten. + +In due course he won the first prize and the gold medal at the +conservatory, and was then offered an opportunity to study in Paris, +which he declined. For a time he earned his living by playing in a +theatre orchestra, but fortune smiled upon him, and he became an object +of interest to the Princess Ourosoff, who heard him play at a concert. +Her influence was exerted in his behalf, and he was soon noticed and +courted by the nobility. The princess also made him a present of a +magnificent violin, which formerly belonged to Ferdinand Laub, and is +said to be the most costly instrument in existence. + +When he made his debut in Berlin, in 1895, his success was +unprecedented, inasmuch as it covered four points,--the artistic, +popular, social, and financial. He has created a furore wherever he has +appeared, and has been recalled as many as sixteen times. So great has +been his success that he is said to have received the highest honorarium +for a single concert ever obtained by a violinist in Europe. + +He is described as a man of commonplace appearance, with dull, +expressionless eyes, sluggish movements, and slow, affected manner of +speech. His technique is not astonishing, but he has a full, +penetrating, sympathetic tone. There is no charlatanism or trickery in +his playing, nor any virtuoso effects, but the charm of it rests in his +glowing temperament, ideal conception, and wonderful power of +expression. He has been regarded as phenomenal, because he can move the +hearts of his hearers as few other violinists are able to do. + +Petschnikoff has been given an introduction to America, through Mr. Emil +Paur, by Theodor Leschetizky, couched in the most glowing terms, and is +called by him "an artist of the very first rank and of inconceivable +versatility." + +One might prolong the list of violinists to a tremendous extent, and yet +fail to mention all those of great merit. In England, John Dunn appears +to be acquiring a great reputation. On the Continent, such names as +Hubay, Petri, Rose are well known. In America, we have Leopold +Lichtenberg, a good musician of admirable qualifications. Bernhard +Listemann, now of Chicago, has done much toward forming musical taste in +America, and was concert-master of the Boston Symphony Orchestra during +the first few years of its existence. But space does not permit of a +mention of more than has been attempted, and a few pages must be given +to lady violinists and to a few words about celebrated quartets. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WOMEN AS VIOLINISTS. + + +During the past forty or fifty years the violin has become a fashionable +instrument for ladies, and has become correspondingly popular as a +profession for those who are obliged to earn a living. + +Formerly, for many years, it seems to have been considered improper, or +ungraceful, or unladylike,--the reasons are nowhere satisfactorily +given, but the fact remains that until recently few women played the +violin. + +From the year 1610 until 1810 the list of those who played in public is +extremely short, numbering only about twenty, and of these several were +gambists. + +That women did, once upon a time, play on the violin, or the +corresponding string and bow instruments which were its ancestors, there +is evidence. + +On the painted roof of Peterborough Cathedral, in England, which is said +to have been built in the year 1194 A.D., there is a picture of a woman +seated, and holding in her lap a sort of viol, with four strings and +four sound-holes. This seems to indicate that in very early days ladies +sometimes played on stringed instruments, if only for their own +amusement. + +Among the accounts of King Henry VII., dated November 2, 1495, is the +following item, "For a womane that singeth with a fiddle, 2 shillings." + +Anne of Cleves after her divorce comforted herself by playing on a viol +with six strings. Queen Elizabeth, also, amused herself not only with +the lute, the virginals, and her voice, but also with the violin. + +These, however, were amateurs, and the earliest professional violinist +known was Mrs. Sarah Ottey, who was born about 1695, and who about +1721-22 performed frequently at concerts, giving solos on the +harpsichord, violin, and bass viol. Previous to her there was one +Signora Leonora Baroni, born at Mantua about 1610, but she played the +theorbo and the viol di gamba. + +The next is "La Diamantina," born about 1715, who is referred to by the +poet Gray in 1740, when he was at Rome, as "a famous virtuosa, played on +the violin divinely, and sung angelically." + +Anne Nicholl, born in England about 1728, played the violin before the +Duke of Cumberland at Huntley in 1746, and her granddaughter, Mary Anne +Paton, also, who was better known as a singer and who became Lady Lenox, +and afterwards Mrs. Wood, was a violinist. + +The celebrated Madame Gertrude Elizabeth Mara, one of the greatest +singers of her time, was a violinist when young. Her father took her to +England, hoping by means of her playing to get sufficient money to give +her a thorough musical education. She was then a mere child, and as she +grew to womanhood her voice developed and she became one of the +celebrities in the history of song. There is no doubt that the training +in intervals which her practice on the violin gave her proved invaluable +as an aid to her in singing. In later days several of the most +celebrated singers have been also good violinists, as, for instance, +Christine Nilsson and Marcella Sembrich. + +Maddalena Lombardi Sirmen, born about 1735, had an almost European +reputation toward the end of the eighteenth century. She visited France +and England about 1760-61, and was so good a player that she was looked +upon almost as a rival of Nardini. She will always be celebrated in +history because of the letter which was written to her by Tartini, and +which is not only one of the rarities of musical literature, but +constitutes also a valuable treatise on the use of the violin. + +This letter, which has been printed in almost every book on the violin, +would take up rather more space than can be afforded in this sketch. It +is admirably clear and is divided into three parts, the first giving +advice on bowing, "pressing the bow lightly but steadily, upon the +strings in such a manner as that it shall seem to _breathe_ the first +tone it gives, which must proceed from the friction of the string, and +not from percussion, as by a blow given with a hammer upon it,--if the +tone is _begun_ with delicacy, there is little danger of rendering it +afterwards either coarse or harsh." The second section of the letter is +devoted to the finger-board, or the "carriage of the left hand," and the +last part to the "shake." + +Maddalena Sirmen received her instruction first at the conservatory of +Mendicanti at Venice, after which she took lessons from Tartini. She +also composed a considerable quantity of violin music, much of which was +published at Amsterdam. About 1782 she, emulating the example of Madame +Mara, appeared as a singer at Dresden, but with comparatively small +success. + +Regina Sacchi, who married a noted German violoncellist named Schlick, +was celebrated for her performances on the violin. She was born at +Mantua in 1764, and educated at the Conservatorio della Pieta at Venice. +This lady was highly esteemed by Mozart, who said of her, "No human +being can play with more feeling." + +When Mozart was in Vienna, about 1786, Madame Schlick was also there, +and solicited him to write something for the piano and violin, which +they should play together at a concert. Mozart willingly promised to do +so, and accordingly composed and arranged, _in his mind_, his beautiful +sonata in B-flat minor, for piano and violin. The time for the concert +drew near, but not a note was put upon paper, and Madame Schlick's +anxiety became painful. Eventually, after much entreaty, she received +the manuscript of the violin part the evening before the concert, and +set herself to work to study it, taking scarcely any rest that night. + +The sonata was played before an audience consisting of the rank and +fashion of Vienna. The execution of the two artists was perfect and the +applause was enthusiastic. It happened, however, that the Emperor Joseph +II., who was seated in a box just above the performers, in using his +opera-glass to look at Mozart, noticed that there was nothing on his +desk but a sheet of blank paper, and, afterward calling the composer to +him, said: "So, Mozart, you have once again trusted to chance," to which +Mozart, of course, graciously acquiesced, though the emperor did not +state whether he considered Mozart's knowledge of his new composition, +or Madame Schlick's ability to play with him unrehearsed, constituted +the "chance." + +The next virtuosa was a Frenchwoman, Louise Gautherot, who was born +about 1760, and who played in London and made a great impression about +1780 to 1790, and about the same time Signora Vittoria dall' Occa played +at the theatre in Milan. Signora Paravicini, born about 1769, and Luigia +Gerbini, about 1770, were pupils of Viotti, and earned fame. The former +made a sensation in 1799 by her performance of some violin concertos at +the Italian Theatre at Lisbon, where she played between the acts. + +Signora Paravicini attracted the attention of the Empress Josephine, who +became her patroness and engaged her to teach her son, Eugene +Beauharnais, and took her to Paris. After a time, however, the Empress +neglected her, and she suffered from poverty. Driven to the last +resource, and having even pawned her clothes, she applied for aid to the +Italians resident in Paris, and they enabled her to return to Milan, +where her ability soon gained her both competence and credit. She also +played at Vienna in 1827, and at Bologna in 1832, where she was much +admired. + +Catarina Calcagno, who has already been mentioned as a pupil of +Paganini, was a native of Genoa, born about 1797, and had a short but +brilliant career. She disappeared from before the public in 1816. + +Madame Krahmer and Mlles. Eleanora Neumann, and M. Schulz all delighted +the public in Vienna and Prague. Miss Neumann came from Moscow, and +astonished the public when she had scarcely reached her tenth year. +Other names are Madame Filipowicz, Madame Pollini, Mlle. Zerchoff, Eliza +Wallace, and Rosina Collins, who all played publicly and were well +known. + +In 1827 Teresa Milanollo was born, and in 1832 her sister Marie, and +these two young ladies played so well, and were in such striking +contrast to one another, that they proved very successful as concert +players. They were natives of Savigliano, in Piedmont, where their +father was a manufacturer of silk-spinning machinery. Teresa, the elder, +was taught by Ferrero, Caldera, and Morra, but in 1836 she went to Paris +and studied under Lafont, and afterwards under Habeneck, going still +later to Brussels, where she took lessons of De Beriot, and received the +finishing touch to her artistic education,--faultless intonation. Her +career as a concert player began when she was about nine years of age. +When Marie was old enough to handle a violin Teresa began to teach her, +and in fact was the only teacher Marie ever had. + +The two sisters, who were called, on account of their most striking +characteristics, Mlle. Staccato and Mlle. Adagio, travelled together +through France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and England, and were +everywhere received with the greatest interest. They played before Louis +Philippe at Neuilly, and appeared with Liszt before the King of Prussia. +They also created a furore at Vienna and Berlin. + +Marie, the younger, who was of a happy and cheerful disposition, was not +strong, and in 1848 she died in Paris. Teresa, the elder, after a long +retirement, resumed her travels, and, having matured and improved, she +played better and excited more interest than before. In 1857 she married +a French officer, Captain Theodore Parmentier, who had seen service in +the Crimean War, and she abandoned the concert stage. + +From 1857 until 1878 she followed the fortunes of her husband, who +became a general and a "Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honneur," and her +public appearances were limited to such places as the vicissitudes of a +military life took her to. Since 1878 Madame Parmentier has lived +quietly in Paris, where she is still to be met by a few fortunate +persons in select musical and social circles. + +During the lifetime of Marie, the sisters had already put themselves +into direct personal relations with the poor of Lyons, but after Teresa +had roused herself from her mourning for her sister she established a +system of "Concerts aux Pauvres," which she carried out in nearly all +the chief cities of France, and part of the receipts of these concerts +was used for the benefit of the poor. Her plan was to follow up the +first concert with a second, at which the audience consisted of poor +school-children and their parents, to whom she played in her most +fascinating manner, and, at the conclusion of her performance, money, +food, and clothing, purchased with the receipts of the previous +concerts, were distributed. + +From 1830 there has been a constantly increasing number of ladies who +have appeared as concert violinists, but few have continued long before +the public, or have reached such a point of excellence as to be numbered +amongst the great performers. + +Mlle. Emilia Arditi, Frauelein Hortensia Zirges, Miss Hildegard Werner, +Miss Bertha Brousil, and Madame Rosetta Piercy-Feeny were all born +during the decade 1830 to 1840, and were well known, but in 1840 and +1842 two violinists were born who were destined to hold the stage for +many years and to exert a great influence in their profession. Wilma +Neruda, now known as Lady Halle and Camilla Urso are the two ladies in +question, the former exerting her influence chiefly in England and on +the Continent, and the latter in America. + +Miss Werner has played an important part in advancing the art amongst +women, having for many years conducted a school of music at +Newcastle-on-Tyne, in England. She was also the first woman ever to +address the Literary and Philosophical Society, when in 1880 she +delivered an address on the history of the violin. There is little +doubt, however, that the success of Teresa Milanollo gave the first +great impulse toward the study of the violin by women. + +Lady Halle was born at Bruenn, March 21, 1840. Her father was Josef +Neruda, a musician of good ability, and he gave her the first +instruction on the violin, and then placed her under Leopold Jansa, in +Vienna. Wilhelmina Maria Franziska Neruda made her first appearance in +public in 1846, at which time she was not quite seven years old. On this +occasion her sister Amalie, who was a pianist, accompanied her, and +shortly afterwards her father took her, with her sister Amalie and one +of her brothers, on an extended tour. The family consisted of two +sons--a pianist and a 'cellist--and two daughters--a violinist and a +pianist. + +In 1849 they reached London, where the young violinist played a concerto +by De Beriot, at the seventh Philharmonic concert of that season. By the +critics at that time she was said to be wonderful in bravura music, in +musical intelligence, and in her remarkable accuracy. + +As time went on, and her playing matured, she became known throughout +Europe. In 1864 she married Ludwig Norman, conductor of the opera at +Stockholm, and for a time she remained in that city and became a teacher +at the Royal Music School. + +Before long she was again busy with concert playing, and in 1869 she +again appeared in England, where she became a great favourite, and has +appeared there regularly almost, if not quite, every season since. Hans +von Buelow spoke of her as Joachim's rival, and called her "the violin +fairy." + +Joachim has always been a great favourite in England, but Madame +Norman-Neruda, or Lady Halle, as she became later, has fully shared his +popularity. What Joachim is to the sterner sex, just the same is Lady +Halle to the gentler. + +Joachim was indeed one of the first to recognise the fact that he had in +Mlle. Neruda a rival, for in the days when she was earning her +reputation he heard her at some place on the Continent, and remarked to +Charles Halle, who afterwards became her husband, "I recommend this +artist to your careful consideration. Mark this, when people have given +her a fair hearing, they will think more of her and less of me." + +Ludwig Norman died in 1885, and three years later Madame Norman-Neruda +married the pianist, Charles Halle, who had long been identified with +all that was best musically in England, and who was knighted in +recognition of his services to the cause of art. + +Sir Charles Halle established a series of orchestral concerts at +Manchester in 1857, and by means of these concerts brought before the +English public the works of many composers who would have remained +unknown perhaps for years but for his efforts. In this work he was ably +supported by this talented violinist, afterwards his wife, and with her +he made many tours all over the British Isles. + +In 1890 Sir Charles and Lady Halle made a tour in Australia, which was +highly successful. Five years later they went to South Africa, where +they met with a flattering reception. In his memoirs, Sir Charles Halle +tells of a curious compliment which they received at Pietermaritzburg. +The mayor invited them to play at a municipal concert to be given one +Sunday afternoon. The concert began, and after an organ solo and a song +had been given by other musicians, they played the Kreutzer sonata. At +the conclusion of the sonata, a member of the corporation came forward, +and said that after the impression just received he thought it would be +best to omit the remainder of the programme, upon which the audience +cheered and dispersed. + +In 1895, shortly after their return from the South African tour, Sir +Charles Halle died, and Lady Halle went into retirement. At this time +her numerous admirers in England presented her with a valuable +testimonial of their appreciation. + +Throughout her career she has fulfilled the prophecies made of her in +her youth, for her talent and musicianship developed as she grew up, and +her genius did not burn itself out as that of many infant prodigies has +done. She has never endeavoured to secure public applause at the expense +of her real artistic nature. Her performances are and always have been +synonymous with all that is good in musical art, and nothing but that +which is of the best has ever been allowed to appear upon her +programmes. + +She is celebrated no less as a quartet player than as a soloist, and was +for many years first violin of the Philharmonic Quartet in London. + +In 1898, Lady Halle had the misfortune to lose her son, Mr. Norman +Neruda, who, while scaling a difficult place in the Alps, slipped and +was killed. + +In the following year she emerged from her retirement and visited the +United States, where her playing was highly appreciated by unbiassed +critics. There was a feeling, however, that she might have made the +journey many years before, and allowed the American public to hear her +in her prime, when she would have received not only a very warm welcome, +but would have been judged rather by her merits than by her history, and +she would not have challenged comparison with the violinists of the +rising generation. + +Camilla Urso has been for many years one of the best known violinists in +the United States. She was born at Nantes, in France, in 1842, of +Italian parents. Her father was Salvator Urso, a good musician, and son +of a good musician, so that the young violinist inherited some of her +talent. In 1852 the family crossed the Atlantic and settled in the +United States, and almost immediately the little girl began to appear at +concerts. Camilla Urso began to study the violin at the age of six +years, and her choice of that instrument was determined by her hearing +the violin and being fascinated by it during a celebration of the Mass +of St. Cecilia. She was taken to Paris for instruction, for which +purpose her father abandoned his position at Nantes. She entered the +Conservatoire and became a pupil of Massart. + +She made a tour through Germany, during which she met with immense +success, and then returned to Paris to continue her studies. + +She was fresh from Massart's instruction when, in October, 1852, she +made her first appearance in Boston, where her playing and her style +called forth eulogies from the critics of those days. John S. Dwight +wrote to the effect that it was one of the most touching experiences of +his life to see and hear the charming little maiden, so natural and +childlike, so full of sentiment and thought, so self-possessed and +graceful. Her tone was pure, and her intonation faultless, and she +played with a "fine and caressing delicacy," and gave out strong +passages in chords with thrilling grandeur. + +For three years she continued to travel and delight American audiences, +and then for a period of about five years she retired into private life, +and did not resume her professional career until 1862, from which time +she frequently made concert tours in America until she returned to +Paris. It was about the period of these tours that her influence upon +young women began to be felt, for she was at an age when womanly grace +becomes evident, and her manners and character were as fascinating as +her playing. + +In Paris she so pleased M. Pasdeloup that he begged her not to allow +herself to be heard in public until she had played at his concerts. "You +may count upon a splendid triumph," he said. "It is _I_ who tell you so. +Your star is in the ascendant, and soon it will shine at the zenith of +the artistic firmament." + +The result justified the prophecy, and Camilla Urso was the recipient of +great honours in Paris. She was presented by the public with a pair of +valuable diamond earrings, and was treated almost like a prima donna. + +In March, 1867, Mlle. Urso received a testimonial from the musical +profession in Boston, where a few years later she had a curious +experience. She was playing a Mozart concerto, at a concert, when an +alarm of fire was given, and caused a good deal of excitement. Many of +the audience left their seats and made for the door, but the violinist +stood unmoved until the alarm was subdued and the audience returned to +their seats, when she played the interrupted movement through from the +beginning. + +In 1879 she made a tour to Australia, and again in 1894. + +In 1895 she was in South Africa, and achieved great triumphs in Cape +Town, besides giving concerts at such out-of-the-way places as +Bloemfontein. She has probably travelled farther than any other violin +virtuosa. + +For the past few years she has lived in New York, and has practically +retired from the concert stage. + +Teresina Tua, who was well known in the United States about 1887, was +born at Turin in 1867. As in the case of Wilhelmina Neruda and of +Camilla Urso, her father was a musician, and she received her early +musical instruction from him. Her first appearance in public was made at +the age of seven, and up to that time she had received no instruction, +except that given her by her father. During her first tour she played at +Nice, where a wealthy Russian lady, Madame Rosen, became interested in +her, and provided the means to go to Paris, where she was placed under +Massart. + +In 1880 Signorina Tua won the first prize for violin playing at the +Paris Conservatoire, and the following year made a concert tour which +extended through France and Spain to Italy. In 1882 she appeared in +Vienna, and in 1883 in London, where she played at the Crystal Palace. +Wherever she went people of wealth and distinction showed the greatest +interest in her, and when she came to America in 1887 she appeared laden +with jewelry given her by royalty. Her list of jewels was given in the +journals of that day,--"a miniature violin and bow ablaze with diamonds, +given by the Prince and Princess of Wales; a double star with a +solitaire pearl in the centre, and each point tipped with pearls, from +Queen Margherita of Italy." Besides these, there were diamonds from the +Queen of Spain and from the Empress of Russia and sundry grand +duchesses. No lady violinist ever appeared before an American audience +more gorgeously arrayed. "Fastened all over the bodice of her soft white +woollen gown she wore these sparkling jewels, and in her hair were two +or three diamond stars," said the account in Dwight's _Journal of +Music_. Yet with all this the criticisms of her playing were somewhat +lukewarm. The expectation of the people had been wrought up to an +unreasonable pitch, and Signorina Tua, while she was acknowledged to be +an excellent and charming violinist, was not considered _great._ After a +time, however, as she became better known, she grew in popular +estimation, and before she left America she had hosts of admirers. + +On returning to Europe she made another tour, but shortly afterwards she +married Count Franchi Verney della Valetta, a distinguished Italian +critic, and retired into private life, though from time to time she was +heard in concerts in Italy. + +In 1897 she was again on the concert stage, and played at St. James's +Hall, London, after an absence of eight years, and it was considered +that her playing had gained in breadth, while her technique was as +perfect as ever. + +Of the three hundred or more pupils of Joachim, there have been several +ladies who have attained celebrity, of whom Miss Emily Shinner (now +Mrs. A. F. Liddell) has been for some years the most prominent in +England, while the names of Gabrielle Wietrowitz and Marie Soldat are +known throughout Europe, and Maude Powell and Leonora Jackson are among +the brightest lights from the United States. + +Miss Emily Shinner has been in many respects a pioneer amongst lady +violinists, for in 1874, when quite young, she went to Berlin to study +the violin. In those days pupils of the fair sex were not admitted to +the Hochschule, and Miss Shinner began to study under Herr Jacobsen. It +happened, however, that a lady from Silesia arrived at Berlin, intending +to take lessons of Joachim, but unaware of the rules against the +admission of women to the Hochschule. Joachim interested himself in her, +and she was examined for admission. Miss Shinner at once presented +herself as a second candidate, and the result was that both ladies were +accepted as probationers. In six months Miss Shinner was allowed to +become a pupil of Joachim, and thus gained the distinction of being the +first girl violinist to study under the great professor. + +Again in 1884 Miss Shinner, having acquired a great reputation in +musical circles in England, was called upon at very short notice to take +Madame Neruda's place as leader to the "Pop" Quartet, on which occasion +she acquitted herself so well that an encore of the second movement of +the quartet was demanded. Since that time she has been always before the +public, and has taken special interest in chamber music and quartet +playing, the Shinner Quartet of ladies having acquired a national +reputation. + +Her marriage to Capt. A. F. Liddell took place in 1889. + +Marie Soldat was born at Gratz in 1863 or 1864, and was the daughter of +a musician, who was pianist, organist, and choirmaster, and who gave +her instruction from her fifth year on the piano. Two years later she +began to learn the organ, and was soon able to act as substitute for her +father when occasion required her services. Until her twelfth year she +studied music vigorously, taking violin lessons with Pleiner at the +Steier Musical Union at Gratz, and composition with Thierot, the +Kapellmeister, at the same time keeping on with the pianoforte. + +She played the phantasie-caprice by Vieuxtemps in a concert at the +Musical Union when she was ten years of age, and at thirteen she went on +a tour and played Bruch's G minor concerto. + +Soon after this she had the misfortune to lose her father, and a little +later her violin teacher, Pleiner, also died, so that her progress +received a check. Joachim, however, visited Gratz to play at a concert, +and the young girl went to him and consulted him as to her future +course. As a result of the interview she began to take lessons of August +Pott, a good violinist at Gratz, and the following year (1879) she again +went on a concert tour, visiting several cities in Austria. + +During this tour, she made the acquaintance of Johannes Brahms, who took +a great deal of interest in her, advised her to devote all her energies +to the violin, and succeeded in arranging for another interview with +Joachim, the result of which was that she was enabled to enter the +Berlin High School for Music. Here she pursued her studies until 1882, +after which she still continued her studies and took private lessons of +Joachim. + +At the high school she gained the Mendelssohn prize, and from that time +commenced her career as a virtuosa, touring extensively throughout +Europe. One of her greatest triumphs was when, in 1885, at Vienna, she +played Brahm's violin concerto with Richter's orchestra. + +Her career has been marked by hard work and continual practice, which +have enabled her to overcome many obstacles, and have placed her on a +level with the very best violinists of her sex. + +The Ladies' String Quartet, which she formed in Berlin, consisting of +herself as first violin, with Agnes Tschetchulin, Gabrielle Roy, and +Lucie Campbell, had a creditable career, and appeared in several German +cities. + +In 1889 Marie Soldat married a lawyer named Roeger, but did not retire +from her profession. She is now known as Madame Soldat-Roeger. + +Gabrielle Wietrowitz was born a few years later, in 1866, at Laibach, +and was also a pupil at the Musical Institute at Gratz. Her father was a +military bandsman who had some knowledge of the violin, which enabled +him to give his daughter elementary instruction on that instrument. + +After a few years he left Laibach to settle in Gratz, and Gabrielle took +violin lessons from A. Geyer (some accounts say Caspar). On entering the +Musical Union she made a sensation by playing brilliantly at a concert +before a large audience. She was then eleven years of age, and from that +time she made the most rapid progress, taking first prize at the annual +trial concert. In consequence of her great promise Count Aichelburg, who +was a member of the Directorate of the Musical Union, presented her with +a valuable violin, and the Directorate assigned her a yearly salary +which enabled her to go to Berlin and enter the high school, where she +became a pupil of Joachim in 1882. + +At the high school her career was as brilliant as it had been in Gratz, +for at the end of her first year she succeeded in capturing the +Mendelssohn prize, which brought her 1,500 marks, and at the end of her +third year she took it for a second time. + +She remained at the high school three years, after which she began a +splendid career by playing the concerto by Brahms at the St. Cecilia +Festival at Muenster. Then followed a series of concert tours, which +resulted in securing her a reputation as one of the most brilliant stars +amongst women. + +Miss Wietrowitz plays with the most consummate ease the greatest works +of the modern school. She has a powerful and brilliant tone, with sweet +tenderness and sympathy, which appeal to the soul of the listener, and +she confines her repertoire to the highest class of musical +compositions. She has recently succeeded Miss Emily Shinner as first +violin in the quartet which that talented lady established in England. + +The most recent star of Europe is Madame Saenger-Sethe, whose +appearances are invariably followed by eulogies from the critics. In +Berlin, when she appeared at the Singakademie, in November, 1898, where +she was assisted by the Philharmonic Orchestra, one critic declared that +no violin playing had been heard to compare with it during that season, +with the exception of Burmester's performance of the Beethoven concerto. +"Such wealth and sensuous beauty of tone, such certainty of technique, +such mental grasp of the work, and at the same time such all-conquering +temperament have not been heard in Berlin at the hands of a female +violinist during several years." After many recalls, she gave, as an +encore, a rousing performance of a Bach sarabande. + +Mlle. Irma Sethe was born on April 28, 1876, at Brussels, and such was +her early aptitude for music that at the age of five she was placed +under a violinist of repute, named Jokisch, who in three months from the +start taught her to play a Mozart sonata. Five years of hard study +enabled her to appear at a concert at Marchiennes, when she played a +concerto by De Beriot and the rondo capriccioso by Saint-Saens. The +following year she played at Aix-la-Chapelle, and made such an +impression that several offers of concert engagements were made, but +were declined by her mother on the score of the child's health, and for +three years after this she never appeared at a concert. + +One summer, during the holidays, she met August Wilhelmj, who was +charmed with her talent, and devoted his mornings for two months to +giving her lessons daily. At the end of that time he emphasised his +appreciation by making her a present of a valuable violin. She still +continued her regular studies with Jokisch, until, acting on the advice +of her friends, she obtained a hearing from Ysaye, and played for him +Bach's prelude and fugue in G minor. + +Ysaye at once recognised her immense ability, and advised her to enter +the conservatoire at Brussels, which she did, with the result that in +eight months she carried off the first prize, being then only fifteen +years of age. She continued her studies for three more years, and was +frequently employed as a substitute for Ysaye, as professor, to teach +his classes while he was absent on concert tours. + +In 1894 she appeared with him at a number of important concerts, and +shortly afterwards made her first concert tour, visiting many of the +principal towns of Germany. In November, 1895, she made her first +appearance in London, where she was pronounced to be, with the exception +of Lady Halle, the most remarkable lady violinist who had ever appeared +before the public in England, and where her excellent technique, perfect +intonation, warmth of feeling, and musical insight were highly, almost +extravagantly, praised. + +In August, 1898, Mlle. Sethe married Doctor Saenger, a _litterateur_, +and professor of philosophy at Berlin, but she continues her career as a +violinist, and has made several tours of Europe. She has been compared +to Rubinstein, inasmuch as her remarkable musical temperament and +irresistible impulsiveness carry her at times almost beyond the limits +of her instrument, but these are the very qualities by which she +captivates and carries away her hearers. + +Among other European ladies who have made their mark as violinists, and +whose stars are in the ascendant, may be mentioned Sophie Jaffe, who has +been called the greatest of all women violinists, and Frida Scotta. + +Although many years behind the continent of Europe in musical life, and +with a musical atmosphere not nearly as dense as that found in almost +any village of Italy, France, or Germany, America has contributed to +the musical world many shining lights during the past few years. Mlle. +Urso has been claimed as an American violinist, though she was born in +Europe and was a good violinist before she reached these shores, but in +1864, in New York, Anna Senkrah was born, who for a few years rivalled +Teresina Tua. + +The real name of Arma Senkrah was Harkness, which for professional +purposes she "turned end for end," as the sailors would say, and dropped +an "s." After Miss Harkness had been taught the elements of music by her +mother, she went to Brussels to study under Wieniawski, and then to +Paris, where she became a pupil of Massart She is said also to have +taken lessons of Vieuxtemps and of Arno Hilf. + +In 1881 she won the first prize at the Paris Conservatoire, a feat which +always stamps the winner "artist." From 1877 to 1880 Arma Senkrah +travelled a great deal throughout Europe, and in 1882 she played, under +her proper name, at the Crystal Palace, London. She was created, at +Weimar, a chamber virtuoso, by the grand duke. Here she met and shortly +afterwards married a lawyer named Hoffman, and disappeared from the +concert platform. + +New York has contributed other stars to the violin firmament, for Nettie +Carpenter and Geraldine Morgan are names which have become well known. + +Miss Carpenter went abroad at an early age, though not until she had +appeared in concerts in her native city, and created considerable +interest. + +On going to Paris, she was successful in passing the entrance +examinations for the Conservatoire, and in 1884 won the first prize for +violin playing. In 1882 she appeared in London at the promenade +concerts, and again in 1884, when she confirmed the reputation which she +had made two years previously, at the same concerts. From that time on +she went through the usual routine of the concert violinist, with +considerable success. + +In 1894 she married Leo Stern, the violoncello player, but the union did +not continue for long, Mr. Stern becoming about four years later the +husband of Miss Suzanne Adams, the opera singer. + +Miss Geraldine Morgan is the daughter of John P. Morgan, who was for +some years organist of Old Trinity Church, New York. She studied in her +native city under Leopold Damrosch, besides which she received much +instruction from her father. Then she went to Leipzig, where she studied +with Schradieck, after which she was the pupil in Berlin of Joachim, +under whose guidance she remained eight years. She was the first +American who ever gained the Mendelssohn prize. + +Miss Morgan has made tours through the Continent and Great Britain, and +had the honour of playing the Bach double concerto with Joachim at the +Crystal Palace. In 1891 she appeared in New York under the auspices of +Walter Damrosch. + +A lady who holds a high position among the violinists of the world is +Miss Maud Powell, who was born in Aurora, Ill., in 1868. Her father is +American and her mother German. She began her musical education at the +age of four, by taking piano lessons. At eight she took up the violin, +and made such excellent progress that, when she was thirteen years old, +she was taken to Leipzig, where she studied under Schradieck, and +received her diploma in a year, playing also at one of the Gewandhaus +concerts. + +[Illustration: MAUD POWELL] + +She next went to Paris, where she was the first selected out of eighty +applicants for admission to the Conservatoire. In the following year she +accepted an engagement for a tour in England, and had the honour of +playing before the royal family. While in London Joachim heard her, and +expressed his approval of her capabilities by inviting her to go to +Berlin and become one of his pupils, which she accordingly did, and +remained with him for two years. + +In 1885 she made her debut in Berlin at the Philharmonic concerts, when +she played the Bruch concerto, which she also played in Philadelphia +later in the same year. Her performance in America brought her much +praise, and she was declared to be a marvellously gifted woman, one who +in every feature of her playing disclosed the instincts and gifts of a +born artist, though she had not yet reached the heights of her ability. +Since that time she has gained in breadth, and has become a mature +artist. + +Miss Powell has appeared in the best concerts throughout America, and +has gained a reputation second to no American violinist. By many she is +declared to be the equal of Soldat and Wietrowitz in tone, technique, +and interpretative power. She has an immense repertoire, and is also a +student of literature. She also is said to have been the first to +establish a female quartet in America. + +The latest American lady violinist to gain honours abroad is Miss +Leonora Jackson, who won the Mendelssohn state prize at Berlin, in 1898, +and who has gained a great reputation by her performances before the +most important musical organisations in Europe. + +Miss Jackson was fortunate enough to attract the attention of Mrs. +Grover Cleveland, who admired her talent, and, with Mr. George +Vanderbilt, sent her abroad. For two years she studied in Paris, and +then went to Berlin, where she became a pupil of Joachim. In Berlin she +made her debut in 1896, with the Philharmonic Orchestra, which was +conducted by Joachim on that occasion. Shortly afterwards she was +commanded by the Empress of Germany to play at the Royal Opera House, in +Berlin, and she soon earned for herself a position amongst the best of +the rising violinists of the day. + +When she appeared in London, in 1898, she surprised and delighted the +audience, displaying a fine tone, natural musical feeling, and complete +technique. Few violinists can play with such quiet, intense sentiment. +Miss Jackson, though but twenty years of age, is already a veteran +concert player, for she has appeared in many cities of Europe, and was +already known in America before she went to Berlin. She played in July, +1899, before the Queen of England at Windsor Castle, and again in August +at Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight. + +The time has long since gone by when mere showy technique would earn a +reputation for any violinist, male or female, and she who expects to be +numbered with the great violinists must be first of all a musician, +capable of interpreting the greatest works. If in addition to this she +has "the divine spark," she will be truly great. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FAMOUS QUARTETS. + + +Quartet playing is at once the delight and the despair of the amateur, +who finds no greater pleasure than an evening spent in endeavouring to +unravel the intricacies of chamber music, nor any keener disappointment +than the realisation that it is capable of far better interpretation. + +For the professional there are many influences which cause him to +hesitate before he launches forth upon the quicksands of public +performance. The first necessity in professional quartet playing is the +devotion of a large amount of time to the acquisition of a perfect +ensemble. A quartet may be likened unto a family, in which the members +learn to know one another by being brought up together, and few are the +professionals who can sacrifice the time necessary for the acquisition +of this perfect ensemble. + +Apparently very little was done previous to the nineteenth century in +the way of quartet concerts, but Baillot founded a series of quartet +concerts in Paris, which were highly spoken of, and about the same time +Schuppanzigh, an excellent violinist and teacher in Vienna, established +a quartet which became famous. In this quartet Mayseder played, in his +younger days, second violin. Mayseder was considered the foremost +violinist in Vienna, but he never travelled as a virtuoso. + +When Spohr went first to Leipzig and was unknown, he had to find a way +by which he could attract attention to himself,--in those days the +advertising agent was not much in evidence,--so that he might give a +concert with a reasonable prospect of success. The rich merchants, to +whom he had brought letters of introduction, knew nothing of him and +received him coldly. "I was very anxious to be invited to play at one of +their music parties in order to draw attention to myself," Spohr says in +his autobiography, "and my wish was fulfilled, for I was invited to a +grand party and asked to play something. I chose one of the loveliest of +the six new quartets of Beethoven, with which I had often charmed my +hearers in Brunswick. But after a few bars I already noticed that my +accompanists knew not the music and were quite incapable of playing it. +This disturbed me, and my dismay increased when I observed that the +assembled company paid little attention to my playing. Conversation +became general, and ultimately so loud as almost to drown the music. I +rose in the midst of the music, hurried to my violin case without saying +a word, and was on the point of putting my instrument away. This made +quite a sensation in the company, and the host approached me +questioningly. I met him with the remark,--which could be heard +everywhere,--'I have always been accustomed to be listened to with +attention. As it has been otherwise here, I thought the company would +prefer that I should stop.' The host did not know at first how to reply, +and retired somewhat discomfited. As I made preparations for leaving, +after having excused myself to the other musicians, the host came up and +said, quite amicably: 'If you could but play something else, something +more suitable to the taste and capacity of the company, you would find +them an attentive and grateful audience.' It was clear to me before that +I had chosen the wrong music in the first instance for such a company, +and I was glad enough now to have an opportunity to change it. So I took +up my violin again and played Rode's E flat quartet, which the musicians +already knew and accompanied well enough. This time there was perfect +silence, and the enthusiasm for my playing increased with each movement. +At the end of the quartet so much flattery was heaped upon me that I +trotted out my hobby-horse,--the G variations of Rode. With this piece I +made quite a sensation, and for the remainder of the evening I was the +object of the most flattering attention." + +This little episode shows that Beethoven was not fully appreciated, and +it also shows that quartet playing was regarded at that time in an +entirely different light from that in which we are accustomed to think +of it to-day. We do not consider the first violinist a soloist and the +rest merely his accompaniment, but each member of the quartet is +practically of equal importance. + +Lambert Joseph Massart, the eminent teacher of Paris, is said to have +been an excellent quartet player, and often, with his wife, an +admirable pianist, he gave delightful chamber concerts. + +Few violinists have been more closely associated with quartet playing +than Ferdinand David, in his way one of the most celebrated violinists. +Little is known of his early youth except that he was born at Hamburg in +1810, and was there at the time of the French occupation. It has been +said that he played in a concert at ten years of age and at thirteen +became a pupil of Spohr at Cassel. He made a concert tour with his +sister, Madame Dulcken, and in 1827 entered the orchestra of the +Koenigstadt Theatre at Berlin. Here he became acquainted with +Mendelssohn, with whom he was from that time on terms of the greatest +intimacy. While in Berlin he was heard by a wealthy musical amateur +named Liphart, who lived at Dorpat, and who maintained a private +quartet. He engaged David, who eventually married his daughter, to lead +this quartet, and for several years the young violinist remained in +Dorpat, though he found opportunity to make some concert tours through +the north of Europe. + +When Mendelssohn was appointed conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts at +Leipzig, he sent for David and made him concert master, which post he +occupied from 1836. Seven years later the conservatory was founded by +Mendelssohn, and David became professor of violin, in which position his +influence became great and beneficial. + +In Leipzig David established a quartet, which was one of the best, if +not the very best, in its day, though it may have been surpassed later +by the Florentine Quartet and those of Joachim, in London and Berlin, +and possibly by Brodsky's later Leipzig quartet. + +David died in 1873, beloved and respected, and will be remembered as one +of the most refined musicians and admirable teachers of the century. + +Josef Hellmesberger, one of the most brilliant violinists and noted +teachers of Vienna, founded, in 1849, a quartet which achieved an +immense reputation. His associates were Heissler, Durst, and +Schlesinger. Hellmesberger made a point of finding works of merit which +had sunk into oblivion, but which were worthy of a hearing. +Hellmesberger spent the whole of his life in Vienna, with the exception +of a tour in 1847, and he held the highest musical office in the +Austrian Empire, that of director of the Imperial Band. + +A story which is told of him bears testimony to his remarkable musical +instinct. Teresa Milanollo, in 1840, took a new manuscript by De Beriot +to Vienna. She wished to keep it for her own use, and did not show it to +anybody. Hellmesberger heard it played at two rehearsals, and then went +home and wrote out the whole work from memory. + +No small portion of the immense influence which Joachim has wielded in +the musical world has been directed toward quartet playing, and he has +established a quartet in London and another one at Berlin, which both +bear an enviable reputation. His chamber music classes, too, at the +Berlin High School, tend to develop admirable quartet players; thus we +find Marie Soldat organising a ladies' quartet which had a good career, +and Gabrielle Wietrowitz taking the place of first violin in the +excellent ladies' quartet formed in England by Miss Emily Shinner.[1] +Miss Shinner, whose efforts in the artistic world have been of great +value, and whose quartet has an immense reputation in England, was also +a pupil of Joachim. + +[Footnote 1: The Shinner Quartet consisted of Miss Emily Shinner (Mrs. F. +Liddell), first violin, Miss Lucy H. Stone, second violin, Miss Cecilia +Gates, viola, and Miss Florence Hemmings, violoncello.] + +The "Florentine Quartet" was founded by Jean Becker, a violinist of +excellent ability, who made his mark in Europe about the middle of the +nineteenth century. Becker was travelling in Italy in 1865, and settled +in Florence for a time, during which he organised the above-mentioned +quartet, with Masi, second violin, Chiostri, viola, and Hilpert, +violoncello. In Florence there existed a society for the performance of +chamber music, which had been established by a wealthy professor named +Bazzini, a violinist and composer who travelled much, and whose +influence in Italy, in the cause of German music, was of great value. +Bazzini was born in 1818 and died in 1897. + +From time to time this society gave subscription concerts, and Becker +was invited to lead ten such concerts during the winter of 1865-66. He +consented to do so, but found the quartet in a state of dissolution. He +brought Hilpert with him, and engaged Masi as second violin, Chiostro +being the only member of the original quartet. Masi was not accustomed +to chamber music, but Becker took him in hand and he improved rapidly. +In order to still enhance his value in the quartet, Becker presented him +with a Stradivarius violin. They remained in Florence until their +ensemble was absolutely perfect, and then began a series of tours which +took them all over Europe. In Vienna the quartet was subjected to +comparison with those of Hellmesberger and of Joachim, for the former +had just given six chamber concerts, and the latter three. The first +concert given by the Florentine Quartet was thinly attended, but the +report of its excellence brought an overflowing audience to the second +concert, and in all ten were given during the remainder of the season. + +About 1875 Hilpert withdrew, and his place was filled by Hegyesi, who +remained with the quartet until it was disbanded in 1880. + +An excellent series of quartet concerts was founded in Stuttgart by +Edmund Singer, who was appointed professor of violin in the +Conservatorium, leader of the court music, and chamber musician, in +1861, after a distinguished career of some ten or more years as a +virtuoso. These concerts met with triumphant success. + +Georg J.R. Heckmann founded a quartet at Cologne and travelled through +Europe, but it was surpassed by the Florentine Quartet, and did not gain +the highest reputation. + +A quartet which has been pronounced to be one of the best in existence +is that which is led by Jeno Hubay, in Pesth, and in which Hegyesi, +formerly of the Florentine Quartet, is the 'cellist. + +Adolf Brodsky, who for a time resided in New York, founded a string +quartet at Leipzig, with Hans Becker, son of the founder of the +Florentine Quartet, Hans Sitt, and Julius Klengel, the 'cellist, and +this quartet was said to have no superior in Europe, and not more than +one equal,--the Joachim Quartet of Berlin. In 1891 Brodsky went to New +York, where he also established a quartet, but with little success. The +organisation was received with respect, owing to Mr. Brodsky's European +reputation, but it was admitted on all hands that superior organisations +existed in America. Before Mr. Brodsky had time to bring his quartet to +a high degree of proficiency, he returned to Europe, and, after a brief +stay in Germany, accepted a position in England, where he has +established another quartet. + +He was succeeded in the quartet at Leipzig and at the conservatory by +Arno Hilf, a distinguished violinist with an enormous technique, who was +born in 1858 and was taught by David, Roentgen, and Schradieck. + +Quartet playing in public was established in England in 1835, when the +admirers of Joseph Dando, an excellent violinist, opened a subscription +for the purpose of giving some concerts in which the chamber music, and +especially the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr, etc., should +be performed. The first concert was given at the Horn Tavern, +Doctors'-Commons, in London, on September 23d of that year, and being +highly successful, a second was given on October 12th, and a third on +the 26th, each proving more attractive than its predecessor. These +concerts lasted for two seasons, when a new quartet was formed, with +H.G. Blagrove and Henry Gattie as first and second violins, Mr. Dando, +viola, and Mr. Lucas, 'cello, for the more perfect study and +presentation of quartets and other chamber music. These concerts were +given at the Hanover Square rooms, and on account of the care bestowed +upon the rehearsals (of which they held seven or eight for each +concert), they threw all previous performances into the shade. + +The tide of public favour had now set in, and other quartets were +formed, but none reached such excellence as that headed by Blagrove, +which was invited to play at the Philharmonic concerts, where it +produced a great sensation. + +About the end of the seventh season Blagrove withdrew, but the quartet +continued in existence for many years, Mr. Dando playing first violin, +and Mr. Loder, the viola, and the concerts were given at Crosby Hall in +the city, instead of the Hanover Square rooms. + +At St. Petersburg a quartet was formed by Leopold Auer, an excellent +violinist, who at the death of Wieniawski was appointed professor of +violin at the Conservatoire. Auer was born in Hungary, and became a +pupil of Dont at Vienna, after which he had a brilliant career as a +virtuoso in Europe. His St. Petersburg quartet was founded in 1868, and +became one of the leading musical organisations of the Russian capital, +until the death of Davidoff, the violoncellist, who was one of its +members, in 1890. + +Auer has been very active in the musical life of St. Petersburg, and is +very highly esteemed both as a man and as a musician, teacher, and +performer. + +A quartet which has gained a great reputation in Europe during recent +years is the Bohemian Quartet, consisting of Carl Hoffmann, first +violin, Joseph Suk, second violin, Oscar Nedbal, viola, and Hanus Wihom, +violoncello. They play with a great deal of vim and abandon, and the +ensemble is remarkable. + +At Hanover Richard Sahla has established a quartet, with Meneke, Kugler, +and Loeleberg, and Arnold Rose's quartet, of Vienna, has travelled in +Hungary, Italy, and other countries, gaining a good reputation. + +In the United States there have been well meant efforts to found good +quartets, and these have all had a beneficial influence. In Boston Mr. +Bernhard Listemann, some twenty years ago, established a quartet which +gave some very delightful concerts, but the past decade has witnessed +the rise of an organisation which is able to bear comparison with any +quartet in the world. + +The Kneisel Quartet was organised in 1885, the year in which Mr. Franz +Kneisel accepted the position of concert-master to the Boston Symphony +Orchestra. Mr. Henry L. Higginson invited him at the same time to +organise a quartet, and a series of concerts was given that season in +Chickering Hall. While the excellence of the quartet was apparent from +the start, there were comparatively few people in Boston who took much +interest in chamber music, and the audiences were, as a rule, small. +Year by year they have increased, and for the past few years it has been +necessary to give the concerts in Association Hall, which has a seating +capacity about twice as large as that of the original hall. + +The second violin is Mr. Otto Roth,[2] a native of Vienna, who played +for three years under the baton of Hans Richter, and came to Boston to +play first violin in the Symphony Orchestra. + +[Footnote 2: Mr. Roth retired from the quartet in 1899 and his place +was filled by Mr. Karl Ondricek.] + +Mr. Louis Svecenski, an excellent artist, who studied in the Vienna +Conservatory, under Hellmesberger and Gruen, plays the viola, and the +'cellist is Alwyn Schroeder, an artist, who had achieved a high +reputation as a 'cello virtuoso, before he came to America. + +After a few years the Kneisel Quartet began to appear in other +cities, and now gives regular series of subscription concerts in New +York, Washington, Baltimore, Hartford, and Worcester, also Harvard, +Yale, and Princeton Universities, besides occasional performances in +more remote cities. In 1896 the quartet had given over eight hundred +concerts since its formation. + +[Illustration: FRANZ KNEISEL] + +At the end of the Symphony season in Boston, in 1896, the Kneisel +Quartet made a visit to London and gave several concerts. In London it +was obliged to stand comparison with the finest quartets in existence. +The Joachim Quartet and the Bohemian Quartet gave concerts the same +season, but the unanimous verdict was to the effect that none could +equal the Kneisel Quartet in absolute ensemble and perfection of detail. +While the Bohemian Quartet played with a great deal of abandon and +enthusiasm, and the Joachim Quartet contained players of a greater +reputation in Europe, yet the Kneisel Quartet simply confirmed the +reputation it had acquired in America. "It would, indeed, be impossible +to conceive greater perfection in the matter of ensemble, precision, +delicacy, and all the qualities requisite for the proper interpretation +of chamber music." + +In the spring of 1899 the Kneisel Quartet made an extended tour in +America, and found the musical condition of the great cities in the +United States, as evidenced by the appreciation of music, fully equal to +that of the European centres. Brahms and Beethoven were played in Denver +and in San Francisco to audiences who were fully equal to the enjoyment +of the highest class of music, and everywhere the quartet was greeted +with enthusiasm. + +The success of the Kneisel Quartet is due to the long and arduous +practice which the members have enjoyed together, for perfection in +quartet playing is only possible through long association. + +While virtuosity is not essential for quartet playing, good musicianship +is very necessary. Patient and self-denying practice are absolute +requisites. + +The love of chamber music is apparently growing in the United States, +for in many of the large cities quartets have been established by good +musicians, and the opportunities for hearing fine interpretations of the +best chamber music are increasing each year. It is a branch of musical +art which appeals only to cultivated taste, for it is necessarily free +from sensationalism and individual display. Therefore, the love of +quartet playing may be considered to be a true index of the growth of +musical culture. + + +THE END. + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF FAMOUS VIOLINISTS. + +"c" indicates that the date given is only approximate. + +------------------------------------------------------------------- + NAME. | Place and Date | Place and Date | + | of Birth. | of Death. | +------------------------------------------------------------------- +Alessandro, Romano | Italy c1530 | ? ? | +Baltazarini | Italy c1550 | ? ? | +Farina, Carlo | Italy c1580 | ? ? | +Alberghi, Paolo | Italy c1600 | ? ? | +Biber, Henry J. | England c1600 | ? ? | +Cortellini, Camillo | Italy c1600 | ? ? | +Madorus, Giovanni | Venice c1600 | ? ? | +Manoir, Guillaume | ? c1600 | ? ? | +Baltzar, Thomas | Lubec 1630 | London 1663 | +Bannister, John | England 1630 | London 1679 | +Lulli, Jean Baptiste de | Florence 1633 | Paris 1687 | +Strunck, Nicolas Adam | Germany 1640 | ? 1700 | +Laurenti, Bartolomeo G. | Bologna 1644 | ? 1726 | +Vitali, Tomasso | Bologna c1650 | ? ? | +Eccles, John | London 1650 | London 1735 | +Marini, Carlo Antonio | Bergamo c1650 | ? ? | +Corelli, Arcangelo | Italy 1653 | Rome 1713 | +Aschenbrunner, Christian H.| Alstettin 1654 | Jena 1732 | +Bassani, Giovanni B. | Padua 1657 | Ferrara 1716 | +Vivaldi, Antonio | Venice 1660 | ? 1743 | +Eccles, Henry | London 1660 | London ? | +Bannister, John, Jr. | England 1673 | London 1735 | +Albinoni, Thomas | Venice 1674 | Venice 1745 | +Hesse, Ernest Christian | Germany 1676 | Darmstadt 1762 | +Somis, Lorenzo | Piedmont 1676 | ? 1763 | +Aubert, Jacques | ? 1678 | Paris 1753 | +Geminiani, Francesco | Lucca 1680 | Dublin 1762 | +Alberti, Guiseppe Matteo | Bologna 1685 | ? ? | +Veracini, Francesco | Florence c1685 | 1750 | +Senaille, Jean Baptiste | Paris 1687 | ? 1730 | +Pisendel, Johann Georg | Karlsburg 1687 | Dresden 1755 | +Birckenstock, Johann A. | Hesse 1687 | Eisenach 1733 | +Montanari, Francesco | Padua ? | Rome 1730 | +Matheis, Nicola | ? ? | ? 1749 | +Gentili, Georges | Venice 1688 | ? ? | +Valentini, Guiseppe | Florence 1690 | ? ? | +Castrucci, Pietro | Rome 1690 | London 1769 | +Tartini, Guiseppe | Pirano 1692 | Padua 1770 | +Locatelli, Pietro | Bergamo 1693 | Amsterdam 1764 | +Rothe, August Friedrich | Sonderhausen 1696 | ? 1784 | +Leclair, Jean Marie | Lyons 1697 | Paris 1764 | +Graun, Jean G. | Germany 1698 | Berlin 1771 | +Francoer, Francois | Paris 1698 | ? 1787 | +Abaco, Evaristo F. Dall | Verona c1700 | ? ? | +Anderle, F.J. | ? c1700 | ? ? | +Bitti, Martini | ? 1700 | ? ? | +Borghi, Luigi | ? ? | ? ? | +Brown, Abram | ? ? | ? ? | +Carbonelli, Stefano | Rome c1700 | London ? | +Dalloglio, Domenico | Venice c1700 | Russia 1764 | +Guignon, Jean Pierre | Turin 1702 | Versailles 1775 | +Dubourg, Matthew | England 1703 | London 1767 | +De Croes, Henri Jacques | Antwerp 1705 | Brussels 1786 | +Guillemain, Gabriel | Paris 1705 | ? 1770 | +Czarth, Georg C. | Deutschbrod 1708 | Mannheim 1774 | +Benda, Franz | Albenatky 1709 | Potsdam 1786 | +Girauek, Fernandino | Bohemia 1712 | Dresde 1761 | +Benda, Johann | Albenatky 1713 | Potsdam 1752 | +D'Auvergne, Antoine | France 1713 | Lyons 1797 | +Clegg, John | Ireland 1714 | ? c1750 | +Hempel, George C. | Gotha 1715 | Gotha 1801 | +Fritz, Caspar | Geneva 1716 | Geneva 1782 | +Giardini, Felice | Turin 1716 | Moscow 1796 | +Mozart, Leopold | Augsburg 1719 | Salzburg 1787 | +Stamitz, Johann Carl | Bohemia 1719 | Mannheim 1761 | +Bini, Pasqualino | Pesaro 1720 | ? ? | +Morigi, Angelo | ? ? | Parma 1788 | +Lemiere | ? ? | Paris 1771 | +Pagin, Andre Noel | Paris 1721 | ? ? | +Abel, Leopold A. | Cothen c1700 | ? ? | +Festing, Michael C. | London ? | London 1752 | +Ferrari, Domenico | Piacenza ? | Paris 1780 | +Enderle, Wilhelm C. | Bayreuth 1722 | Darmstadt 1793 | +Nardini, Pietro | Tuscany 1722 | Florence 1793 | +Lefebre, Jacques | Prinzlow 1723 | ? 1777 | +Van Malder, Pierre | Brussels 1724 | Brussels 1768 | +Glaser, John Michel | Erlangen 1725 | ? ? | +Hattasch, Dismas | Hohenmant 1725 | Gotha 1777 | +Gavinies, Pierre | Bordeaux 1726 | Paris 1800 | +Gow, Neil | Strathband 1727 | Inver 1787 | +Pugnani, Gaetano | Turin 1727 | Turin 1803 | +Manfredi, Filippo | Lucca 1729 | Madrid c1780 | +Gallo, Domenico | Venice 1730 | ? ? | +Cannabich, Christian | Mannheim 1730 | Frankfort 1798 | +Lolli, Antonio | Bergamo 1730 | Sicily 1802 | +Vachon, Pierre | Arles 1730 | Berlin 1802 | +Goepfert, Charles F. | Weissenstein 1733 | Weimar 1798 | +Raimoni, Ignazio | Naples 1733 | London 1802 | +Lahoussaye, Pierre | Paris 1735 | Paris 1818 | +Haranc, Louis Andre | Paris 1738 | Paris 1805 | +Celestine, Eligio | Rome 1739 | ? ? | +Weigl, Franz J. | Bavaria 1740 | Vienna 1820 | +Tomasini, Luigi | Bohemia 1745 | Gotha 1805 | +Jarnowick, Giovanni M. | Palermo 1745 | St. | + | | Petersburg 1804 | +Navoigille, Guillaume J. | Givet 1745 | Paris 1811 | +Paisible | Paris 1745 | St. | + | | Petersburg 1781 | +Salomon, Johann Peter | Boenn 1745 | London 1815 | +Cambini, Giovanni G. | Leghorn 1746 | Bicetre 1825 | +Gervais, Pierre Noel | Mannheim 1746 | Bordeaux 1805 | +Stamitz, Carl | Mannheim 1746 | Jena 1801 | +Ghirett, Gaspar | Naples 1747 | Parma 1827 | +Leduc, Simon | Paris 1748 | Paris 1787 | +Mestrino, Niccolo | Milan 1748 | Paris 1790 | +Guerillot, Henri | Bordeaux 1749 | Paris 1805 | +Navoigille, Herbert J. | Givet 1749 | ? ? | +Obermeyer, Joseph | Bohemia 1749 | ? ? | +Bagatella, Antonio | Padua 1750 | ? ? | +Almeyda, C.F. | ? c1750 | ? ? | +Fuchs, Peter | Bohemia 1750 | Vienna 1804 | +Henry, Bonventure | ? c1750 | ? ? | +Kriegck, J.J. | Bebra 1750 | Meiningen 1813 | +Sirmen, Maddalena | Venice c1750 | ? ? | +Woldemar, Michael | Orleans 1750 | Clermont- | + | | -Ferrand 1816 | +Barthelemon, Francois H. | Bordeaux 1751 | ? 1808 | +Campagnoli, Bartolomeo | Cento 1751 | Neustrelitz 1827 | +Lamotte, Francois | Vienna 1751 | Holland 1781 | +Berthaume, Isidore | Paris 1752 | St. | + | | Petersburg 1802 | +Kasska, Wilhelm | Ratisbon 1752 | Ratisbon 1806 | +Brunetti, Gaetano | Pisa 1753 | Madrid 1808 | +Janitsch, Anton | Switzerland 1753 | Westphalia 1812 | +Lem, Pierre | Copenhagen 1753 | ? ? | +Fiorillo, Federigo | Brunswick 1753 | ? c1800 | +Stamitz, Anton | Mannheim 1753 | Paris ? | +Viotti, Giovanni B. | Piedmont 1753 | London 1824 | +Kranz, Johann F. | Weimar 1754 | Stuttgart 1807 | +Mosel, Giovanni F. | Florence 1754 | ? ? | +Leduc, Pierre | Paris 1755 | Holland 1816 | +Fauvel, Andre Joseph | Bordeaux 1756 | ? ? | +Lacroix, Antoine | Remberville 1756 | Lubeck 1812 | +Wranitzky, Paul | Moravia 1756 | Vienna 1808 | +Haack, Karl | Potsdam 1757 | Potsdam 1819 | +Rolla, Alessandro | Pavia 1757 | Milan 1841 | +Galeazzi, Francesco | Turin 1758 | Rome 1819 | +Liber, Wolfgang | Donanworth 1758 | Ratisbon 1817 | +Weberlin, Jean F. | Stuttgart 1758 | Stuttgart 1825 | +Bruni, Antonio B. | Piedmont 1759 | ? ? | +Gautherot, Louise | ? 1760 | ? ? | +Guiliani, Francois | Florence 1760 | ? 1819 | +Haack, Friedrich | Potsdam 1760 | ? ? | +Krommer, Franz | Kamenitz 1760 | Vienna 1831 | +Neubauer, Franz C. | Bohemia 1760 | Bueckeburg 1795 | +Jarnewicz, Felix | Wilna 1761 | Edinburgh 1848 | +Wranitzky, Anton | Moravia 1761 | Vienna 1819 | +Wessely, Johann | Bohemia 1762 | ? ? | +Bonnet, Jean Baptiste | Montauban 1763 | ? ? | +Danzi, Franz | Mannheim 1763 | Carlsruhe 1826 | +Peshatschek, Francois | Bohemia 1763 | Vienna 1816 | +Alday, P | Perpignan 1764 | ? ? | +Lorenziti, Bernado | Wuertemburg 1764 | ? 1813 | +Schlick, Regina (Sacchi) | Mantua 1764 | ? ? | +Cartier, Jean Baptiste | Avignon 1765 | Paris 1841 | +LaCroix, Antoine | ? 1765 | ? ? | +Hampeln, Karl von | Mannheim 1765 | Stuttgart 1834 | +Eck, Johann F. | Mannheim 1766 | Bamberg 1809 | +Hunt, Karl | Dresden 1766 | ? ? | +Kreutzer, Rudolph | Versailles 1766 | Geneva 1831 | +De Volder, Pierre Jean | Antwerp 1767 | Brussels 1841 | +Romberg, Andreas | Vechta 1767 | Gotha 1821 | +Pauwels, Jean E. | Brussels 1768 | Brussels 1804 | +Spagnoletti, P. | Cremona 1768 | London 1834 | +Valmalete, Louis de | Rieux 1768 | ? ? | +Grasset, Jean J. | Paris 1769 | Paris 1839 | +Paravicini, Signora | Turin 1769 | ? ? | +Boucher, Alexandre Jean | Paris 1770 | Paris 1861 | +Gerbini, Luigia | ? 1770 | ? ? | +Girault, August | Paris 1770 | Paris 1806 | +Hoffmann, Heinrich Anton | Mainz 1770 | Mainz 1842 | +Baillot, | | | +Pierre M.F. de Sales | Passy 1771 | Paris 1842 | +Festa, Guiseppe M. | Naples 1771 | ? 1839 | +Labarre, Louis J.C. | Paris 1771 | ? ? | +Vacher, Pierre Jean | Paris 1772 | Paris 1819 | +Lottini, Denis | Orleans 1773 | Orleans 1826 | +Vaccaro, Francesco | Modena 1773 | Portugal 1823 | +Eck, Franz | Mannheim 1774 | Strasburg 1804 | +Rode, Pierre | Bordeaux 1774 | Loire-et- | + | | Garonne 1831 | +Eberwen, Traugott M. | Weimar 1775 | Rudolstadt 1831 | +Libon, Philippe | Cadiz 1775 | Paris 1838 | +Schuppanzigh, Ignace | Vienna 1776 | Vienna 1830 | +Dobrynski, Ignace | Volhyna 1777 | Warsaw 1841 | +Giorgis, Joseph | Turin 1777 | ? ? | +Kieserwetter, Cristophe G. | Anspach 1777 | London 1827 | +Moralt, Johann B. | Mannheim 1777 | Munich 1825 | +Paravicini, Mme. | Milan 1778 | ? ? | +Blanchard, Henri L. | Bordeaux 1778 | Paris 1858 | +Radicati, Felice A. | Turin 1778 | ? 1823 | +Weiss, Franz | Silesia 1778 | ? ? | +Bridgetower, George A. | Poland ?1779 | ? c1850 | +Mueller, John Henry | Koenigsberg 1780 | ? ? | +Habeneck, Francois A. | Mezieres 1781 | Paris 1849 | +Lafont, Charles Philippe | Paris 1781 | Tarbes 1839 | +Polledro, Giovanni B. | Turin 1781 | Turin 1853 | +Mazas, Jacques F. | Beziers 1782 | ? 1849 | +Puppo, Felice A. | Turin 1778 | ? 1823 | +Bohrer, Anthony | Munich 1783 | Hanover 1852 | +Linke, Joseph | Silesia 1783 | Vienna 1837 | +Paganini, Nicolo | Genoa 1784 | Nice 1840 | +Spohr, Louis | Brunswick 1784 | Cassel 1859 | +Zocca | Ferrara 1784 | ? ? | +Fontaine, Antoine N.M. | Paris 1785 | St. Cloud 1866 | +Lafonde | ? 1785 | ? ? | +Eberwen, Karl | Weimar 1786 | Weimar 1868 | +Granafond, Eugene | Compiegne 1786 | ? ? | +Pixis, Friedrich, Wilhelm | Mannheim 1786 | Prague 1842 | +Cudmore, Richard | Chichester 1757 | Manchester 1841 | +Guhr, Charles | Militsch 1787 | Frankfurt 1848 | +Berwald, Johann F. | Stockholm 1788 | Stockholm 1861 | +Fesca, Friedrich E. | Magdeburg 1789 | Carlsruhe 1826 | +Maurer, Ludwig | Potsdam 1789 | St. | + | | Petersburg 1878 | +Mayseder, Joseph | Vienna 1789 | Vienna 1863 | +Wery, Nicolas L. | Liege 1789 | Luxemburg 1867 | +Femy, Francois | Ghent 1790 | ? ? | +Klose, J. | London 1790 | London 1830 | +Lipinski, Karl Joseph | Poland 1790 | Urlow 1861 | +Goetz, Jean N.C. | Weimar 1791 | ? 1861 | +Benesch, Joseph | Batelow 1793 | ? ? | +Pichatschek, Francois | Vienna 1793 | Carlsruhe 1840 | +Filipowicz, Elizabeth M. | ? 1794 | ? ? | +Jansa, Leopold | Bohemia 1794 | Vienna 1875 | +Krahmer, Mme. Caroline | ? 1794 | ? ? | +Parmy, Joseph | Austria 1794 | Mainz 1835 | +Batta, Pierre | Maastricht 1795 | Brussels 1876 | +Bohm, Joseph | Pesth 1795 | Vienna 1876 | +Drin, Finlay | Aberdeen 1795 | Edinburgh 1853 | +Lacy, Michael R. | Bilbao 1795 | London 1867 | +Giorgetti, Fernandino | Florence 1796 | Florence 1867 | +Mori, Nicolas | London 1796 | London 1839 | +Calcagno, Catarina | Italy 1797 | ? ? | +Collins, Isaac | ? 1797 | London 1871 | +Girard, Narcisse | Nantes 1797 | Paris 1860 | +Mueller, Karl Friedrich | Brunswick 1797 | ? 1873 | +Roberrechts, Andre | Brussels 1797 | Paris 1860 | +Rolla, Antoine | Parma 1797 | Dresden 1837 | +Tolberque, Jean B.J. | Belgium 1797 | Paris 1869 | +Coronini, Paolo | Vincenza 1798 | ? 1875 | +Batta, Pantaleon | Paris 1799 | Paris 1870 | +Rudersdorff, J. | Amsterdam 1799 | Koenigsberg 1866 | +Gattie, Henry | ? 1800 | ? ? | +Hellmesberger, Georg | Vienna 1800 | Newaldegg 1873 | +Meerts, Lambert | Brussels 1800 | Brussels 1863 | +Mueller, Theodore Heinrich | Brunswic 1800 | ? 1855 | +Nohr, Christian F. | Thuringia 1800 | Meiningen 1875 | +Schulz, Mlle. L. | ? 1800 | ? ? | +Wanski, Johann N. | Posen c1800 | ? ? | +Kalliwoda, Johann W. | Prague 1801 | Carlsruhe 1866 | +Saint Lubin, Leon de | Turin 1801 | Berlin 1856 | +De Beriot, Charles | Louvain 1802 | Brussels 1870 | +Ella, John | England 1802 | London 1888 | +Labitzky, Joseph | Schoenfeld 1802 | Carlsbad 1881 | +Molique, Wilhelm Bernard | Nuremburg 1802 | Stuttgart 1869 | +Ries, Hubert | Bonn 1802 | Berlin 1886 | +Lomagne, Joseph | Perpignan 1804 | Perpignan 1868 | +Magnien, Victor | Epinal 1804 | Lille 1885 | +Kudelski, Karl Matthias | Berlin 1805 | Baden-Baden 1877 | +Pollini, Mme. | ? 1805 | ? ? | +Dando, Joseph H.B. | London 1806 | ? 1894 | +Hartmann, Franz | Coblentz 1807 | Cologne 1857 | +Panofka, Heinrich | Breslau 1807 | Florence 1887 | +Sauzay, Moritz | Moravia 1808 | Breslau 1885 | +Bessems, Antoine | Antwerp 1809 | Antwerp 1868 | +Mueller, Franz F.G. | Brunswick 1809 | ? ? | +Bull, Ole Borneman | Bergen 1810 | Bergen 1880 | +David, Ferdinand | Hamburg 1810 | Switzerland 1873 | +Ganz, Leopold | Mainz 1810 | Berlin 1869 | +Ghys, Joseph | Ghent 1810 | ? 1848 | +Blagrove, Henry Gamble | Nottingham 1811 | London 1872 | +Hamm, Johann V. | Winterhausen 1811 | Stuttgart 1834 | +Sainton, Prosper Philippe | Toulouse 1813 | London 1890 | +Ernst, Heinrich Wilhelm | Bruenn 1814 | Nice 1865 | +Alard, Delphine J. | Bayonne 1815 | Paris? 1888 | +Artot, Alexandre J.M. | Brussels 1815 | Paris 1845 | +Dont, Jacob | Vienna 1815 | Vienna 1888 | +Sivori, Ernest Camillo | Genoa 1815 | Paris 1894 | +Zerchoff, Mlle. | ? 1815 | ? ? | +Batta, Alexandre | Maastricht 1816 | ? ? | +Prume, Francois Herbert | Liege 1816 | Liege 1849 | +Deldevez, Ernest | Paris 1817 | Paris 1897 | +Goebel, Johann Ferdinand | Baumgarten 1817 | ? ? | +Bazzini, Antonio | Brescia 1818 | Milan 1897 | +Dancla, Jean B. C. | Bagnieres de | | + | Bignon 1818 | ? ? | +Kramer, Traugott | Codburg 1818 | ? ? | +Eller, Louis | Graz 1819 | Pau 1862 | +Hering, Karl | Berlin 1819 | ? 1889 | +Leonard, Hubert | Bellaire 1819 | Paris 1890 | +Batta, Joseph | Maastricht 1820 | +Dreyschock, Raimund | Bohemia 1820 | Leipzig 1869 | +Keler-Bela | Hungary 1820 | Wiesbaden 1882 | +Neumann, Louise | 1820 | | +Vieuxtemps, Henri | Verviers 1820 | Algiers 1881 | +Wallace, Eliza | England 1820 | | +Gautier, Karl | Vaugirard 1822 | Vaugirard 1878 | +Hauser, Miska | Presburg 1822 | Vienna 1887 | +Dancla, Leopold | France 1823 | 1895 | +Gaertner, Karl | Stralsund 1823 | | +Hermann, Constant | Douai 1823 | | +Eichberg, Julius | Duesseldorf 1824 | Boston 1893 | +Hullweck, Ferdinand | Dessau 1824 | Blasewitz 1887 | +De Kontski, Apollinari | Warsaw 1825 | Warsaw 1879 | +Bott, Jean Joseph | Cassel 1826 | 1895 | +Collins, Rosina | 1826 | | +Hauser, Maurice | Berlin 1826 | Koenigsberg 1857 | +Kundinger, August | Kitzengen 1827 | | +Milanollo, Teresa | Turin 1827 | | +Mollenhauer, Edward | Erfurt 1827 | | +Hellmesberger, Georg | Vienna 1828 | Hanover 1853 | +Hermann, Frederick | Frankfort 1828 | | +Huber, Karl | Varjas 1828 | Pesth 1885 | +Hellmesberger, Joseph | Vienna 1829 | Vienna 1893 | +Roentgen, Engelbert | Holland 1829 | | +Adelburg, August R. Von | ? 1830 | ? 1873 | +Arditi, Emilia | ? 1830 | | +Garcin, Jules A. S. | Bourges 1830 | ? 1896 | +Hennen, Friedrich | Heerlen 1830 | | +Remenyi, Edouard | Hungary 1830 | SanFrancisco1898 | +Zirges, Hortensia | 1830 | | +Bargheer, Karl Louis | Bueckeburg 1831 | | +Joachim, Joseph | Kitsee 1831 | | +Kassmayer, Moritz | Vienna 1831 | Vienna 1884 | +Koempel, August | Bavaria 1831 | Weimar 1891 | +Singer, Edmund | Hungary 1831 | | +Laub, Ferdinand | Prague 1832 | Tyrol 1875 | +Lauterbach, Johann C. | Bavaria 1832 | | +Milanollo, Maria | Turin 1832 | 1848 | +Becker, Jean | Mannheim 1833 | Mannheim 1884 | +Bennewitz, Anton | Privat 1833 | | +Graff, Carl | Hungary 1833 | | +Filby, Heinrich | Vienna 1834 | | +De Ahna, Heinrich K. H. | Vienna 1835 | Vienna 1892 | +Jaffe, Moritz | Posen 1835 | | +Monasterio, Jesus | Potes (Spain)1835 | | +Strauss, Ludwig | Pressburg 1835 | | +Wieniawski, Henry | Poland 1835 | Moscow 1880 | +Besekirskij, Wasil W. | Moscow 1836 | | +Carrodus, John T. | Keighley 1836 | London 1895 | +Holmes, Alfred | London 1837 | Paris 1876 | +Gruen, Jacob | Buda-Pesth 1837 | | +Brousil, Bertha | ? 1838 | | +Piercy-Feeny, Mme. | 1838 | | +Neruda, Wilhelmina (Lady | | | + Halle) | Bruenn 1838 | | +Werner, Hildegard | 1838 | | +Holmes, Henry | London 1839 | | +Jacobsohn, Simon | Mittau 1839 | | +Rappoldi, Edouard | Vienna 1839 | | +Bargheer, Adolph | 1840 | | +David, Peter P. | Leipzig 1840 | | +Lotto, Isidor | Warsaw 1840 | | +Gobbi, Aloys | Pesth 1844 | | +Heermann, Hugo | Hulbroenn 1844 | | +Sarasate, Pablo de | Pampeluna 1844 | | +Auer, Leopold | Hungary 1845 | | +Singelee, Louise | 1845 | | +Castellan, Mlle | 1845 | | +Wilhelmj, August | Usingen 1845 | | +Courvoisier, Carl | Basle 1846 | | +Schradieck, Henry | Hamburg 1846 | | +Papini, Guido | Florence 1847 | | +Walter, Benno | Munich 1847 | | +De Bono, Victoria | 1848 | | +Heckmann, Georg J. R. | Mannheim 1848 | Glasgow 1891 | +Marsick, Martin P. J. | Jupille 1848 | | +Drechsler-Adamson, Mme. | 1849 | | +Gibson, Alfred | Nottingham 1849 | | +Drechsler-Woycke, Mme. | ? 1850 | | +Brodsky, Adolph | Taganrog 1851 | | +Hagen, Adolph | Bremen 1851 | | +Sauret, Emil | Dun-le-Roi 1852 | | +Boulanger, Mlle. | 1853 | | +Meyer, Waldemar | Berlin 1853 | | +Zajic, Florian | Bohemia 1853 | | +Ferrari, Signora Elvira | 1854 | | +Hermant, Mlle. | 1854 | | +Drechsler-Hamilton, Mme | Agnes 1855 | | +Hollaender, Gustav | Silesia 1855 | | +Sahla, Richard | Graz 1855 | | +Kess, Wilhelm | Dordrecht 1856 | | +Petri, Henri Wilhelm | Utrecht 1856 | | +Thomson, Cesar | Liege 1857 | | +Barcevicz, Stanislaus | Warsaw 1858 | | +Hilf, Arno | Saxony 1858 | | +Huber, Eugen (Jeno Hubay) | Budapest 1858 | | +Halir, Karl | Hohenlohe 1859 | | +Hess, Willie | Mannheim 1859 | | +Ondricek, Franz | Prague 1859 | | +Ysaye, Eugene | Liege 1859 | | +Loeffler, Charles Martin | Alsace 1861 | | +Rossi, Marcello | Vienna 1862 | | +Wolff, Johannes | Hague 1862 | | +Rose, Arnold | Roumania 1863 | | +Soldat, Marie | Gratz 1863 | | +Prill, Carl | Berlin 1864 | | +Senkrah, Arma | New York 1864 | | +Eissler, Marianne | Bruenn 1865 | | +Kneisel, Franz | Roumania 1865 | | +Carpenter, Nettie | New York 1865 | | +Dunn, John | Hull 1866 | | +Wietrowitz, Gabrielle | Laibach 1866 | | +Dengremont, Maurice | Rio Janeiro 1867 | ? c1887 | +Gregorowitsch, Charles | St. | | + | Petersburg 1867 | | +Tua, Teresina | Turin 1867 | | +Powell, Maud | Aurora, Ill. 1868 | | +Sapellnikoff | Odessa 1868 | | +Burmester, Willy | Hamburg 1869 | | +Petschnikoff, Alexander | Moscow 1873 | | +Marteau, Henri | Reims 1874 | | +Saenger-Sethe, Irma | Brussels 1876 | | +Jackson, Leonora | Boston 1879 | | + + +INDEX. + + +Adams, Suzanne, 339. +Ahna, H.K. de, 240. +Aichelburg, Count, 331. +Alard, D., 68, 135, 144, 145, 161, 226. +Albertinatti, 105. +Alday le jeune, 68. +Alexander, Czar, 81. +Alexander III., 222. +Amati, Andrea, 13. +Amati, Nicolo, 14. +Anet, B., 28, 35, 39, 40. +Arditi, Emilia, 312. +Artot, 149, 150, 169, 192. +Auer, Leopold, 359, 360. +Austria, Emperor of, 206. + +Bacchiochi, Princess Elise, 112. +Bach, J.S., 254, 275, 277, 334, 340. +Baillot, P.M.F. de S., 26, 68, + 71-75, 129, 144, 177, 346. +Baltizarini, 15. +Baltzar, Thomas, 19, 20. +Banister, John, 19, 20, 21. +Bargheer, C.L., 97. +Baroni, Leonora, 302. +Bassani, G.B., 30. +Bazzini, 247, 354. +Beauharnais, Eugene, 307. +Becker, Hans, 356. +Becker, Jean, 353, 354, 355. +Beethoven, L. von, 57, 77, 91, 205, 225, + 231, 352, 254, 290, 333, 347, 258, 364. +Benda, Franz, 56, 57. +Bennewitz, 277. +Beriot, Charles A. de, 25, 28, 29, 67, 68, 136, + 138-144, 147, 148, 150, 162, 188, + 266, 309, 334, 352. +Berlioz, Hector, 79, 80, 126, + 127, 128, 248, 253. +Berry, Duchesse de, 81. +Berthaume, 81. +Bertin, Armand. 127. +Besekirskij, Wasil W., 240, 285. +Bianchi, Antonia, 116. +Bilse Orchestra, 277, 283. +Bini, P., 49. +Blagrove, H.G., 97, 170, 358. +Boccherini, L., 76. +Bohemian Quartet, 360, 363. +Boehm, J., 28, 68, 206, 215. +Brahms, Johannes, 212, 253, 329, 332, 364. +Brazil, Emperor of, 230. +Brodsky, Adolf, 82, 263-265, 356, 357. +Brousil, Bertha, 312. +Bruch, Max, 295, 328, 341. +Brunswick, Duke of, 85. +Bull, Ole, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, + 169, 172-203, 225, 237. +Buelow, Hans Von, 291, 292, 293, 315. +Bunn, 247. +Bunzl, 294. +Burmester, Willy, 286-293, 333. +Burney, Doctor, 43, 55, 56. + +Calcagno, Caterina, 111, 154, 308. +Caldera, 309. +Campbell, Lucie, 330. +Careno, Theresa, 265. +Carpenter, Nettie, 338. +Carrodus, John T., 170, 241. +Cartier, 68. +Cessole, Conte di, 117, 118. +Cherubini, 62, 93, 136. +Chiabran, F., 36. +Chiostri, 354. +Chopin, F., 187, 210. +Ciandelli, 114. +Clegg, John, 24. +Clement, 254, 255. +Clementi, 86. +Cleveland, Mrs. G., 342. +Cleves, Anne of, 301. +Coburg-Gotha, Duke of, 240. +Colbran, Madame, 189. +Collins, Rosina, 308. +Colonne, 295. +Corbett, William, 22. +Corelli, A., 28, 30, 31-35, 36, 38, + 40, 50, 52, 59. +Costa, G., 105, 157. +Cumberland, Duke of, 302. +Cuvillon, 68. +Cuzzoni, F., 53. + +Damrosch, Leopold, 339. +Damrosch, Walter, 263, 340. +Dancla, C., 129, 135, 171. +Dando, J., 357, 358, 359. +D'Artot, 69. +David, Ferd., 97, 234, 247, 253, 350, 351, 357. +Davidoff, 360. +Delavan, 136. +Delibes, 214. +Dellepaine, 157, 159. +Dengremont, M., 68, 281, 282. +Derwies, Baron, 268, 279. +Diamantina, La, 302. +Dont, Jacob, 68, 171, 285, 359. +Dubois, 295. +Dubourg, M., 22, 23, 40. +Dulcken, Madame, 350. +Dunn, John, 299. +Durand, 68. +Durst, 352. +Dwight, J.S., 201, 225, 320, 324. + +Eccles, Henry, 22. +Eck, Ferdinand, 85. +Eck, Franz, 85. +Eder, Josephine, 163. +Elizabeth, Queen, 301. +England, Queen of, 343. +Ericsson, Lief, 198. +Ernst, H., 68, 146-149, 169, 187, 233, 246, 247. + +Farina, Carlo, 15, 16. +Ferrari, 49. +Ferrero, 309. +Festing, M., 53. +Fetis, 129, 145. +Field, 86, 210. +Filipowicz, Madame, 308. +Fischer, Konrad, 232. +Florentine Quartet, 353-355, 356. +Fontana, Giovanni B., 16. + +Garcia, Pauline, 143. +Gattie, Henry, 358. +Gautherst, Louise, 307. +Geminiani, F., 23, 24, 28, 35, 40, 43. +Gerbini, Luigia, 68, 307. +Gericke, W., 283. +Germany, Empress of, 343. +Geyer, A., 331. +Ghiretti, 106. +Giardini, F., 36, 53. +Goergey, General, 206. +Gotha, Duke of, 86. +Gounod, C., 294. +Graun, 49, 56. +Gregorowitsch, C., 241, 284, 286. +Gruen, Jacob, 242, 283, 362. +Guiraud, 279. + +Habeneck, 68, 78-80, 93, 145, 309. +Halir, Carl, 256, 276-278, 283. +Halle, Lady (Mme. Norman-Neruda), 312-319, 323, 327, 335. +Halle, Sir Charles, 124, 125, 127, 136, + 160, 169, 265, 315-317. +Hampton, Miss, 222. +Handel, G.F., 23, 32. +Hanover, King of, 248. +Hanslick, E., 229. +Harkness, A., 337. +Hauptmann, 247. +Hauser, Miska, 215-218. +Hausmann, 234. +Haydn, J., 58, 245, 358. +Heckmann, G.J.R., 356. +Hegyesi, 356. +Heissler, 352. +Hellmesberger, G., 68. +Hellmesberger, J., 264, 283, 352, 355, 362. +Henry VII., King, 301. +Henselt, 162. +Herwig, 150. +Hess, Willy, 256. +Higginson, H.L., 361. +Hilf, A., 357. +Hilpert, 354. +Hoffmann, 215, 360. +Hogarth, G., 133. +Hollaender, G., 256. +Holmes, Henry, 98, 241. +Holmes, Alfred, 241. +Hrimaly, 296. +Hubay, J., 256, 299, 356. +Huber, Mlle., 143. +Hummel, 245. +Hunt, L., 133. + +Isabella, Queen, 226. + +Jackson, 17. +Jackson, Leonora, 326, 342, 343. +Jacobsen, 326. +Jacotot, 139. +Jaffe, Sophie, 336. +Janin, Jules, 126. +Jansa, L., 313. +Joachim, J., 16, 27, 29, 68, 206, 212, + 213, 224, 231, 234, 236, 238, + 240, 244-260, 277, 279, 285, + 286, 287, 289, 290, 315, 325, + 326, 328, 329, 331, 341, 351, 353, 355. +Joachim Quartet, 357, 363. +Jokisch, 334. +Joseph II., Emperor, 306. +Josephine, Empress, 78, 307. + +Kalkbrenner, 83. +Kannitz, Count de, 114. +Kinsky, Count, 43, 49. +Klapka, 206. +Klengel, J., 356. +Kneisel, F., 279, 282, 361-364. +Kneisel Quartet, 281, 284, 361-364. +Koempel, 97. +Kossuth, 206. +Krahmer, Madame, 308. +Kreutzer, Rodolphe, 26, 68-71, 76, 93, + 128, 136, 170, 215. +Kreutzer Sonata, 137, 138. +Kufferath, 238. +Kugler, 360. + +Lablache, L., 142. +Lacour, 186. +Lafont, C.F., 26, 29, 70, 80-82, 130, 309. +Lahoussaye, 49. +Lassabathie, M., 226, 227. +Laub, F., 240, 297. +Lauterbach, 68. +Leclair, J.M., 36, 51, 52. +Lecloux, 162. +Lenox, Lady, 302. +Leonard, H., 68, 136, 145, 238, 268, + 282, 294, 296. +Leschetizky, Th., 298. +Lichtenberg, L., 299. +Liddell, Capt. A.F., 327. +Lind, Jenny, 216. +Linley, Thomas, 24. +Liphart, 350. +Lipinski, K.J., 100-103, 130. +Listemann, B., 299, 361. +Liszt, F., 120, 137, 206, 213, 233, + 234, 245, 248, 253, 310. +Livron, M., 108. +Locatelli, 28, 35, 36. +Loder, 359. +Loeffler, C.M., 138, 279-281. +Loeleberg, 360. +Lolli, A., 55. +Lotto, L, 138. +Louis Philippe, 310. +Lucas, 358. +Lulli, J.B., 30, 37-39. +Lundholm, 177, 178, 179. + +Malibran, 25, 142, 143, 144, 168, 188. +Manfredi, 49. +Mapleson, 207. +Mara, G.E., 302, 305. +Marchesi, 105. +Margherita, Queen, 324. +Maria Theresa, 296. +Marini, B., 15. +Marsick, M., 28, 68, 146, 237-239, 267, 269. +Marteau, H., 293-296. +Masi, 354. +Massart, 70, 136-138, 238, 278, 320, 323, 349. +Massenet, 294. +Maurer, 182, 247. +Maurin, 135. +Mausch-Jerret, M., 236. +Mayseder, 188, 215, 346. +Mazas, 68. +Mazzurana, Doctor, 101. +Meck, Countess of, 222. +Mell, D., 19. +Mendelssohn, 161, 246, 247, 278, 279, + 329, 331, 342, 351. +Meneke, 360. +Metternich, Count, 114. +Milanollo, M., 310. +Milanollo, T., 29, 68, 309, 313, 352. +Mingotti, 53. +Molique, B.H., 70, 162, 169, 241, 294. +Montes, Lola, 216. +Montebello, Duke of, 187. +Morgan, Geraldine, 338, 339, 340. +Mori, 68. +Morra, 309. +Mozart, L., 54. +Mozart, W., 24, 58, 306, 307, 322, 323, 358. +Murska, Ilma di, 265. +Musaeus, 180, 181. + +Nagel, 150. +Napoleon, 89, 90, 112. +Napoleon III., 230. +Nardini, P., 24, 49, 50, 54, 55, 73, 303. +Nedbal, 360. +Neruda, J., 313. +Neruda, Norman, 318. +Neumann, E., 308. +Nicholl, Anne, 302. +Nickisch, A., 275, 295. +Nilsson, C., 169, 303. +Norman, L., 314, 315. +North, Colonel, 208. + +Occa, Victoria dall', 307. +Ondricek, F., 267, 278. +Ottey, Sarah, 302. +Ottoboni, Cardinal, 31. +Ourosoff, Princess, 297. +Oury, A.J., 25. + +Paderewski, I., 273, 276. +Paer, 106. +Paganini, Achille, 116. +Paganini, Antonio, 105. +Paganini, Nicolo, 26, 29, 75, 82, 92, 100-134, + 135, 141, 147, 148, 150, 151, 154, 156, + 157, 160, 161, 162, 180, 183, 184, 185, + 188, 191,200, 217, 233, 269, 288, 308. +Pallerini, Mme., 112. +Paravicini, Mme., 68, 307. +Parmentier, Captain, 310. +Pasdeloup, 280, 321. +Pasini, 109. +Paton, Mary Ann, 302. +Patti, Adelina, 194. +Patti, Amalia S., 194. +Paulsen, 175. +Paur, Emil, 298. +Petri, Henri, 236, 299. +Petschnikoff, A., 296-298. +Pfeiffer, Marianne, 95. +Piatti, 247. +Piercy-Feeny, Mme., 312. +Pisendel, 42. +Pixis, 64, 68. +Pleiner, 328. +Polidori, 72. +Pollani, 72. +Pollini, 308. +Portugal, King of, 285. +Pott, A., 329. +Powell, Maude, 326, 340-342. +Prume, 68. +Prussia, King of, 310. +Pugnani, G., 28, 29, 36, 52, 61. +Purcell, 18. + +Quagliati, P., 15. + +Rappoldi, E., 68, 242. +Remenyi, E., 150, 154, 205-215, 232. +Riario, Duke of, 187. +Richter, Hans, 234, 330, 362. +Rivarde, A., 278. +Roberrechts, 28, 68, 139. +Rode, Pierre, 28, 68, 70, 71, + 75-77, 120, 162, 348, 349. +Roeger, 330. +Rolla, 105, 106. +Roentgen, 357. +Rose, A., 299, 360. +Rossini, 67, 92, 191. +Roth, O., 362. +Rovelli, 70. +Roy, Gabrielle, 330. +Rubinstein, Anton, 154, 219, 220, 273. +Russia, Czar of, 285. +Russia, Empress of, 324. + +Sacchi, R. (Schlick), 305, 306, 307. +Saenger-Sethe, I., 332-336. +Sahla, R., 360. +Saint-Saens, C., 334. +Sainte-Marie, 72. +Sainton, C.P., 169, 247. +Salomon, J.P., 57, 63. +Santley, C., 234. +Sarasate, P., 28, 29, 68, 226-231, 238. +Sauret, E., 265-267. +Scarlatti, A., 33, 34. +Scheidler, D., 86. +Schlesinger, 352. +Schradieck, H., 265, 357. +Schroeder, A., 281, 362. +Schubert, F., 246. +Schulz, M., 308. +Schumann, 120, 162, 213, 253. +Schumann, Mme., 293. +Schuppanzigh, 346. +Scotta, Frida, 336. +Sechter, 215. +Sembrich, M., 303. +Senaille, J.B., 28, 39. +Senkrah, A., 337. +Servaczinski, 246. +Servais, 163. +Servetto, 105. +Shinner, E. (Mrs. Liddell), 325-327, 332, 353. +Shinner Quartet, 327, 353. +Simonelli, 30. +Singer, E., 68, 239. +Sirmen, Maddalena, 303. +Sitt, Hans, 356. +Sivori, C., 150, 153, 154-161, 167, 168, 231, 294. +Soldat, M., 257, 326, 327-330, 342, 353. +Somis, 28, 29, 35, 51, 53. +Sontag, H., 143, 233. +Soubre, E.J., 163. +Spain, Queen of, 230, 324. +Spohr, L., 26, 75, 82-99, 158, 159, 162, + 170, 178, 182, 183, 184, 188, 191, + 233, 261, 346-349, 358. +Stamitz, A., 69. +Stern, Leo, 339. +Stradivari, A., 14. +Strakosch, M., 194. +Strauss, L., 68. +Suk, J., 360. +Suessmayer, 120. +Svecenski, L., 362. +Sweden, King of, 198. + +Tartini, G., 29, 43, 44-51, 52, 54, 101, 304. +Thalberg, 163, 165, 166. +Thierot, 328. +Thomson, C., 267-269, 273, 279, 283. +Thorpe, S.C., 197. +Thursby, Emma, 198. +Tiby, M., 139. +Torelli, G., 41. +Tschetchulin, Agnes, 330. +Tua, Teresina, 70, 138, 323-325, 337. +Turkey, Sultan of, 217, 232. +Tuscany, Duke of, 189. + +Urso, Camilla, 312, 319-322, 323, 337. +Urso, Salvator, 319. + +Valentini, 34. +Valetta, Count F.V. della, 325. +Vanderbilt, G., 342. +Veracini, F.M., 42, 43, 46, 47. +Viardot, Madame, 246. +Vidocq, 185. +Vieuxtemps, H., 28, 68, 136, 149, 162-169, 192, + 202, 221, 223, 231, 241, 271, 328, 337. +Villermot, F., 191. +Viotti, G.B., 28, 56-68, 72, 73, 75, + 81, 85, 93, 140, 261, 307. +Vitali, T., 16, 40. +Vivaldi, A., 36, 41, 42, 52. +Vuillaume, 145. + +Wagner, R., 92, 162. +Wales, Prince of, 324. +Wales, Princess of, 324. +Wallace, 150. +Wallace, Eliza, 308. +Wasielewski, 244. +Weber, 94. +Weiss, A., 249. +Werner, H., 312, 313. +Wieniawski, 70, 136, 138, 154, 218-226, 231, + 270, 271, 273, 285, 337. +Wietrowitz, G., 257, 326, 330-332, 342, 353. +Wihom, H., 360. +Wilhelmj, A., 208, 209, 231-237, 263, 267, 282, 334. +William I, Emperor, 230. +Wittgenstein, Prince Emil of, 233. +Wood, Mrs., 302. + +Young, 18. +Ysaye, 237, 239, 263, 269, 276, 334, 335. + +Zampieri, Marquis, 189. +Zerbst, Theresa, 277. +Zerchoff, Mlle., 308. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Violinists of To-day and +Yesterday, by Henry C. 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