Great Violinists And Pianists | Page 3

a Student of Jurisprudence in Leipzig.--Makes the Acquaintance of Clara Wieck.--Tedium of his Law Studies.--Vacation Tour to Italy.--Death of his Father, and Consent of his Mother to Schumann adopting the Profession of Music.--Becomes Wieck's Pupil.--Injury to his Hand which prevents all Possibilities of his becoming a Great Performer.--Devotes himself to Composition.--The Child, Clara Wieck--Remarkable Genius as a Player.--Her Early Training.--Paganini's Delight in her Genius.--Clara Wieck's Concert Tours.--Schumann falls deeply in Love with her, and Wieck's Opposition.--His Allusions to Clara in the "Neue Zeit-schrift."--Schumann at Vienna.--His Compositions at first Unpopular, though played by Clara Wieck and Liszt.--Schumann's Labors as a Critic.--He marries Clara in 1840.--His Song Period inspired by his Wife.--Tour to Russia, and Brilliant Reception given to the Artist Pair.--The "Neue Zeitschrift" and its Mission.--The Davidsbund.--Peculiar Style of Schumann's Writing.--He moves to Dresden.--Active Production in Orchestral Composition.--Artistic Tour in Holland.--He is seized with Brain Disease.--Characteristics as a Man, as an Artist, and as a Philosopher.--Mme. Schumann as her Husband's Interpreter.--Chopin a Colaborer with Schumann.--Schumann on Chopin again.--Chopin's Nativity.--Exclusively a Piano-forte Composer.--His Genre as Pianist and Composer.--Aversion to Concert-giving.--Parisian Associations.--New Style of Technique demanded by his Works.--Unique Treatment of the Instrument.--Characteristics of Chopin's Compositions.
THALBERG AND GOTTSCHALK.
Thalberg one of the Greatest of Executants.--Rather a Man of Remarkable Talents than of Genius.--Moseheles's Description of him.--The Illegitimate Son of an Austrian Prince.--Early Introduction to Musical Society in London and Vienna.--Beginning of his Career as a Virtuoso.--The Brilliancy of his Career.--Is appointed Court Pianist to the Emperor of Austria.--His Marriage.--Visits to America.--Thalberg's Artistic Idiosyncrasy.--Robert Schumann on his Playing.--His Appearance and Manner.--Characterization by George William Curtis.--Thalberg's Style and Worth as an Artist.--His Piano-forte Method, and Place as a Composer for the Piano.--Gottschalk's Birth and Early Years.--He is sent to Paris for Instruction.--Successful _D��but_ and Publie Concerts in Paris and Tour through the French Cities.--Friendship with Berlioz.--Concert Tour to Spain.--Romantic Experiences.--Berlioz on Gottschalk.--Reception of Gottschalk in America.--Criticism of his Style.--Remarkable Success of his Concerts.--His Visit to the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America.--Protracted Absence.--Gottschalk on Life in the Tropics.--Return to the United States.--Three Brilliant Musical Years.--Departure for South America.--Triumphant Procession through the Spanish-American Cities.--Death at Rio Janeiro.--Notes on Gottschalk as Man and Artist.
FRANZ LISZT.
The Spoiled Favorite of Fortune.--His Inherited Genius.--Birth and Early Training.--First Appearance in Concert.--Adam Liszt and his Son in Paris.--Sensation made by the Boy's Playing.--His Morbid Religious Sufferings.--Franz Liszt thrown on his own Resources.--The Artistic Circle in Paris.--Liszt in the Ranks of Romanticism.--His Friends and Associates.--Mme. D'Agoult and her Connection with Franz Liszt.--He retires to Geneva.--Is recalled to Paris by the Thalberg Furore.--Rivalry between the Artists and their Factions.--He commences his Career as Traveling Virtuoso.--The Blaze of Enthusiasm throughout Europe.--Schumann on Liszt as Man and Artist.--He ranks the Hungarian Virtuoso as the Superior of Thalberg.--Liszt's Generosity to his own Countrymen.--The Honors paid to him in Pesth.--Incidents of his Musical Wanderings.--He loses the Proceeds of Three Hundred Concerts.--Contributes to the Completion of the Cologne Cathedral.--His Connection with the Beethoven Statue at Bonn, and the Celebration of the Unveiling.--Chorley on Liszt.--Berlioz and Liszt.--Character of the Enthusiasm called out by Liszt as an Artist.--Remarkable Personality as a Man.--Berlioz characterizes the Great Virtuoso in a Letter.--Liszt ceases his Life as a Virtuoso, and becomes Chapel-Master and Court Conductor at Weimar.--Avowed Belief in the New School of Music, and Production of Works of this School.--Wagner's Testimony to Liszt's Assistance.--Liszt's Resignation of his Weimar Post after Ten Years.--His Subsequent Life.--He takes Holy Orders.--Liszt as a Virtuoso and Composer.--Entitled to be placed among the most Remarkable Men of his Age.

THE GREAT VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS.

THE VIOLIN AND EARLY VIOLINISTS.
The Ancestry of the Violin.--The Origin of the Cremona School of Violin-Making.--The Amatis and Stradiuarii.--Extraordinary Art Activity of Italy at this Period.--Antonius Stradiuarius and Joseph Guarnerius.--Something about the Lives of the Two Greatest Violin-Makers of the World.--Corelli, the First Great Violinist.--His Contemporaries and Associates.--Anecdotes of his Career.--Corelli's Pupil, Geminiani.--Philidor, the Composer, Violinist, and Chess-Player.--Giuseppe Tartini.--Becomes an Outcast from his Family on Account of his Love of Music.--Anecdote of the Violinist Veracini.--Tartini's Scientific Discoveries in Music.--His Account of the Origin of the "Devil's Trill."--Tartini's Pupils.
I.
The ancestry of the violin, considering this as the type of stringed instruments played with a bow, goes back to the earliest antiquity; and innumerable passages might be quoted from the Oriental and classical writers illustrating the important part taken by the forefathers of the modern violin in feast, festival, and religious ceremonial, in the fiery delights of battle, and the more dulcet enjoyments of peace. But it was not till the fifteenth century, in Italy, that the art of making instruments of the viol class began to reach toward that high perfection which it speedily attained. The long list of honored names connected with the development of art in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries is a mighty roll-call, and among these the names of the great violin-makers, beginning with Gaspard