Great Violinists And Pianists

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Great Violinists And Pianists

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Title: Great Violinists And Pianists
Author: George T. Ferris
Release Date: January 4, 2006 [EBook #17463]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT
VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS ***

Produced by David Widger

GREAT VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS
By George T. Ferris

Copyright, 1881, By D. Appleton and Company.

NOTE
The title of this little book may be misleading to some of its readers, in
its failure to include sketches of many eminent artists well worthy to be
classed under such a head. There has been no attempt to cover the
immense field of executive music, but only to call attention to the lives
of those musical celebrities who are universally recognized as
occupying the most exalted places in the arts of violin and pianoforte
playing; who stand forth as landmarks in the history of music. To do
more than this, except in a merely encyclopedic fashion, within the
allotted space, would have been impossible. The same necessity of
limits has also compelled the writer to exclude consideration of the
careers of noted living performers; as it was thought best that
discrimination should be in favor of those great artists whose careers
have been completely rounded and finished.
An exception to the above will be noted in the case of Franz Liszt; but,
aside from the fact that this greatest of piano-forte virtuosos, though
living, has practically retired from the held of art, to omit him from
such a volume as this would be an unpardonable omission. In
connection with the personal lives of the artists sketched in this volume,
the attempt has been made, in a general, though necessarily imperfect,
manner, to trace the gradual development of the art of playing from its
cruder beginnings to the splendid virtuosoism of the present time. The
sources from which facts have been drawn are various, and, it is
believed, trustworthy, including French, German, and English
authorities, in some cases the personal reminiscences of the artists
themselves.

CONTENTS.
THE VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS.

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
Vera-cini.--Tartini's Scientific Discoveries in Music.--His Account of
the Origin of the "Devil's Trill."--Tartini's Pupils.
VIOTTI.
Viotti, the Connecting Link between the Early and Modern Violin
Schools.--His Immense Superiority over his Contemporaries and
Predecessors.--Other Violinists of his Time, Giornowick and
Boccherini.--Viotti's Early Years.--His Arrival in Paris, and the
Sensation he made.--His Reception by the Court.--Viotti's Personal
Pride and Dignity.--His Rebuke to Princely Impertinence.--The
Musical Circles of Paris.--Viotti's Last Public Concert in Paris.--He
suddenly departs for London.--Becomes Director of the King's
Theatre.--Is compelled to leave the Country as a Suspected
Revolutionist.--His Return to England, and Metamorphosis into a
Vintner.--The French Singer, Garat, finds him out in his London
Obscurity.--Anecdote of Viotti's Dinner Party.--He quits the Wine
Trade for his own Profession.--Is made Director of the Paris Grand
Opéra.--Letter from Rossini.--Viotti's Account of the "Ranz des
Vaches."--Anecdotes of the Great Violinist.--Dies in London in
1824.--Viotti's Place as a Violinist, and Style of Playing.--The Tourté
Bow first invented during his Time.--An Indispensable Factor in Great
Playing on the Violin.--Viotti's Pupils, and his Influence on the Musical
Art.
LUDWIG SPOHR.
Birth and Early Life of the Violinist Spohr.--He is presented with his
First Violin at six.--The French _Emigré_ Dufour uses his Influence

with Dr. Spohr, Sr., to have the Boy devoted to a Musical
Career.--Goes to Brunswick for fuller Musical Instruction.--Spohr is
appointed _Kammer-musicus_ at the Ducal Court.--He enters under the
Tuition of and makes a Tour with the Violin Virtuoso Eck.--Incidents
of the Russian Journey and his Return.--Concert Tour in
Germany.--Loses his Fine Guarnerius Violin.--Is appointed Director of
the Orchestra at Gotha.--He marries Dorette Schiedler, the Brilliant
Harpist.--Spohr's Stratagem to be present at the Erfurt Musical
Celebration given by Napoleon in Honor of the Allied
Sovereigns.--Becomes Director of Opera in Vienna.--Incidents of his
Life and Production of Various Works.--First Visit to England.--He is
made Director of the Cassel Court Oratorios.--He is retired with a
Pension.--Closing Years of his Life.--His Place as Composer and
Executant.
NICOLO PAGANINI.
The