Great Violinists And Pianists | Page 7

There have been many
imitations of the genuine Cremonas palmed off, too, on the unwary at a
high price, but the connoisseur rarely fails to identify the great violins
almost instantly. For, aside from their magical beauty of tone, they are
made with the greatest beauty of form, color, and general detail. So
much has been said concerning the greatest violin-makers, in view of
the fact that coincident with the growth of a great school of
art-manufacture in violins there also sprang up a grand school of
violin-playing; for, indeed, the one could hardly have existed without
the other.
III.
The first great performer on the violin whose career had any special
significance, in its connection with the modern world of musical art,
was Archangelo Corelli, who was born at Fusignano, in the territory of
Bologna, in the year 1653. Corelli's compositions are recognized to-day
as types of musical purity and freshness, and the great number of
distinguished pupils who graduated from his teaching relate him

closely with all the distinguished violinists even down to the present
day. In Corelli's younger days the church had a stronger claim on
musicians than the theatre or concert-room. So we find him getting his
earliest instruction from the Capuchin Simonelli, who devoted himself
to the ecclesiastical style. The pupil, however, yielded to an irresistible
instinct, and soon put himself under the care of a clever and skillful
teacher, the well-known Bassani. Under this tuition the young musician
made rapid advancement, for he labored incessantly in the practice of
his instrument. At the age of twenty Corelli followed that natural bent
which carried him to Paris, then, as now, a great art capital; and we are
told, on the authority of Fetis, that the composer Lulli became so
jealous of his extraordinary skill that he obtained a royal mandate
ordering Corelli to quit Paris, on pain of the Bastille.
In 1680 he paid a visit to Germany, and was specially well received,
and was so universally admired, that he with difficulty escaped the
importunate invitations to settle at various courts as chief musician.
After a three years' absence from his native land he returned and
published his first sonatas. The result of his assiduous labor was that
his fame as a violinist had spread all over Europe, and pupils came
from distant lands to profit by his instruction. We are told of his style
as a solo player that it was learned and elegant, the tone firm and even,
that his playing was frequently impressed with feeling, but that during
performance "his countenance was distorted, his eyes red as fire, and
his eyeballs rolled as if he were in agony." For about eighteen years
Corelli was domiciled at Rome, under the patronage of Cardinal
Ottoboni. As leader of the orchestra at the opera, he introduced many
reforms, among them that of perfect uniformity of bowing. By the
violin sonatas composed during this period, it is claimed that Corelli
laid the foundation for the art of violin-playing, though it is probable
that he profited largely by those that went before him. It was at the
house of Cardinal Ottoboni that Corelli met Handel, when the violent
temper of the latter did not hesitate to show itself. Corelli was playing a
sonata, when the imperious young German snatched the violin from his
hand, to show the greatest virtuoso of the age how to play the music.
Corelli, though very amiable in temper, knew how to make himself
respected. At one of the private concerts at Cardinal Ottoboni's, he

observed his host and others talking during his playing. He laid his
violin down and joined the audience, saying he feared his music might
interrupt the conversation.
In 1708, according to Dubourg, Corelli accepted a royal invitation from
Naples, and took with him his second violin, Matteo, and a violoncellist,
in case he should not be well accompanied by the Neapolitan orchestra.
He had no sooner arrived than he was asked to play some of his
concertos before the king. This he refused, as the whole of his orchestra
was not with him, and there was no time for a rehearsal. However, he
soon found that the Neapolitan musicians played the orchestral parts of
his concertos as well as his own accompanists did after some practice;
for, having at length consented to play the first of his concertos before
the court, the accompaniment was so good that Corelli is said to have
exclaimed to Matteo: "_Si suona a Napoli!_"--"They do play at
Naples!" This performance being quite successful, he was presented to
the king, who afterward requested him to perform one of his sonatas;
but his Majesty found the adagio "so long and so dry that he got up and
left the room (!), to the great mortification of the