George T. Ferris - Great Violinists And Pianists
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George T. Ferris >> Great Violinists And Pianists
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18 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 Opera.--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 Tourte
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 _Emigre_ 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 Birth of the Greatest of Violinists.--His Mother's
Dream.--Extraordinary Character and Genius.--Heine's Description of his
Playing.--Leigh Hunt on Paganini.--Superstitious Rumors current
during his Life.--He is believed to be a Demoniac.--His Strange
Appearance.--Early Training and Surroundings.--Anecdotes of
his Youth.--Paga-nini's Youthful Dissipations.--His Passion for
Gambling.--He acquires his Wonderful Guarnerius Violin.--His Reform
from the Gaming-table.--Indefatigable Practice and Work as a Young
Artist.--Paganini as a _Preux Chevalier_.--His Powerful Attraction for
Women.--Episode with a Lady of Rank.--Anecdotes of his Early Italian
Concertizing.--The Imbroglio at Ferrara.--The Frail Health of
Paganini.--Wonderful Success at Milan where he first plays One of
the Greatest of his Compositions, "Le Streghe."--Duel with
Lafont.--Incidents and Anecdotes.--His First Visit to Germany.--Great
Enthusiasm of his Audiences.--Experiences at Vienna, Berlin, and other
German Cities.--Description of Paganini, in Paris, by Castil-Blaze and
Fetis.--His English Reception and the Impression made.--Opinions of the
Critics.--Paganini not pleased with England.--Settles in Paris for Two
Years, and becomes the Great Musical Lion.--Simplicity and Amiability
of Nature.--Magnificent Generosity to Hector Berlioz.--The Great
Fortune made by Paganini.--His Beautiful Country Seat near Parma.--An
Unfortunate Speculation in Paris.--The Utter Failure of his
Health.--His Death at Nice.--Characteristics and Anecdotes.--Interesting
Circumstances of his Last Moments.--The Peculiar Genius of Paganini, and
his Influence on Art.
DE BERIOT.
De Beriot's High Place in the Art of the Violin and Violin Music.--The
Scion of an Impoverished Noble Family.--Early Education and Musical
Training.--He seeks the Advice of Viotti in Paris.--Becomes a Pupil of
Robrechts and Baillot successively.--De Beriot finishes and perfects his
Style on his Own Model.--Great Success in England.--Artistic Travels
in Europe.--Becomes Soloist to the King of the Netherlands.--He meets
Malibran, the Great Cantatrice, in Paris.--Peculiar Circumstances which
drew the Couple toward Each Other.--They form a Connection which only
ends with Malibran's Life.--Sketch of Malibran and her Family.--The
Various Artistic Journeys of Malibran and De Beriot.--Their Marriage
and Mme. de Beriot's Death.--De Beriot becomes Professor in the Brussels
Conservatoire.--His Later Life in Brussels.--His Son Charles Malibran de
Beriot.--The Character of De Beriot as Composer and Player.
OLE BULL.
The Birth and Early Life of Ole Bull at Bergen, Norway.--His Family and
Connections.--Surroundings of his Boyhood.--Early Display of his Musical
Passion.--Learns the Violin without Aid.--Takes Lessons from an Old
Musical Professor, and soon surpasses his Master.--Anecdotes of his
Boyhood.--His Father's Opposition to Music as a Profession.--Competes
for Admittance to the University at Christiania.--Is consoled
for Failure by a Learned Professor.--"Better be a Fiddler than
a Preacher."--Becomes Conductor of the Philharmonic Society at
Bergen.--His first Musical Journey.--Sees Spohr.--Fights a Duel.--Visit
to Paris.--He is reduced to Great Pecuniary Straits.--Strange Adventure
with Vidocq, the Great Detective.--First Appearance in Concert in
Paris.--Romantic Adventure leading to Acquaintance.--First Appearance
in Italy.--Takes the Place of De Beriot by Great Good Luck.--Ole Bull
is most enthusiastically received.--Extended Concert Tour in Italy and
France.--His _Debut_ and Success in England.--One Hundred and Eighty
Concerts in Six Months.--Ole Bull's Gaspar di Salo Violin, and the
Circumstances under which he acquired it.--His Answer to the King of
Sweden.--First Visit and Great Success in America in 1848.--Attempt
to establish a National Theatre.--The Norwegian Colony in
Pennsylvania.--Latter Years of Ole Bull.--His Personal Appearance.--Art
Characteristics.
MUZIO CLEMENTI.
The Genealogy of the Piano-forte.--The Harpsichord its Immediate
Predecessor.--Supposed Invention of the Piano-forte.--Silbermann the
First Maker.--Anecdote of Frederick the Great.--The Piano-forte only
slowly makes its Way as against the Clavichord and Harpsichord.--Emanuel
Bach, the First Composer of Sonatas for the Piano-forte.--His Views
of playing on the New Instrument.--Haydn and Mozart as Players.--Muzio
Clementi, the Earliest Virtuoso, strictly speaking, as a Pianist.--Born
in Rome in 1752.--Scion of an Artistic Family.--First Musical
Training.--Rapid Development of his Talents.--Composes Contrapuntal
Works at the Age of Fourteen.--Early Studies of the Organ and
Harpsichord.--Goes to England to complete his Studies.--Creates
an Unequaled Furore in London.--John Christian Bach's Opinion of
Clementi.--Clementi's Musical Tour.--His Duel with Mozart before the
Emperor.--Tenor of Clementi's Life in England.--Clementi's Pupils.--Trip
to St. Petersburg.--Sphor's Anecdote of Him.--Mercantile and
Manufacturing Interest in the Piano as Partner of Collard.--The Players
and Composers trained under Clementi.--His Composition.--Status as
a Player.--Character and Influence as an Artist.--Development of the
Technique of the Piano, culminating in Clementi.
MOSCHELES.
Clementi and Mozart as Points of Departure in Piano-forte
Playing.--Moscheles the most Brilliant Climax reached by the Viennese
School.--His Child-Life at Prague.--Extraordinary Precocity.--Goes to
Vienna as the Pupil of Salieri and Albrechtsburger.--Acquaintance with
Beethoven.--Moscheles is honored with a Commission to make a Piano
Transcription of Beethoven's "Fidelio."--His Intercourse with the Great
Man.--Concert Tour.--Arrival in Paris.--The Artistic Circle into which
he is received.--Pictures of Art-Life in Paris.--London and its Musical
Celebrities.--Career as a Wandering Virtuoso.--Felix Mendelssohn becomes
his Pupil.--The Mendelssohn Family.--Moseheles's Marriage to a
Hamburg Lady.--Settles in London.--His Life as Teacher, Player, and
Composer.--Eminent Place taken by Moscheles among the Musicians of
his Age.--His Efforts soothe the Sufferings of Beethoven's
Death-bed.--Friendship for Mendelssohn.--Moscheles becomes connected
with the Leipzig Conservatorium.--Death in 1870.--Moscheles as Pianist
and Composer.--Sympathy with the Old as against the New School of the
Piano.--His Powerful Influence on the Musical Culture and Tendencies of
his Age.
THE SCHUMANNS AND CHOPIN.
Robert Schumann's Place as a National Composer.--Peculiar Greatness as
a Piano-forte Composer.--Born at Zwickau in 1810.--His Father's
Aversion to his Musical Studies.--Becomes 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 _Debut_ 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 de Salo, of Brescia, who first
raised a rude craft to an art, are worthy of being included. From
Brescia came the masters who established the Cremona school, a name not
only immortal in the history of music, but full of vital significance;
for it was not till the violin was perfected, and a distinct school of
violin-playing founded, that the creation of the symphony, the highest
form of music, became possible.
The violin-makers of Cremona came, as we have said, from Brescia,
beginning with the Ama-tis. Though it does not lie within the province
of this work to discuss in any special or technical sense the history of
violin-making, something concerning the greatest of the Cremona masters
will be found both interesting and valuable as preliminary to the
sketches of the great players which make up the substance of the
volume. The Amatis, who established the violin-making art at Cremona,
successively improved, each member of the class stealing a march on
his predecessor, until the peerless masters of the art, Antonius
Stradiuarius and Joseph Guarnerius del Jesu, advanced far beyond the
rivalry of their contemporaries and successors. The pupils of the
Amatis, Stradiuarius, and Guarnerius settled in Milan, Florence, and
other cities, which also became centers of violin-making, but never to
an extent which lessened the preeminence of the great Cremona makers.
There was one significant peculiarity of all the leading artists of this
violin-making epoch: each one as a pupil never contented himself with
making copies of his master's work, but strove incessantly to strike
out something in his work which should be an outcome of his own genius,
knowledge, and investigation. It was essentially a creative age.
Let us glance briefly at the artistic activity of the times when the
violin-making craft leaped so swiftly and surely to perfection. If we
turn to the days of Gaspard di Salo, Morelli, Magini, and the Amatis, we
find that when they were sending forth their fiddles, Raphael, Leonardo
da Vinci, Titian, and Tintoretto were busily painting their great
canvases. While Antonius Stradiuarius and Joseph Guarnerius were
occupied with the noble instruments which have immortalized their names,
Canaletto was painting his Venetian squares and canals, Giorgio was
superintending the manufacture of his inimitable maiolica, and the
Venetians were blowing glass of marvelous beauty and form. In the
musical world, Corelli was writing his gigues and sarabandes, Geminiani
composing his first instruction book for the violin, and Tartini
dreaming out his "Devil's Trill"; and while Guadognini (a pupil of
Antonius Stradiuarius), with the stars of lesser magnitude, were
exercising their calling, Viotti, the originator of the school of modern
violin-playing, was beginning to write his concertos, and Boccherini
laying the foundation of chamber music.
Such was the flourishing state of Italian art during the great Cremona
period, which opened up a mine of artistic wealth for succeeding
generations. It is a curious fact that not only the violin but violin
music was the creature of the most luxurious period of art; for, in that
golden age of the creative imagination, musicians contemporary with the
great violin-makers were writing music destined to be better understood
and appreciated when the violins then made should have reached their
maturity.
There can be no doubt that the conditions were all highly favorable
to the manufacture of great instruments. There were many composers
of genius and numerous orchestras scattered over Italy, Germany, and
France, and there must have been a demand for bow instruments of a high
order. In the sixteenth century, Palestrina and Zarlino were writing
grand church music, in which violins bore an important part. In the
seventeenth, lived Stradella, Lotti, Buononcini, Lulli, and Corelli. In
the eighteenth, when violin-making Avas at its zenith, there were such
names among the Italians as Scarlatti, Geminiani, Vivaldi, Locatelli,
Boccherini, Tartini, Piccini, Viotti, and Nardini; while in France it
was the epoch of Lecler and Gravinies, composers of violin music of
the highest class. Under the stimulus of such a general art culture the
makers of the violin must have enjoyed large patronage, and the more
eminent artists have received highly remunerative prices for their
labors, and, correlative to this practical success, a powerful stimulus
toward perfecting the design and workmanship of their instruments. These
plain artisans lived quiet and simple lives, but they bent their whole
souls to the work, and belonged to the class of minds of which Carlyle
speaks: "In a word, they willed one thing to which all other things were
made subordinate and subservient, and therefore they accomplished it.
The wedge will rend rocks, but its edge must be sharp and single; if it
be double, the wedge is bruised in pieces and will rend nothing."
II.
So much said concerning the general conditions under which the craft
of violin-making reached such splendid excellence, the attention of the
reader is invited to the greatest masters of the Cremona school.
"The instrument on which he played
Was in Cremona's workshops made,
By a great master of the past,
Ere yet was lost the art divine;
Fashioned of maple and of pine,
That in Tyrolean forests vast
Had rooked and wrestled with the blast.
"Exquisite was it in design,
A marvel of the lutist's art,
Perfect in each minutest part;
And in its hollow chamber thus
The maker from whose hand it came
Had written his unrivaled name,
'Antonius Stradivarius.'"
The great artist whose work is thus made the subject of Longfellow's
verse was born at Cremona in 1644. His renown is beyond that of all
others, and his praise has been sounded by poet, artist, and musician.
He has received the homage of two centuries, and his name is as little
likely to be dethroned from its special place as that of Shakespeare
or Homer. Though many interesting particulars are known concerning
his life, all attempt has failed to obtain any connected record of the
principal events of his career. Perhaps there is no need, for there
is ample reason to believe that Antonius Stradiuarius lived a quiet,
uncheckered, monotonous existence, absorbed in his labor of making
violins, and caring for nothing in the outside world which did not touch
his all-beloved art. Without haste and without rest, he labored for
the perfection of the violin. To him the world was a mere workshop. The
fierce Italian sun beat down and made Cremona like an oven, but it was
good to dry the wood for violins. On the slopes of the hills grew grand
forests of maple, pine, and willow, but he cared nothing for forest
or hillside except as they grew good wood for violins. The vineyards
yielded rich wine, but, after all, the main use of the grape was that it
furnished the spirit wherewith to compound varnish. The sheep, ox, and
horse were good for food, but still more important because from them
came the hair of the bow, the violin strings, and the glue which held
the pieces together. It was through this single-eyed devotion to
his life-work that one great maker was enabled to gather up all the
perfections of his predecessors, and stand out for all time as the
flower of the Cremonese school and the master of the world. George
Eliot, in her poem, "The Stradivari," probably pictures his life
accurately:
"That plain white-aproned man, who stood at work,
Patient and accurate full fourscore years,
Cherished his sight and touch by temperance;
And since keen sense is love of perfectness,
Made perfect violins, the needed paths
For inspiration and high mastery."
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