Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday

emotions of every living thing capable of hearing, as the violin. The singular powers of this be

lumber 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 l

ed years and years ago, in the days when violin playing did not hold

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 wa

hestras 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 t

ci," 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 collecti

irtuosi. One of his compositions, named "Cappriccio Stravagante," requires the instrument to imitate the braying of an ass

, and Tomasso Antonio Vitali, himself a famous violinist, wrote a "Chaconne" of such merit that it was played by no less

r the first school was the old Italian school, and from Italy, by means of her celebrated

re the violinist held a position of any dignity. The fiddle, as it was called, was regarded by the gentry with profound contempt.

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teem all arts more highly, and in no country wa

630, Thomas Baltzar, and John Banister, the forme

ine 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 aston

uch admired by all lovers of musick, his company was therefore desired; and company, especially musical company, delighting in dri

s 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 fid

d, 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, ale

t 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 exce

ost 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 recent

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 protract

d in connection with the performance

at the head of the opera band, but his faculties became deranged by intense study a

ght 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 a

ntonio James Oury, who made a series of concert tours lasting nine years, during which he occasionally appeared in conjunction with De Bériot 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.

e 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, rec

was Belleville. Mr. Oury met his daughter, and, there being naturally a bond of sympathy between them, the

f 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." T

ut has received her stimulus from Continental schools, to which her sons ha

ished by Corelli, appears to have been the only original school. Its pupils scattered to various parts of Europe, and there established ot

and his greatest pupil was Viotti, a Piedmontese, who founded the French school, and from him came Roberrechts, his pupil De Bériot and his pupil Vieuxtemps, the two latter Belgians,

, who was first a pupil of Tartini and later of Somis, and Teresa Milano

oke loose from tradition and established schools of their own. Some of them, on the other hand, had but few pupils, as for instance