Books › Biographical notice of Nicolo Paganini, with an analysis of his compositions, and a sketch of the history of the violin, 1876 › scan 50
Scan 50
Biographical notice of Nicolo Paganini, with an analysis of his compositions, and a sketch of the history of the violin, 1876
7 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1best of Italian violinists. Lafont not looking at it in this light, I was obliged to accept the challenge. I allowed him to regulate the programme, which he did in the following manner:—We each in turn played one of our own compositions, after which we played together the "Symphonie concertante" of Kreutzer, for two Violins. In this I did not deviate in the least from the author's text, while we both were playing our own parts; but in the solos I yielded to my own imagination, and introduced several novelties, which seemed to annoy my adversary. Then followed a Russian air, with variations, by Lafont, and I finished the concert with my variations on "le Streghe." Lafont probably surpassed me in tone, but the applause which followed my efforts convinced me I did not suffer by comparison." Lafont, it cannot be denied, acted imprudently under the circumstances, for although it may be admitted he possessed more purely classical qualities, and was more in accordance with French taste than Paganini, although his tone was fuller, and more equal, yet, in original fancy, poetry of execution, and mastery of difficulties, he could not place himself in juxtaposition with his antagonist. In a concert, at the Conservatory of Paris, in 1816, the palm would have been awarded to him, but, with an Italian public, athirst for novelty and originality, his failure was certain.
3A similar circumstance occurred two years later, when Paganini had returned to Placentia to give concerts. The Polish violinist, Lipinski,* was then there (1818). He had sought Paganini without success at Venice, Verona, and Milan, and had abandoned all hopes of meeting him, when a concert bill was put into his hands, which announced that they were then together in the same town. Paganini gave six concerts in this town; and, at the sixth, played a concerted symphony with Lipinski, which was much applauded. They frequently met at each other's residence and improvised together. Some time after, Lipinski dedicated to him one of his works† as a tribute of respect; but when they again
5* Who subsequently became principal Violin soloist at the Chapel of the King of Saxony.
6† Tre Capricci per il Violino, dedicati al esimio professore Nicolo Paganini, da Carlo Lipinski. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1827.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.