Scan 48
Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of Celebrated Violinists, 1877
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1played sweeter, was a well-bred gentleman, and not given to excessive drinking, as Baltzar was." In spite of his drinking propensities, Baltzar was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1663; and John Bannister the elder succeeded him as leader of the King's violins.
3Bannister is said by his contemporaries to have quite equalled the Italian violinists, and one day he ventured to tell Charles II. that the English violinists were superior to those of France; for which speech he lost his appointment. He then set about giving concerts, and appears to have been the first who established in London concerts, in which the audience paid for seats. In one of these, given in 1677, the advertisement states that the musical performance will begin "with a parley of instruments composed by Mr. Bannister and performed by eminent masters." This Bannister died in 1679, and was also interred in Westminster Abbey. There was more room there in those days than now. He left a son named after himself, whom he had succeeded in making a clever violinist. The younger Bannister was appointed to King William's band, and was also first violin at Drury Lane for many
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