Scan 75
Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of Celebrated Violinists, 1877
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1great sensation. His first public performance in London was at the little theatre in the Hay-market, where he met with much success, and was soon looked upon as the greatest performer on the violin of his day. He produced quite as great a sensation in that concert as Paganini did eighty years later in the larger Opera House opposite.*
3After this, Giardini became "the fashion," and was heard often both in public and in private; his style of playing, his tone, elegant bowing and graceful carriage, met with universal admiration. He soon formed an Academia, or morning concert, at his house, at which his pupils performed. In 1754 he became first violin at the Opera. In those days the first violin was the leader of the orchestra, and gave the movements, etc.; there was no other leader, with a baton, as now, so that none but the greatest artistes could hold such a position. In the course of two years he joined Signora Mingotti, the singer, in the management
5* We are told that, on this occasion, "Giardini displayed his power in a solo and a concerto, after which the applause was so long and loud that the like of it had rarely or ever before been heard in that well-known house."
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