Scan 76
Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of Celebrated Violinists, 1877
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1of the Opera House, and composed several of the lyric dramas performed there. But this joint management proved a failure, and poor Giardini lost so much money that he was compelled to rely, once more, upon his resources as a violinist. He was then quite unrivalled as a solo-player and as a leader, besides which he had several pupils among the aristocratic and the fashionable. He also composed a number of solos and concertos for the violin. But his playing was far more remarkable than his compositions. A contemporary who heard him in 1774 speaks of "the full and prolonged tones of Giardini's violin."
3On this occasion he played a concerto, in which he introduced the then popular air "Come, haste to the wedding," which brought the audience into a state of ecstasy. "He was a fine-figured man, superbly dressed in green and gold; the breadth of the lace upon his coat, with the three large gold buttons on the sleeve, made a rich appearance, which still glitters in my imagination."*
5Another artiste, Parke, a hautboy-player, heard him in 1776, and states that "he displayed a
7* Account by Mr. Gardiner of a concert at Leicester, at which Giardini performed.
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