Scan 45
Chats to violin students on how to study the violin, 1895
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 29. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER II.
3Concerning Harmonics, Octaves, etc.
5THE violin is the most difficult of all instruments to play well, as there are so many obstacles to be overcome which are not met with on other instruments. Quality and truth of the strings is of immense importance and very difficult to obtain; their nondurability is extremely trying. Being so sensitive, the atmosphere of large and crowded halls is sometimes most disastrous to them. When playing important solos occasionally a string breaks and disconcerts an artist. I have had it occur while playing Bach's Chaconne (an unaccompanied solo) and was forced to retire and put on a fresh string and return to the platform and finish the solo. When my son Bernhard was playing a Concerto at the Gloucester Festival (when I was leading the orchestra) in 1889, one of his strings broke, fortunately I was able to hand him my instrument while I replaced it. Of the two on that occasion, I was most put out by the incident!
7It will be quite impossible for me in these papers to put down a fixed line of study for advanced pupils, as I did in the first chapter for beginners. The mysteries of double stopping, arpeggios, and, most interesting and difficult of all, single and double harmonics, need more than a written explanation. They say Paganini (who revived the antiquated and long-forgotten use of double
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