Scan 31
Famous Violinists and Fine Violins: Historical Notes, Anecdotes, and …, 1896
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1several persons of his acquaintance among the numerous and brilliant company assembled. All this bustle interrupted the music, and the performance suffered accordingly. At first Viotti controlled his feelings, and gave way to the annoyance; a little silence ensuing, he began his piece again. But the same uproar recommencing soon afterwards, he was seen to throw a scornful glance at the unmannerly Count, and at once withdrew from the concert room without further ceremony.
3This scene at Versailles seems to have had a serious effect upon Viotti's ultimate career; for ever afterwards he evinced the greatest dislike to appear in public as a solo-player. Once only he played for a charity, and once again in 1790, at a singular concert given by a member of the Revolutionary Government, who was a friend of his, when the audience, among whom were many members of the unfortunate aristocracy, were compelled to mount three or four flights of stairs, and found that the only decoration in the room was a bust of Jean Jacques Rousseau!
5In private circles Viotti was often the charm of the evening. He played in several drawing-rooms, where his friend Garat, the favourite tenor singer, was often heard, and also the young Orfila, a Portuguese medical student, who became later in life distinguished as the author of an important treatise on the detection of "Poisons," a noted
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