Books › Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896 › scan 55
Scan 55
Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 35. See the scan on archive.org.
1the first violin band established by an English sovereign.
3An amusing old writer tells us that "after Baltzar came to England and showed his wonderful parts on that instrument, Mell was not so much admired; yet he played sweeter, was a well-bred gentleman, and not given to excessive drinking as Baltzar was." Probably the King looked over the German musician's shortcomings in this respect; for when Baltzar died, in 1663, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, and John Bannister the elder succeeded him as leader of the Royal Violins.
5It was a splendid appointment, and Bannister appears to have done ample justice to it. His contemporaries (though contemporaries are not always to be relied upon for truthful history, as many of our young literary men find out to their cost) published the opinion that this clever Englishman quite equalled the best of Italian violinists; and one day Bannister himself actually ventured to tell King Charles that the English violinists of his court were superior to those of the French court, for which bold and truthful speech he lost his appointment!
7This unkind action of the sovereign was not a bad thing for musicians: as soon as Bannister got his discharge he set about giving concerts, and he was the first who established in London concerts in which the audience paid for their seats.
9Of one of these entertainments, given in 1677, we
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