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Scan 372
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 321. See the scan on archive.org.
1iii. p. 284], which appeared a few years later, and on the whole is a work of much higher merit, Geminiani’s ‘school’ shows an advance in some important points of technique. Here for the first time the holding of the violin on the left side of the string-holder is recommended—an innovation of the greatest importance, by which alone the high development of modern technique was made possible. He goes up to the seventh position. As affording the only direct evidence of Corelli’s method and principles (which in all main respects have remained ever since the basis of all legitimate and correct treatment of the instrument), Geminiani’s book is still of the greatest interest. In Locatelli (1693–1764), another pupil of Tartini, a curious instance is afforded of how, in spite of the strongest school-influence, a powerful individuality will now and then, for better or worse, strike out a path for itself. While some of Locatelli’s compositions afford clear evidence of his sound musicianship and genuine musical feeling, he shows himself in others, especially in a set of Caprices, to have been, to say the least, an experimentalist of the boldest type. In overstepping to an astonishing degree the natural resources and limits of the instrument, these caprices afford one of the earliest instances of charlatanism in violin-playing. [See vol. ii. p. 758.]
3The beginnings of violin-playing in France date from a very early period. We have already seen that the very first known maker of violins, Duiffoprougcar [see TIEFFENBRUCKER, ante, p. 100, etc.] was called to France by Francis I., and that there is some evidence of the violin having very quickly gained considerable popularity there. Musical guilds spread throughout the country as early as the 14th century. The most important was the ‘Confrérie de St. Julien,’ headed by ‘Le Roy des Ménétriers du Royaume de France.’ [See ROI DES VIOLONS, vol. iv. p. 121.] Whatever historical or antiquarian interest may attach to these guilds, they did little to further musical art in general or the art of violin-playing in particular. We have no means of forming an estimate of the proficiency as violinists of these ménétriers, but, to judge from the extreme simplicity of the violin-parts in the scores of Lulli, who in 1652 was appointed Director of the Royal Chapel (Les vingtquatre violons du Roy), it cannot have been great. [See ante, p. 279.] As late as 1753 a certain Paris musician, Corrette, writes that when Corelli’s Violin Sonatas came to Paris, no violinist was to be found who could play them. The violin compositions of Frenchmen of the same period, among which the Suites of REBEL (1687), a pupil of Lulli, were counted the best, are in every respect inferior to the average of Italian and even of German productions of the same period: the setting is as poor and even incorrect as the treatment of the instrument is primitive. FRANÇOIS FRANÇŒUR, in his Sonatas (1715), shows decided progress in both respects. (As a curiosity it may be noticed that Françoeur, in order to produce certain chords, adopted the strange expedient of placing the thumb on the strings.) As was the case in Germany, it was owing to the influence of the Italian school, that violin-playing in France was raised to real excellence. The first French violinist of note who made his studies in Italy under Corelli was BAPTISTE ANET (about 1700). Of much greater importance however was JEAN MARIE LECLAIR (1697–1764), a pupil of Somis, who again was a direct pupil of Corelli’s. As composer for the violin Leclair has hardly a rival among Frenchmen down to Rode. If most of his works are characterised by the essentially French qualities of vivacity, piquancy, and grace, he also shows in some instances a remarkable depth of feeling, and a pathos which one would feel inclined to ascribe to Italian influence, if at the same time it did not contain an element of theatrical pomposity characteristic of all French art of the period. His technique shows itself, within certain limits—he does not go beyond the third position—to be quite as developed as that of his Italian contemporaries. By the frequent employment of double-stops a remarkable richness of sound is produced, and the bow is used in a manner requiring that agility and lightness of management for which at a later period the French school gained a special reputation.
5Among other French violinists, directly or indirectly formed by the Italian school, may be mentioned PAGIN (born 1721), TOUCHEMOULIN (1727–1801), LAHOUSAYE (1735–1818), BARTHÉLEMON (died 1808), and BERTHAUME (1752–1828). Meanwhile an independent French school began to be formed of which PIERRE GAVINIÉS (1728–1800) was the most eminent representative. Of his numerous compositions, ‘Les vingtquatre matinées’—a set of studies of unusual difficulty—have alone survived. Without partaking of the eccentricity of Locatelli’s Caprices, these studies show a tendency towards exaggeration in technique. Beauty of sound is frequently sacrificed—difficulty is heaped on difficulty for its own sake, and not with the intention of producing new effects. At the same time, so competent a judge as Fétis ascribes to Gaviniés a style of playing both imposing and graceful.
7Not directly connected with any school, but in the main self-taught, was ALEXANDRE JEAN BOUCHER (1770–1861). He was no doubt a player of extraordinary talent and exceptional technical proficiency, but devoid of all artistic earnestness, and was one of the race of charlatan-violinists, which has had representatives from the days of Farina down to our own time. If they have done harm by their example, and by the success they have gained from the masses, it must not be overlooked that, in not a few
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