Scan 357
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians ed. by J. A. Fuller Maitland, 1910
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 323. See the scan on archive.org.
1VIOLIN-PLAYING
3powerful contrasts, and to do justice to the enlarged horizon of ideas and emotions in modern musical compositions, it merely states that executive art has followed the progress, and shared in the characteristic qualities of the creative art of the period. A comparison of Mozart's String Quartets with those of Beethoven illustrates to a certain extent this difference. The style of playing which was admirably adapted for the interpretation of the works not only of Corelli and Tartini, but also of Handel, and even Mozart, could not cope with Haydn, and still less with Beethoven. The great merit of the masters of the Paris school was that they recognised this call for a freer and bolder treatment of the instrument, and approached their task in a truly musical and artistic spirit.
5The manner and style of the Paris school were brought to Germany by Viotti and Rode, who both travelled a great deal, and by their performances effected a considerable modification in the somewhat antiquated style then prevailing in that country. The Mannheim school, as already mentioned, was the most important centre of violin-playing in Germany during the second half of the 18th century. It produced a number of excellent players, such as the three Stamitzes, Chr. Cannabich, Ferd. Fränzl, and others. They had adhered more closely than the French players to Tartini's method and manner, and not only Spohr, but before him Mozart, speaks of their style as old-fashioned, when compared with that of their French contemporaries. The fact that the last and final improvements in the bow, as made by Tourte of Paris, were probably unknown to them would account for this. [See ante, p. 135.] Another remarkable player belonging to this school was J. F. Eck (born 1766), whose brother and pupil Franz Eck (1774–1809) was the teacher of Spohr. Both the Ecks appear to some extent to have been under the influence of the French school. Spohr in his Autobiography speaks of Franz Eck as a French violinist. Spohr therefore can hardly be reckoned as of the Mannheim school, and we know that later on he was greatly impressed by Rode, and for a considerable time studied to imitate him. His earlier Concertos are evidently worked after the model of Rode's Concertos. Thus — granting the enormous difference of artistic temperament — Spohr must be considered as the direct heir of the art of Viotti and Rode. At the same time, his individuality was so peculiar, that he very soon formed a style of his own as a player no less than as a composer. As a composer he probably influenced the style of modern violin-playing even more than as a player. His Concertos were, with the single exception of Beethoven's Concerto, by far the most valuable contributions to the literature of the violin, as a solo instrument, hitherto made. Compared even with the best of Viotti's, Rode's, or Kreutzer's Concertos they are not merely improvements, but in them the Violin Concerto itself is lifted into a higher sphere, and from being more or less a show-piece, rises to the dignity of a work of art, to be judged as much on its own merits as a musical composition, as by its effectiveness as a solo-piece. Without detracting from the merits of the works of the older masters, it is not too much to say that there is hardly enough musical stuff in them to have resisted the stream of superficial virtuoso-music which more than ever before flooded the concert-rooms during the first half of the 19th century. We believe that it was mainly owing to the sterling musical worth of Spohr's violin compositions that the great qualities of the Classical Italian and the Paris schools have been preserved to the present day, and have prevented the degeneration of violin-playing. Spohr had great powers of execution, but he used them in a manner not wholly free from one-sidedness, and it cannot be said that he made any addition to the technique of the instrument. He set a great example of purity of style and legitimate treatment of the instrument — an example which has lost none of its force in the lapse of more than half a century.
7Next to Spohr no one has had a greater influence on the style of modern violin-playing than Paganini. The fame of Corelli and Tartini had spread far beyond their own country; the fiddlers of Italy, like the singers, travelled during the 18th century all over Europe in search of gold and laurels. Some of them returned to enjoy a quiet old age under their native sky; others, like Viotti, never came back. A great many either settled abroad in Paris or London, or were attached to some of the many courts of Germany. Thus we find Geminiani and Giardini in London, Viotti alternately in Paris and London, Locatelli at Amsterdam, Nardini at Stuttgart, as soloists, leaders, and teachers. In this way the school of Italy was virtually transferred to France and Germany by the pupils of Tartini; and at the beginning of the century it was practically extinct in Italy, where violin-playing, with few exceptions, had sunk to a very low level. But Italy afterwards produced a few violinists of great eminence, who, more or less self-taught, achieved enormous successes as virtuosi, and no doubt have largely influenced modern violin-playing. Lolli (about 1730–1802) was one of these; an extraordinary fiddler, but a poor musician. Of much greater importance was Paganini (1784–1840). The sensation he created wherever he appeared was unprecedented. By his marvellous execution, and his thoroughly original and eccentric personality and style, he for a time held Europe spell-bound. His influence on the younger violinists of the period could not fail to be considerable — more so in France than in Germany, where the more serious spirit prevailing among musicians,
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