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Scan 321
The violin and its music, 1881
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 291. See the scan on archive.org.
1to the opening of the Conservatoire, Michael Woldemar held a high position. He was born at Orleans, in 1750, and became a pupil of Lolli, and imbibed from his master his love for the eccentric in Violin-playing; indeed, he appears to have taken greater liberties with his instrument than Lolli ever contemplated doing, since we are told he added a fifth string to enable the performer to descend five notes lower, and composed a Concerto for his questionably improved Violin. This idea was resuscitated by Chrétien Urhan some years later, who played solos upon an instrument he named the Violon-alto at the concerts of the Conservatoire. In passing, it may be mentioned that Urhan was a skilful performer on the Viol d'Amour, and it was for him that Meyerbeer wrote the solo for that instrument in the First Act of The Huguenots.
3It was Woldemar who edited the Violin Method of Leopold Mozart, published by Pleyel, at the end of which are several rare and ingenious Violin compositions introduced by the editor. Among these is a Scale Fugue by Woldemar, and also a Caprice from the same pen. Here also is found the enigmatic study of Locatelli, known as the Labyrinth of Harmony, with an explanatory guide in notes to instruct the player how to extricate himself from the musical maze, which, if I remember rightly, is the earliest known key to the mystery. Mention of a few of Woldemar's compositions will serve to display his eccentricity in that direction: Op. 8 is
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