Scan 475
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 381. See the scan on archive.org.
1settled in London in 1845. Shortly afterwards he became principal professor of the Violin at the Royal Academy of Music, and leader under Signor Costa.
3It now remains for me to notice the Belgian school. The first to name is Charles de Bériot, one of the most delicious players we have had. As a composer for his instrument, he opened up entirely fresh ground; he banished all that was dry, and gave us those fresh and pleasant Airs with Variations, and Morceaux de Salon, teeming with novel effects. It can never be said that De Bériot alarmed the amateur with outrageous difficulties; on the contrary, he gave them passages comparatively easy to execute, full of effect, and yet withal astonishing to the listener. De Bériot probably made more amateur Violinists than any composer of his time.
5Henri Vieuxtemps was a thorough master of his art. His Concertos are compositions worthy of the title they bear; they do not consist of a number of difficulties strung together without meaning, but are properly constructed works. He has written many Fantasias, all of which are the delight of good Violinists. His compositions being most difficult to render, they are chiefly known among artists, but in these days of rapid development in Violin-playing among amateurs, a new and wide field will certainly be opened for them.
7From Belgium to Poland seems a wide step in my discourse, but it is not really so. Although the Polish Violinists retain much originality in their
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