Scan 572
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
19 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 476. See the scan on archive.org.
1There was a great deal of fashionable company at this concert, and the heat of the room melted the famous varnish, which was really a preparation of assafœtida. The smell which it exuded was so maddening that an ordinary man would have stopped and have excused himself; but Ole Bull merely closed his eyes, turned his face away, and played with an energy which became more frenzied the more intolerable the stink became. He enjoyed an overwhelming success, and the Duke rushed forward to seize his hand in congratulation. The appalling odour of assafœtida struck him in the face, and Ole Bull had to explain in what agony he had been performing."—Ole Bull's "Breve i Uddrag," by Jonas Lie, Copenhagen, 1881.
3A MOTTO ON A CREMONA.
5"In silvis viva silva; cano'ra jam mor'tua cano."
6"Speechless, alive, I heard the feathered throng;
7Now, being dead, I emulate their song."
9TO A BAD FIDDLER.
11"Old Orpheus play'd so well he mov'd old Nick,
12Whilst thou mov'st nothing—but thy Fiddlestick."
14ON THE TREATMENT OF THE VIOLIN.
16In a Letter from the celebrated Tartini.
18The letter here presented to my readers was translated and published by Dr. Burney, in 1779, under the following title: 'A Letter from the late
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