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Scan 167
The violinist, 1900
17 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Art of Paganini
2BY BERNHARD LISTEMANN.
4A SHORT historical note about the predecessors of Paganini, and the art they developed and cultivated, will enable us to recognize more clearly the foundation on which Paganini stands, and also the possibilities for reforms and inventions which those many distinguished men had put within his reach.
6The first man in history who raised the violin to a real solo instrument, and composed works which are still appreciated by the music connoisseurs of our time, is Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713). Equally distinguished as violinist, composer and art philosopher, he could not fail to give a mighty impulse to the violinists and musicians of his time and to indirectly create a school, from which sprang forth men like Veracini, Laurenti, Clari, Vitali, Perelli, Ciampi, Visconti, Giacopino, Alberti, Albioni, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Geminiani, Somis (this latter becoming the founder of the Piedmontese school), and others. While in reality only few were positive pupils, all of them were benefited by his playing and his teachings.
8Giuseppe Tartini (1690-1770) was the greatest of his contemporaries. It is not proven that he was a pupil of Corelli. His intellect was equal to Corelli's. He was a great, many-sided artist in every sense, more progressive than Corelli. His masterwork, "Sonata del Diavolo," for violin, shows wonderful technique and great depth in its tender melodies.
10The French school was founded by Jean Marie Leclair, born in Paris, 1697, murdered in 1764, who began his career as ballet-dancer and ballet-master, taking up the violin only in later years (under Somis), and by hard study and talent was finally considered the foremost player in France. He was an excellent composer, although his treatment of the violin is far from being as bold and characteristic as Tartini's.
12French violinists of distinction in the eighteenth century were: Senaillé, Guignon, Guillemain, and, probably the best of all, Gaviniès (1726-1800), named the "French Tartini," a really great violinist, known to us by his "24 Etudes," a very difficult and useful but musically uninteresting work.
14The Piedmontese school, in the meantime, had brought forth such violinists as Giardini, Ferrari, John Stamitz and Pugnani, the latter becoming the teacher of Viotti, who in turn became the greatest violinist the world had seen up to that time.
16Giovanni Battista Viotti (1753-1824) traveled extensively through Germany, Russia, France and England, but being never fully satisfied with the financial results, he turned to other fields for a living, and became alternately accompanist to Queen Marie Antionette, conductor of the Duke of Soubise, and associated himself with the tonsorial artist Leonard, in order to erect an Italian opera; but, being unlucky in this enterprise, he established a wine business in London, with the same disastrous result. Later on he concertised again, arousing enthusiasm, as in former years, and also succeeded in getting the responsible position as conductor of the grand opera in Paris; but again pursued by ill-luck, he shook off all ambition and died, in 1824, more peacefully than he had lived. His compositions are numerous and are of a classical character. Viotti's greatest pupil was Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode (1774-1830). As violinist and composer, his record is quite as glorious as Viotti's. His most valuable work is the "24 Caprices," which will live as long as the violin will be played.
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