Books › Voice and violin, 1898 › scan 107
Scan 107
Voice and violin, 1898
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 87. See the scan on archive.org.
1as in painting and poetry, there is no single leader whose style and manner should alone be imitated. As soon as a certain level of excellence has been attained, it becomes a simple matter of taste as to who should be considered the first, and de gustibus non est disputandum, said the ancients.
3Some people may prefer one violinist to another, but when it is a question of artists of the first rank it is rather absurd to speak of any individual as the "king of violinists." There is no king, it is a republic now. There never was a king but once, and then only for a few years, and his name was Paganini.
5At the present day, when such an array of talent is before the world as was never previously known, the expressed preference for any great violinist is like declaring that you prefer an apple or a pear to a peach or a plum. They are all perfect in their particular manner.
7Young violinists will do well to remember this, and not to imitate any one in particular, but endeavour to derive instruction from all, while perfecting their own individual styles. No two contemporaries ever reached the pinnacle of fame by more different routes than Spohr and Paganini; yet they both rose as high as it is allotted to an artist to rise in this world.
9The celebrated "duel" came about in the following manner: In March 1816, Paganini, being then
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