Books › Voice and violin, 1898 › scan 145
Scan 145
Voice and violin, 1898
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 125. See the scan on archive.org.
1The last-named is, perhaps, the best model in this respect. What may be termed the awkward keys and the unnatural positions are avoided as much as possible in the music of Paganini and De Bériot; and it may be safely put down as an axiom, that any who fail in this particular are bad composers. No writer of orchestral music can hope to achieve success, unless he has made a careful study of the various instruments, and more especially of the violin.
3Much of the faulty intonation experienced at the present time is due to bad writing, to the careless transcription of piano music (or of music originally intended for the voice or for other instruments) to the violin.
5Another subject which affects amateur orchestras, now rather numerous in England, is well worthy of consideration. I allude to the necessity of having a piano part. It is an immense resource, and tends to keep the other instruments well in tune. A faulty double-bass or 'cello will pull down the best of amateur violinists; but the notes of the piano, being fixed and invariable throughout the evening, tend to perfect the performance, and it is a great improvement to any orchestra.
7In the Italian opera the piano has always had its place in the orchestra, and on the production of a new opera the composer himself usually presides at the piano, thus fixing the beat (tempo) and the
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