Scan 104
Voice and violin: sketches, anecdotes, and reminiscences by T.L. Phipson, 1898
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 86. See the scan on archive.org.
1would most assuredly come out "second best." Whatever drawbacks may attach to the private character of Paganini, as a professional violinist he was an artist such as this world will probably never see again.
3It has been my good fortune to converse with men who have heard Paganini, and were thus able to compare him with the best of our modern violinists, and though some preferred the grander style of De Bériot, as regarded mere execution their verdict was always unanimous, and to the effect that, with the sole exception of Camillo Sivori, no one has ever approached him, and that in Sivori's case it was only an approach.
5Few indeed now remain who have attended the concerts of Nicolo Paganini, and they are mostly well over eighty years of age. But they are all agreed that in his case it was not a matter of vogue or fashion, or unscrupulous puffing for trade purposes (though there was some of that), but he actually realised what no other human being could do. It was the peculiar nervous organisation of the man which was the chief cause of all; and in this respect no two men are exactly alike. Every artist must be content with his own style. Imitate nobody, as Viotti said to De Bériot, but endeavour to perfect your own talent as far as Nature will allow you to do so.
7Let it also be clearly understood that in music,
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