The Violin Part 23

[27] Query, _Solo_?-PRINTER'S IMP.

[28] See the reference to the old sacerdotal habit of fiddling, at page 55.

[29] In his "Sonate Accademiche," _opera seconda_, published in London, 1744, we meet (observes Mr. G. F. Graham), on the page immediately preceding the music, with the first example we have noticed in _Sonate_ of that time, of an explanation of marks of bowing and expression that occur in the course of the work. His marks for _crescendo-diminuendo_, and for _diminuendo_, and for _crescendo_, are of the same form as the modern ones-only _black_ throughout.-His mark for an up-bow consists of a vertical line drawn from the interior of a semi-circle placed beneath it. His mark for a down-bow is the same figure reversed in position;-M?. for _mordente_, &c. These are things worth noticing in old music. In pages 67-9, of the same work, Veracini gives the Scottish air of Tweedside, with variations; the first instance we know, of Scottish music being so honored by an old Italian violinist.

[30] "I cannot understand how _Arts_ and _Sciences_ should be subject unto any such fantastical, giddy, or inconsiderate toyish conceits, as ever to be said to be _in fas.h.i.+on_, or _out of fas.h.i.+on_."-_Mace's Music's Monument._

[31] It was remarked, while he was in England, that his execution was astonis.h.i.+ng, but that he dealt occasionally in such tricks as tended to excite the risible faculty, rather than the admiration, of his auditors.

[32] Voltaire's contempt for _bad_ playing seems to have equalled his indifference towards _good_, as may be evidenced in the following lines from his caustic pen:-

toi, dont le violon Sous un archet maudit par Apollon D'un ton si dur a _racle_, &c.

[33] Michael Kelly, who heard this artist at Vienna, on his return from Russia, makes the following mention of him:-

"Giornovick, who was on his way from Russia to Paris, had been many years first concerto-player at the court of Petersburgh. He was a man of a certain age, but in the full vigour of talent: his tone was very powerful, his execution most rapid, and his taste, above all, alluring.

No performer, in my remembrance, played such pleasing music. He generally closed his concertos with a rondo, the subject of which was some popular Russian air, to which he composed variations, with enchanting taste."

[34] Apropos of this deficiency of English, I find an anecdote in the book of Parke, the oboist. He is describing the return from a dinner-party.-"When we arrived at Tottenham-court Road, there being several coaches on the stand, one was called for Jarnovicki, to convey him home; but, on its coming up, although he had been in London several years, he could not muster up English enough to name the street in which he lived; and, none of the party knowing his residence, it produced a dilemma, in which he partic.i.p.ated, till, suddenly recollecting himself, he broke out singing, _Marlbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre_, which enabled his English friends to direct the coachman to Marlborough Street."

[35] Parke, also, mentions the occurrence of this dispute, and the challenge-stating, as the occasion, that Shaw had refused to leave his proper station in the orchestra, to accompany Giornovichi.

[36] Authentic editions of these charming productions will be found in the Catalogue of the Messrs. Robert c.o.c.ks and Co. who are the sole publishers of Viotti's Duos and Trios.

[37] It has been a.s.serted that the _wire_ of his fourth string was particularly fine and close, to ensure greater smoothness of surface, and facilitate the sliding of the fingers.

[38] It is right to add here, that M. Guhr has subsequently reduced to a system the results of his investigation into the peculiarities of Paganini's playing, and, ill.u.s.trating the whole with copious examples, has published it in a special work, of which an English version, under the t.i.tle of "Paganini's Method of Playing the Violin," has been put forth by Messrs. c.o.c.ks and Co. The work is a curiosity in its kind, and lays open, perhaps, as many of the great Artist's labyrinthine recesses, as could well be traced upon paper, for the guidance of those who would toil in his track. Many of the difficulties thus exhibited to view, are truly astounding-difficulties that look as inexpugnable as the fortifications of Gibraltar! The _simultaneous four A's flat_, do "puzzle the will," while the _artificial double harmonics_, and other eagle-flights, cause an aching of "the mind's eye," in the attempt to follow them. Ordinary students, in beholding such things, may well experience a double shake of apprehension; but those of more energetic fibre, and devoted patience, should by no means despair of attaining, at least, a partial success in the undertaking.

Among the mechanical resources employed by Paganini, as essential for the production of his extraordinary effects, M. Guhr mentions the peculiar smallness or thinness of his strings-a quality the _reverse_ of advantageous, as regards the _usual_ course of playing,-and his frequent habit of s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his G string to B flat, through which device certain pa.s.sages, otherwise unmanageable, were brought within the scope of possibility. Ordinary strings would resent this freedom of treatment by a _snap_; but those of Paganini were, it seems, expressly fitted and prepared for their _higher_ duty, in a way which M. Guhr minutely explains.

[39] When Paganini was afterwards in England, it was observed by a rigid time-keeper, who happened to attend one of his Concerts (at Winchester), that his own portion of the performance, for which the requital was the sum of 200, occupied just twenty-eight minutes.

[40] Duranowski, the Pole.

[41] M. Fetis, in his _Notice Biographique_, enters into a defence of Paganini in this matter-explains the advantages of the _contract_ system, as liberating the artist from the petty cares that pertain to concert-giving-and clears Paganini from the imputation of sordid motives.

[42] _Some_ enlightenment on this point may be derived from a scrutiny of M. Guhr's Work, already referred to.

[43] Dr. Bennati read, before the _Royal Academy of Sciences_, at Paris, a physiological notice of this extraordinary man, in which he gave it as _his_ opinion, that his prodigious talent was mainly to be attributed to the peculiar conformation which enabled him to bring his elbows close together, and place them one over the other, to the elevation of his left shoulder, which was an inch higher than the right; to the slackening of the ligaments of the wrist, and the mobility of his phalanges, which he could move in a lateral direction at pleasure. Dr.

Bennati also alluded to the excessive development of the cerebellum, as connected with the extraordinary acuteness of his organs of hearing, which enabled him to hear conversations carried on in a low tone, at considerable distance.-M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire remarked that he had been particularly struck with the prominence of the artist's forehead, which hung over his deeply-seated eyes like a pent-house.

[44] "_De l'Opera en France._"

[45] Of harmony, or of fine melody, or of the higher relations between poetry and music, the ostentatious Louis appears to have had no conception. In a case of rivalry, wherein Battista, a scholar of Corelli's, played against one of the French band who was an ordinary performer, he (the royal Auditor) preferred an air in "Cadmus" (an opera of Lully's, and not one of his best), as given by the Frenchman, to a solo (probably of Corelli's) by the Italian,-saying, "Voila mon gout, a moi; Voila mon gout!"

[46] "Jamais homme n'a porte si haut l'art de jouer du violon: et cet instrument etait plus agreable entre ses mains qu'aucun autre de ceux qui plaisent le plus."-_Moreri, Dict. Historique._

[47] The above anecdote suggests another, of a somewhat similar cast, pertaining to the great Musical Commemoration at Westminster Abbey, in 1791. A person falling upon a double ba.s.s, as it lay on its side, immediately disappeared-nothing being seen of him, except his legs protruding out of the instrument; and for some time no one could a.s.sist him, owing to the laughter occasioned by his predicament!

[48] "Paris est le foyer musical de la France: les astres les plus brillans roulent dans cette region preferee; mais helas! leurs rayons ne portent pas la lumiere une grande distance. A peine sommes nous sortis des portes de cette capitale, que nous tombons soudain dans une obscurite profonde."-(_Castil-Blaze, de l'Opera en France._)

[49] "_Equisse de l'Histoire du Violon._"

[50] The universal diffusion of musical tendencies among the Germans has been often made the subject of remark. A late traveller, visiting the Theatre at Ca.s.sel, says that the orchestra there was half filled with _officers_, who fiddled in their regimental uniform, without considering the practice as at all derogatory from their dignity.

[51] Dr. Burney remarks that Geminiani used to claim the _invention_ of the half-s.h.i.+ft on the violin, and that he probably first brought it to England; but that the Italians ascribed it to Vivaldi, and others to the elder Matteis, who came hither in King William's time.

[52] Of _Ta.s.senberg_, a fine player, who came over to England with William Cramer, little can be said. As he fell speedily into obscurity, I place him here below in a note. With capacity for achieving a position, but with no prudence for its retention, he endured much misery through his own reckless follies. To some one who was once enquiring where he _lived_, the reply was, "In and about the brick-kilns at Tothill-Fields."

[53] Apropos of the violoncello-let us here bestow a pa.s.sing glance on the name of _Merk_, distinguished more recently than that of Bernard Romberg, in connection with the larger instrument. Merk seems to have made a closer approach to our eminent Robert Lindley, in quality of taste, than in firmness of hand, or brilliancy of tone. Mr. Novello, who has rated him higher than any of our players, _except_ Lindley, adds a remark with reference to the _double ba.s.ses_ used in Germany-that they have frequently, instead of _three_ strings, a complement of _four_, thinner than those in use with us, and descending to E below the usual scale-and that, when mixed with other instruments of the same cla.s.s, the depth and richness they produce are very fine.

[54] Life of Anthony a Wood, Oxford, 1772, p. 88, &c.

[55] In process of time, these compositions likewise were supplanted by Martini's Concertos and Sonatas, which, in their turn, were abandoned for the Symphonies of Van Malder, and the sonatas of the elder Stamitz.

Afterwards, the trios of Campioni, Zanetti, and Abel came into play, and then the symphonies of Stamitz, Canab.i.+.c.h, Holtzbauer, and other Germans, with those of Abel, Bach, and Giardini; which, having done their duty, "slept with their fathers," and gave way to those of Vanhall, Pleyel, and Boccherini; and all have now gradually sunk into insignificance, eclipsed by the superior brightness and grandeur of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Cherubini, and some others, whose symphonies are the delight and wonder of the existing generation. So runs the changeful course of musical success!

[56] As a grandson of the individual here recorded, the writer of these pages may perhaps find licence to mention that there is extant in his family a fine portrait of Dubourg, by the Dutch painter Vander Smissen, interesting for the qualities of intelligence and good-humour that are blended in its expression.

[57] Vide "Records of a Stage Veteran," in the New Monthly Magazine.

[58] As to this a.s.serted advantage of resorting to _chemical agency_, the joke is somewhat of the oldest-so we may as well turn its coat, and it will then wear the aspect of the following

HINT TO PURCHASERS.

To buy a fiddle when about, Your way unto a Chemist's win, Where, if but twelve-pence you lay out, You're sure to get a _vial_ "_in_."

[59] Should there be any to whom the foregoing estimate (which aims at being a candid one) may seem to render imperfect justice to the claims it deals with, I can only remind them that they have the same freedom as myself to indulge their opinion, and to a.s.sert it. Nay, I will even furnish them with four measured lines, by way of a text from which to expand their own more propitious adjudication; provided only, that they will accept them as conceived in any other spirit than that of ill-nature, which is hereby wholly disavowed:-

Ask not how long shall flourish yet his fame, Nor when shall cease the record of his glory!

Oblivion _dares not_ to efface his name, Since e'en the _tomb_ cries out "_Memento Mori_!"

[60] "Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain."-_Johnson._

[61] It must be borne in mind, that the three Quartett Concerts had been given, with Mr. Dando as Leader, at the Horn Tavern; and the four "Concerti da Camera," at the Hanover Square Rooms;-that both parties had advertised their forthcoming series;-and that it was pretty extensively rumoured that the Blagrove, Gattie, Dando, and Lucas party had combined to try their fortune in the new field.

[62] In the getting-up of Concertos for the annual _Concours_ in Paris, the Violin students exercise a perseverance and length of labour truly surprising; and, in the result, such is the perfect manner in which the same Concerto is executed successively by sometimes a dozen candidates, that it would puzzle the most skilful judges to discriminate the individual to whom the prize should be awarded. In such cases, were it not for the subsequent resource-the safe and certain test of sight-playing, which brings into operation the intellect as well as the hand-it would perhaps be impossible to give a single decision that should not be open to dispute. Thus great is the power of execution which practice confers-and thus rigorous, the _need_ of that practice!

[63] If an Amateur, who is capable of murdering time, should yet have the grace of a disposition to offer some _apology_ for the act, I would suggest his quoting, for that purpose, the subjoined rhyming octave:-

"Cease, cease this fiddling," cried Sir John, To Ned, his tune-perplexing son- "You _lose your time_, you idle lout."

"No, sir, my time I keep, throughout."

"Psha! _keep_ time! no, _kill_ time, you mean,"

Mutter'd the father, full of spleen.

"_Kill_ him! well, sure, sir, I'm no zany, For killing him who has killed _so many_."

[64] The injurious and disqualifying effect of musical vanity, complained of in France as well as here, is thus noticed by M.

Castil-Blaze:-"Although music is every where taught to our youth, and is an art cultivated by a very considerable number of Amateurs, we find very few amongst them who are really useful with regard to playing in concert. And this proceeds, partly, from the fact of each individual desiring to occupy the first place. I have known violin-players renounce their instrument, because of finding themselves restricted to the _second part_. As for your _tenor_, it is a department not to be mentioned, and is left in the hands of those good elderly dullards who have already forgotten the half of what they never very well knew."