Great Violinists And Pianists - Corelli To Paderewski

Text extracted from opening pages of book: GREAT VIO& NJSES.' A: ND-PFAIMISTS CORELLl TO PADEREWSKI BY GEORGE T. FERRIS NEW EDITJON REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1909 FRANZ LISZT. COPYRIGHT, 1881, 1896, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. THE continucms demand for this series, in cluding the five volumes, Great German Com posers, ' 5 Great Italian and French Composers, Great Singers, First and Second Series, and Great Violinists and Pianists, has led to the revision of the volumes. Nearly twenty years have passed since the first The Great German Composers was written, and many changes have taken place since then. The attempt has been made, so far as is consistent with the limits of space, to bring these little books down to date, revising the articles where it was needed, and making addenda in sketches of living or very recently living composers and artists, who may be said to represent most fully the achieve ments and tendencies of contemporary music. IV PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. It need scarcely be said that the obligations of limit have, even in this revision, excluded sev eral subjects fully worthy of association with the others. TE. THE title of this little book may be mislead ing to some of its readers, in its failure to in clude sketches of many eminent artists well worthy to be classed under such a head. There has been no attempt to cover the immense field of executive music, but only to call attention to the lives of those musical celebrities who are universally recognized as occupying the most exalted places in the arts of violin and piano forte playing; who stand forth as landmarks in the history of music. To do morethan this, except in a merely encyclopedic fashion, within the allotted space, would have been impossible. The same necessity of limits has also compelled the writer to exclude consideration of the ca reers of noted living performers; as it was thought best that discrimination should be in favor of those great artists who'se careers have been completely rounded and finished. An exception to the above will be noted ui VI NOTE. the case of Franz Liszt; but, aside from the fact that this greatest of piano-forte virtuosos, though living, has practically retired from the field of art, to omit him from such a volume as this would be an unpardonable omission. In con nection with the personal lives of the artists sketched in this volume, the attempt has been made, in a general, though necessarily imper fect, manner, to trace the gradual development of the art of playing from its cruder begin nings to the splendid virtuosoism of the pres ent time. The sources from which facts have been drawn are various, and, it is believed, trustworthy, including French, German, and English authorities, in some cases the personal reminiscences of the artists themselves. To the present edition have been added sketches of Joachim, the great modern repre sentative violinist, and of Rubinstein, I> i'tlow, and Paderewski among recent pianists. Por traits greatly increase the attractions of the volume. CONTENTS. THE VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS. PAGE The Ancestry of the Violin. The Origin of the Cremona School of Violin-Making. The Amatis and Stradiuarii. Extraordinary Art Activity of Italy at this Period. Antoniua Stradiuarius and Joseph Guarnerius. Some thing about the Lives of the Two Greatest Violin-Mak ers of theWorld. Corelli, the First Great Violinist. His Contemporaries and Associates. Anecdotes of his Ca reer. Corelli's Pupil, Geminiani. Philidor, the Com poser, Violinist, and Chess-Player. Giuseppe Tartini. Becomes an Outcast fiom his Family on Account of his Love of Music Anecdote of the Violinist Vera cini. TnrtiuPs Scientific Discoveries in Music. His Ac count of the Origin of the Devil's Trill. Tartini's Pupils 9 VIOTTI. Viotti, the Connecting Link between the Early and Modern Violin Schools. His Immense Superiority over his Con temporaries and Predecessors. Other