Chapter 2

1650 TO 1750.

Arcangelo Corelli, whose name is recognised as one of the greatest in the history of violin playing and composition, and who laid the foundation for all future development of technique, was born in 1653, at Fusignano, near Imola, in the territory of Bologna.

He showed an early propensity for the violin, and studied under Bassani, a man of extensive knowledge and capabilities, while Mattei Simonelli was his instructor in counterpoint.

Corelli at one time sought fame away from home, and he is said to have visited Paris, where Lulli, the chief violinist of that city, exhibited such jealousy and violence that the mild-tempered Corelli withdrew. In 1680 he went to Germany, where he was well received, and entered the service of the Elector of Bavaria, but he soon returned to Rome. His proficiency had now become so great that his fame extended throughout Europe, and pupils flocked to him. His playing was characterised by refined taste and elegance, and by a firm and even tone.

When the opera was well established in Rome, about 1690, Corelli led the band. His chief patron in Rome was Cardinal Ottoboni, and it was at his house that an incident occurred which places Corelli at the head of those musicians who have from time to time boldly maintained the rights of music against conversation. He was playing a solo when he noticed the cardinal engaged in conversation with another person. He immediately laid down his violin, and, on being asked the reason, answered that "he feared the music might interrupt the conversation."

Corelli was a man of gentle disposition and simple habits. His plainness of dress and freedom from ostentation gave the impression that he was parsimonious, and Handel says of him that "he liked nothing better than seeing pictures without paying for it, and saving money," He was also noted for his objection to riding in carriages.

He lived on terms of intimacy with the leading artists of his time, and had a great fondness for pictures, of which he had a valuable collection. These he left at his death to Cardinal Ottoboni.

It was at Cardinal Ottoboni's that Corelli became acquainted with Handel, and at one of the musical evenings there a "Serenata," written by the latter, was performed. Corelli does not seem to have played it according to the ideas of the composer, for Handel, giving way to his impetuous temper, snatched the fiddle out of Correlli's hand. Corelli mildly remarked, "My dear Saxon, this music is in the French style, with which I am not acquainted."

For many years Corelli remained at Rome, but at last he yielded to temptation and went to Naples, where Scarlatti induced him to play some of his concertos before the king. This he did in great fear, for he had not his own orchestra with him. He found Scarlatti's musicians able to play at first sight as well as his own did after rehearsals, and, the performance going off well, he was again admitted to play, this time one of his sonatas, in the royal presence. The king found the adagio so long and dry that he quitted the room, much to Corelli's mortification. But greater trouble was in store for the virtuoso. Scarlatti had written a masque, which was to be played before the king, but owing to the composer's limited knowledge of the violin, Corelli's part was very awkward and difficult, and he failed to execute it, while the Neapolitan violinists played it with ease. To make matters worse, Corelli made an unfortunate mistake in the next piece, which was written in the key of C minor, and led off in C major. The mistake was repeated, and Scarlatti had to call out to him to set him right. His mortification was so great that he quietly left Naples and returned to Rome. He found here a new violinist, Valentini, who had won the admiration of the people, and he took it so much to heart that his health failed, and he died in January, 1713.

Corelli was buried in princely style in the Pantheon, not far from Raphael's tomb, and Cardinal Ottoboni erected a monument over his grave. During many years after his death a solemn service, consisting of selections from his own works, was performed in the Pantheon on the anniversary of his funeral. On this occasion, the works were performed in a slow, firm, and distinct manner, just as they were written, without changing the passages in the way of embellishment, and this is probably the way in which he himself played them.

Corelli's compositions are remarkable for delicate taste and pleasing melodies and harmonies. He must be considered as the author of the greatest improvement which violin music underwent at the beginning of the eighteenth century. These compositions are regarded as invaluable for the instruction of young players, and some of them may be frequently heard in the concert-room at the present day, two hundred years since they were written. Corelli's most celebrated pupils, Somis, Locatelli, Geminiani, and Anêt, settled respectively in Italy, Holland, England, and Poland.

Giovanni Battista Somis was born in Piedmont, and, after studying under Corelli, he went to Venice and studied under Vivaldi. He was appointed solo violinist to the king at Turin and leader of the royal band, and seems scarcely ever to have left Turin after these appointments. Little is known of his playing or his compositions, but, by the work of his pupils, it is evident that he possessed originality. He formed a style more brilliant and more emotional, and caused a decided step forward in the art of violin playing. He was the teacher of Leclair, Giardini, and Chiabran, as well as Pugnani, and he forms a connecting link between the classical schools of Italy and France.

Pietro Locatelli was born at Bergamo, and became a pupil of Corelli at a very early age. He travelled considerably, and was undoubtedly a great and original virtuoso. He has been accused of charlatanism, inasmuch as he overstepped all reasonable limits in his endeavours to enlarge the powers of execution of the violin, and has, on that account, been called the grandfather of our modern "finger-heroes."

Locatelli settled in Amsterdam, where he died in 1764. There he established regular public concerts, and he left a number of compositions, some of which are used at the present day.

Jean Baptiste Lulli, one of the earliest violinists in France, is perhaps associated with the violin in a manner disproportionate to the part he actually played in its progress. He was a musician of great ability, and his compositions are occasionally heard even to this day. Lulli was born near Florence about 1633. When quite young he was taken to France by the Chevalier de Guise, and entered the service of Mlle. de Montpensier. He was employed in the kitchen, where he seems to have lightened his burdens by playing tricks on the cook and tunes on the stewpans. He also beguiled his leisure hours by playing the violin, in which art he made such progress that the princess engaged a regular instructor for him. Fortunately, as it turned out, his wit led him into composing a satirical song on his employer, and he was sent off, but shortly afterwards secured a post as one of the king's violinists in the celebrated band of the twenty-four violins. Soon after this a special band called _Les Petits Violons_ was formed with Lulli at their head, and under his direction it surpassed the band of twenty-four.

Lulli found great favour at court, and, indeed, astonished the world with his exquisite taste and skill. That he was firmly established in the favour of the king is shown by the story that, when Corelli came to France and played one of his sonatas, King Louis listened without showing any sign of pleasure, and, sending for one of his own violinists, requested him to play an aria from Lulli's opera of "Cadmus et Hermione," which, he declared, suited his taste.

There is little doubt that the principles of the great Italian school of violin playing were, some years later, brought into France by Anêt, who was born in 1680, and returned from Italy about 1700, but owing to the jealousies of his colleagues, he found it advisable to leave France in a short time, and he is said to have spent the rest of his life as conductor of the private band of a nobleman in Poland.

Lulli is said to have been very avaricious, and his wealth included four houses, all in the best quarters of Paris, together with securities and appointments worth about $70,000. His death, in 1687, was caused by a peculiar accident. While conducting a performance of his orchestra he struck his foot with the cane which he used for marking the time. The bruise gradually assumed such a serious condition that it ended his life.

Jean Baptiste Senaillé, who was a pupil of Anêt, was born in 1687, and turned to the Italian school. In 1719 he entered the service of the Duke of Orleans.

Francesco Geminiani was considered the ablest of the pupils of Corelli, and was born about 1680. When about twenty-four years of age he went to England, where his talent secured a great reputation for him, some people even declaring him to be superior, as a player, to Corelli. He lived to an advanced age, and was in Dublin visiting his pupil Dubourg at the time of his death. He was a man of unsettled habits, and was frequently in dire necessity, caused chiefly by his love of pictures, which led him into unwise purchases, and thus frequently into debt.

About the year 1650 three violinists were born in Italy, who all left their mark upon the history of violin playing.

Tommaso Vitali was born at Bologna, and was leader of the orchestra in that city, and later in Modena.

Giuseppe Torelli was leader of a church orchestra in Bologna, and afterwards accepted the post of leader of the band of the Markgraf of Brandenburg-Anspach, at Anspach, in Germany. To him is generally ascribed the invention of the "Concerto."

Antonio Vivaldi was the son of a violinist, and sought his fortune in Germany, but returned to his native city in 1713. He wrote extensively for the violin, and is said to have added something to the development of its technique. An anecdote is told of him to the effect that one day during mass a theme for a fugue struck him. He immediately quitted the altar at which he was officiating, for he united clerical with musical duties, and, hastening to the sacristy to write down the theme, afterwards returned and finished the mass. For this he was brought before the Inquisition, but being considered only as a "musician," a term synonymous with "madman," the sentence was mild,--he was forbidden to say mass in the future.

The most illustrious pupil of Vivaldi was Francesco Maria Veracini, who was born about 1685. He is said to have been a teacher of Tartini, who, if he did not actually receive instruction from him, at least profited by his example.

Veracini's travels were extensive, for he visited London in 1714 and remained there two years, during which time he was very successful. He then went to Dresden, where he was made composer and chamber virtuoso to the King of Poland.

While in Dresden he threw himself out of a window and broke his leg, an injury from which he never entirely recovered. This act is said to have been caused by his mortification at a trick which was played upon him for his humiliation by Pisendel, an eminent violinist, but this story is discredited by some of the best authorities.

He left Dresden and went to Prague, where he entered the service of Count Kinsky. In 1736 he again visited London, but met with little success, owing to the fact that Geminiani had ingratiated himself with the public. In 1847 Veracini returned to Pisa.

Veracini has been sometimes ranked with Tartini as a performer. He was also a composer of ability. In making a comparison of him with Geminiani it has been said that Geminiani was the spirit of Corelli much diluted, while Veracini was the essence of the great master fortified with _l'eau de vie_.

Veracini was conceited and vainglorious, and these traits of his character have given rise to a number of rather inconsequential stories. He was a most excellent conductor of orchestra, and Doctor Burney mentions having heard him lead a band in such a bold and masterly manner as he had never before witnessed. Soon after leaving London Veracini was shipwrecked, and lost his two Stainer violins, which he stated were the best in the world. These instruments he named St. Peter and St. Paul.

The name of Giuseppe Tartini will ever live as that of one of the greatest performers on, and composers for, the violin. Born at Pirano, in 1692, his career may be said to have commenced with the eighteenth century. He was not only one of the greatest violinists of all time, and an eminent composer, but he was a scientific writer on musical physics, and was the first to discover the fact that, in playing double stops, their accuracy can be determined by the production of a third sound. He also wrote a little work on the execution and employment of the various kinds of shakes, mordents, cadenzas, etc., according to the usage of the classical Italian school.

Tartini's father, who was an elected Nobile of Parenzo, being a pious Church benefactor, intended his son for the Church, and sent him to an ecclesiastical school at Capo d'Istria, where he received his first instruction in music. Finding himself very much averse to an ecclesiastical career, Tartini entered the University of Padua to study law, but this also proved distasteful to him. He was a youth of highly impulsive temperament, and became so much enamoured of the art of fencing that he, at one time, seriously contemplated adopting it as a profession. This very impulsive nature caused him to fall in love with a niece of the Archbishop of Padua, to whom he was secretly married before he was twenty years of age.

The news of this marriage caused Tartini's parents to withdraw their support from him, and it so enraged the archbishop that the bridegroom was obliged to fly from Padua. After some wanderings he was received into a monastery at Assisi, of which a relative was an inmate. Here he resumed his musical studies, but though he learned composition of Padre Boemo, the organist of the monastery, he was his own teacher on the violin. The influence of the quiet monastic life caused a complete change in his character, and he acquired the modesty of manner and serenity of mind for which he was noted later in life.

One day, during the service, a gust of wind blew aside the curtain behind which Tartini was playing, and a Paduan, who remembered the archbishop's wrath and recognised the object of it, carried the news of his discovery to the worthy prelate. Time had, however, mollified him, and instead of still further persecuting the refugee, he gave his consent to the union of the young couple, and Tartini and his wife went to Venice, where he intended to follow the profession of a violinist.

Here he met and heard Francesco Maria Veracini, who was some seven years his senior, and whose style of playing made such a deep impression on him that he at once withdrew to Ancona, to correct the errors of his own technique, which, as he was self-taught, were not a few.

After some years of study and retirement, he reappeared at Padua, where he was appointed solo violinist in the chapel of San Antonio, the choir and orchestra of which already enjoyed a high reputation. It is said that the performance of Veracini had an effect upon Tartini beyond that of causing him to quit Venice. It made him dream, and the dream as told by Tartini himself to M. de Lalande is as follows:

"He dreamed one night (in 1713) that he had made a compact with the devil, who promised to be at his service on all occasions; and, during this vision, everything succeeded according to his mind; his wishes were anticipated, and his desires always surpassed, by the assistance of his new servant. In short, he imagined that he presented the devil with his violin, in order to discover what kind of a musician he was, when, to his great astonishment, he heard him play a solo so singularly beautiful, which he executed with such superior taste and precision, that it surpassed all the music he had ever heard or conceived in his life. So great was his surprise, and so exquisite his delight upon this occasion, that it deprived him of the power of breathing. He awoke with the violence of his sensations, and instantly seized his fiddle in hopes of expressing what he had just heard; but in vain. He, however, directly composed a piece, which is perhaps the best of all his works, and called it the 'Devil's Sonata;' he knew it, however, to be so inferior to what his sleep had produced, that he stated he would have broken his instrument, and abandoned music for ever, if he could have subsisted by other means."

This composition is said to have secured for him the position in the chapel of San Antonio, where he remained until 1723, in which year he was invited to play at the coronation festivities of Charles VI. at Prague. On this occasion he met Count Kinsky, a rich and enthusiastic amateur, who kept an excellent private orchestra. Tartini was engaged as conductor and remained in that position three years, then returning to his old post at Padua, from which nothing induced him to part, except for brief intervals. At Padua Tartini carried on the chief work of his life and established the Paduan school of violin playing. His ability as a teacher is proved by the large number of excellent pupils he formed. Nardini, Bini, Manfredi, Ferrari, Graun, and Lahoussaye are among the most eminent, and were attached to him by bonds of most intimate friendship to his life's end.

Tartini's contemporaries all agree in crediting him with those qualities which make a great player. He had a fine tone, unlimited command of finger-board and bow, enabling him to overcome the greatest difficulties with remarkable ease, perfect intonation in double stops, and a most brilliant shake and double-shake, which he executed equally well with all fingers. The spirit of rivalry had no place in his amiable and gentle disposition. Both as a player and composer Tartini was the true successor of Corelli, representing in both respects the next step in the development of the art.

Tartini lived until the year 1770. He had, as Doctor Burney says, "no other children than his scholars, of whom his care was constantly paternal," Nardini, his first and favourite pupil, came from Leghorn to see him in his sickness and attend him in his last moments with true filial affection and tenderness. He was buried in the Church of St. Catharine, a solemn requiem being held in the chapel of San Antonio, and at a later period his memory was honoured by a statue which was erected in the Prato della Valle, a public walk at Padua, where it may be seen among the statues of the most eminent men connected with that famous university.

Jean Marie Leclair, a pupil of Somis, was a Frenchman, born at Lyons, and he began life as a dancer at the Rouen Theatre. He went to Turin as ballet master and met Somis, who induced him to take up the violin and apply himself to serious study. On returning to Paris, he was appointed ripieno-violinist at the Opéra, and in 1731 became a member of the royal band, but he, although undoubtedly superior to any violinist in Paris at that time, never seems to have made much of a success, for he resigned his positions and occupied himself exclusively with teaching and composition, and it is on the merits of his works that he occupies a high place among the great classical masters of the violin. Leclair was murdered late one night close to the door of his own house, shortly after his return from Amsterdam, to which place he had gone solely for the purpose of hearing Locatelli. No motive for the crime was ever discovered, nor was the murderer found.

Gaetano Pugnani was a native of Turin, and to him more than to any other master is due the preservation of the pure, grand style of Corelli, Tartini, and Vivaldi, for he combined the prominent qualities of style and technique of all three. He became first violin to the Sardinian court in 1752, but travelled extensively. He made long stays in Paris and London, where he was for a time leader of the opera band, and produced an opera of his own, also publishing a number of his compositions. In 1770 he was at Turin, where he remained to the end of his life as teacher, conductor, and composer.

Felice Giardini, another pupil of Somis, was born at Turin and became one of the foremost violinists in Europe. In 1750 he went to England where he made his first appearance at a benefit concert for Cuzzoni, the celebrated opera singer, then in the sere and yellow leaf of her career. His performance was so brilliant that he became established as the best violinist who had yet appeared in England, and in 1754 he was placed at the head of the opera orchestra, succeeding Festing. Soon afterwards he joined with the singer Mingotti in the management of opera, but the attempt was not a financial success. Notwithstanding his excellence as a performer and composer and the fine appointment which he held, Giardini died in abject poverty at Moscow, to which place he had gone after finding himself superseded in England by newcomers.

Among the pupils of Tartini the most eminent was Pietro Nardini, who was born at Fibiano, a village of Tuscany, in 1722. He became solo violinist at the court of Stuttgart and remained there fifteen years. In 1767 he went to Leghorn for a short time, and then returned to Padua, where he remained with his old master Tartini until the latter's death, when he was appointed director of music to the court of the Duke of Tuscany, in whose service he remained many years.

Of his playing, Leopold Mozart, himself an eminent violinist, writes: "The beauty, purity and equality of his tone, and the tastefulness of his cantabile playing, cannot be surpassed; but he does not execute great difficulties." His compositions are marked by vivacity, grace, and sweet sentimentality, but he has neither the depth of feeling, the grand pathos, nor the concentrated energy of his master Tartini.

Antonio Lolli, who was born at Bergamo about 1730, appears to have been somewhat of a charlatan. He was self-taught, and, though a performer of a good deal of brilliancy, was but a poor musician. He was restless, vain, and conceited, and addicted to gambling. He is said to have played the most difficult double-stops, octaves, tenths, double-shakes in thirds and sixths, harmonics, etc., with the greatest ease and certainty. At one time he appeared as a rival of Nardini, with whom he is said to have had a contest, and whom he is supposed to have defeated. According to some accounts, he managed to excite such universal admiration in advance of the contest that Nardini withdrew.

Lolli was so eccentric that he was considered by many people to be insane, and Doctor Burney, in writing of him, says, "I am convinced that in his lucid intervals, he was in a serious style a very great, expressive, and admirable performer;" but Doctor Burney does not mention any lucid interval.

Early in the eighteenth century Franz Benda was born in Bohemia at the village of Altbenatky, and Benda became the founder of a German school of violin playing. In his youth he was a chorister at Prague and afterward in the Chapel Royal at Dresden. At the same time he began to study the violin, and soon joined a company of strolling musicians who attended fêtes, fairs, etc. At eighteen years of age Benda abandoned this wandering life and returned to Prague, going thence to Vienna, where he pursued his study of the violin under Graun, a pupil of Tartini. After two years he was appointed chapel master at Warsaw, and eventually he became a member of the Prince Royal of Prussia's band, and then concert master to the king.

Benda was a master of all the difficulties of violin playing, and the rapidity of his execution and the mellow sweetness of his highest notes were unequalled. He had many pupils and wrote a number of works, chiefly exercises and studies for the violin.

A violinist whose career had a great influence on musical life in England was Johann Peter Salomon, a pupil of Benda, and it is necessary to speak of him because his name is so frequently mentioned in connection with other artists during the latter half of the eighteenth century.

Salomon was born at Bonn in the same house in which Beethoven was born, and of Salomon, after his death, Beethoven wrote: "Salomon's death grieves me much, for he was a noble man, and I remember him ever since I was a child."

Salomon became an expert violinist at an early age, and travelled a good deal in Europe before he settled in England, which was in 1781, when he made his appearance at Covent Garden Theatre. He was criticised thus: "He does not play in the most graceful style, it must be confessed, but his tone and execution are such as cannot fail to secure him a number of admirers in the musical world."

He established a series of subscription concerts at the Hanover Square rooms, and produced symphonies of Mozart and Haydn. In fact, he was connected with almost every celebrity who appeared in England for many years. He was instrumental in bringing Haydn to England, and toward the end of his career he was actively interested in the foundation of the Philharmonic Society. He was noted more as a quartet player than as a soloist, and Haydn's last quartets were composed especially to suit his style of playing. He was a man of much cultivation and moved in distinguished society. His death was caused by a fall from his horse. He was the possessor of a Stradivarius violin which was said to have belonged to Corelli and to have had his name upon it. This he bequeathed to Sir Patrick Blake of Bury St. Edmunds.