The Violin Some Account of That Leading Instrument and Its Most Eminent Professors, from Its Earliest Date to the Present Time; with Hints to Amateurs, Anecdotes, etc.

The Fiddle Family—the Epigonion—the Semicon—the Plectrum—the Magadis and Sambuce—Orpheus and the lyre—the Plectrum an implement of percussion, not a bow—the Egyptian Chelys—Orph...

The Italians the first to develope the powers of the violin—the old and modern schools—BALTAZARINI the early violin player—GIUSEPPE GUAMI—AGOSTINO AGGAZZARI introduced instrumen...

Birth and parentage—surmises and false rumours—his early education—his public début at Genoa—begins to travel on his own account—his father’s rapacity—youthful excesses—a biddin...

Italian and French Schools compared—state of instrumental performance at the present time—style of Kreutzer, Rode, Baillot, and Lafont—the _Conservatoire de Musique_—its origin...

The Schools of Germany, Italy, and France, compared—early performers—DAVID FUNK—a capital performer and general scholar—the irregularity of his life—his visit to the Castle of S...

State of the musical art in England—Purcell’s Sonatas and Trios—JOHN BANISTER—DAVIS MELL—described by Anthony à Wood—Sonatas published by John Jenkins—history of JOHN BANISTER t...

The amateur compared with the professor—the witty DUKE of BUCKINGHAM—a saying of Dr. Johnson’s—Dr. Cooke giving a lesson—The BARON BACH—characteristic sketches—amateur quartett-...

Objections to ladies playing the violin, answered—Queen ELIZABETH and her violin—Madame MARA—her early practice on the violin—MADDALENA LOMBARDINI SIEMEN—reprint of a letter fro...

The subject stated—Otto’s treatise—the component parts of the violin—the _Cremonas_ and their makers—HIERONYMUS AMATI—ANTONIUS AMATI—NICHOLAS AMATI—ANTONIUS STRADUARIUS—JOSEPH G...

Characteristics of the fiddle species—a caricature repudiated—ambition let down—a new resource in difficulty—a prejudice overcome—fifty years’ fiddling—another fifty years of it...

The Fiddle Family, like other tribes that have succeeded in making a noise in the world, has given exercise to the ingenuity of learned theorists and time-seekers, who have labo...

Having shown, on such evidence as I have been able to adduce, that the Italians are, most probably, the rightful claimants of the distinction which attaches to the _invention_ o...

Who has not heard of Paganini—and who, that boasts of an ear, has not heard Paganini himself? Fame, catching up the echoes of his glory, has caused them to reverberate through h...

Next in importance to the Italian School of Violinists, that of France now offers its claims to our notice. If the palm, indeed, were to be awarded according to the comparative...

Germany and Italy may _each_ be regarded as an abiding realm of sweet sounds, a special nursery and _home_ of music. They are the two countries from which, since the days of mod...

Climate, and the national habits of life, have in England presented no light obstacles to the progress and well-being of the musical art, as collectively regarded. The fogs and...

It is as plain to the understanding, as it is palpable to the ear, that Amateurs, or dilettante performers, on an instrument like the violin, so rich in its capabilities, but so...

It is a very natural curiosity which engages us to look minutely into the structural peculiarities of that which is a medium for awakening pleasurable sensations within us. The...

_Characteristics of the Fiddle Species._—In the _variety_ of expression, as well as in its _quality_, the violin has often been signalized for its approximation to the human voi...

THE VIOLA FOR SOLO PERFORMERS.—“Why is the VIOLA so little cultivated among amateurs in comparison with the rest of the Violin Family? It would seem, in my judgment, to be espec...