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.
[Illustration: ARCHANGE CORELLI]
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.