The first great performer on the violin whose career had any special
significance, in its connection with the modern world of musical art,
was Archangelo Corelli, who was born at Fusignano, in the territory of
Bologna, in the year 1653. Corelli's compositions are recognized to-day
as types of musical purity and freshness, and the great number of
distinguished pupils who graduated from his teaching relate him closely
with all the distinguished violinists even down to the present day. In
Corelli's younger days the church had a stronger claim on musicians
than the theatre or concert-room. So we find him getting his earliest
instruction from the Capuchin Simonelli, who devoted himself to the
ecclesiastical style. The pupil, however, yielded to an irresistible
instinct, and soon put himself under the care of a clever and skillful
teacher, the well-known Bassani. Under this tuition the young musician
made rapid advancement, for he labored incessantly in the practice of
his instrument. At the age of twenty Corelli followed that natural bent
which carried him to Paris, then, as now, a great art capital; and we
are told, on the authority of Fetis, that the composer Lulli became
so jealous of his extraordinary skill that he obtained a royal mandate
ordering Corelli to quit Paris, on pain of the Bastille.
In 1680 he paid a visit to Germany, and was specially well received,
and was so universally admired, that he with difficulty escaped the
importunate invitations to settle at various courts as chief musician.
After a three years' absence from his native land he returned and
published his first sonatas. The result of his assiduous labor was that
his fame as a violinist had spread all over Europe, and pupils came from
distant lands to profit by his instruction. We are told of his style as
a solo player that it was learned and elegant, the tone firm and even,
that his playing was frequently impressed with feeling, but that during
performance "his countenance was distorted, his eyes red as fire, and
his eyeballs rolled as if he were in agony." For about eighteen years
Corelli was domiciled at Rome, under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni.
As leader of the orchestra at the opera, he introduced many reforms,
among them that of perfect uniformity of bowing. By the violin sonatas
composed during this period, it is claimed that Corelli laid the
foundation for the art of violin-playing, though it is probable that he
profited largely by those that went before him. It was at the house of
Cardinal Ottoboni that Corelli met Handel, when the violent temper
of the latter did not hesitate to show itself. Corelli was playing a
sonata, when the imperious young German snatched the violin from his
hand, to show the greatest virtuoso of the age how to play the music.
Corelli, though very amiable in temper, knew how to make himself
respected. At one of the private concerts at Cardinal Ottoboni's, he
observed his host and others talking during his playing. He laid his
violin down and joined the audience, saying he feared his music might
interrupt the conversation.
In 1708, according to Dubourg, Corelli accepted a royal invitation
from Naples, and took with him his second violin, Matteo, and a
violoncellist, in case he should not be well accompanied by the
Neapolitan orchestra. He had no sooner arrived than he was asked to play
some of his concertos before the king. This he refused, as the whole of
his orchestra was not with him, and there was no time for a rehearsal.
However, he soon found that the Neapolitan musicians played the
orchestral parts of his concertos as well as his own accompanists did
after some practice; for, having at length consented to play the first
of his concertos before the court, the accompaniment was so good
that Corelli is said to have exclaimed to Matteo: "_Si suona a
Napoli!_"--"They _do_ play at Naples!" This performance being quite
successful, he was presented to the king, who afterward requested him
to perform one of his sonatas; but his Majesty found the adagio "so
long and so dry that he got up and _left the room_ (!), to the great
mortification of the eminent virtuoso." As the king had commanded the
piece, the least he could have done would have been to have waited
till it was finished. "If they play at Naples, they are not very polite
there," poor Corelli must have thought! Another unfortunate mishap also
occurred to him there, if we are to believe the dictum of Geminiani,
one of Corelli's pupils, who had preceded him at Naples. It would appear
that he was appointed to lead a composition of Scarlatti's, and on
arriving at an air in C minor he led off in C major, which mistake he
twice repeated, till Scarlatti came on the stage and showed him the
difference. This anecdote, however, is so intrinsically improbable
that it must be taken with several "grains of salt." In 1712 Corelli's
concertos were beautifully engraved at Amsterdam, but the composer only
survived the publication a few weeks. A beautiful statue, bearing the
inscription "_Corelli princeps musicorum_," was erected to his memory,
adjacent that honoring the memory of Raffaelle in the Pantheon. He
accumulated a considerable fortune, and left a valuable collection of
pictures. The solos of Corelli have been adopted as valuable studies by
the most eminent modern players and teachers.
Francesco Geminiani was the most remarkable of Corelli's pupils. Born at
Lucca in 1680, he finished his studies under Corelli at Rome, and spent
several years with great musical _éclat_ at Naples. In 1714 he went
to England, in which country he spent many years. His execution was of
great excellence, but his compositions only achieved temporary favor.
His life is said to have been full of romance and incident. Geminiani's
connection with Handel has a special musical interest. The king, who
arrived in England in September, 1714, and was crowned at Westminster a
month later, was irritated with Handel for having left Germany, where he
held the position of chapel-master to George, when Elector of Brunswick,
and still more so by his having composed a _Te Deum_ on the Peace of
Utrecht, which was not favorably regarded by the Protestant princes of
Germany. Baron Kilmanseck, a Hanoverian, and a great admirer of Handel,
undertook to bring them together again. Being informed that the king
intended to picnic on the Thames, he requested the composer to write
something for the occasion. Thereupon Handel wrote the twenty-five
little concerted pieces known under the title of "Water Music." They
were executed in a barge which followed the royal boat. The orchestra
consisted of four violins, one tenor, one violoncello, one double-bass,
two hautboys, two bassoons, two French horns, two flageolets, one flute,
and one trumpet. The king soon recognized the author of the music,
and his resentment against Handel began to soften. Shortly after this
Geminiani was requested to play some sonatas of his own composition in
the king's private cabinet; but, fearing that they would lose much
of their effect if they were accompanied in an inferior manner, he
expressed the desire that Handel should play the accompaniments. Baron
Kilmanseck carried the request to the king, and supported it strongly.
The result was that peace was made, and an extra pension of two hundred
pounds per annum settled upon Handel. Geminiani, after thirty-five
years spent in England, went to Paris for five years, where he was most
heartily welcomed by the musical world, but returned across the Channel
again to spend his latter years in Dublin. It was here that Matthew
Dubourg, whose book on "The Violin and Violinists" is a perfect
treasure-trove of anecdote, became his pupil.
Another remarkable violinist was an intimate friend of Geminiani, a
name distinguished alike in the annals of chess-playing and music, André
Danican Philidor. This musician was born near Paris in 1726, and was the
grandson of the hautboy-player to the court of Louis XIII. His father
and several of his relations were also eminent players in the royal
orchestras of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Young Philidor was received into
the Chapel Royal at Versailles in 1732, being then six years old, and
when eleven he composed a motette which extorted much admiration. In
the Chapel Royal there were about eighty musicians daily in attendance,
violins, hautboys, violas, double-basses, choristers, etc.; and,
cards not being allowed, they had a long table inlaid with a number of
chess-boards, with which they amused their leisure time. When fourteen
years old Philidor was the best chess-player in the band. Four years
later he played at Paris two games of chess at the same time, without
seeing the boards, and afterward extended this feat to playing five
games simultaneously, which, though far inferior to the wonderful
feats of Morphy, Paulsen, and others in more recent years, very much
astonished his own generation. Philidor was an admirable violinist, and
the composer of numerous operas which delighted the French public for
many years. He died in London in 1759.
There were several other pupils of Corelli who achieved rank in their
art and exerted a recognizable influence on music. Locatelli displayed
originality and genius in his compositions, and his studies, "Arte di
Nuova Modulazione," was studied by Paganini. Another pupil, Lorenzo
Somis, became noted as the teacher of Lecler, Pugnani (the professor of
Viotti), and Giardini. Visconti, of Cremona, who was taught by Corelli,
is said to have greatly assisted by his counsels the constructive genius
of Antonius Stradiuarius in making his magnificent instruments.