Yesterday I played for the Duke of Devonshire; Rubini also sang.
The duke said that I had performed the miracle of endowing the
violin with a soul. Many of the first nobility of England were
present, and the ladies were much moved.
The Duke of Devonshire was especially fond of Rubini, and Ole Bull used
to say that he had never received a more delicate compliment than that
paid him by the duke when he turned to Rubini and said, as the last
tones of the violin died away: “You never sang more delightfully,
Rubini!” Mr. James T. Fields once asked in what respect Rubini excelled
other tenors, to which Ole Bull replied: “He began where others ended.”
One of the chief triumphs which Ole Bull won in London, in 1836, was on
the occasion of a Philharmonic concert in which he appeared with
Malibran and Thalberg. So great was his success that his concerts
afterward were crowded, one audience at the King’s Theatre numbering
three thousand people, an unprecedented success that season. He writes
in August, 1836:—
I have just presented some souvenirs of regard to Rubini,
Tamburini, Lablache, and Madame Assandri, who have assisted me
gratuitously in my concerts here. They are the best people in the
world, and immensely talented. They have told me to command them
at all times, and as often as I please.
The following criticisms of his first appearance in London are taken
from the _Times_, which said, in its issue of May 23, 1836:—
Mr. Ole B. Bull, the Norwegian violinist, made his first public
essay in this country, on Saturday evening, at this theatre
[King’s Theatre]. A more completely successful performance of the
kind we have never attended. He played three pieces—a grand
concerto in three movements, allegro, adagio, and rondo; a
quartette for one violin; and a grand warlike Polish movement
introduced by a recitative and adagio. His varieties of movement
seem almost unlimited; and much as Paganini has done, this artist
has certainly opened a new field on that instrument. His style is
essentially different, and, like that of every truly great master,
is of his own formation. Perhaps his most remarkable
characteristic is the quiet and unpretending manner in which he
produces all his great effects. There was no trick, no violent
gesture, nor any approach to the _ad captandum_ school. It seemed
so easy, that to those not acquainted with the mechanical
difficulties he mastered it was not easy to comprehend that
anything extraordinary had been done. In long arpeggio passages
and others made up of rapid and minute divisions, his bow scarcely
seemed to move on the string; his hand, too, was almost
motionless, yet our ear was charmed with a succession of distinct
and sparkling notes, which kept the whole audience fixed in mute
and almost breathless attention. His command of the instrument,
from the top to the bottom of the scale—and he has a scale of his
own of three complete octaves on each string—is absolutely
perfect; in passing from one extreme of it to the other, however
rapidly, he never missed a note. His tone on the fourth string is
so beautiful, that even Nicholson’s flute, when a response
occurred in the accompaniment, was thrown into the shade. His
“Quartette,” in the ordinary mode of playing, would seem
impossible; but he distinctly made out chords of three notes with
the bow, and produced the fourth with his finger. This movement
made such an impression on the audience that an encore was called
for, instead of which Mr. Bull, as a mark of respect, which he
probably thought appropriate, favored us with our National Anthem.
With all our loyalty, we would have preferred hearing his
“Quartette” once more. The applause he received was unbounded, as
little forced, and as sincere, as any we have ever heard bestowed.
Mr. Bull is still a young man, his age not being more than 26 or
27, and his appearance, on the whole, prepossessing. The
performance of Saturday was, perhaps, as wonderful for the
specimen afforded of the power of the instrument as for that of
the player.... It should be mentioned that the audience included
nearly all the distinguished members of the musical profession now
in town, whose judgment, as they applauded most cordially, is the
proper ordeal of a musical reputation....
The artists appearing with him were Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache,
with Mdlle. Assandri.
The _Times_ of Thursday, June 2, 1836, referring to Paganini’s
variations to “Nel cor non più mi sento,” says:—
This air, with variations, is the first instance in which Ole Bull
has challenged a direct comparison with Paganini, by playing a
movement of his composition, every note of which, as delivered by
that great master, is fresh in the recollection of the musical
audiences of this metropolis. To say that he bore up manfully
under the comparison is sterling praise, and he deserves it. His
arpeggio passages had less tone than Paganini, but were equal to
him in neatness, rapidity, and distinctness; and in his pizzicato,
in alternate use of bow and finger, difference of effect, if any,
was extremely small.... His second performance, on the whole,
fully sustains his reputation....