Ole Bull had long contemplated revising and filling out his fragmentary
notes on the violin and its construction, jotted down at various times.
Excepting some slight rearrangement they are now presented as he left
them, unfinished and incomplete. As they stand they are genuine and
characteristic, and doubtless indicate part of the general design he was
not permitted to complete.
Aided by peculiar physical and nervous force Ole Bull presented that
rare combination,—excellence in the _technique_ of the left hand, with
equal excellence in that of the bow. No difficulty in the fingering of
double, treble, and quadruple tones seemed to exist for him. The fact
that the violin is not best calculated for the powerful demands of a
four–part passage, and that, therefore, the effect in a large hall is
apt to be hazy and indistinct, should in no way detract from the
wonderful skill required for its performance. In executing a trill he
showed no partiality for a particular finger: the pulsation was always
even and clear. His scales were extremely smooth, both in ascending and
descending. He excelled in executing whole passages in any fixed
position, also in rapid shifting from a low position to a high one and
_vice versâ_, and in pizzicato with the left hand. In the management of
the bow he was unrivaled. His staccato was peculiar to himself, and was
simply perfection. Whether the bow was impelled in a succession of
little rippling bounds or of detached _martelé_ strokes, each note
possessed wonderful distinctness and impetus. In the arpeggio the notes
were never slurred together, and the double accentuation of the lowest
and highest notes imparted a full rhythmic swing to such passages. The
tremolo and _sautillé_ displayed the delicate flexibility of his wrist.
His tone was pure, elastic, and sympathetic.
In his compositions the various motives are always well worked out, and
abound in broad and beautiful effects. As they were written for himself,
they exemplify his peculiarities of fingering and bowing. Like
Paganini’s, they are almost unplayable; for, apart from the difficulties
of _technique_, without the _vis viva_ of the master they lack their
greatest charm.
To his remarkable personal magnetism was added a grace and dignity of
appearance, an unvarying amiability and courtesy of manner. He met few
whose feelings towards him, however antagonistic at first, did not
speedily become warm and friendly, and little children loved him.