The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1888-03-10 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

VIOLINS.  The violin looks a simple instrument. It has only four strings and a bow; and people who have never tried to play it are, generally speaking, pretty certain that they could if they liked.  The violin, as a weapon of aggression, has never, in my opinion, been properly exploited. After a careful study of the powers of the instrument, I am convinced that in the hands of a competent person it might be ' made an engine of terror to an entire neighbourhood. In a house which has thin walls what a weapon it might prove against an inimical neighbour. Or in the summer , time, when the windows can be opened, how ' its awful tones could be sent along a trembling street. There are possibilities in the violin that are hidden horn the unthinking world.  My friend St. John Brenon, who is learned in the lore of violins, tells me that the best extant belongs to Winieawski, and is a Stradivarius, worth £1,600, the price it anti:ll'll3,l fetched in a sale at the Maison des Ventes, Paris, a few years ago; while Mr Carrodus, whose beautiful playing has charmed tens of thousands of English ears, informs me that he only gave £620 for his own undoubted Stradivarius, and that it is, in his opinion, the finest instrument extant. Other connoisseurs praise the Amati violins, most of w4sich were made at Cremona—still a good place for fiddles—and which vary in value from £3OO to £500; while many, again, consider the Guarneri as the best, that being the make of instrument on which the deathless Paganini played. My thoughts fly at once to the opening of the case of that wonderful instrument, bequeathed by Paganini to Genoa, the other day. There was a time when men feared the great player, and declared he had sold himself to the Devil, and had become a murderer. Why they accused him thus is not so clear as that they could not understand how any mat/ could draw such sounds from a mere  violin. What a career his was! And what a story is that of his violin! Paganini, a wandering musician in Italy, gambled and lost his violin. Desperate, he thought of suicide, when a French merchant, M. Livron, lent him a Guarneri. With this precious instrument in his possession Paganini now made such music as had never been heard before ; and at length the good shopkeeper gave him the fiddle, with one stipulation—that he should never part with it. Of course, he swore he would not let it leave him for ever. I But Paganini was a gambler by nature, . . •  and once more he went to the table's. Ducar  after duoat went; the last WRS gone, and the violin was the only thing that remained to him; would he risk it? Yes! No! He seized it suddenly, and .fled. _ _  The Guarneri had broken the gambling spell. Henceforth he was destined to go , from one capital to another and win triumph 1 after triumph. Shall I draw you his portrait? Read Balzao's description :—lmagine a man tall, thin, all legs and arms, dressed wholly in black, with a cadaverous visage marked out with blue veins, with the curves of his mouth like the letter S, a tremulous movement of the lips, with fingers also so long and so bony that their movements almost appalled the spectator. No wonder they thought the Devil possessed him. When he played the "Carnival of Venice" or the "Prayer of Moses " the violin seemed enchanted, as though the Evi One were in it. Of course, a woman appeared in the story of his life—one Antonia Bianchi; equally of course, she nearly ruined him—trying one day to break his preeious.violin on his head. A. retirement followed the lady's perform. _  ----ance ; but, happily, he came out again. to be pursued by all sorts of stories and all sorts of idle tales by people who could not believe that any mac could play the violin in such fashion until he had committed some deadly crime. The year 1830, however, dawned auspiciously for him. At Vienna, then the home of music, Paganini cravats became all the rage, and Paganini medals were worn. Then at London and Paris shortly afterwards he was received with enthusiasm, although in both capitals the tales of his having assassinated some female adm rer followed him, and were repeated by the donkeys of those days. A pretty story is told of him about this time. He was a great admirer of Berlioz, and played some of his works with great success. One day he heard that Berlioz was in distress. " Benvenuto Cellini " had not been a success at the Opera, and Berlioz was in want of money. Without hesitating for a moment he sat down and sent him a cheque for £l,OOOl as a testimony to his genius. When Paganini died his remains were placed in a mausoleum at Genoa, and his violin, which he bequeathed to the city, was put in the Municipality building, and the other day it was played on by Sivori, his favourite pupil, to the great delight of all who heard it. Reader, you may easily play worse than Paganini, but you are not likely to play as well unless, with all your genius, you practise as he did. He exercised fourteen hours a day, and frequently played a thousand variations on the same theme.--" Asour Towx," in the London Echo.  A