E-text prepared by Susan Skinner, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 57130-h.htm or 57130-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57130/57130-h/57130-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57130/57130-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/chatsonvioloncel00racs Transcriber’s note: Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Underlined text is surrounded by equals signs: =underlined=. Superscripted characters are preceded by a carat character: An^o. The =Music Lover’s Library= CHATS ON VIOLONCELLOS * * * * * * The Music Lover’s Library CHATS ON VIOLINS OLGA RACSTER STORIES FROM THE OPERAS FIRST SERIES GLADYS DAVIDSON STORIES FROM THE OPERAS SECOND SERIES GLADYS DAVIDSON CHATS ON VIOLONCELLOS OLGA RACSTER CHATS WITH MUSIC LOVERS ANNIE W. PATTERSON, Mus.Doc., B.A. * * * * * * [Illustration: THE ARTIST’S WIFE. A. VAN DYCK.] CHATS ON VIOLONCELLOS by OLGA RACSTER Author of “Chats on Violins” With 18 Illustrations [Illustration] London T. Werner Laurie Clifford’S Inn TO MY FRIEND MRS BLACKETT OF ARBIGLAND THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHORESS LONDON, 1907 PREFACE No prefatory remarks are necessary to introduce the reader to the following pages. They emanated, in the first place, from a desire for personal instruction, and what the French term _le soulagement du coeur_, a combination--according to Vauvenargues--calculated to prove useful to one’s fellows, _car personne est seul de son espéce_. Those who live on my plane of thought will welcome this volume, and those who do not, will easily find a way out of the difficulty presented to them by their attempted perusal of its pages: most modern houses are now provided with wastepaper baskets of ample proportions! My true reason for allowing myself to wander into the paths of a preamble, springs from a desire to thank my friends and colleagues for their assistance in supplying me with many interesting facts.