The Violin: Some Account of That Leading Instrument and Its Most Eminent Professors, from Its Earliest Date to the Present Time; with Hints to Amateurs, Anecdotes, etc.Dubourg, George
History
The Violin: Some Account of That Leading Instrument and Its Most Eminent Professors, from Its Earliest Date to the Present Time; with Hints to Amateurs, Anecdotes, etc.
Dubourg, George
Violin; Violinists -- Biography
—For its connection with the state and prospects of the Violin School
in England, the institution of the “Royal Academy of Music” calls for a
few words of notice in this place. The vocal art, through some
unexplained defects in the system pursued there—certainly not from the
want of fine voices in the country—has hitherto derived no very
conspicuous advantage from the establishment in question; but the
instruction communicated to instrumentalists must have been of a better
kind, for results of some importance have been manifested. Of several of
the students who have cultivated the powers of the violin with marked
success, the most distinguishable, perhaps, in point of genius, is
MAWKES, a performer of very great promise, who had the benefit of aid
from the master-hand of Spohr. Suddenly, however, and much to the regret
of those who were watching with interest the development of his fine
capacity, he seceded from playing in public, and is now living in
seclusion. To this strange sequestration of a valuable gift, he is said
to have been induced by scruples of a religious nature. _Why_ any branch
whatsoever of the refined arts may not be followed, as a profession, in
perfect compatibility with the higher and ulterior purposes of life, it
is difficult to discover. A man does not, commonly, take his principles
_from_ his worldly calling: he brings them _to_ it, and finds in it a
field for their due employment and exercise. Objections, however, that
refer us to the conscience, as their seat and source, must ever be
respected, even when (as in this case) their essential force is not
apparent.
BLAGROVE is another name that claims especial mention, among the
trophies of the Academy. This professor, also, has fortunately enjoyed
the highest means of accomplishment in his art, having superadded to his
noviciate at the Academy, a later prosecution of his studies under the
direction of Spohr, of the purity and refinement of whose style he
exhibited delightful traces in the quartett-performances at the head of
which he figured, when the merits of that delightful class of
compositions were as yet but imperfectly known. Mr. Blagrove enjoys the
unquestioned reputation of being one of the best of our living
artists.—SEYMOUR is another of the Academy pupils whose talent has
become favourably known to the public. As leader of the “younger
strengths” forming the Academy orchestra, he has shewn much steadiness
and ability.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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