England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
"BRIGHTON. December 6th.--Some sensation has been excited at
Brighton by a circumstance relative to Paganini. Mr. Gutteridge,
it appears, had engaged the Signor to play at the theatre for one
night, at the moderate sum of 200 guineas. As the theatre,
however, when crammed almost to suffocation, would only produce
about £200, and, after paying Paganini and other expenses, he
would have had to disburse nearly £300, Mr. Gutteridge was, of
course, compelled to raise the prices. It was, therefore,
announced that the prices of the boxes and pit would be doubled,
and the admission to the gallery increased to 4s. The
announcement of the intended increase of prices caused
considerable dissatisfaction in Brighton, and placards were,
yesterday, posted on the Steine, calling upon the public to
resist the extortion, and threatening, if the prices were raised,
to make of Brighton another Bristol. Mr. Gutteridge, having
obtained one of the placards, went to the magistrates to ask for
protection against the threatened outrage, and a promise was, of
course, made to him of the assistance of the police."
In November, 1833, a Mr. Freeman sued Paganini for thirty guineas,
alleged to be due to him for his services as interpreter and agent,
and in the course of the trial it came out that Paganini had amassed
£30,000 in England alone.
His rival, the celebrated Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull, came over
here in 1836, and gave his first concert at the King's Theatre on May
21st of that year, and the criticism upon his performance was that
"the applause he received was unbounded, as little forced, and as
sincere as any we have ever heard." He stayed in England a year.
It is said that "there is but one step from the sublime to the
ridiculous," and, musically, that seems to be from Paganini and Ole
Bull to Eulenstein, the performer on the Jew's harp, who was here in
the autumn of 1833. In a biographical account of him we find that he
was of humble origin, and born in Wurtemberg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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