Pepys, in his Diary, under date February 20, 1667, says: “They talk how the King’s violin Banister is made. That a Frenchman (Louis Grabu) is come to be chief of some part of the King’s music.”
It is worthy of notice that Banister was sent abroad by Charles II in order to study music and acquire the French taste, and so fit himself for the leadership of the King’s band, which post, however, he soon lost for asserting in the King’s hearing that the English violinists were superior to those of France, which probably accounts for the note made by Pepys in his Diary.
Banister must have been a very enthusiastic musician, for he was the first who publicly advertised concerts in this country.
The following advertisement is extracted from the “London Gazette,” under date Monday, December 30, 1672.
“These are to give notice, that at Mr. John Bannister’s House (now called the Music School) over against the George Tavern in White Fryers, this present Monday, will be musick performed by excellent Masters, beginning precisely at 4 of the Clock in the afternoon, and every afternoon, for the future precisely at the same hour.”
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We have now arrived at the close of the seventeenth century, by which time the supremacy of the violin was established not only in England, but in all countries where culture and the fine arts march hand in hand.
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Before bringing this notice to a close, let us glance briefly at the artistic activity prevailing during the early part of the eighteenth century.
In his workshop at Cremona would be found the great violin maker, Antonius Stradivarius, producing those inimitable instruments which have rendered him so famous. We find Corelli at the head of the first school of violinists at Rome (of which he was the founder), turning out pupils destined to shed lustre into whatever country they carried their art, and writing those immortal sonatas, that will ever retain their high character as examples of tonal purity, and with Boccherini, laying the foundation of chamber music.