[CHAPTER IV.]
THE FRENCH SCHOOL.
Italian and French Schools compared—state of instrumental performance at the present time—style of Kreutzer, Rode, Baillot, and Lafont—the Conservatoire de Musique—its origin and effects—epigram—Baltazarini (M. de Beaujoyeux)—Jean Baptiste de Lully—becomes scullion to Mdlle. de Montpensier—elevated to the rank of Court Musician—his career at Court—Louis the Fourteenth’s taste in music—the establishment of an Opera—Lulli’s Te Deum for the King’s recovery—an accident—his death—anecdote of his last score—his style—Jean Marie le Clair (Lecler)—born at Lyons—style deviating from the Italian school—appointed Symphonist to Louis XV—assassinated in the streets of Paris—Jean Baptiste Senaillé—goes to Italy—returns to Paris, 1719—his pupils—jean Pierre Guignon—his sonatas, duetts, trios, and concertos—instructs the Dauphin—dies at Versailles—Gabriel Guillemain—loses his faculties and destroys himself—Pierre Gaviniès—appointed Professor at the Conservatoire—his works—François Joseph Gossec—founds the Concert of Amateurs—his symphonies—Pagin—instructed by Tartini—jealousy of the French musicians—their revenge—Pierre Lahoussaye—plays at the Concert Spirituel when nine years old—Pagin undertakes his instruction—goes to Italy—hears Tartini at church—spends three years in London—appointed Professor of the first class at the Conservatoire—Paisible—makes a progress through several parts of Europe—dies by his own hand in 1781—Simon Leduc—his extant compositions—anecdote of the Chevalier St. George—F. Hippolite Barthélémon—serves as a midshipman—comes to England—engaged at Vauxhall—Mondonville, and others—Viotti’s influence on the French School—Castels De Labarre—premier violon at the Théâtre François—Vacher—pupil of Viotti—performs at the Vaudeville Theatre, &c.—Pierre Rode—shipwrecked on the English coast—obliged to quit England—appointed Professor of the Violin at the Conservatoire—travels—his death from paralysis in 1830— M. Fétis on his style—Rodolphe Kreutzer—his mode of instruction—dies at Geneva—his compositions—Charles Philippe Lafont—appears at Paris as a vocalist—studies under Kreutzer and Rode—his residence at St. Petersburg—his contest with Paganini—Pierre Baillot—Professor at the Conservatory—his System for the violoncello—Alexandre Jean Boucher—his likeness to Napoleon—Libon—first violinist to the Empress Josephine, to Marie Louise, and to Charles X—Bellon—his performance at the Philharmonic Concert—François-Antoine-Habeneck—appointed Director of the Opera, and Inspector General of the Conservatoire—M. Tolbecque and his brother—Prosper Sainton—admitted Bachelor of Letters—enters the Conservatory—appears at the Philharmonic Concerts in London—Belgian Artists—Charles Auguste de Bériot—early development—visits England—his marriage with Malibran—anecdotes—Henri Vieuxtemps—his success at Vienna, &c.—his sojourn at St. Petersburg—crosses the Atlantic—Joseph Artot—pupil of the Kreutzers.—[pp. 176], et seq.
[CHAPTER V.]
THE GERMAN SCHOOL.
The Schools of Germany, Italy, and France, compared—early performers—David Funk—a capital performer and general scholar—the irregularity of his life—his visit to the Castle of Schleitz—found dead—Thomas Baltzar—first taught the whole shift in England—buried in Westminster Abbey—Henry John Francis Biber—his solos—Godfrey Finger—his style—Chapel-Master to King James II—John Gottlieb Graun—Concert-Master to the King of Prussia—Francis Benda—acquaintance with the Hebrew, Löbel—engaged by the Prince Royal of Prussia—John Stamitz—his works—Leopold Mozart—appointed Valet-de-Chambre Musicien—publishes his “Method” for the Violin—travels with his son and daughter—his symphonies—William Cramer—leads at the Commemoration of Handel—succeeded at the Opera by Viotti—his two sons—Tassenberg—John Peter Salomon—his concerts in 1791—treaty with Mozart—engagement with Haydn—his compositions, &c.—his pupil Pinto—Charles Stamitz—John Frederick Eck—Andreas and Bernard Romberg—their works—François Cramer—his character as a leader—Friedrich Ernst Fesca—his quartetts—Christoph Gottfried Kiesewetter—his last performances at Leicester—Louis Spohr—patronized by the Duke of Brunswick—travels—becomes Concert-Master, &c. to the Duke of Saxe Gotha—visits England in 1820—his style criticised—the Norwich Musical Festival in 1839—his “Violin-Schule”—his compositions—Charles William Ferdinand Guhr—his work on Paganini’s mode of playing—Joseph Mayseder—Bernhard Molique—his appointments—his reception in Paris—his compositions—Ernst-Ole Bull, the Norwegian artist—his arrival in Paris during the prevalence of the cholera—his life and history—gives a concert—his successes detailed—his style—The Brothers Labitsky.—[pp. 222], et seq.