To all such, then, the writer tenders his best wishes; while he earnestly commends the above examples to all who may have a desire to learn to develop the beautiful harmonic mysteries of this expressive, soulful instrument.
XVII.
JOSEPH WHITE,
THE EMINENT VIOLINIST AND COMPOSER.
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"Across my hands thou liest mute and still: Thou wilt not breathe to me thy secret fine; Thy matchless tones the eager air shall thrill To no entreaty or command of mine. But comes thy master: lo! thou yieldest all,— Passion and pathos, rapture and despair: To the soul's needs thy searching voice doth call In language exquisite beyond compare." "The Violin:" Harper's Magazine. |
MR. JOSEPH WHITE[14] is a child of the New World. He was born in Matanzas, Cuba. His first steps in art were made in his native town.
His father, an amateur in music, thought he had recognized from the early infancy of the great artist a more than ordinary taste for art. When the child heard the tones of a violin, he used to leave off play, and run in the direction where the instrument was singing, his eyes never losing sight of the virtuoso. Indeed, by his actions at such times, he seemed not to belong to this world.