A Biographical Dictionary of Fiddlers di A. Mason Clarke
Biographical Dictionary of Fiddlers. 1.09
critic, " boast of being able to read music at sight. Whatever maybe their powers in this respect, we advise them not to try their strength against Paganini. If he is acquainted with the composer, he does not read it, he knows it beforehand. In his musical travels it has happened several times, that on reaching a town he has announced that he would play any concerto which the professors might choose to put before him. He once made a proposal of this kind at Milan. Rolla, the leader of the band at the Scala, and a celebrated violinist, undertook to reply to it; he composed a concerto on purpose, and carried it to Paganini at the moment he appeared before the public, Paganini took the piece, and either intentionally or otherwise, placed the copy topsy-turvy on the desk. It will be supposed that he instantly turned it, but pretending not even to perceive his error, and apparently not considering the immense difficulty of reading in this manner, he played the concerto as if he was perfectly familiar with the music which he then saw for the first time. It is of little consequence to Paganini what instrument music is written for ; he has sometimes gone into a room, and seizing a tenor which lay at hand, without the least preparation would play a violin part to the exercises which Cramer had composed for the pianoforte.
| |
Dictionary Fiddlers Paganini Milan Scala Paganini Paganini Paganini Cramer Rolla
|
