years. He was instrumental in bringing Haydn to England, and toward the
end of his career he was actively interested in the foundation of the
Philharmonic Society. He was noted more as a quartet player than as a
soloist, and Haydn's last quartets were composed especially to suit his
style of playing. He was a man of much cultivation and moved in
distinguished society. His death was caused by a fall from his horse. He
was the possessor of a Stradivarius violin which was said to have
belonged to Corelli and to have had his name upon it. This he bequeathed
to Sir Patrick Blake of Bury St. Edmunds.




CHAPTER III.

1750 TO 1800.


Giovanni Baptiste Viotti has been called the last great representative
of the classical Italian school, and it is also stated that with Viotti
began the modern school of the violin. In whatever light he may be
regarded, he was undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists of all. He
retained in his style of playing and composing the dignified simplicity
and noble pathos of the great masters of the Italian school, treating
his instrument above all as a singing voice, and keeping strictly within
its natural resources. According to Baillot, one of his most
distinguished pupils, his style was "perfection," a word which covers a
host of virtues.

Viotti was born in 1753 at Fontanetto, a village in Piedmont. His first