his apparition Gilbert Parker conjures up in "The
Tall Master."

Paganini is described as a man of tall, gaunt figure, melancholy
countenance and highly wrought nervous temperament. His successors have
all profited by his development of the violin's resources, the result of
combined genius and labor. He was practically a pioneer in the effective
use of chords, arpeggio passages, octaves and tenths, double and triple
harmonics and succession of harmonics in thirds and in sixths. His long
fingers were of invaluable service to him in unusual stretches, and his
fondness for pizzicato passages may be traced to his familiarity with
the twang of his father's mandolin. He shone chiefly in his own
compositions, which were written in keys best suited to the violin.
Students will find all that he knew of his instrument and everything he
did in his Le Stregghe (The Witches), the Rondo de la Clochette, and the
Carnaval de Venise, which have been handed down precisely as he left
them in manuscript.

Signora Calcagno, who at one time dazzled Italy by the boldness and
brilliancy of her violin playing, was his pupil when she was seven
years old. The only other person who could boast having direct
instructions from him was his young fellow townsman, Camillo Ernesto
Sivori (1815-1894), who was in his day a great celebrity in European
musical centres, and who was familiar to concert-goers in this country,
especially in Boston, during the late forties and early fifties. He was
thought to produce a small but electric tone, and to play invariably in
tune. To him his master willed his Stradivarius violin, besides having
given him in life the famous Vuillaume copy of his Guarnerius, a set of
manuscript violin studies and a high artistic ideal.

A scholarly teacher and composer for the violin was the German Ludwig
Spohr (1784-1859), who was born the same year as the wizard Paganini,
and who, although having less scintillant genius than the weird Italian,
is believed to have had a more beneficent influence over violin playing
in his treatment of the instrument. He set an example of purity of style
and roundness of tone, and raised the violin concerto to its present
dignity. His violin school is a standard work.

From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present time the
lists of excellent violinists have rapidly increased and heights of
technical skill have been reached by many that would have dazzled early
violin masters. The speci