ue e a tre, Venezia, 1624." He says: "I was
instigated by this early date to score one of these Sonatas, which
consisted of only a single movement in figure and imitation
throughout, in which so little use was made of the power of the bow in
varying the expression of the same notes, that each part might have
been as well played on one instrument as another."

In this branch of composition Corelli shone forth with considerable
lustre, and gave great impetus to the culture of the Violin. It was at
Rome that his first twelve Sonatas were published, in 1683. In 1685
the second set appeared, entitled "Balletti da Camera"; four years
later the third set was published. The genius of Corelli may be said
to have revolutionised Violin-playing. He had followers in the chief
cities of Italy. There was Vitali at Modena, Visconti at Cremona (who,
it is said, tendered his advice to Stradivari upon the construction of
his instruments--advice, I think, little needed); Veracini at Bologna,
and a host of others. Dibdin, the Tyrtaeus of the British navy, said:
"I had always delighted in Corelli, whose harmonies are an assemblage
of melodies. I, therefore, got his Concertos in single parts, and put
them into score, by which means I saw all the workings of his mind at
the time he composed them; I so managed that I not only comprehended
in what manner the parts had been worked, but how, in every way, they
might have been worked. From this severe but profitable exercise, I
drew all the best properties of harmony, and among the rest I learnt
the valuable secret, that men of strong minds may violate to advantage
many of those rules of composition which are dogmatically imposed."

[Illustration: _Plate XXI_. ANTONIO STRADIVARI. 1690. (Made for Cosimo
III. de Medici, Grand Duke of Florence.)]

We must now retrace our steps somewhat, in order to allude to another
Violinist, who influenced the progress of the leading instrument out
of Italy, viz., Jean Baptiste Lulli. The son of a Tuscan peasant, born
in the year 1633, Lulli's name is so much associated with the romantic
in the history of Violin-playing that he has been deprived in a great
measure of the merits justly his due for the part he took in the
advancement of the instrument. The story of Lulli and the stew-pans[2]
bristles with interest for juvenile musicians, but the hero is often
overlooked by graver people, on account of his culinary associations.
When Lulli was admitted to the Violin