GREAT VIOLINISTS AND PIANISTS
By George T. Ferris
NOTE
The title of this little book may be misleading to some of its readers,in its failure to include sketches of many eminent artists well worthyto be classed under such a head. There has been no attempt to coverthe immense field of executive music, but only to call attention to thelives of those musical celebrities who are universally recognized asoccupying the most exalted places in the arts of violin and pianoforteplaying; who stand forth as landmarks in the history of music. To domore than this, except in a merely encyclopedic fashion, within theallotted space, would have been impossible. The same necessity of limitshas also compelled the writer to exclude consideration of the careersof noted living performers; as it was thought best that discriminationshould be in favor of those great artists whose careers have beencompletely rounded and finished.
An exception to the above will be noted in the case of Franz Liszt; but,aside from the fact that this greatest of piano-forte virtuosos, thoughliving, has practically retired from the held of art, to omit him fromsuch a volume as this would be an unpardonable omission. In connectionwith the personal lives of the artists sketched in this volume, theattempt has been made, in a general, though necessarily imperfect,manner, to trace the gradual development of the art of playing from itscruder beginnings to the splendid virtuosoism of the present time.The sources from which facts have been drawn are various, and, itis believed, trustworthy, including French, German, and Englishauthorities, in some cases the personal reminiscences of the artiststhemselves.