Great Violinists and Pianists

In an age before recording technology, the greatest violinists and pianists were mythical figures whose performances could halt cities. George T. Ferris, writing in the late nineteenth century, captures these musical titans at the height of their legend: Paganini, whose violin playing supposedly sold his soul to the devil; Liszt, who transformed the piano recital from aristocratic gathering into mass spectacle and inspired actual swooning among his female admirers; Corelli, whose elegant artistry defined an era. Ferris provides vivid biographical sketches of the performers whose careers had reached their final form, allowing history to judge their lasting contribution. But this is more than biography. It is a window into an age when music was lived differently, when the mechanics of instrument-making were undergoing revolutionary changes, and when virtuoso performers carried the cultural weight of modern celebrities. The reader encounters not just the music but the world that produced and worshipped it: the auction houses where Stradivariuses changed hands, the courts that sponsored young prodigies, and the public hunger for transcendent sound. For anyone curious about where modern music culture began, Ferris offers an invaluable time capsule of musical celebrity at its most opulent and obsessive.