Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/134

122 violinist, and who had heard Paganini's performance, exclaimed:—

"I will never profane the strings which your fingers have touched. The instrument is yours!"

Paganini's delight may be imagined, for there was hardly to be found in the world an instrument superior to this one. He used it throughout his wonderful career and at his death left it to his native city of Genoa, where it rests in its glass case, having been played by but one since his death, by his pupil, Sivori, who died in 1894.  

The following bit of conversation, reported to come from Franz Liszt, we are inclined to take cum grano salis as to the intensity of some of the expressions used. If other writers are to be believed, the gentle Felix was hardly of so jealous a disposition as this sketch would have us believe. But, be that as it may, we infer from it somewhat of the personal characteristics of Liszt as well as of Mendelssohn.

Said Liszt: "Mendelssohn, on one occasion, drew a picture on a blackboard of the devil playing his G minor concerto with five hammers on each hand instead of fingers. The truth of the matter is, that I once played his concerto in G minor from the manuscript, and as I found several of the passages rather simple and not broad enough, if I may use the term, I changed them to suit my own ideas. This, of course, annoyed Mendelssohn, who, unlike Schumann or Chopin, would never take a hint or advice from any one. Moreover, Mendelssohn, who, although a refined pianist, was not a virtuoso, and never could play my compositions with any kind of effect, his technical skill being inadequate to the execution of intricate passages. So the only course open to him, he thought, was to vilify me as a musician. And, of course, whatever Mendelssohn did, Leipzig did also. However, I was, once, more than fully revenged on him. 