Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/54

 BULL.

BULL.

great friendship with that maestro began, and he became acquainted with Chopin, with whom he gave a number of concerts. He travelled through France, Switzerland and Italy on a con- cert tour, studying as he went the native music of each country, in order to give true expression to the varied melodies of the south. While in Bologna his playing was heard, accidentally, by Rossini's wife, the celebrated Colbran, and through her he secured the opportunity of play- ing before a large audience which had assembled to hear Malibran and DeBeriot. Ole Bull on this occasion so threw his soul into his violin that it responded as it had never before done, and from that moment his fortiuie was made, his fame assured. He was accompanied to his home by a torchlight procession, his carriage being drawn by the populace; he was engaged for concert after concert, benefits were given in his behalf, theatres and orchestras were put at his disposal, and kings, dukes and princes delighted to do him honor. Soon afterward, upon his return to Paris, the doors of the Grand Opera were open to receive him, and he gave several concerts there with great success. Some of his most beautiful com- positions were evolved at this time; among others, his famous Concerto in A Major, his Quartetto a violino Solo, his Polacca Giier- riera, and his Adagio Religioso. In 1836 he made his first tour through England, playing in concerts with Rubini, Tamburini, Lablache, and Mile. AssandTi, and winning enthusiastic plau- dits on every hand. The English tour was fol- lowed by one throvigh Germany, and the music- loving Germans made this tour one prolonged ovation. He continued his travels, giving con- certs in Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Hol- land, Denmark, Austria and Hungary, and taking the people's hearts by storm wherever he played. His visit to his native Norway, after an absence of seven years, was an occasion of great delight to him and to his admiring countrymen, and he played the grand and simple Norwegian melodies in svich an electrifying way that the people awoke to a realization of the incomparable beauty of their own folk-songs and dances. Preceded by his fame he came to America in 1843, and, mak- ing an extended tour through the United States, Canada and the West Indies, he was everywhere received with the same wild enthusiasm which had greeted him in Europe. This was followed by another European tour, which was a triumph from beginning to end, and he amassed a fortune. He was a zealous patriot and his efforts in behalf of his countrymen were untiring. In 1852 he came to America and purchased one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres of land on the Susquehanna, in Potter county. Pa., for the pur- pose of establishing a " New Norway consecrated

to liberty and protected by the Union's mighty flag." On this land he erected three hundred cottages, a church, an inn, a store, and, incident- ally, a palace for himself on an eminence over- looking the cottages. After sinking a fortune in the experiment, he found that he had been swin- dled by his agent and that his title to the land was defective. Then followed a period of hard- ship, struggle, persecution and illness; and but for the sympathy and assistance of a host of influ- ential friends, he would have succumbed under the fearful strain. After a time he returned to Bergen ; some of his former friends and neighbors believed him to be at fault for the failure of his colonization scheme, and to this grief was added that caused by the death of his wife. A four years' tour through Europe mended his shattered fortunes, and in 1867-'69 he again visited the United States, giving a series of concerts in the west and northwest where his countrymen were settled. W^hile in Wisconsin, in 1868, he met Sara C. Thorpe, to whom he was married in the following year. In his later years his winters were spent in America and his svmimers in Nor- way. When his death occurred in Bergen the world's flags were hung at half mast, and the simple Norwegian peasants came by the hun- dreds, each bearing a green bough, a fern, or a flower to cast into the grave of their ever true and loyal friend. Of his compositions, which were legion, he would permit only three to be published : Variazioni di Bravura, La Pre- ghiera d'una Madre {Adagio Religioso), and // Xotturno. See Ole Bull : A Memoir by his wife. Sara C. Bull (1883). He died at Bergen, Norway, Aug. 18, 1880.

BULL, Richard Harrison, educator, was born in New York city, Sept. 28, 1817, son of Ben- jamin and Eliza (Wade) Bull. He was graduated from the University of the city of New York in 1839. He studied at the Union theological seminary, 1839-'43; was secretary and actuary of the Eagle life insurance company, 1847-'48, pro- fessor of civil engineering in his alma mater, 1853 -'85, and professor emeritus 1885-'92. He was secretary and president of the New York savings bank, 1859-83. He was associated with Professor Morse in the experiments that led to his first elec- tric telegraph. He obtained the correct time for the use of tlie New York Central, the Erie and other railroads by taking observations of the sun, and his time was used until the Western Union's time ball was erected. He was married March 2, 1847, to Mary Ann Schonten, and their three sons, Richard Henry, Charles C, and J. Edgar, were graduates of the University of the city of New York. His alma mater conferred on him the degree of A.M. in 1842, and Ph.D. in 1885. He died in New York city, Feb. 1, 1892.