ame away to his bride a sadder and wiser man.

Although a great gambler, Wieniawski owed the loss of a large part of
his fortune to the failure of a New York banking firm in 1873, rather
than to his favourite propensity.

The friendship between him and Vieuxtemps was very strong, in fact it
was described as being ideal. Once, while Wieniawski was playing at a
concert, Vieuxtemps was among the audience, and, at the conclusion of
one of the violinist's solos, Vieuxtemps called, at the top of his
voice, "Bravo, Wieniawski!" This drew attention to Vieuxtemps, who was
immediately recognised by the audience and enthusiastically welcomed.

Wieniawski's compositions number two and twenty. As a proof of the old
adage that "doctors do not always agree," we are told by one excellent
authority that his D minor concerto, the two polonaises, and his
"Legende" will probably never vanish from the violinist's repertoire,
and by another that Wieniawski's compositions are not of much
importance. Both statements are no doubt true, for there are many
fascinating concert pieces which, from the strictly classical point of
view, are not important additions to musical literature.

An American critic wrote of him, after his first appearance: "In
Wieniawski we have the greatest violinist who has yet been heard in
America.... Of all now living Joachim alone can claim superiority over
him."

This sweeping enthusiasm was not universal, for a critic more difficult
to please wrote as follows: "Wieniawski's playing is as perfect as a
faultless technique, artistic culture, great aesthetic sensibility, and
perfect mastery over himself and his instrument can make it But with
all its perfection we cannot but feel that the great original,
heaven-and-earth-moving master-soul is wanting."

He was also severely scathed by a critic in New York in 1872, who wrote:
"Some people like pure, clear tone,--others don't. Those who admire
scratching and false stopping, together with sundry other things of the
same nature, would have experienced wild joy upon hearing Beethoven's
"Violin Concerto" as it was played by Wieniawski; but for those who
regard a correct intonation as a thing of primal importance, it could
not have been pleasing. Wieniawski belongs to that school of which Ole
Bull is a prominent member, whose first article of belief is that
genuine passion and fervour is signified by rasping the strings."

Other criticisms of the same concert, however, wer