ope, and was
already known in America before she went to Berlin. She played in July,
1899, before the Queen of England at Windsor Castle, and again in August
at Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight.

The time has long since gone by when mere showy technique would earn a
reputation for any violinist, male or female, and she who expects to be
numbered with the great violinists must be first of all a musician,
capable of interpreting the greatest works. If in addition to this she
has "the divine spark," she will be truly great.

CHAPTER XI.

FAMOUS QUARTETS.

Quartet playing is at once the delight and the despair of the amateur,
who finds no greater pleasure than an evening spent in endeavouring to
unravel the intricacies of chamber music, nor any keener disappointment
than the realisation that it is capable of far better interpretation.

For the professional there are many influences which cause him to
hesitate before he launches forth upon the quicksands of public
performance. The first necessity in professional quartet playing is the
devotion of a large amount of time to the acquisition of a perfect
ensemble. A quartet may be likened unto a family, in which the members
learn to know one another by being brought up together, and few are the
professionals who can sacrifice the time necessary for the acquisition
of this perfect ensemble.

Apparently very little was done previous to the nineteenth century in
the way of quartet concerts, but Baillot founded a series of quartet
concerts in Paris, which were highly spoken of, and about the same time
Schuppanzigh, an excellent violinist and teacher in Vienna, established
a quartet which became famous. In this quartet Mayseder played, in his
younger days, second violin. Mayseder was considered the foremost
violinist in Vienna, but he never travelled as a virtuoso.

When Spohr went first to Leipzig and was unknown, he had to find a way
by which he could attract attention to himself,--in those days the
advertising agent was not much in evidence,--so that he might give a
concert with a reasonable prospect of success. The rich merchants, to
whom he had brought letters of introduction, knew nothing of him and
received him coldly. "I was very anxious to be invited to play at one of
their music parties in order to draw attention to myself," Spohr says in
his autobiography, "and my wish was fulfilled, for I was invited to a
grand party and asked to play something. I chose