At  this  time  De  Beriot  possessed  a  very  fine
old  violin  by  Paolo  Giovanni  Magini,  a  celebrated
maker  who  worked  at  Brescia,  in  the  Tyrol,  where
he  was  born  in  1590,  and  died  in  1640.  He  was  a
workman  and  apprentice  of  the  celebrated  maker
Gasparo  da  Salo,  so  named  from  the  little  town  of
Salo,  where  he  made  his  instruments.  The  violins
of  Gasparo  and  those  of  Magini  are  extremely  rare
and  valuable.  They  have  been  often  imitated  by
modern  makers,  and  it  is  not  always  easy  to  detect
a  genuine  instrument  from  a  fraudulent  imitation,
though  a  good  violinist  can  generally  discover  the
difference  by  playing  upon  them.
How  De  B6riot  got  this  fine  old  violin  it  is  im-
possible to  say,  but  that  its  peculiar  plaintive  quality
and  fine  tone  well  suited  his  playing  we  can  easily
believe.
Very  soon  after  this  visit  to  Paris  he  appeared  in
several  concerts,  and  always  with  a  brilliant  success.
Like  Paganini,  he  appeared  before  the  public  for
the  first  time  in  compositions  of  his  own,  which  were,


80  FAMOUS  VIOLINISTS

of  course,  entirely  novel.  These  were  some  of  his
first  Azrs  VarzVs,  consisting  of  a  dramatic  introduc-
tion, a  simple  melodious  theme,  followed  by  three
or  four  variations,  and  a  brilliant  finale.  They
won  him  universal  applause  by  their  freshness  and
originality  as  much  as  by  his  finished  execution  and
large  style  of  cantabile.
In  1826  he  went  direct  to  London  from  Paris,
preceding  Paganini  by  some  years,  and  met  with  the
same  success  that  had  attended  his  efforts  in  France.
His  style  was  new,  his  performance  most  exquisite,
and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was  everywhere
greeted,  both  in  London  and  the  provinces,  estab-
lished for  him  a  lasting  reputation.
