Next to the late great Nicolò Paganini, the most famous violinist of the 19th Century was a fantastic Norwegian named Ole Bull. Ole (rhymes with Café au lait) took scarcely a violin lesson in his life. His brilliant playing was always eccentric in technique and in emotion it was usually the most sumptuous ham. But big, courtly, iron-muscled Ole was the most assertive personality in Norway and one of the most assertive personalities outside it. Last fortnight the first full-length biography of Ole Bull was published by his granddaughter's husband, Mortimer Smith of...
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