legitimately developing the natural resources of the instrument, he oversteps all reasonable limits, and aims at effects which, being adverse to the very nature of the violin, are neither beautiful nor musical, but ludicrous and absurd. A striking example of this tendency of his is to be found in a caprice entitled, 'Le Labyrinth,' where the following arpeggio passages occur:—
and
This savours strongly of charlatanism, and it is astonishing to find a direct pupil of Corelli one of the first to introduce such senseless feats of execution into the art of violin-playing. Wasielewsky not unjustly speaks of him as the great-grandfather of our modern 'Finger-heroes' (Fingerhelden).
Locatelli published ten different [1]works:—
Op. 1. Twelve concerti grossi. Amsterdam, 1721.
- 2. Sonatas for flute. Amsterdam, 1732.
- 3. L'arte del violino, containing 12 concerti grossi and 24 caprices. 1735.
- 4. Six concertos. 1735.
- 5. Six sonatas en trio. 1737.
- 6. Six sonatas for violin solo. 1737.
- 7. Six concerti a quattro. 1741.
- 8. Trios. 2 violins and bass. 1741.
- 9. L'arte di nuova modulazione. Caprices enigmatiques.
- 10. Contrasto armonico: concertos a quattro.
Modern editions of some of his Sonatas and Caprices have been issued by Witting, Alard, and David. His Sonata di Camera in G minor has lately been played at the Monday Popular Concerts by Mme. Norman Neruda.
[ P. D. ]
LOCHABER NO MORE, an air claimed both for Scotland and Ireland, of which some two or three versions are extant. The source of these is in S3ottish minstrelsy called 'Lord Ronald (or, according to Sir W. Scott, Randal) my son.' The air in Ireland is known as 'Limerick's lamentation,' from a tradition associating its plaintive melody with the events that followed the second capitulation of Limerick, in 1690, when at the embarkation of the Irish soldiery at Cork for France, their wives and children were forcibly separated from them under circumstances of unusual barbarity. The Scottish and Irish airs are here compared.
'Lord Ronald my son' (one strain only).
'Limerick's Lamentation.'
'Lochaber.'
The verses 'Farewell to Lochaber,' ending 'And then I'll leave thee and Lochaber no more,' were written by Allan Ramsay. Burns recovered in Ayrshire two verses of the old ballad 'Lord Ronald,' in conjunction with this tune: he is recorded to have exclaimed, on hearing Lochaber played on the harpsichord, 'Oh, that's a fine tune for a broken heart!'
The Irish air lies in the fourth and last of the scales given in the article on Irish Music [vol. ii. p. 20a], having its semitones between 3 and 4, 6 and 7; it is also marked by traces of the narrative form characteristic of ancient Irish melody. In the Leyden MS., a Scottish relic of 1690 or thereabouts, in tablature for the Lyra-Viol, a tune closely allied to the above airs is given as 'King James' March to Irland.' James is known to have landed at Kinsale, March 12, 1689. On comparison of the versions, in bar 6 of the 1st and bar 3 of the 2nd strain the Irish air appears to most advantage: the skip of a major ninth in Lochaber is most likely a corruption: it is certainly characteristic of neither Irish nor Scottish melody: Mr. Moore (who is supported both by Bunting and Holden in claiming for Ireland this beautiful air) is in his prefaces to the Irish Melodies rather severe upon the Scots for stealing not only Irish airs, but Irish saints.
An interesting example of the effect of 'Lochaber no more' is given by Robert Nicholl. 'During the expedition to Buenos Ayres, a Highland soldier while a prisoner in the hands of the
- ↑ From Fétis, 'Biogr. Universelle.'
