3-052-340 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Mr. Henry Gamble Blagrove, 1872. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. C. V. Bark of '...the eminent violinist...[who] played in public when only eleven years old. As a boy he was a pupil of Spagnoletti...In 1830 Mr. Blagrove became solo-player...of Queen Adelaide's private band; and, two years later, he went to Germany, and passed some time at Cassel studying under Spohr, who was alike renowned as a violinist and a composer...In a subsequent visit to Germany Mr. Blagrove played in some of the most important towns thereof with brilliant success, and afterwards settled down to a long career in England, where he gained honourable distinction as an orchestral leader and soloist - in association with the Philharmonic Society, the opera, and the provincial festivals - and as a professor of his instrument in the institution of which he had been one of the earliest and best pupils. These high positions he retained until disabled by the illness which terminated in his death...If Mr. Blagrove's playing did not equal that of his master in grandeur of style and power, he might at least compare with Spohr in purity and beauty of tone, and in grace and flexibility of bowing...[He] wrote various works for the violin, some of which are published'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.