SARASATE, PABLO DE. (1844-1908). Spanish violin virtuoso and composer. SP. (“Pablo Sarasate”). 1p. Large Cabinet. N.p., May 1, 1884. A full-length sepia photograph by the London studio Walery depicting Sarasate holding one of his two Stradivarius violins and bow, inscribed in French on the photograph’s mount to “Casella,” possibly Carlo Casella the father of composer Alfredo Casella (1883-1947), or one of the composer’s two uncles, Cesare and Gioachino Casella, all of whom were professional cellists.

A child prodigy, Sarasate became world famous after a series of concert tours in the late 1850s. His “playing was distinguished by a tone of unsurpassed sweetness and purity, coloured by a vibrato somewhat broader than usual at that time and produced with a ‘frictionless’ bow stroke,” (The New Grove Dictionary). Saint-Saëns, Dvorák and Max Bruch all composed music for him. Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, a popular gypsy style fantasy composed in 1878, is “still an indispensable item in the virtuoso repertory,” (ibid.).

Some light edge ware and discoloration; darkly signed and in fine condition.