I was so little inspired by violin instruction at the Guildhall School that I kept in the cloakroom a volume of concertos edited by Joachim, which I would retrieve before my lesson and read in class. And that would be my lesson for the day.

I became aware that I did not know as much about my musical trade as puerile conceit had led me to suppose. My dedication to practice did not burgeon fully until I came under the ponderous, yet benign, influence of my great master, Eugene Ysaye.

Instruction does much, but encouragement everything."

(Letter to A.F. Oeser, Nov. 9, 1768)

Within the book and volume of my brain.

One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography.

At the age of nine, playing the violin at school, and then onto the mandolin.