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Page: of 8
4 The Nevada County Nugget Wed., May 14, 1975
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(Lola Montez' life has provided much material for biographers and
novelists but what the press had to say about her has long been
hidden in musty files. Author Doris Foley diligently searched early
day California newspaper files, reading every issue published between 1853 and 1861, to document what they said about the divine
Lol.aand then for contrast-included Lola’s autobiography in this
work.)
Chapter Eleven
“QLE BULBUL”
AMONG THE TROUPERS to the northern mines during Lola’s
residency in Grass Valley was Ole Bornemann Bull, famed Nor-’
wegian violinist. He had been triumphant in Europe and the major.
American cities along the Atlantic coast and was numbered among
the greatest musicians of all time. He was one of the honored guests:
in the Grass Valley home of the Countess of Landsfeld on an August
evening in 1854.
Born in Bergen, Norway, February 10, 1810, Ole Bull was 44!
years old when he reached the gold coast port of San Francisco,
July 15, 1854. It was once said of Beethoven that his spirit created,
The Divine
LOLA MONTEZ AND THE
the inconceivable and his fingers performed the impossible. So it:
was with Ole Bull. He played on four strings at once, and produced
the rich harmony of four instruments. Envious musicians called
him a trickster because of his use of a flat bridge which allowed
him to make unusual chordal effects. His bow touched the s
as if in sport, and brought forth light leaps of sound, with el c
rapidity, yet clear in their distinctness. He made his violin sing
with flute-like voice, on one string, while accompanying itself with
guitar-like qualities on the other three.
Grass Valley Telegraph, August 24, 1854: ‘‘He who shall calmly
sit down to prepare a formal definition of music, will find the
authority of great names for the support of any formula which he
may purpose. Each man has, in his own mind, a well-settled type of:
true music. To one, it is the hoarse thunder, or the rough raging:
sea; the majestic or the terrible; to another it is the softness of the’
evening, or the murmur of the zephyr the beautiful and gentle.
One great man in each department, is as true in music as in
philosophy, and in each of the performers who delighted our,
citizens on last evening we recognize this truth. Both, performers:
on stringed instruments but different in their kind, have long been.
considered the best of living artists, and the clear harmony,
OLE BULL. (Photo courtesy of the California State
: Library, Sacramento.)
aa a ee
ts Bessa i aad
“ROE a conan aes see
2 acne” =
“By Doris Fo
produced by each, in the full embodimer
which all others have given us only a pit
Bull, and Strakosch have maintained th
shall finish their vocation but not thei
In her “Letters from New York,”’
affectionately dubbed him ‘‘Ole Bulbul,
the nobility for doubling their names
from those of inferior rank, wrote of his
follow his music, as it glides from ps
grace; now wandering away in drean
leaping up with sudden joy, like a bright
would be curious to know how much cli
flashing energy and impassioned eart
minstrel. On the rocky coast of Norwa:
has heard the waves roar their mighty .
the winds, and has seen it all subsic
silence. There, in view of mighty moun
calm, deep blue fiords, he has listened
bings of the heart of Nature. Had he liv
instead of sea-girt Norway, with its pile
avalanches, roaring water-falls and .
whether his violin could ever have discc
or lulled itself to rest with such deep bre
_ “His personal appearance increase
natural, and vigorous. His inspired soul
admirable proportions, and looks out
eyes. When not playing, there is not
pearance, except genuine health, and
plicity of dress and manner. But when h
it so caressingly to his ear, to catch the!
it seems as if the angels were whisperin
“Some who never like to admit tha
~ them, say that Paganini played the Ca:
his Norwegian rival. I know not. But if
chords of musical instrument with a
quarrelled with more delightful disson:
with more capricious grace, than Ole E
of melody, I envy the ears that heard it.
Not every one in the northern mi
dicated by the following:
Nevada Journal August 25, 1854:
readers a visit from Ole Bull the veri
violinist in the world. We believe his rig
and has been for many years, and cor
same thing; nor in fact have we any i
hard earned fame. He certainly has a cc
#9)