ABSTRACT
The subject of English, or for that matter British violinists is seldom discussed, largely because there are very few prominent figures associated with the instrument and native to this country who readily spring to mind. The pedagogical literature from the nineteenth century is more individual and diverse than that of the eighteenth, allowing it to cater for specific markets and the whole range of ability. The library of the Royal Academy of Music contains perhaps more copies of Louis Spohr’s violin treatise in its various editions than any other, at least from the nineteenth century. With the arrival of the nineteenth century, there are signs that attitudes in England towards music education were beginning to change, pre-empted by writers such as Philpot. The legacy of the eighteenth century left writers in England during the transitional period unsure of their market and reluctant to commit themselves to a completely modern approach overnight.
