ABSTRACT
At the end of 1820 and beginning of 1821 Viotti experienced a succession of personal losses. First it was the death, which Viotti may well have witnessed, on 14 December 1820 of one of his dearest friends, Giuseppe Naldi, killed at the home of another close friend, Manuel Garcia in Paris, when a newly-invented pressure cooker exploded in his face. Unable to be at Margaret's side in her legal struggles, Viotti felt both helpless and guilty. To Margaret he tried to appear resolute, but to William he gave way to his true feelings. While in Paris Spohr took part in private concerts, playing before professional musicians, dilettanti and connoisseurs, as well as giving one public concert. It seems more than a coincidence that the letter from Artaud should have been addressed to Rayneval, whom Viotti had known since 1814 in London, whose company Viotti and Margaret had constantly kept in Paris in 1818.
