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Chopin heard Henrietta Sontag with great joy; he was ever a lover and a connoisseur of singing. He advised young pianists to listen carefully and often to great singers. Mdlle. de Belleville the pianist and Lipinski the violinist were admired, and he could write a sound criticism when he chose. But the Gladowska is worrying him. "Unbearable longing" is driving him to exile.
After learning, with the aid of his father, to play the violin, he took up the 'cello, and taught himself to play that instrument, and in later days he attributed his full tone on the violin to the power which his 'cello practice gave to his bow arm. Lipinski seems to have been an energetic and original man. He was in the habit of appearing at concerts both as violinist and 'cellist.
In the Polonaises of Lipinski we hear the music of the pleasure-loving heart once more beating joyously, giddily, happily, as it had done before the days of disaster and defeat. The melodies breathe more and more the perfume of happy youth; love, young love, sighs around.
Lipinski travelled throughout Europe, meeting with great success, until in 1839 he was appointed concert-meister at the Royal Opera in Dresden, where he remained for many years. He also organised a string quartet, and was considered a most excellent performer of chamber-music. He wrote a large quantity of music for the violin, but little of it was of a lasting quality.
It did not, but Doctor Mazzurana brought out of a cupboard a volume of Tartini's sonatas having letter-press under the music, and this Lipinski was ordered to read in a loud tone and with all possible expression. Then he had to play the sonata, and after numerous attempts and corrections, the old man began to applaud his efforts. Lipinski ever afterwards profited by these lessons.
After the concert he was introduced to Paganini, and he did not fail to improve the acquaintance, frequently visiting Paganini and playing with him, sometimes even in his concerts. Lipinski declined the honour of going on a concert tour with Paganini, as he wished to return to his home.
Later on he met Paganini again at Warsaw, where they were rivals, for the time being, and different factions waxed warm over their respective merits. Paganini himself, who is said to have been asked whom he considered to be the greatest violinist, replied, with conscious modesty, "The second greatest is certainly Lipinski."
A few years later Paganini played in a similar contest with the Polish violinist Lipinski, at Placentia. The two artists, however, were intimate friends, and there was not a spark of rivalry or jealousy in their generous emulation. In fact, Paganini appears to have been utterly without that conceit in his own extraordinary powers which is so common in musical artists.
There are anecdotes told of Paganini's artistic contests with rival violinists, chief among whom were Lafont and Lipinski, both of whom he eclipsed, and of his playing a concerto in manuscript at sight, with the music upside down on the rack.
On stopping at Trieste he heard of an old man, over ninety years of age, who had once been a pupil of Tartini, and sought him out in order to "get some points" on Tartini's style. The old man, Doctor Mazzurana, declared himself too old to play the violin, but suggested that if Lipinski would play a Tartini sonata he would tell him if his style reminded him of the great master.
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