‘Virtuoso’, wrote Sir George Grove, is ‘a term of Italian origin, applied, more abroad than in England, to a player who excels in the technical part of his art. Such players being naturally open to a temptation to indulge their ability unduly at the expense of the meaning of the composer, the word has acquired a somewhat depreciatory meaning, as of display for its own sake. Virtuosität – or virtuosity, if the word may be allowed – is the condition of playing like a virtuoso. Mendelssohn never did, Mme. Schumann and Joachim never do, play in the style alluded to. It would be invidious to mention those who do.’

Grove's definition more or less sums up the modern idea of the virtuoso: at least since the middle of the nineteenth century the term has been applied almost exclusively to performers and except in rare instances, the ‘true’ virtuoso, carries with it a whiff of disapproval, the privileging of flash over substance. But the term was not always understood in this way and did not apply exclusively to performers. Johann Gottfried Walther, following the lead of Brossard, wrote that ‘Virtu [ital.] means that musical skill … either in theory or in practice … that is extraordinarily advanced. He who possesses such skill is accordingly described with the epithet virtuoso or virtudioso, and virtuosa and virtudiosa.’