Scan 60
A Treatise On The Structure And Preservation Of The Violin, 1875
10 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1which a further account will appear in the Musikalische Zeitung.*
3It may be received as an established truth, that an instrument acquires a beautiful and mellow tone, not by age, but by constant use.†
5I have some ordinary-made violins which had been used by a village musician, for twenty years in playing dances, and, being in a damaged condition, I purchased them at a trifling price. Finding, on examination, that they were strong in the wood throughout, and had good pine-wood bellies, I tried what could be made of them by a proper
7* If the author here alludes to the Leipzig Musikalische Zeitung, no account of his machine has appeared in that work.—Tr.
9† Mackintosh also states that age is not one of the essentials of a good violin; "although," says he, "it is a very generally received opinion that a violin, intrinsically bad, may become possessed of a first-rate tone when it can boast of an existence of at least half a century; but such is not the fact. And, in proof of the assertion, I may here observe that there is a far greater number of old violins bad than good." And, again, he says—"Age is not necessary to constitute a good violin, since those changes in the wood, so essential to tone, which hitherto age alone has been acknowledged to bring about, can be effected previous to the construction of the instrument." He likewise supports Otto's views in reference to the effect of use, by remarking that, after the observance of all the rules of construction, violins "have to be ultimately perfected by the influence of proper playing." The fallacy respecting the superlative merit of mere age has likewise been noticed by M. Fétis in his "Rapport sur les Instruments de Musique dans l'Exposition universelle de Paris, en 1855," p. 31. Abele and Welcker von Gontershausen also insist on the absolute necessity of constant playing, in order to perfect the tone of a well-made violin. The former author has been already quoted on this point, in note †, p. 13. The latter remarks that age is only beneficial under certain conditions; namely, when the instrument is diligently and skilfully played on, when strings of unvarying sizes are preserved, and when these are always kept at a uniformly high pitch. But, he adds, an unplayed violin does not improve.—Tr.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.