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Scan 366
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 312. See the scan on archive.org.
1ascertained on the mould by means of a strip of cartridge paper, and each rib is then cut off to its length and the edges prepared for joining. The ribs are now dipped two or three times in water, and bent to the curves of the mould by means of a hot iron. They are then placed in position on the mould and glued to the blocks; eight movable blocks of wood, trimmed as counterparts to the ribs, one in each bout, one in the outer curve of each corner-block, and two at the top and bottom, are applied outside them, and the whole mass is tightly screwed up in a frame and left to dry. When the frame and movable blocks are removed, the ribs and blocks form a structure which only requires the addition of the back and belly to be complete. The back is first glued on, the edges of the ribs where the back joins them having been strengthened by linings of pine passing from block to block and set accurately against the end blocks and into chambers cut in the corner-blocks. Similar linings are now glued to the upper edge of the ribs and brought to a flat surface. Lastly, the belly, on which the bass-bar has already been fitted, is glued on, and the resonant box is complete.
3The design and cutting of the head, the carving of the volute, and the double grooving of its back, are among the most difficult branches of the violin-maker's art. When the neck, or handle, is ready it is accurately fitted and glued to the top block and to the semicircular button at the top of the back, which hold it firmly in the angle they form. The fiddle is now ready for varnishing. After being sized, and perhaps stained, three or more coats of varnish are successively applied. This may be of two kinds, one made with oil and the other with spirits of wine. Oil varnish is long in drying; hence in this country, except in hot weather, the process is tedious, and the old English makers usually preferred spirit varnish, which dries very quickly. The best makers in all countries have used oil varnish, the soft texture of which penetrates and solidifies the wood without hardening the tone.
5Notwithstanding the undue tonal virtues frequently ascribed to this final touch applied by the luthier to his handiwork, its importance in preserving and enhancing the other qualities of the instrument has been recognised since the foundation of the Cremona School. Perhaps the relationship of varnish to the violin has not found better expression than in the remarks made by the author of How to Choose a Violin (see below). 'Writers err,' he says, 'who assign to the varnish the cause of the wonderful tone of Cremona violins. Their beauty and value are in their construction. No varnish could make an inferior instrument sound well, while a superior one would still be good even if ill-varnished.' Nicolo Amati's small, high-built violins, covered with a superb rich varnish, strikingly corroborate this statement. The pliant yet adhesive varnish that has nourished and preserved the wood of this maker's instruments for over 300 years cannot, and never did, make up for the deficient measurements that robbed them of tone-power. It was the understanding of the relationship between perfect proportions and a pliable protective covering that clings to the wood and vibrates with it, that made Stradivarius's violins so transcendentally superior to all others. And further, there is little doubt that, had the era of hard gum-lac varnish preceded, instead of superseding this greatest of Cremona makers, his instruments would, even had he adopted it, have still been superior in spite of their rigid glass-like envelope. What were the component parts of the varnish employed by Cremona's famous luthier it is impossible to say. Two hundred years have passed since their application; a period long enough for the gums, resins, and diluents to have become oxydised beyond the reach of quantitative or qualitative analysis. Besides which, even the most enthusiastic inquirer would hesitate before the cost entailed in depriving a Cremona of its crowning beauty, though the task has been unsuccessfully attempted with fragments of instruments that have become damaged beyond possibility of reconstruction. Apparently the secret must remain a secret. Out of the many theories that have been advanced on the subject of Cremona varnish Mr. Charles Reade (Pall Mall Gazette, August 31, 1872, see below) has expounded a theory of successive and superimposed coats of oil and spirit varnish, which is perhaps the most intelligent, practical, and scientific attempt at a solution of the matter yet advanced. Apart from this hypothesis and others of various conjectural merit all that is known definitely of the old Cremona varnish may be gathered under the headings, (1) That strong evidence against the suggestion that Stradivarius and his contemporaries varnished with amber is shown in the fact that the secret of dissolving this gum was not known until seven years after Stradivarius's death, when Letters Patent for the process were granted to a certain Martin. (2) That the Cremona varnish, properly so called, had an existence extending only from about 1550 to about 1750. After this it would seem to have vanished as completely and mysteriously as it appeared. The only data we have to turn to are supplied by a few pamphlets relating to varnishes in common use during that period of time for various purposes, yet it is not unreasonable to suppose that these were known to the ancient luthiers and guided their choice of ingredients in the composition of their varnishes. The earliest treatise on the subject known to us is that of one Alexis, a Piedmontese. It was published in 1550 under the title of 'Secrets of the Arts.' Most of the formulæ given therein are more or less applicable
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