Books › Dictionary of Violin makers, 1928 › scan 18
Scan 18
Dictionary of Violin makers, 1928
18 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1It must be mentioned that our appreciation of a maker's work is given solely from an artistic standpoint, exclusive of its commercial value. Fiddle-making is therefore dealt with from the technical point of view, it being granted that the commercial value is fixed by many considerations, varying with every instrument. Had we given such indications, they would only have been misleading, as, having in mind certain instruments, it does not necessarily follow that such indications would have applied to those in the possession of the reader.
3Take for example two old instruments, the one French and the other Italian. Although by their workmanship they may belong to the same category, they have not by any means the same monetary value. Consider also a number of instruments by one maker. We know that they may differ totally in their style, workmanship, etc., according to the period of the maker's output at which they were made. In quoting a price, the ruling factor is undoubtedly the state of preservation of an instrument.
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7Despite certain restrictions our documentation will not be found scanty, on the contrary we have extended it as far as possible and also given to modern work the place it deserves. This is likely to re-open the famous and everlasting debate upon old and modern instruments and it is without prejudice and with an open mind that we shall ask the reader's permission to mention our own point of view. This in a measure will determine the place that both old and modern makers occupy in this book.
9The solution of this burning question interests amateurs as well as professionals and it is not surprising that competitive auditions should have taken place from time to time.
11The tone qualities of the old instruments, independently of their construction, are due to natural maturing of wood and varnish and to the repeated vibrations to which they have been subjected during a number of years, rendering them more sensitive and susceptible of an easier emission of sound. Fairly recent experiments have proved that very light vibrations repeated a great many times will entirely change the nature of steel. Their effect upon wood is certainly considerable and in his book The Violins of Cremona, published in 1898, M. Mordret, civil engineer, of Rouen, expresses this currently recognised fact:
13« I insist upon the use of a good instrument and maintain that, played for a long time, it preserves the stamp of the master's talent and a sort of aptitude to reproduce the style of execution to which it has been accustomed. » — Mordret.
15We do not wish to pretend that use and time are sufficient to make a violin good. A violin may be good almost at the outset of its existence, on the other hand a bad violin may remain such for centuries. But a good violin played well for a long time will acquire « finesses » of which an instrument of recent fabrication is devoid.
17Is this not the very reason why for over a century old instruments have been given preference by artists for the personal satisfaction they procure through easily obtained response to imperceptible finesses of execution?
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