Books › Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896 › scan 117
Scan 117
Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 97. See the scan on archive.org.
1VIII
3THE TWO JOSEPHS OF CREMONA
5In these days, when such enormous prices are paid for old Cremona violins, the following considerations may prove interesting, and perhaps useful, to that large section of the British public which devotes most of its time to music and musical instruments. Anything that can throw light upon the history of old Cremona instruments will probably prove the more welcome inasmuch as the sources of information in this respect are becoming daily more scanty and more distant.
7Almost all the great connoisseurs of old violins have gone from among us, without leaving their mantle upon the shoulders of their successors. The archives of the old cities of Italy have been ransacked, to a great extent in vain; and hundreds of fine old instruments, which might have served as types or models, have been, and are being, more or less, destroyed by the ruthless hand of time.
9The violin has been frequently called "the king of instruments;" but it is often a king without any well-marked line of descent, and one whose pedi-
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