Scan 11
Joseph Guarnerius, his work and his master [Andreas Gisalberti], 1906
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1PREFATORY REMARKS.
3The name of the great Italian violin maker Joseph Guarnerius, or as he would have been locally in his native city, Giuseppe Guarneri, the rival, in modern estimation, of the renowned Antonio Stradivari, has for long, always it might almost be said, had a peculiar fascination for the devotees of the art of violin playing, inasmuch as in distinction from the known gradual methodical prosaic progress from youth to patriarchal age of the master who was by many decades his senior, there has been much of romance and mystery surrounding the little that has been handed down concerning his working career, his relationships and even his end. Tradition, what there is of it concerning him, has been much distorted to suit the fancies or promptings of desire in the minds of his would-be biographers. That there is so little of reliable information concerning the great liutaro besides others of his craft in Italy is in consonance with the peacefulness and privacy of their art, and which at the time would have been scarcely noticeable outside the comparatively narrow circle of interested people with whom they were in contact. While they with their contemporaries, assistants or followers were working day by day, content with the remuneration for their labour which the value of it at the time permitted, there was nothing perceptible, it may be safely asserted, that would suggest any probable cessation in the output of the high order of musical stringed instruments for which their city had been for so long renowned.
5Without doubt appearances pointed to the probabilities of the requirements continuing to the full extent and that the law of demand and supply would work steadily as hitherto, that pupils would arise and take the places vacated by their masters, and so continue the practice of the art on the same lines during future generations.
7This evenness of progress was not destined to continue, the presiding muse having made a lengthy stay was about to gradually withdraw her favours, to vanish and possibly reappear in the far future, but where and when no one can foretell.
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