Scan 33
Musical Courier 1901-01-23: Vol 42 Iss 1087, 1901
37 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026. Printed page 34. See the scan on archive.org.
1Department of The Violin
2By GEORGE GEMÜNDER.
4All communications to this department will be welcome. Address Department V, The Musical Courier, New York.
6A word to the wisecracks: "A recognized 'violin expert' oft times may have something to say or write that is not very agreeable to others."
8Another "Stradivarius" may have been discovered in Mississippi. The Times-Democrat of New Orleans, November 18, 1900, gives a statement of its correspondent, dated Carthage, Miss., November 16, 1900, as follows: "The latest thing in the sensational line occurred on Saturday last. A farmer, who lives some miles from Carthage, some months ago told your correspondent of a very old fiddle which he had in his possession. The neck of the instrument became in some way severed, and last Saturday he brought the violin to Carthage to obtain the services of a joiner to unite the parts. His first visit, however, was to the Times-Democrat correspondent. An examination of the violin shows it to be an antique of the first water as regards the maker of it. An inscription, stamped upon the wood on the inside of the instrument in letters something like German text, recites that the fiddle was made in Cremona in the year 1630 by Antonius Stradivarius—the prince of all violin makers."
10Still they come, and this time even before Stradivarius was born!
12Another item in a Kansas City, Mo., paper dated December 7, 1900, gives much credit to an "ancient violin" that helped win a musician's reputation, and is another "hand made" violin. It says: "A local musician is the possessor of one of the quaintest violins in the country. It was left him by his father at his death, and is prized for its history as well as for its quality. In exhibiting the instrument among his friends yesterday, Mr. ——— said he would not take $500 for it. The violin has the August 'fecit brand on it and was made by hand in Italy in 1714. It has been in the ——— family for the past eighty years, having been handed down a generation at a time to the present owner. The melody of the instrument helped the famous musician to win his reputation."
14Good for the melody of the violin! But how the gentleman became a "famous musician," though the report states he gained his reputation through the melody of the violin, is not explained.
16Many alleged discoveries of this kind are decidedly humorous, and the noble violin and its art surely is a subject upon which many stumble. Not so much to the discredit of the subject in question, but in the quaint and rather ludicrous form and lack of knowledge about the violin itself. Another case in point is rather hard on a venerable gentleman who acquired the fancy to make violins and credits him with using raw wood!
18A Worcester, Mass., paper, dated November 11, 1900, under heading "Violin Maker in His Old Age," states in part: "Mr. ——— must have something to engage his active mind, and he seized with avidity the idea of making a violin, which occurred to him about three years ago. At the age of sixty-six he started out to learn a new and different trade, requiring the nicest discernment and the surest touch, and he secured books treating of the art of making violins." Then follow details of how he started, &c., and the writer further explains: "There are nineteen corner pieces which have to be mortised nicely and glued just so, in order that the resonance of the instrument be true." A new theory to me, but we are not too old to learn! Again it goes on: "For a man possessed of full command over his muscles the construction of a sweet sounding and handsome violin is a piece of work calling for all the skill of which the best cabinetmaker is gifted."
20No wonder a cabinetmaker once said to me: "Give me the models and material and I'll make you a violin. All one has to do is to follow the model, and any fine woodworker ought to be able to do that!" Before closing the writer says: "He built sleighs and wagons at his place on ———, and whenever anybody within reasonable distance of him had repairs to be made on anything from a scythe to a heavy team or building a house, he went to Mr. ——— and found in him a helper who could make things as good as new. In his later years he took to repairing violins, but only within a few years has he tried to make violins of raw wood."
22Apropos of wood, this reminds me of the story attributed to Jacob Stainer when looking for "singing wood," and published in many works on the history of the violin and its makers. He is credited with going into the forest and sounding trees by rapping upon them. Imagine rapping a healthy, growing tree, full of its sap, encircled within its bark, and expecting to find "singing wood"! A sledge hammer would produce no more effect than a dull thud; and yet such stuff is written and copied by others, who are supposed to possess common sense and are classed as authorities on the violin! I wonder what Stainer would say if he knew of what he is accused?
24Last week a contributed article was published in these columns called "Old and New Violins—Which, To-day, Are the Better Musical Instruments?" The same alludes to a recent article published in THE MUSICAL COURIER October 31, 1900. After reading the last article and digesting it as best as I could, I failed to see its purpose in connection with the first article, for the two are certainly two different issues or subjects, though the latter article seemingly is intended as a reply to the first, as quotations from the first are given and points are criticised. In a controversy of this kind the readers are interested only in the pro and con, and generally care nothing for an opinion given by either writer unless well founded and proved, which decides itself. The opening and last sentences of the alleged answer are so nonsensical that they cannot go unnoticed. The first sentence says, in part: "The writer takes the public very much to task for buying violins by the old makers instead of new. This tirade against the violin dealers who supply them and the violin teachers who play and recommend them," &c. This is a mistake. No reference of the kind was ever made, nor any tirade against violin teachers who play and recommend them, but the article treated against the fraud perpetrated in the sale of old violins. Also of musician dealers that so suddenly spring up in this country and what they are doing. As we further progress in his alleged answer I think we will discover a case of "shoe fitting," as later admissions will give conclusive proof. The closing remarks state: "Let me say I do not intend to be drawn into any further discussion on this subject, for I feel that the standing of intelligence of the musical public is too high to have patience with such a ridiculous one-sided proposition."
26After misquoting statements of another and juggling with the question at issue, the writer has the audacity to expect the public to accept such harangue and go unnoticed, besides casting reflection on incidents given. Whether it would be intended to draw him into any further discussion or not, it is surely an effrontery for any writer to launch himself into print, try to sail on misrepresentations and not expect to meet an obstacle in his path. If his mental capacity and experience would not allow him to further back up his statements, when once taking the "bull by the horns," as he would like the public to believe, it would certainly have been wiser for him to have kept quiet. I would not go into any lengthy detail on the matter had not the writer made the imprudent mistake of casting doubt on facts related by another who is better versed than he. To question the veracity of one who knows is no credit to one who does not know. I allude to the incident with Wieniawski, when wanting to purchase a certain Joseph Guarnerius violin, which he returned after it proved to be inadequate in tone for his purpose. This writer personally was present at the time. Ask Mr. Goffrey (a well-known personage at that time, and I hope he is still among the living), if he also was compelled to refund the commission he received as the medium in the transaction? Mr. Freeman further says in his article: "It must be borne in mind that, while both old and new violins have certain qualities in common, they are, notwithstanding, so different that they should be regarded as two distinct productions." Nobody disputes that. Anyone not versed in violins can comprehend that they are two distinct productions. To this he makes a comparison with alcoholic beverages as follows: "Because our colored brother prefers raw alcohol, must we condemn choice old Bourbon?" The difference in the comparison is that either one of the beverages eventually will produce the same effect, whereas an old violin may have an effect on one person but not on another. His remarks that new violins are only noisy are partly true, if they refer to the new "fiddle"; but his inexperience and his utter abhorrence of modern violin makers in general, and of the works that have been produced by men that have been successful and became famous the world over, form another instance not to be forgotten of his upholding his views of old violins, in which he is interested. His statement that the modern maker "constructs his violin thin in wood" is too ridiculous and ludicrous to comment upon. He further objects to such a line of argument, referring to the first article, and calls it "no argument." He says: "Argument implies reasoning." So do I; but I fail to find the logic in his reasoning. He further states: "People buy for tone and not name." Did Miss Powell buy that alleged "Duifopruigar" for tone or name? And later recover damages for misrepresentation? Did Beresford Fox buy that alleged "Stradivarius" "cello for tone or name, and for which he paid several thousand dollars, and later recover on the same grounds? Were the many "decrepit has-beens" that the original article quoted displayed in the large windows of this Western house, some minus necks and heads, others with broken or half tops and sides and labeled with prices ranging from $100 to $1,000, also bought on their tone, and offered for sale for their tone?
28Many other cases could be cited to prove that fallacy. Does he want to come before the public at this time, the beginning of the twentieth century, and try to teach what a "musical tone" is?
30Have all the well-known artist-violin makers of modern times, and many long since departed this life, been in total ignorance of what "musical tone" is? Have they been working all these many years in vain, become famous and gained reputation on wind? His admission and claim of "fifteen years of experience in this very line in this country" and in the "small territory of Europe every season," has given me sufficient "initiation" to enable me to explain to the "initiated" how it is possible to "come back every season with trunks full of fine specimens"—give abundant reason to think that the first or leading article has brought out a case of "shoe fitting." "For," he further states, "as all old violins have increased in value in like or greater proportion, it has resulted in bringing from their hiding places thousands of the third, fourth and fifth classes, which would have been passed as valueless in the days of Villaume and Torisio." Then later on he says: "Another point and then I will close. They do not go out of existence with a few generations. While it is true that it is daily becoming more and more difficult to find even ordinary specimens in Europe, there are many more old violins in use to-day than ever before."
32There we have it in a nutshell. Would it not have been wiser for him to have closed before that last statement? He admits: "They are more difficult to find," and then says: "Many more old violins are in use to-day than ever before." That is just what was claimed, and also asked: "Where does the supply come from?" Dear readers, draw your own conclusions. To give the modern violin another "dig" before closing, he says: "Any new violin is not worth over $100." Still this very party listed a violin of a prominent modern maker for $350, and one made by his son at $300!
34In endeavoring to illustrate to the readers the true facts of the issues in question, I have been guided solely by my conscience, coupled with my long experience in connection with the violin, in comparison to which the writer of the last article claims a fifteen years' experience in this country and Europe in this line. If my memory does not fail me, the young man was still a student on the violin under Mr. Jacobson at the end of the eighties, and after being a time in the employ of a dealer named Heck, connected himself about 1889 with his present surroundings. Under this prestige he has later on been enabled to take these "annual pilgrimages" after old violins, as several others do and claimed in the original article.
36In closing, I cannot help thinking of an old German saying suitably applied here and used among the peasantry in Southern Germany, when one has not proved proficient enough in his duties or calling: "Du musst noch mehr Kartoffel essen ("You must eat more potatoes"), signifying that during the period required in consuming more potatoes more opportunity is given to perfect his knowledge.
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