Books › Musical Courier 1907-10-02: Vol 55 Iss 14, 1907 › scan 14
Scan 14
Musical Courier 1907-10-02: Vol 55 Iss 14, 1907
71 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. Printed page 15. See the scan on archive.org.
1STRADIVARIUS SECRETS.
3The leaves that fall in Vallombrosa are not more numerous than the "systems" for the production of superior violin tone. And it is creditable to the race that this is so, no matter if the majority of such "systems" are but dreamers' fantasies, and some few but bait for the unwary. The "system" I will particularly address myself to is the Grossman-Seifert "system," based on a "discovery" of Stradivarius' tone secret.
5Poor Strad! Dead? Yes, but not "at rest." Strad died seized of "secrets"! There's the reason why Strad is not "at rest." Credulous persons with money yet live. There's the reason why Strad's "secrets" are so frequently discovered. Could all the credulous be killed off Strad would be "at rest." There's the solution.
7Happily, the number of credulous grows less with each discovery of Strad's secrets. When Savart-Vuillaume discovered the secret of Strad's superior tone—that is, the top of a Strad violin yields tone one interval lower than the back—the whole violin world took the bait, and "scientific" violin makers (?) grew up in a night, as mushrooms. But the scientific violin was a thing of noise—too noisy even for the credulous who parted with money therefor, and its tones (?) were not long heard in the land.
9And thus it came to pass that when Vidal discovered Strad's tone secret—that is (note the difference), the Strad top yields tone a half interval higher than the back—the credulous would not take the bait.
11Today, through Dr. Grossman, comes the third discovery of Strad's tone secret—that is (again, note the difference), the Strad top yields tone a fifth below the back!
13The question of interest to me centers in the question—how will the credulous take the bait? Dr. Grossman's apologist is careful to state that one hundred and thirty-five violins have been built upon this theory. (Truly a prodigious feat for one violin maker to accomplish, without the aid of machinery, in so short an interval of time as has elapsed since the enunciation of Dr. Grossman's theory.) And the fact that agencies—commercial sales agencies—have been established at or near all the world's great music centers for the disposal of these one hundred and thirty-five "scientific" violins bodes ill for the financial success of the "inventors" and the artistic success of the "scientific" violin after (a long way after) Savart-Vuillaume-Vidal et al.
15So much for Strad and his "secrets," Grossman and his "discovery," and Seifert and his "scientific" violins. Now for the facts.
17It has been proven, time and time again, that superior violin tone is not traceable to any one, or to any two, factors. The Savart-Vuillaume-Vidal-Grossman theory that the top and back acting independently as two tone producing agents are the factors responsible for superior tone is truly a dreamer's fantasy—quite as false in theory as in fact.
19The top and back plates acting as two-tone producing agents—one more sluggish in action than the other—must, of necessity, produce jerky, unmusical tone, not to say noise. With the top and back plates, connected by the post, acting as one harmonious whole, beautiful tone results are provided—ay, there's the rub!
21There are other, many other, factors. As I said before, "superior violin tone is not traceable to any one, or to any two, factors." Many factors exercise a vital influence upon both quantity and quality of tone, and any one factor slighted or overlooked militates against the tone value of the violin.
23Fine, even violin tone has for its basis (1) the action of strings; (2) the action of wood; (3) the action of air; and these three basic elements defy human skill to produce superior violin tone by hard and fast rules.
25Both the form and amount of air contained in the violin are fixed by the form of confining walls—the top, back and sides. Graduating and arching the top and back graduates the contained air proportionately, and as the strings (unlike any other musical device) must produce not only their fundamental tones, but higher tones as well, the perpendicular air column will differ in height under different sections of each string, and under all four strings. This is accomplished by "graduating" the plates, and evenness of tone power can only be obtained by proper methods of graduation—and other things. To enter into details would take pages—yes, volumes—and I cite just a few constructive details to corroborate that: "superior violin tone is not traceable to any one, or to any two, factors," as some would have us believe.
27Top and back plates acting on contained air as two tone producing agents, one more sluggish in action than the other (as recommended by the Savart-Vuillaume-Vidal-Grossman theory), cannot produce that smooth, even, sonorous tone so often sought—and as often eluded—by makers of "system" violins.
29Top and back plates acting independently, each differently "attuned," must result in noisy tone quality—noisy "clang tone," as the Germans would say. In English, "noisy" quality of tone is just the opposite of "liquid" quality. Liquid tone is purely musical tone, than which nothing is more beautiful. The noise wave producing plates of the "system" violin operate to annihilate liquid quality—that quality which never exists without brilliant quality of tone, and which charms in tremolo, trills, turns, graces, staccato runs, slurred runs and arpeggios.
31To look for Strad's tone secret—either the secret of his quality of tone or the secret of his volume and intensity of tone—is like examining a Whistler or a Rembrandt canvas for the "cause" of the superlative qualities of the painting thereon. It is skill—the personal equation—that is responsible for superior violin tone. Experience, a skilled hand, a trained and unerring musical instinct—these are the "secrets" of superior violin tone, and with these "secrets" directed on superior materials the result is—superior violin tone.
33CHICAGO, Ill., September 4, 1907.
35KNUTE REINDAHL.
37Treviso, Italy, will have her opera season at the time of the fall races. Impresario Enrico Corti will start the cycle of performances with Massenet's "Héroïade."
39GENEVIEVE CLARK WILSON SOPRANO
40GENEVIEVE WHEAT CONTRALTO
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43FRANK CROXTON BASSO
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45NOL CORNELISSEN, Piano
46GANS GEERTS, Violin
47ANDRIES CORNELISSEN, 'Cello
48Sole Direction WALTER R. ANDERSON
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