Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864 › scan 109

Scan 109

Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864

4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 87. See the scan on archive.org.

1thick, the emission of the sounds will be laborious and obstinate: the excess of thickness will nullify the advantages which the wood should present by its rapid transmission of sonorous waves and its very acute specific sonority. If too great a bulge be given to the belly, or the arching be too elevated, the equilibrium of the mass of air will be destroyed, and the tone of the instrument will become dull and nasal.
3The height of the sides is likewise of the greatest importance; for it is that which determines the capacity of the chest in its relations with the model of the back and belly, and which, consequently, decides the quantity of air introduced in the instrument. And it is here that the action of the mass of air contained in a sonorous chest displays its importance in regard to the production of the sounds. In giving to a violoncello proportional dimensions to those of a violin, and in the relations previously indicated, the back and belly should be 35 inches [long], by 20 inches wide; because the A of this instrument is a twelfth below the first string of the violin, and it is requisite that the volume of sound should be proportioned to the gravity of the intonation; but these great dimensions would be inconvenient for playing. Stradivarius gave to the back and belly of his violoncellos a length of only 26 or 27 inches, and a width of 15 or 16, at the most; but he provided, in the height of the sides, a compensation necessary for the mass of air, in making them 4 inches instead of three, which would have been the exact proportion if the back and belly had been larger. It is compulsory to adopt the proportions

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