Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 250
Scan 250
Old violins, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 228. See the scan on archive.org.
1Therefore, I will hear of no talk, even from the lips of a Charles Reade, about the varnish, the finish, the artistic beauty in form or colour of the old violins being largely responsible for this avowed preference. It is tonal power—quality, sensibility, volume, timbre—a something personal, as it were, to the old fiddles, which points to certain real qualities in their makers which have not since been rivalled, and this is quite apart from the item of age.
3Age will make a good fiddle better, but it won't make a bad fiddle good; it may also be possible to prematurely age a new fiddle, not with heat or acids, but quite legitimately, by incessantly and for long periods of time grinding it through every semitone of its compass, and well-made modern fiddles will doubtless improve every year, like good wine, up to a certain point. They will then probably deteriorate. But the age at which the old Cremonas are bound to deteriorate has happily not yet been reached.
5The root of the matter lies here.
7A listener behind the door may not know the difference between a Strad or Joseph or some other, but the player does. A spectator in the Park may see no great difference between the pet horse ridden by the lady and the even more handsome quadruped upon which her groom follows; but she knows. So the hunter knows his horse, and values him above another horse which looks better; the beast he rides will answer to his will, go anywhere with him, and rise to every occasion.
9This is what your Strad fiddle does.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.