Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 133
Scan 133
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 119. See the scan on archive.org.
1some violins of the same type, but he was chiefly occupied in repairing.
3Franz Auton Ernst, a distinguished Bohemian violinist, studied the art of violin making in Prague, whence he came to the ducal court of Gotha, as a musician, in 1778. He was a cultivated man to begin with, and he cultivated his mind still further in order to devote himself to the manufacture with a knowledge, as nearly as he could make it, equal to his enthusiasm. He wrote, in 1804, what has been described as a most instructive article on the construction of the violin. It appeared in the Leipzig Musical Gazette. He made very good instruments, according to the testimony of one who has seen them. He took as a pupil Jacob Augustus Otto, who studied the violin as a musical instrument, as well as the art of its manufacture, under him at Gotha. The work written by this maker, which I have before referred to, is not surpassed, so far as it goes, by any in existence for accuracy and conscientious writing. There is in the book a vein of lordly contempt for the ignorance displayed by the great majority of his own fellow-craftsmen, and of lofty anger at the reckless impudence of their mischievous attacks on hundreds of fine violins, which one only finds, as a rule, in characters more intense, perhaps, than narrow; but it is not a little amusing, nevertheless, to find him specifically declining to tell these erring brothers how to do things properly in the future. He had a family of five sons, and, therefore, his duty restrained him from being too particular. He rendered great service for all that. He was born in Gotha in 1762, and was more occupied in repairing than
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.