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Scan 322
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 308. See the scan on archive.org.
1such violins are so rare, a sufficiently extended arena in which to utilise their splendid qualities. I admit that these collections have been the means, possibly in some cases, of preserving many beautiful examples from destruction, but they have also doubtless had the effect of causing irreparable injury to others, arising from the ignorant carelessness of servants in whose charge they have remained, even during the lifetime of those who have brought them together. I remember some years ago hearing that a well-known duke, now deceased, kept such a collection in one of his places, and I think I am within the mark in affirming that no living soul outside the ducal circle of acquaintance ever even saw them. I am entirely at a loss to understand what rational purpose such absolute seclusion can serve. Collectors of this class would earn the continual gratitude of posterity if they would hand over their treasures to the custody of some corporate musical body, such as the Royal Academy or the Royal College of Music, to be employed under due control in public concerts. This is a suggestion which I offer in all seriousness to those collectors whose enthusiasm for violins is not tainted with the vice of avarice. Unless a man have a private band, why should he covet more than one violin or one quartet? He cannot play two fiddles at one time, and, if he is afflicted with the fastidious desire of a connoisseur to flit from flower to flower pour effleurer the different nuances of tone, the circle of such a man's acquaintance would doubtless afford him ample opportunity to gratify his refined sense; and, even if it did not, he should remember that violins were not made for collectors
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