Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 35
Scan 35
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 21. See the scan on archive.org.
1was an amazingly fine fiddle, in wonderful preservation; and after Ole Bull had it altered in the mounting, so as to suit the modern player, it sounded, notwithstanding its great age, like a new instrument (trotz ihres hohen alters klang sie wie eben eine neue, nicht ausgespielte Geige klingt). A good many years ago I remember talking with Ole Bull about this very maker, but I do not think he possessed this violin at that time, or he would probably have alluded to it, for his admiration of Gasparo da Salò was very marked. Some time after the distinguished artist's decease I wrote to a friend of mine in Norway, in order to get, if possible, some information about it; but, although particular inquiries were made through the courteous assistance of a member of the Musical Coterie of Bergen, I could only ascertain that Ole Bull's two best violins had been sold to American buyers, and could not now be traced, nor their makers' names procured. Of other two violins which he possessed, one he had left to a friend in Bergen and the other to the Bergen Museum. I suspect that our enterprising American cousins have now secured this world's wonder, which its former owner in Vienna called his treasure-chamber violin. While in the keeping of this gentleman, Herr Rehatschek, it was still intact as it came from the hands of Gasparo da Salò, and had not even been played upon. So says Dr. Abele. Instead of our present scroll, it had then a beautiful angel's head. Mr. Pearce says that it was sculptured with caryatides by Cellini, at the command of Cardinal Aldobrandini, who presented it to the museum of Innspruck, which was plundered in 1809, when the town was taken by the French. The fiddle was then carried to Vienna,
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