Books › Old violins and violin lore, 1900 › scan 181
Scan 181
Old violins and violin lore, 1900
14 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1OLD VIOLINS
3with its own belly by Vuillaume, is now known as the Spanish Bass.
5It was sold for £800, and exhibited in the South Kensington Collection of 1872 (No. 188).
7On one occasion, says Charles Reade, Tarisio was crossing the Bay of Biscay with his famous Spanish Bass. The ship rolled; Tarisio clasped his treasure tightly and trembled. It was a terrible gale, and for one whole day they were in real danger. "Tarisio spoke of it to me," continues his friend, "with a shudder. 'Ah! my poor Mr. Reade,' he exclaimed, 'the Bass of Spain was all but lost!'" As to Tarisio also being lost, that did not seem to matter so much!
9It is not too much to say that, with hardly a memorable exception, all the great Cremonese and Brescian fiddles, which now command such prix fous, have passed through the cunning hands of Luigi Tarisio the pedlar, and most of them have at one time been benefited by the tender and artistic skill of Vuillaume, his great patron.
11When Tarisio, who by this time wore a decent coat, and no longer carried Cremonas in a sack on his back, visited England in 1851, he was received by the whole trade as a person of rare quality, as indeed he was.
13Mr. John Hart took him to see Mr. Goding's unique collection. As one by one the owner took his treasures out of a glass cabinet, before ever he had got within two paces of Tarisio, he was amazed at hearing their names called out. A glance was sufficient. Tarisio had
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