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Scan 102
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE HAWLEY COLLECTION OF VIOLINS
3is of good size and the carving quite deep. For his backs he employed maple with a rather small figure. He worked until about 1760. Nicola Bergonzi, son of Michael Angelo Bergonzi, was a maker whose instruments, like his father's, stand high in the second class. His model was flat, like that of Carlo, and he seems to have endeavored to follow as closely as he could his grandfather's ideas. His wood is sometimes very handsome and well calculated for tone production. His varnish is usually of an orange shade, rather thin in appearance, not having the richness of luster of the great masters. His tone is of excellent quality, in fact in this age of the world, when it is almost impossible to procure good violins by the great masters, it is to the work of these makers of the second degree that we must turn. (In consequence, the work of makers almost unknown forty years ago is to-day beginning to be eagerly sought for.) Zosimo Bergonzi, third son of Michael Angelo Bergonzi, was also a maker of considerable merit. His model is higher and more slender than that of the other members of the Bergonzi family. He used good wood and a softer varnish than that of either of his brothers. His scroll is smaller and has something of the Storioni character. Benedetto Bergonzi, who was the last of the Bergonzis, and a maker of fair repute, died in 1840.
5The measurements of the Tarisio Bergonzi are shown in the table of measurements.
7Tarisio, after whom the Bergonzi in the Hawley collection was named, appeared in Paris in 1827 with a sack full of Stradivaris, Guarneris, Bergonzis, and Amatis. Originally an Italian carpenter, he fell into the custom of playing for the neighborhood dances. Then he conceived the idea of trading bright and shining new violins for old, battered, out-of-order heirlooms. It reminds one of the story of Aladdin's lamp. O for Tarisio's sack to-day! It would be worth a full six figures. The old collector made a number of trips to Paris, and yet at his death fully 150 violins were found in his apartments. These were the beloved instruments that he talked about but could not bring himself to part with. And prominent among them were the Messiah Strad and the Tarisio Bergonzi.
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