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Scan 120
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
10 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
3material matters. Hitherto, every village had its goldsmith and silversmith, its shoes were made by local cobblers, its musical instruments by local makers, sometimes good and never wholly bad. With the transportation facilities offered by the railroad, all this was changed, and a few centers soon dominated the entire situation. Inexpensive violins, hitherto made at home, were now made by thousands in Mirecourt, Markneukirchen, and Mittenwald, and the shop of the local maker knew him no longer.
5Thus in the eventide of the art, Guadagnini finished his life in Turin. The Hawley Guadagnini was made in 1780, in Turin, when he was in the 69th year of his age and at the height of his career. It is a fact worthy of remark that so many famous violins were made in the advanced age of their creators. For instance, the Pucelle was made by Stradivari in 1709, when sixty-five, the Betts when he was sixty, the Healy in 1711 when he was sixty-seven, the Messiah when he was seventy-two, while the Earl was made when he was seventy-eight, and the Ludwig at the age of eighty. The style employed in the Hawley Guadagnini is that of Stradivari during the 1720-to-1730 period. The arching is nearly the same as Stradivari used in many of his violins at that time, while the sides are of good height. The scroll is in the finest style of the maker, and closely follows Stradivari's lines in the period named above. The back* and sides resemble in a very marked degree the wood used by Bergonzi from 1732 to 1737.
7Marking the close of the Italian school, the Hawley Guadagnini has ever occupied a peculiar niche in the affections of its owners. To turn from the Hawley Maggini to this instrument is like reviewing one hundred and eighty years in the twinkling of an eye. Last of its race, the Hawley Guadagnini is worthy of its ancestry.
9* The measurements of the Hawley Guadagnini are given in the Table of Measurements.
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