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Scan 55
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1GIUSEPPE (JOSEPH) ANTONIO GUARNERI
3Gesù. He created a quality of tone all his own and of an entirely different character. He foresaw the great acoustical requirements which in time were to be made upon the violin. Violin composition had made great strides in his day, and a very marked increase in the demands of violinists had been developed. Giuseppe Tartini was living, and Guarneri must have realized in a vague way the demands that virtuosity would in time make upon the violin. He retained much of the sweetness of Stradivari and Amati, but added thereto a biting, virile, thick quality which adds great resourcefulness to the tone in the rendition of the heavier forms of violin music. Guarneri's work was classified by J. B. Vuillaume into three periods: first, the period of 1720 to 1730; second, 1730 to 1740; third and last 1740 to 1745. On account of the higher-modeled violins of 1730 to 1735, another subdivision should be made, as these instruments are quite different from his earlier work and certainly vary widely so from those made between 1735 and 1740. If this revision be allowed, we then have four distinct epochs instead of three, viz., 1720 to 1729—1729 to 1735—1735 to 1740—1740 to 1745. Having now glanced as best we may at the man, let us turn to the consideration of his work. The model adopted by Joseph Guarneri for his first violins was small and flat. In length some were as small as 13 5-8 inches, while others were from one to two-eighths of an inch larger. His arching is flat and the wood left very thick in the back, a method he followed all his life. He selected spruce of especial virility for his tops. The grain is always fine and straight. The backs are sometimes cut on the slab and again on the quarter. When in the latter manner, they are usually found in two pieces. They are reduced in width across both upper and lower bouts in keeping with their length. The workmanship varies largely in different instruments. Stradivari in varying his instruments according to the fee he was to receive, did so by assorting his wood, using plainer material in his cheaper, and beautiful wood in his more expensive work. When there was a choice of material from the acoustical standpoint, naturally that which was less desirable would be made up in his less costly instruments. Guarneri in varying his work did not assort his wood, at least to any marked degree. He made the saving in the workmanship. Thus we find that no great maker varied so widely in respect to workmanship as Guarneri, which fact renders him the most difficult of all makers to follow. Throughout his long career, this characteristic is ever noticeable. By the foregoing we do not mean that his wood never varies in beauty, but that the variation is not so marked as in the case of some other makers. His varnish is always of great beauty, and in the decade 1720 to 1730 it is usually of a rather light orange color. Two interesting specimens of Guarneri's violins of this epoch are those of the late Madame Camille Urso, and of Mr. Spiering. The variations of Guarneri's sound holes have always been of surpassing interest to violin-lovers. They are so original, so different from those of any other maker, that their study has always been of an engrossing nature. The sound holes of the 1720-to-1730 decade, like those of other periods, seem to reach the extreme limit of size, the measurement which cannot with safety be exceeded if the symmetry and beauty of proportion throughout the instrument is to be maintained. They are wide at the center and sweep inward at both top and bottom with majestic grace, and here we find the influence of Maggini. Both the lower and upper wings are of average size, but the projection or ear is carried close up to the outermost edge. The ear (that little peninsula of wood which reaches
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