Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 252
Scan 252
the history of the violin, 1864
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 230. See the scan on archive.org.
1for one by this maker, unless we choose to take the present value of the land given as before mentioned for a Steiner instrument. The violin to which we refer was sold in 1856, for literally more than its weight in gold, as on weighing the violin it appeared that the price given was at the rate of nearly 40l. an ounce. At the sale of Mr. Goding's instruments, in February 1857, Mons. Vuillaume gave 212l. for a tenor by this maker, for which it is said Mr. Goding had given 400l. to Mr. Hart; it was one of a quartett of Stradiuarius instruments, formerly belonging to Lord Macdonald. Dragonetti had a celebrated Stradiuarius double-bass, for which it is said that a well-known amateur offered 800 guineas, but 1000 were required. Stradiuarius also made viols and quintons, guitars, lutes, and mandoras.
3It really would almost appear that the possession of one of these splendid instruments would make a person, in spite of nature and of the stars, to fiddle and discourse sweet music. Let it be remembered, however, that great mechanical skill is not the only requisite for fine playing; indeed, such skill may exist with scarcely any real musical feeling. Hear some of our most distinguished performers, observe the delicacy of taste and expression, joined to the most finished execution, where the sense of difficulty is overcome by the impression of the beauty of the performance. Not so with mere digital dexterity, where a considerable degree of facility has been obtained by hard practice, perhaps, and so far praiseworthy, but where no feeling of the poetry of music exists. This sort of performance reminds one of a story of a young priest, in one of the numerous French gossiping memoirs, who was a popular preacher, but one day, when in the pulpit, suddenly lost the thread of his discourse; he did not, however, lose his presence of mind, but proceeded
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