Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 347
Scan 347
the history of the violin, 1864
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 325. See the scan on archive.org.
1high and unusual model, and was originally manufactured for Mr. Charles Alexander, a chemist, who had greatly assisted the maker in the method of dissolving the gums amber and copal for varnishes. At the time the order was given, it was promised that if a better instrument could be supplied than any hitherto made, it should now be produced for the essential services rendered. How or when this violoncello became the property of Mr. Hugh Reinagle, of Oxford, is not known, but we arrive at positive information regarding it by an article in an old newspaper—"The General Advertiser for Tuesday, 6 November, 1787"—which has been preserved by the family as being identified with this instrument, and as the paragraph is amusing, it is given verbatim. "The rage for music was never more conspicuous than now. A few days ago, a violoncello, made by Forster, was sold for the sum of one hundred guineas and an Amati bass, worth at least fifty guineas, in exchange. The purchaser was Mr. Kole (Hole), an amateur, in whose praise much has been, though too much cannot be said. This valuable instrument was formerly the property of Mr. Hugh Reinagle, the celebrated bass player, whose death has been universally lamented by the musical cognoscenti. At his demise it was bought by Mr. Gunn, who has now sold it. To such a nicety is the manufacture and sale of musical instruments now brought, that a fiddle, like a race-horse, must have a pedigree, and his whole get announced, before any attention will be given to it." The Rev. H. A. Hole was one of the best amateur performers on the violoncello of the day, and it is remarkable he should have been so, as the two first joints of the forefinger on the left hand had been amputated, in consequence of mortification having set in; therefore he was compelled to use the thumb from
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