Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 43
Scan 43
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 19. See the scan on archive.org.
1M. Jansen's 'Cello
3was not an Englishman, and there could be no doubt that it was Italian." But even this assurance did not restore its owner's equanimity, as, strange to say, neither he nor the brothers Vuillaume had ever noticed the circle on the table. I left Brussels shortly afterwards but was there again a month or two later, when I called on M. Vuillaume. He received me with a great amount of deference and immediately summoned M. Jansen, who was also most deferential. I was very much surprised, but they soon explained matters to me. It seemed that M. Jansen could not get my remarks on his 'cello out of his mind, and, in the hope of getting a clue as to its maker, he thoroughly overhauled its case. In one of the pockets he found a receipt from a London dealer to its previous owner in which it was referred to as a genuine Barak Norman 'cello.
5So M. Jansen made much of me and gave me a most hearty invitation to come at any time I was in Brussels to his musical reunions; an invitation of which I was not slow to take advantage and I had the pleasure of meeting there many distinguished artistes.
7The fact that two such good judges could make a mistake with an instrument so characteristic of its maker will no doubt surprise many people in this country. It will surprise them more, however, to learn that the English school of makers was almost unknown abroad at the time to which I refer. No doubt the Vuillaume,
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