Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 61
Scan 61
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1Who was the Maker?
3if I had ever seen another by the same maker or one like it in general style and I replied that I never had. His next suggestion was that it might be an eccentricity of Strad.'s or possibly the work of one of his pupils corrected in certain points by him, but I assured him it was not. "The hand that made that violin," I said, "was a deft one whose work required no correction; and its difference in model from the violins of Strad. shews an independent mind in the artist—for it is a work of art and no slavish copy."
5Although my remarks were highly laudatory to the instrument I was much surprised and dismayed to see their effect on the owner. He became quite downcast and despondent and I gathered from his remarks that either his father or M. Gand had led him to believe that the violin was a Strad. Of course I could not understand then how important the matter was to him and shortly after M. Gand and I came away. As we were driving away in the cab M. Gand said that he would now explain the affair to me. The gentleman we had visited was M. Baillot, son of the greatest of all French violinists. He (the son) was a professor of the piano, and like many of his countrymen laid down at an early age rules for the guidance of his life. The principal one was that he should work for so many years during which, by careful saving, he would have sufficient money to yield him a comfortable income if well invested in rentes.
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