Books › The Story of the Violin, 1914 › scan 28
Scan 28
The Story of the Violin, 1914
8 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Prologue
3in this wondrous, sounding organism. We get in the tone the sum of all the conditions and activities which have their origin and raison d'être in this simplicity—besides fulfilling the demand for that enormous strength and durability.
5It is this simplicity of construction, together with the convenient shape—viz., portability, which has helped to secure for the violin its phenomenal popularity. It made cheapness possible, Its Cheapness has made it the instrument for the poor as well as the rich, as once the ideal pattern given, inferior wood and workmanship could not annihilate the elementary virtues of the organism.
7Yes, what a wonderful thing is a violin! While in every branch of human knowledge and activity every year marks new discoveries, and the apparent miracle to-day becomes the common thing to-morrow, the violin stands where it stood three hundred years ago, and every attempt at altering its form or any smallest part of it has been a dismal failure. Is it not as if for once human wit had reached its goal, as if the ideal hid in the heart of God had for once been grasped by man?
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