Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 18

Scan 18

The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904

12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.

1at a point not very far from the nut, while the notes are formed by the fingers of the other hand placed on the strings between the bow and the bridge. The notes thus produced must therefore have been all harmonics of the prime note of the string.
3Judging by the information which is available concerning the education of the violin-makers of Brescia, it is impossible to avoid the suspicion that the design of the "Trompetta marina" came from some more erudite source; the same may be said of the sound-post, whether it was derived from the above-mentioned instrument or not.
5In this, as in the subject about to be considered, the great influence of the Church of Rome, through members of her monastic institutions who were students of the arts and sciences, cannot be ignored.
7As far as it is possible to judge from the instruments which are still in existence, the evolution of the varnish in which the violins were clothed appears to have followed with equal steps that of form and construction.
9From existing descriptions, and from coloured illustrations, it is comparatively easy to form a conception of the varnish in its different stages without any very extensive acquaintance with the instruments themselves. Its general characteristics were manifestly persistent.
11There is a consensus of opinion that the varnish is that commonly known as an "oil-varnish." To this opinion, however, there is a notable exception: M. Fétis describes the varnish of J. P. Maggini (working about 1590—1640) as a "spirit-varnish"—"la plupart de "ces instruments sont vernis à l'esprit-de-vin, d'une

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