Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 26
Scan 26
The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1correctness of observation, we are indebted to M. J. Gallay, editor of the new edition of the Abbé Sibire's book. The observer is again not an expert, but a violoncellist. M. Gallay writes (179) with reference to certain violoncellos, made by Antonio Stradivari, which were then in Madrid (the translation is mine):—
2"One of these basses, according to the account which has been given to us by a French artiste, M. de Try, a distinguished violoncellist, who has had, during a tolerably long residence in Madrid, the good fortune to play on these instruments, seems to us to be truly unique. It is a specimen of the great period (1725); the varnish, of a fine bright red, comes out brilliantly on a first coat of amber yellow" ("le vernis, d'un beau rouge vif, ressort brillamment sur une première couche jaune ambré").
3Here again is an unmistakable description of dichroïsm.
4The opinion and descriptions of our own countryman, Mr. George Hart, will next be given, taken from his well-known book.
5At page 36 et seq., Mr. Hart expresses the opinion that, "although quite separable in one particular, which is, the depth of their colouring, the Brescian, Cremonese, and Venetian have, to all appearance, a common basis." In examining the Brescian varnish he finds "an almost complete resemblance between the material of Gaspard di Salo and that of his coadjutors, the colouring only being different." "Upon turning to the Cremonese, we find that Joseph Guarnerius, Stradiuarius, Carlo Bergonzi, and a few others used varnish having the same characteristics, but, again, different in shade." He
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