Scan 79
The Violin Gallery: Comprising: Section I. South Kensington Special …, 1890
23 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1for volume of tone, and those of Amati for liquidity, none of the celebrated makers exhibited the union of sweetness and power in so preeminent a degree as Guiseppe Guarneri (Del Gesu) and Antonio Stradivari. If I am to express my own feeling I must pronounce for the latter as my chosen favorite."
3216 LORENZO GUADAGNINI. Camilla Urso, New York City.
4A magnificent instrument found in the celebrated collection of Tarisio after his death, and bought and presented to Mademoiselle Urso, when she was twelve years old, by her friend Auguste Miremont, the excellent violin-maker of Paris.
5Charles Reade seems to disparage the Guadagnini violin, but he meant only the varnish, as their reputation for tone qualities was long ago established—that reedy, mild yet forcible tone common to the Stradivari school, and entirely un-common to the common fiddle and the Stainer.
6The beauty and character of this violin won for it a place with other gems, including the $10,000 "Le Messie" No. 91 of this work, in the collection of the eccentric Luigi Tarisio, Europe's first violin collector after Count Cozio di Salabue, and its greatest connoisseur.
7Our favorite artiste in her extensive concert tours has found it desirable to use steel strings in hot climates, so rather than mutilate the original Guadagnini scroll (which we show separate from the violin) she had it removed and one put on suitable for the use of steel strings: this is commendable care for the admirable Italian art.
8For delicacy of touch, artistic precision, purity of tone, and that wonderful fourth finger trill, Camilla Urso stands to-day without an equal on the concert stage.
10216½ TOURTE BOWS.
12217 JOSEPH GUARNERIUS DEL GESU, 1742.
13Mr. Geo. Gemunder, Astoria, N. Y.
14This violin, like Mr. Plumb's Amati, has been the recipient of Royal favor, having once been the property of the Duke of Wurtemberg, whose seal it bears. I find in Neiderheitman's book entitled "Cremona,"—"It is now very certain that Joseph Del Jesu was a scholar of his cousin, Joseph Guarnerius, son of Andreas." All honor to any man who can show such a pupil.
16219 PAOLO MAGGINI. BRESCIA, 1615.
17Dr. F. M. Dart, Salt Lake City, Utah.
18Perfect preservation, of the large pattern, high model. Back put on by Vuillaume, and violin in his collection at his death. Imported by Elias Howe, Esq., Boston, Mass.
20220 JOHANNES BAPTISTA GUADAGNINI.
21Miss Nora Clench, St. Marys, Ontario, Canada.
221710-1750. In the absence of any special description of this particular violin we shall have to be confined to generalities. Both Lorenzo and J. B. Guadagnini are allowed to have been pupils of Stradivari, and a comparison with No. 216 will show that the example before us more closely resembles the works of that master, and Johannes Baptista has the advantage of having used more handsome woods than his brother (?).
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