Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 17
Scan 17
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 13. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER III.
3Model.
5This brings us to consider what model or shape of violin produces the best tone, and here I mean to utter heresy upon heresy, so the man whose mind is already made up on this trifling point had better read no further. The real violin player who has preserved his judgment amid such shoals of nonsense and oceans of gush as have been written on this subject should not care one straw what "the lovely curves and waves and lines" of his violin may be, or what "re-splendent amber sheen" may glow from its varnish, so long as the tone is grand and thrilling. And why? simply because there are violins whose model would send some gushing cranks into hysterics, the tone of which equals or outshines that of many of the violins of Stradivarius or Guarnerius for which high prices have been paid. The truth is, there are fashions in fiddles as there are in ladies' bonnets, and just now the fashion is Strads and Josephs, just as last century it was Stainers and Jacobs and Dukes, and before that Amatis; and the gaping crowd of wealthy connoisseurs hearing the cry blindly follow, exclaiming, "Ye gods, what fiddles!" Here and there, however, a great violin player has been found who has retained enough sanity to stand aside from this scrambling and panting crowd, and say, "I think you are mistaken." Paganini was one, when he preferred Guarnerius to Stradivarius, when Stradivarius alone was the fashion; De Beriot was another, when he preferred Maggini to both Stradivarius and Guarnerius, when both were the fashion; Vieuxtemps was another, when he preferred coarse, clumsy-working Storioni to all these; and Ole Bull was another, when he set Gasparo da Salo above them all. A skilled judge of violins writing to me, remarked—"An old dealer in violins once told me that 'when a player once took to using a Maggini, nothing else would suit, as the combination of crisp, clear tone and depth as well is so satisfying to the performer.' Notwithstanding the fine qualities of the suc-
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