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

Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 19

Scan 19

The violin : how to choose one, 1893

20 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 15. See the scan on archive.org.

1Why one Violin Excels Another.
3This brings me to another startling statement, which I fear will elicit a howl of disapproval from certain enthusiasts and interested persons. It is—The model of Stradivarius, compared with those of Gasparo da Salo and Maggini, was a retrograding, not an improvement. Joseph Guarnerius seems to have detected the mistake, and set himself to amend it; and had he lived longer and more temperately, he would probably have created the perfect violin for all time. As it is, the work is nearly all yet to do. The model has yet to be found which shall combine the grandeur of the Brescian makers—Gasparo da Salo and his pupil Maggini—with the thrilling sweetness of Stradivarius. As for the Amatis, their whole life-work was a mistake, which Stradivarius tried latterly to correct in his own works. They give a toy-like tone, often hard as a steel wire, and their violins are fit only for small rooms or for the glass cases of museums. To copy their works is a sheer waste of time and talent. The usual order in which these makers are rated is this:—
51. Stradivarius.
62. Guarnerius (del Jesu).
73. Amati (Niccolo).
84. Maggini.
95. Gasparo da Salo.
11I would alter the arrangement thus:—
131. Gasparo da Salo.
142. Maggini.
153. Guarnerius.
164. Stradivarius.
175. Amati.
19The primitive model of Gasparo da Salo, rising almost from the purfling, was not so stupid as it now appears to our warped judgment. It gave a grand, rich, and large tone. Maggini worked more neatly, and flattened the model somewhat at the edges, still leaving capacity for a large tone, and no further in that direction at least ought that reforming to have gone, but then came the Amatis with the fatal scoop at the edges, and the diminished size and toy-like tone; and

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