Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 43
Scan 43
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 39. See the scan on archive.org.
1accused of favouritism, I have given a long list of British violin makers at the end of this book. Twelve years ago I strongly advocated the patronage of our British violin makers, using oil varnish, instead of the horrible German copyists, and I am pleased to know that this refined art and delicate industry has not only sprung into life again, but is in a fair way to bring honour and profit to the really talented among its followers.
3To Train the Ear.
5Let two violin players test the tone of a violin, and one may pronounce it perfect; while the other may say, "It is powerful and equal, but quite raw and woody. It is too new; it will be a grand violin 100 years hence." Both may be sane men and skilful players, yet they come to opposite conclusions. The cause of the difference is simply that the ear of the first has not been trained by playing upon first-class old violins. Nothing else will train the ear. And it must be violins not a violin, continually tried and tested, for there are subtle differences of quality of tone in even the grandest of old violins, which are detectable only by the ear most perfectly trained by this process. There is the large, full tone, which carries like a trumpet, and by sheer force demonstrates its superiority, and there is the moderately powerful tone, as heard in many Strads, which makes the hearer catch his breath with a kind of startled gasp, and asserts its supremacy rather by crystalline sweetness than volume. They are both grand, but they do not suit every taste. Then there is the tone that only comes with a strong pressure of the bow, especially at the upper part of the finger-board, even in fine old violins, and the reverse of that which comes with the lightest pressure at any part of the finger-board, and so can be diminished to a perfect whisper without degenerating into a mere fizzle. This last quality is known as "freedom" compared with "stiffness." Then there is "mellowness" of tone—that oily smoothness which is so often found in the Guarnerius or the Gagliano; which, indeed, in some violins seems to run to seed and take all the assertive qualities out of the instrument; and the reverse of this is that hard and piercing quality, which admits of so little shading, so often found in the Stainers, Jacobs,
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