Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 50
Scan 50
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 46. See the scan on archive.org.
1themselves to search for the best kind, and took what lay nearest their hands, consequently the tone suffered somewhat. Nor must the tincture to the tone given by the Italian varnish be altogether forgotten; and if a skilled violin maker would but use the best Italian wood of mature growth, and make a good instrument, and cover it with a fine amber oil varnish, and that violin were exposed for years to warm, dry air, instead of shut up in a box, I have not a shadow of a doubt but it would have the Italian tone, no matter where it were made.
3In the last paragraph lies the whole
5SECRET OF THE CREMONA MAKERS,
7and any fairly skilful artist following up the hint may produce the same results, for it must be distinctly borne in mind that the great Cremonas when newly made did not sound as they sound now. They were new and woody; and it is a historical fact that a consignment of violins by Stradivarius, sent to London, to be sold at the modest price of £6 each, were returned as unsaleable. This seems astonishing to us, but it must be remembered that these violins were new, and a Strad with the red varnish whole has rather a vulgar look, and could not be distinguished a few yards off from a cheap French fiddle, while the players who looked at them had the choice of old English and old German violins by the score, and the love of the subtle sweetness of the Italian tone had yet to be created. By the time that education had been accomplished, the violins of Stradivarius had also improved and matured and grown picturesque in appearance with wear, and so found a ready sale.
9A dishonest violin maker—in other words, a QUACK—may hint darkly at some mystery in his method which turns his new violins into old ones, and invite you to pay him an enormous sum for his works on that account; nay, seeing that he has not to play upon his violins, but to sell them, he may even go further, and declare to you that his works give, when fresh from his hands, the same tone which came to those of Stradivarius only after 150 years of time's mellowing power and of hard playing—in both cases write him down a liar. To return to the Italian Tone. Good and grand violins have been made in many other countries, but with the best of them this subtle quality of tone, which
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.