Scan 166
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1It has been before remarked that Gaspard di Salo did not arrive at his conclusions without mature consideration. In fact, a long and deliberate process of experiment may be traced in his instruments. We find that at various times his Violins and Violas were treated differently to the Violoncellos and Double Basses. The Violins are found to be high in model, while his Double Basses and Violoncellos, evidently of the same date, are flat. He would seem to have been desirous of testing the powers of either model, and it is possible that he has fostered the idea of varying the construction of each of the four species in the family of stringed instruments according to the part which should be allotted to it. To treat each part of the stringed quartett in four distinct ways is certainly an error, for they are to be looked upon as gradations of one and the same instrument; nevertheless, the attempt of Gaspard, although mistaken, offers but another instance of his prolific ingenuity and unwearied diligence. All praise is due to the great Brescian maker for having opened up as a pioneer so wide a field of research: the Cremonese artists followed up his clue, and brought the Violin to the highest state of excellence.
3The chief characteristics of the works of Gaspard di Salo are, the sound-holes, shortened centre-bouts, scroll, and peculiar choice of material. The sound-hole is brimful of originality. Its length at first strikes one as somewhat crude, but as the eye becomes more acquainted with the general form of
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