Scan 226
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 60. See the scan on archive.org.
1We find that at times his Violins and Violas were treated differently to the Accordos and Violonos. The Violins are found to be high in model, while the above-named instruments, 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 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 a different way is certainly an error, for they are to be looked upon as gradations of one and the same instrument; nevertheless, the attempt of Gasparo, 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 Gasparo da Salò are the sound-holes, shortened centre-bouts, scroll, and peculiar choice of material. The length of the sound-hole at first strikes one as somewhat crude, but as the eye becomes more acquainted with the general form of the instrument, it is seen to be in perfect harmony with the primitive outline. With this sound-hole commences the pointed form to which Giuseppe Guarneri, nearly a century and a half later, gave such perfection. The material
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