Scan 80
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1acoustic properties of the wood, to which they very properly gave the first place in their consideration. We have evidence of much weight upon this interesting point in the frequent piecings found on the works of Old Masters, who seem to have preferred to retain a piece of wood of known acoustic properties rather than to work in a larger or better preserved portion at the probable expense of tone. In (Plate 1) the Viola by Bergonzi is an instance of this desire to preserve rare material. Under its lovely varnish may be seen several pieces let in most artistically. The time and care required for such a delicate operation must have been sufficient to have enabled the artist, had he been so minded, to have made a complete instrument. There is also ample proof that Joseph Guarneri possessed wood to the exceptional qualities of which he was fully alive, and the same may be said of Stradivari, Ruggeri, and others. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that in the seventeenth century there was a dearth in Italy of timber suitable for the manufacture of Violins, and that in consequence these eminent makers were compelled to patch and join their material to suit their purpose. They were men who were in the enjoyment of a patronage certainly sufficient to enable them to follow their calling without privation of any kind. Scarcity of pine and sycamore, good or bad, could not have been the cause, since we find Italian cabinet-work of great beauty that was manufactured at this same period. The plane-tree and
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