Scan 131
The violin & its story : or, the history & construction of the violin, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 115. See the scan on archive.org.
1of finger and delicacy of touch that were of such value to him as a maker of bows. When he had worked at the watch making for eight years he left it, because it offered him no prospects, and went to work at the business of his father and brother. The violin virtuosi who at that time lived in Paris, who were ever striving to imitate the style of the Italian vocalists in all their delicate variations of tone, sought more and more eagerly for bows of greater lightness, buoyancy and elasticity, and the bow-makers were as eagerly trying to satisfy these requirements. François Tourte made his earliest bows with wood obtained from sugar-barrels, and thus trained his hand without spoiling valuable wood. His first productions sold at about 10d. to 1s. 3d. each. Unwearying in his efforts to accomplish his purpose, he made bows of every kind of wood which was at all suitable for the purpose; and he was a long time in arriving at the firm conviction that it was only from Brazil wood that the proper results could be got which would unite in themselves the requisite qualities of lightness, firmness and elasticity.
3These first and important discoveries were made by Tourte in the period between 1775 and 1780. Unfortunately at this time the naval war between France and England made it very difficult to import Brazil wood, and that of the right kind for dyeing purposes rose to between 5s. and 6s. per pound. This wood, when used for dyeing, was imported in logs or billets, and that wood which contained the most dye-stuff was at the same time the best fitted to make bows. It was, moreover, only seldom that a log could be found perfectly even and free from knots, and out of 8,000 to 10,000 kilograms* of wood scarcely one good stick could be found.
5The great scarcity of Brazil wood during the period above referred to explains the high prices at which Tourte sold his best bows. One bow, the nut of which was ornamented with tortoise-shell and the head with mother-of-pearl, both nut and head having gold orna-
7* 10,000 kilograms = 22,046 lbs. English weight.—Translator.
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