Scan 53
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1and parallel to each other—a feature which is peculiar to the Brescian school. Gaspar selected for his bellies wood of an astonishing uniformity and regularity of grain. The most beautiful, and in this respect the most remarkable, specimen of his work is the violin possessed by Ole Bull.* This violin was previously owned by Rehatschek, of Vienna, who prized it very highly. Instead of the volute, or scroll, it had a wonderfully fine angel's head; the finger-board and tailpiece were of the old shape, now no longer in use. Ole Bull had it fitted up, and found that in spite of its great age its tone was like that of a new fiddle. Mr. Forster, an English amateur, had in his fine collection of instruments a violin labelled "Gaspar da Salo in Brescia 1613." The tone was clear, but not great. Fétis said that if this fiddle was really made by him whose name it bore, it must have been made in Gaspar's extreme old age, when he was almost past work.
3Before Gaspar da Salo's time the definite form of the violin was not fixed; but it is obvious that it was through his productions that the present form of the instrument was determined. Consequently there are only a few minor differences between his instruments and ours—differences which only the trained eye of the expert can detect.
5Johann Paul Maggini, probably a pupil of Gaspar, worked at Brescia, his birthplace, from 1590 to 1640. He is celebrated chiefly for his violins. His pattern is large, the curves strongly marked: the belly is thick, but the back not quite so strong as the backs of Gaspar da Salo, with whose works his violins in most details are in agreement. The edges are but slightly raised; the varnish, notable for its fineness, is a clear golden brown; the purfling was generally double. For the most part his violins are famous for their grand, deep, melancholy tone; and they
7* The reader must bear in mind that our author's first edition appeared as long ago as 1864, and the edition which we are translating, in 1873.—Translator.
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