Books › Violins, old & new, 1887 › scan 16
Scan 16
Violins, old & new, 1887
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1what was done a hundred and fifty years ago without any good model at all. That there was genius in the question none can doubt; but it was the genius of patient, plodding, careful experiment, extending over many years, guided by known natural laws, and inspired by genuine enthusiasm for results without any regard for the amount of labour, time, or money expended in producing such results. This was the kind of genius which made the celebrated "STRADS." and "JOSEPHS." But is this genius quite extinct, and did it only exist once, and that in Italy? Does no Englishman, no American, no Frenchman, no German possess these fine qualities? To these question only one reply is possible, and to argue that these violins cannot be equalled is to argue that their makers were more than human. On no other ground is it possible to contend that what they did others cannot do.
3It is satisfactory to prove in theory that the closest imitation of the splendid Cremonese instruments is possible; but it is much more satisfactory to be able to say not merely that it can be done, but that it has been done, and of this we have no doubt at all. We shall, as a matter of course, be accused of writing up the works of some particular firm, but we may as well say at once that the gentleman to whom we refer as having equalled in England the violins of Italy is not a violin dealer, nor even a professed violin maker, and, so far as we know, has never sold one of the
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