Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-10-09
Notes on the violin.

Few sciences are more mysterious
to the uninitiated than that Of the
connoisseur in stringed instru-
ments. 1t is easy enough, indeed,
to discriminate the better sort Of
article from what are known as
"trade" fddles, such as are manu-
factured by wholesale in Lorraine
and Bavaria, and sent all over the
world at extraordinarily low prices,
nor is it difficult to obtain an
amount of experience sufficient to
decide roughly upon the rank to
which any particular instrument is
entitled.
Most violinists can tell good
instrument from a bad one, a new
one from an old one, and a copy, in
the ordinary sense of the word,
from an original. There are prob
ably but few among the buyers of
violins in the present day on whom
it would be possible to palm off an
old Tyrolese fiddle for a Maggini, or
one of those instruments, excellent
and valuable in their own kind,
which were once made in great
numbers in the Contrada Larga Of
Milan, for a Joseph GuarneriuS.
The best instruments Of the class
ical period, which includes the latter
half of the seventeenth century
and the earlier half of the eigh-
teenth, proclaim themselves at once.
The large pattern, the pure and
harmonious design, the well, selected
material, the perfect finish, the var
nish which has ever since been the
despair of the copyist, are alike
unmistakable.
But it is otherwise when the great
makers fall, as they occasionally do,
below their level, or when we have
one of the numerous instruments
which they made by way Of expert
ment, or one of those designed-ai
many undoubtedly were-to suit
the fancy of particular costumers
Even this is less perplexing thar
the attempt to discriminate between
the handiwork of celebrated mas
ter himself and that Of his pupils
| his neighbors, and his contemporary
imitatOrs in othor parts. 1t is here
that the instinct and the experience
of the Judge are taxed to the utmost
and the result of his verdict canno
be thought unimportant when w
remember its effect on the marke
value of the instrument.
A capital violin, for instance, il
good condition, aud made beyonC
reasonable doubt in the very work
shop of Stradiyarius has been sole
in an auction.rOom for R10. Ha(
! it come from the hand Of the mas
ter himself, it might we'll hayC
brought twenty or thirty times thl
price. PLAYED against fine "Strad,
of the best make not one person il
ten would have detected the differ
ence in tone. Probably the tentl
would not have pronounced it in
! ferior, and it would have been founC
in every practical quality superio
to many small, defective, or worn
! out instruments Of the great Wakke
! himself.
Much Che same might be said o
: the works of score Of less know
+. makers. The competition Of con
= noisseuFs has long since raised tn
very best instruments to On eXorbi
tant price, and the effect has beel
felt in a class of others which haV
. a much humber claim to distinc
tiop.
The worth of thing is, OF course
D what it will fetch, but it is certaii
that some kinds Of instrument
mast one day rise greatly IN yalq
and others must as certainly fal
In the last century Stainer, who's
yiolins now are only valued as cur
osities, was the favorite make
J The iamons Amatis, with some eA
ceptions, have long begun to shar
the same fate. The Strads,
. themselves, the best Of which aI
over 4 eentqry and a half old, ca
not endure foreYss, 2nd the latel
Cremona makers, whose pegt work
now stand high in the marksI
I 4