Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-11-03


virtuoso, is in Baltimore. When cor
respondent of the Ncw York .SUli
dropped in the other day he was contem-
plating his instrument with dissatisfied
air. The amber varnish on the violoncel-
10 shone with its wonted mellow lustre,
its long neck wan firmly erect, its carved
head thrown back in true Stradivarius
pose, and the strings, as they were fret
ted by the virtuoso's fingers, emitted
sonorous notes.
"What is the mt tter?" was asked
81 cant tell exactly" was the reply.
at is tired and needs rest. If 7 lay it
aside for week or so, it will regain its
perfection of tone, without anything else
being done to it. 1t is hard thing to
explain, and it is fact familiar to every
artist. If you Use an instrument too
much it looses its tone-not enough, per-
haps for the average auditor to perceive,
but the artist knows it,
"Maybe the trouble is then with the
artist himself-lOsing tue precision of his
touch from over-practice, said the cali
er.
'That is the explanation which most
naturally occurs to one, but it is not good.
The trouble 10 with the instrument, Ev-
cry artist meets with it, and has to keep
more than one in use. Wilhelmj has to
lay his Stradivarius violin aside, occas-
ionally, and use his Gemunder until the
is rested. Every man who
uses razor, knows that it gets tired from
too much use, and regains its temper
from being laid aside for a while, and it
is the same with musical instruments
Tone is puzzle anyhow. A crack in the
belly of violin or cello you might think
would be fatal to tone from its intercep-
tion of sound vibrations, but sometimes
cracks seem to cause an improvement
Instruments that are well treated improve
by age. 1t may be that the rich tones of
a fine Stradivarius or Guanerius are due
largely to their age, and that the exquisite
mellow quality which we find is the nc
QUESTION of years. Guillaume, who was
i'll his time celebrated Paris maker, is
now ill disrepute because the fine tone
which impaired to his instruments WAS
not lasting. He had some process for
medicating the wood of his instruments
that gave them strength and softness Of
tune, but age, instead Of improving them,
impaired their quality, Then, again,
the tone of instruments seems to result
from happy chance adjustments of their
parts which can not be repeated with any
certainty. The masterpieces of the Gre
mona school now in existence may be
strokes of good fortune that tine old
makers themselves could not always cer-
tainly effect. You see the bridge of my
cello here is not particularly fine look
ing bit of wood. Some time ago, when l
happened to drop into IN instrument
makers shop, he said Il have got =
splendid piece of maple $50 years old just
the thing to make you new bridge
Well he made the bridge and it looked
right and seemed to fit right, but when !
tried it the strings didn't sound right. |
worked with it some time. but finally had
to give it up. Then the bow has n great
deal to do with the tune. Its wood must
be strong, and at the same time slender
and light it must be firm without being
rigid, and must have perfect eyenness of
texture, 30 as to give the same quality of
percussion from whatever point it may be
applied to the strings. There are cele-
brated makers of bows us well as of i'll
struments. The LupOt bow is famous.
The maker was Frenchman, who -four
ished in the first quarter of this century.
He got hold of fine lot of Pernambu-
co wood, and all his bows were made of
selected pieces. A good Lupot bow is
worth 800. An ordinary bow, which
would look as if it were lust as good, can
be bought for S."
at is hard thing to get hold of II
fine old instrument" the virtuoso went
on, the cello strings now sounding i'll
melancholy chords under his straying
fingers. II believe told you that Will
helmj plays Stradivarius Remenyi has
quite II collection, but generally plays an
Amati. Ole Bull had n large violin by
one of the earliest makers of the Cremona
school, Gaspard ia Salo. Some fine in
struments are in the hands of amateurs.
Assistant Secretary of State Hunter has
n violoncello OF Stradivariiis tone, if not
of that make. Ex-Mayor Havemeyer, of
New York, although not himself cello
player, | believe, paid about $2500 for a
Guanerius. 1t is the rich amateur who
runs up the price of such instrpuents
until they are out of the reach Il the
poor artist There is manufacturer of
garden tools in Hartford who has splcn-
did collection of violins, and yet, SO far
as his own playing is concerned, MI Ordi-
nary fiddle would do him Just as
well as n Strandivarius. In his collection
is the famous King Joseph Guanerius
violin. 1t is IA wonderful instrument. l
can't describe to you the power, softness,
and sweetness of its tones. They are ex-
quisite. | suppose he could get four or
five thousand dollars for that violin at
any time. 1t is almost impossible to ap-
preciate the value of such an instrument.
He has a collection of fifteen bows that
would bring from $500 to $1,000 No
instruments could be better cared for
than those of his collection but, strange
as it may seem, there are persons with u
manin for collecting instruments is who don't
know how to take care of them when
they get them. l knew Baltimore col
lector who had violins all over his house,
often i'll places where they were liable to
be broken at any time. l was up stairs
in his house once, and was going to sit
down on bed when no shouted to me to
look out-that violin was in there.
Sure enough violin was stuck under the
bedclothes, because he was to careless to
get bag for 1t. | once came across a
fine cello IN town Of central New York,
owned by man who cant play it, doesn't
take proper care Of it, and yet won't sell
it. If it not for such men artists would
not have to make great sacrifices to get
instruments with which they can realize
their conceptions. OF course they must
have fine instruments. Nothing less will
content them, even though audiences
should be Just as well satisfied to hear
any well-made instrument as the divine
voice of Stradivarius."