The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-05-02
Vi0lins.


seasons here at his home. When the
Sun correspondent dropped in he was
contemplating his instrument with a
dissatisfied air. The amber varnish on
the violoneello shone with its wonted
mellow luster, its long neck was firmly
erect, its carved head thrown back in
true Stradivarius pose, and the strings,
as they were fretted by the virtuoso's
fingers, emitted sonorous notes.
"What Is the matterP'' was asked.
"I can't tell exactly" was the reply.
1t is tired and needs rest II lay it
aside for q week or 50, it will regain its
perfection of tone, without anything
else be ng done to it tits a hard thing
to explain, and il is o fact familiar to
every artist If you use an instrument
too much it loses its tone-not enough,
perhaps, for the average auditor to per-
ceive, but the artist knows il"
May be the trouble is then with the
artist himseh-losing the precision of
his touch from oyer-practice," said the
caller.
THAT is the explanation which most
good. The trouble is with the instru-
ment Every artist meets with it, and
has to keep more than one In use.
Wilhelmj has to lay his Stradivarius vio-
lin aside occasionally. and use his
Gemunder until the Stradivarius is rest
ed. Every man who uses a razor
knows that it gets tired from too much
use, and regains its temper from being
laid aside for q while, and it is the same
with musical instruments. Tone Is
puzzle anyhow. A crack in the belly
of q violin or cello you might think
woul1 be fatal to tone from its intercept
ton of sound vibrations, but sometimes
cracks seem to cause an improve
ment. Instruments that are well treat
ed improve by age 1t may be that
the rich tones of o fine Stradivarius or
Guarnerius are due largely to the age,
and the exquisite mellow quality which
we find In them is the acquisition
of years. Guillaume, who was, in
his time, o celebrated Paris maker.
is now in disrepute because the tine
tone he impaired to his instruments
was not lasting. he had some process
for medicating the wood of his instru-
ments that gave them strength and
softness of tune, but age, instead Of
improving them, impaired their quality.
Then, again, the tune of instruments
seems to result from happy chance ad-
justments of their parts which cannot
be repeated with any certainty. The
masterpieces of the Cremona school
now in existence may be strokes of good
fortune that the old makers themselves
could not always certainly effect. You
see that the bridge of my cello here is
not q particularly fine-looking bit OF
wood. Some time ago when 1 hap
pened to drop into an instrument
makers shop, he said: 81 have got a
- h,,-, ,I,-aI
and fifty years old, Just the thing to
make YOU a new bridge" Well, he
made the bridge and it looked right,
and seemed to fit right, but when 1 tried
it the strings didn't sound right. ]
worked with it some time, hut finally
had to give it up. Then the bow has a
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 per-
feet evenness of te ture, so as to give
the same quality of percussion from
whatever point it may be applied to the
strings. There are celebrated makers
of bows as well as of instruments. The
Lupot bow is famous The maker is q
Frenchmen who fiourished in the first
quarter of this century. He got hold OF
a fine lot of Pernambuco wood, and all
his bows were made of selected pieces.
A good Lupot bow is worth one hundred
dollars. An ordinary bow, whi h would
look as If it were just as good, can be
bought for five dollars.
at is q hard thing to get hold of fine
old instrument" the virtuosa went on,
the cello strings now sounding in mel.
ancholy chords under his strayins
fingers. al believe told you that VIII
heimj plays a Stradivarius. Remenyi
has quite q collection, but generally
plays an Amati. Ole Bull had large
violin by one of the earliest makers OF
the Cremona school, Gaspard de Salo.
Some fine instruments are in the hands
of amateurs. Assistant-Secretary-of.
State Hunter has a violoncello of Stradi.
varius tone. IL not of that make. Ex.
Mayor Havemeyer. of New York. al.
lieve, paid about 81, 500 for Gular-
neerius. IL is the rich amateur who runs
up the price of such instruments until
they are out of reach of the poor artist.
There is q manufacturer of garden tools
in Hartford who has a splendid collec.
ton of violins, and yet, so far as his OWE
playing is concerned, an ordinary fiddle
would do him just as well as Stradi.
varius In his collection is the famous
King Joseph Guarnrius violin. 1t is 9
wonderful instrument l can't describe
to you the power, softness, and sweet
ness of its tones They are exquisite,
/ suppose he could get 81, 600 or S5, 00(
fer-that violin at any time. 1t ID
almost impossible to appreciate the
value of such an instrument He has q
collection of fifteen bows tina would
bring from 81 800 to $4,000. No in
\ struments could be better cared fol
than those of his collection; but,
strange as it may seem, there are per
sons with a mania for col Getting instru
ments who don't know how to take cart
of them when they get them. knew
| q Baltimore collector who had violins
| all over his house. often in Places where
they were liable to be broken at any
time. / was upstairs in his house
once, and was going to sit down on 1
bed, when he shouted to me to lool
| out that a violin was in there. Sure
| enough, a violin was stuck under the
bed-clothes because he was too careless
| to get bag for it. / once came acros!
| q fine cello in a town in Central New
York, owned by man who can't play
| il, doesn't take proper care of it. anC
| yet won't sell it. Ifit were not for such
men artists would not have to make
great sacrifices to get Instrument
with which they can realize their CON
ceptions. OF course they must havs
| fine instruments. Nothing less viii
content them. even though audiences
should be Just as well satisfied to heal
any well-made instrument as the divine
voice of Stradivarius- -"--Bdttin,or,
Cor. N. Y. san.