The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-04-08
THE SEC RET
OF THE
STRADIV ARIUS.
ny HUGn CoNwAY.

! visited him at his rooms. then he was
not chary in showing his skill; and. al
though blush TO say so, at times had
violin-playing I'd nd0sodm. A surfeit of
sweets-a safety of music. | often
wonder II 1t has ever been any mans
lot TO hear such. performances as did
III those days when, grown careless of
the good the gods would send me. | lay
at full length on Luigi's sofa; and the
master of the magic bow eXpounded
| themes in manner which would have
| brought the house down. Till then |
little dreamed of what, in skillful ands,
the instrument could do. How true
genius could bid it laugh, sob, com
mand, pntrcat-sink into wall of pa
thetic pleading, or soar to song of
scorn and triumph what power 60 ex-
| press every emotion of the heart lay in
those few inches of cunningly carved
wood Now | could understand why
Luigi could play 40 much for his own
enjoyment; and at times it seemed to
me that his execution was even more
wonderful, his expression moro thrill
ing, when ! alone formed his audience,
than when n vast assembly was before
him, ready. rs the last impassioned
notes sank into silence, to break into q
storm Of rapturous applause.
l.uigi was connOisseur in fiddles,
and owned several pet Instruments by
the most renowned makers. Sometimes
of an evening he would bring out his
whole stock. look them carefully over,
play little on each, and point out to
me the difference in the tone Then he
would wax eloquent on the peculiar
charms or gifts the masters hand had
bestowed on each, and was indignant
that | was so obtuse as not to detect mt
laA ~ IL q e L..
graceful curves. After a short time the
names Of Amati, Ruggieri, Guarnerius,
klOtZ, Stainer, etc. grew quite familiar
to me; and rs | went through the streets
would peep into the pawnbrokers and
other windows with ilddles in them,
hoping to pick up treasure for few
ShillingS. Two or three | did buy, but
my friend laughed so heartily at my
purchases that gave up the pursuit
letOld me he had for n long while been
looking for a genuine old Stradvarius,
but, as yet, had not succeeded in finding
the one he wanted. lie had been offer
ed many,purporting to have come origi-
nally from the great makers hands, but
probably they were all pretenders, as he
was not yet suited.
One evening when visited Luigi L
found him with all his musical treasures
arrayed around him. lie was putting
them in order, he said. | must amuse
myself as best | could until he had fin
ished. | turned idly from one case to
another, wondering now any experience
could determine the build of any par
ticular violin, all of which, to my UNI
tutOrcd eyes, appeared alike. Presently
| opened one case which was closed and
drew the fiddle ii held from its snug,
red-lined bed. did not remember hay
ing seen this one before, so took il in
my hand TO examine it-holding it, aft
or the manner of connOisseurs, edge
ways before my eyes TO note the curves
and shape of it. 1t was evidently old
my little knowledge told me that; and
as, even though protected by the case,
dust lay upon it, ! could see it had not
been used for n long. long time. More
over, all the strings were broken. Curl
Ously. each one was severed at exactly
the same pOint-just below the bridge
rs If some one had passed n sharp knife
across, and with one movement cut all
four.
Holding the ill-used instrument to-
ward Luigi, ! saidi
This one seems particularly to want
your attention. Is it a valuable oney"
Luigi, who was engrossed by the deli
cate operation of shifting the sounding
HbNN Va WV vi no B'b-NNhlollN nOlllt
iinitesimal part of an inch to the left or
to the right, turned as | spoke, still
holding his ends of string in each hand,
AS soon as he saw which violin | had
taken up, he let fall the one he held be-
ween his knees. and, TO my great sur
prise, said hastily:
Put ii down-put il down, myfriend,
| beseech you not to handle that VIOLIN"
Rather annoyed at the testy way in
which my usually amiable friend spoke,
laid it down, saying:
rs 1t so precious, then, that you are
afraid of my clumsy hands damaging
itY"
"Ah, il is not that" answered Luigi;
ut is something altogether different.
did not know my man had brought
that fiddle in. | never intended it should
have left Italy"
ut looks like an old one. Who is it
by"
THAT Is a real old Stradivarius-the
acme of mortal skill-the one thing hui
man hands have made in this world per-
fect-perfect as a flower, perfect as the
sea. A Stradiyarius Is the only
thing that cannot be altered-cannot be
improved upon"
why do you never use it?"
81 cannot tell you-you would not be-
lieve me. There is something about
that fiddle cannot explain. | believe
it to be the finest in the world. 1t may
be even that Manfredi played upon Il
led with it when the mighty applause
rang through the Karntnerthor, shak=
ing 1t from floor to roof-tree but which
he, the grand deaf genius, Beethoven,
could not even hear Who can tell what
hnn1Q haun ttua1 40 a1aat Il
dare not play upon ii again"
Rendered very curious by Luigi's
enigmatical words and excited manner,
] ventured to take the violin in my
hands again, and examine it with inter-
est, | looked carefully at the belly and
the back, noting the beautiful red but
translucent varnish, known alone to
Stradivarius, with which the latter was
coated. | peeped through the is, to
ascertain il any makers name appeared
inside. If one had ever been there, it
was completely oblterated by dark
stain, which covered the greater portion
of the inside Of the back. Luigioffered
no remonstrance as took the fiddle for
the second time, but sat silent, watch
ing me with apparent interest.
And now strange thing occurred to
me-let who can explain it. After hold
ing that fiddle for few minutes, | felt
n wish-an impulse-growing stronger
and stronger each moment, till it be-
came almost irresistible-to play upon
It, 1t was not musicians natural
Itching to try fine old violin-indeed,
l am no musician, although fond of list
ening to the music, and at times ventur-
ing to criticise; neither have | learned
nor attempted to learn the art of per-
forming on any instrument, from the
Jewsharp to the organ. And yet, say,
as my fingers were round the neck-as
soft as silk it was-of that old violin,
not only did l feel noSitiYe Yearninn