The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1886-01-30
Victims.

~.
May be the trouble is then with the
artist himself-losing the precision Of
his touch from over-practice," said the
caller. H'sl is=fi
That is the explanation which most
naturally occurs TO one. but it is not
good. The trouble is with the instr,,-
ment. Every artist meets with it. and
has to keep more than one in use.
Wilhelmj has 10 lay his Stradivarius vio-
lin aside occasionally. and use his
Gemunder until the Stradvarius is rest
ed. Every man. who uses razor
knows that it gets tired from too much
use. and rcgains its temper from being
laid aside for while, and it is the same
with musical instruments. Tone is a
puzzle anyhow. A crack in the belly
of violin or cello YOU might think
woul1 be fatal to tone frcm 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 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. a celebrated Paris maker.
is now in disrepute because the fine
tone he impaired to his instruments
was not lasting. He had some process
for indicating 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 a particularly fine-looking bit Of
wood. Some time ago when 1 hap
pened to drop into an instrument
makers shop, he said: Il have got o
splendid piece of maple one hundred
and fifty years old, Just the thing tc
make you new bridge" Well, he
made the bridge and It looked right,
and seemed to fit right, but when 1 tried
1t the strings didn't sound right. J.
worked with it some time, but finally
had to give it up. Then the bow has 4
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 texture, 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 o
Frenchman who flourished h the first
quarter of this century. He got hold OF
q 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, which would
look as if it were just as good, can DO
bought for five dollars. ~
ut is hard thing to get hold of fine
old instrument the virtuosa went on,
the cello strings now sounding in mel
ancholy chords under his straying
fingers. II believe 1 told you that VIII
helmj plays q Stradivarius. Remenyi
has quite q collection, but generally
plays an Amati. Ole Bull had a large
violin by one of the earliest makers Of
the Cremona school, Gaspard de Salo.
OOAuo uu0 lMStEuIucutS hI0 III tu0 u6uSl0
Of amateurs. Assistant-Socretary-of-
State Hunter has violoncello OF Stradi-
varius tone, If not Of that make. Elk
Mayor Havemeyer, of New York, al
though not himself cello player, be-
lieve, paid about %, 500 for q Guar
nerius. 1t 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 splendid collec-
ton of violins, and yet, so far as hisown
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. It is
wonderful instrument. can't describe
to you the power, softness, and sweet
ness of its tones. They are exquisite.
I suppose he could get "a, 600 or $5, 900
for that violin at any time. It is
almost impossible to appreciate the
value of such an instrument. He has
collection Of fifteen bows that would
struments could be better cared for
than those of his collection; but,
strange as it may seem, there are per-
sons with a mania for collecting instru-
ments who don't know how to take care
Of them when they get them. 1 knew
Baltimore collector who had violins
all over his house. often in places where
they were liable to be broken at any
time. l was upstairs in his house
once, and was going to sit down on
bed. when he shouted to me to look
out- that violin was in there. Sure
enough, violin was stuck under the
bed-clothes because he was too careless
10 get bag for it. once came across
fine cello in town in Central New
York, owned by man who can't play
It, doesn't take proper care of it. and
yet won t sell it. lift were not for such
men artists would not have to make
great sacrifices to get instruments
with which they can realize their con.
,eptions. 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. ~ Baltimore
Cor. N. y Sum- Hi'9Ft Pr -''fss