The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-27
PETS AMONG THE VIOLINS
THOSE OF TODAY AND THOSE OF
OLDEN TIMES.

OLDEN TIMES.
Defending the Modern Instruments
from Those Which Have No Quality
Beyond the Ancient Stamp.
From the Ne,c YORK. Times
81 wish musicians would be honest abou,
the modern violin," said veteran leader
the other day. II don't mean to say that
they are wilfully dishonest in regard to tina,
instrument, but their prejudices are so in.
tense that it Is impossible almost to get q
fair opinion from the average musician
upon that subject. 1t took me forty wears
to reach the conclusion that violins were
never made so well for present use as during
recent years. Having come to that CON
clusion, do not now see how any reason.
able being, looking fairly on the subject,
can hesitate to adopt my views, if he will
divest his mind of prejudices and open it to
a sensible consideration of the subject for
forty minutes.
Every one who reads musical criticisms
knows that the most common structure upon
the performance of violinists relates to the
quality of their tone. 1t was my own prac-
tice for fully score Of years to attribute
defective quality of tone to the incapacity
of the performer. After while | couldn't
help noticing that defective and impure in
tonatlon frequently proceeded from men
who were beyond dispute masters of the
art of violin playing. 1t was manifestly
absurd to Claim that persons SO skillful in
the use of the bow and the instrument
should be faulty in their conceptions of
musical sounds and tone. Finally asked
myself if perhaps the faulty information
may not have been due to the instrument
rather than the performer. | asked it a
great many times and looked into IT
thoroughly. What | found upon sucb in.
quiry and investigation now constitutes
one of my chief reasons for advocating the
use of the modern violin by artists, great
and little.
LET any one go to the factory of the
pianomaker and ask him what ought to be
done to piano that has been in use for
many years and has lost its original reso-
nance. He will answer in every instance
that the piano has worn itself out; it needs
to be revived in respect to the quality of
its resonance. The thing most essential to
restore 1T is new sounding board. Strings,
of course, will wear and snap, but the re-
pair of strings is small matter. and if a
piano has become what is called worn out.
a supply OF new strings will do very little
to restore it, A new sounding board, ON
the other hand, will make the instrument
almost, If not quite as good as it was orig
inally.
Now, what does this mean? It means
that the vibratory power of the sounding
board has been impaired by too much use
1t is an argument, if not proof, that wood
through which sound has been transmitted
almost constantly for a long period losses,
IN large degree, its vibratory power
There is no kind of wood which is subjected
more constantly, more continuously, or for
inI 70 IL
the wood used in violins 1t seems to me clear
as scientific fact. if continuous vibra-
ton for long period impairs the
sounding power of wood, that an old violin
which has been very much used through a
generation or more, must have lost the
qualities of sweetness and volume and of
carrying power, which are most desired by
makers and players of the violin"
This may seem to be an extraordinary
statement. Probably at least 80 per cent.
of the people who pretend to know any,
thing about violins would say without hest
tation that an old violin is preferable to
new one. will admit, and l suppose no
one would deny, that a violin constructed
of old wood is preferable to one which is
made of wood freshly cut or imperfectly
seasoned. But l will not admit, and l do
deny, that an old violin, which has been in
use for century or more by successive gen
escaped being worn out. A new sounding
board is needed, and sounding
board in violin means a new violin. To
those who may doubt the correctness of my
conclusions, and who may refer me to the
fact that the most famous violins
ever constructed and ever heard were made
by some of the Italian masters, have a
complete answer. The famous violin played
by Paganini, which was said to have been,
in his Judgment, the best instrument in the
world, was no doubt old when it came into
his possession. He believed it was made by
the great Joseph Guarnerius (del Jesu),
whose ticket it bore, with the date 1743
Guarnerius was then an old man, and ac-
cording to all historical accounts he had
then lain in prison for several years. Musi-
cal writers have all noted falling off in
the quality of his work after he passed
middle age. They account for it by saying
that his habits were such as to have
broken him when he should have been in
his prime, and that the work turned out by
his hands during his prison life was so
inferior as not to be classed with that of his
earlier years. Guarnerius died in 1745, two
years after the famous Paganinis violin is
said to have been made l will not dispute
that the great Joseph made this instrument,
but there have been those skeptical enough
to doubt it in view of the inferiority of his
work during that period of his life. Ny
point in regard that instrument, however,
is not that 1t may not have been genuine,
but that all musical historians agree that
until the violin came into Paganinis posses
sion it had never been played upon. As
Stunning that to be true, Paganini had a
violin of superb model, the wood of which
was thoroughly seasoned, and all the condi-
tions were eminently favorable to fine
toned production.
"Ole Bull. owned violin which was com.
monty reported to have been made by Gas
paro de Salo. The history connected with
this instrument is that it had never been
played upon until it fell into the hands Of
this great artist. For more than twocenturies
it had lain in a museum, where it was re-
hgiously preserved as a monument to the
skill of the founder Of the Brescian school
for violin making. The instrument had
disappeared at the death Of Ole Bull, aud it
is believed that he parted with it during
his lifetime to some American treasure
hunter. Ny point in regard to that, as in
regard 20 the violin with which Paganini
charmed the world, is that until it fell into
the hands Of a master artist It's vibratory
M hod hoa sry,r,afrad NV