The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-19
SECRET Of SIRAD|VAR|DS
SAN FRANCISCO MAN SAYS HE HAS
DISCOVERED 1T BEYOND
QUESTION
THE RESULTS BEAR HIM OUT
Musical World May Have Reason
to Make Obeisance to GrizxIed,
CIear-Eyed OraziO
RATA.

When he crossed the Alps end led his
conquerlng no is down INTO Italy, Ma
poleon killed the art Of vio.inmaking He
ud 1t by building a wagon road.
5eIore that date all of the grand in
Struments of the world were made. since
then not one worthy to be compared
with those of old Stradivarius. Amati.
Bergonzi or Stainer. Ask any man wise
an the lore of the king Of inst uuents
ana he will assure yoI, with a sigh. that
nominating IS a lost ALTHOUGH 'fd-
dles' are still made b. the thousand-alI
but one man. He will tell you, LOS
yes-once, but rediscovered Napoleon
took the violin from the world-yes.
give 1t back to the world. A thousand
artisans have sought the secret, but for
precisely a hundred years the Sphinx has
not spoken. For tEfrcy-five years l have
studied, dreamed, tried experiments Now
have overthrown Napoleon. I have
discovered the lost art of making the
Stradivarius violin"
This interesting discovs rer is a San
franciscan. IN a tiny basement shop in
a back yard of Ellis street he has been
quietly working out his problem If he
has succeeded the musical world will
have reason to make obeisance to gr1z-
zled, clear-eyed Orazio Raffa. If he has
failed the small army of violin cranks
In San Francisco who have heard of his
new product VIII need to take refuge be-
hind the somewhat equivocal statement
that the old fellows fiddle is not as
good as it sounds" For be it known.
that when violin crank learns to love
real old Italian box he loves as loved
Romeo or Zaza: and when that instru-
ment happens to be a genuine old
'Strad" valued at $500 teams Of ele-
plants could scarcely draw from him the
confession that the other fellows violin
was fit to be mentioned in the same
week with his. But here comes Tick
ner who actually admits that this new
fiddle, all unvarnished and with the que
hardly dry, equals, and for both mellow
ness and sustained carrying power pos
sibly surDasses, his Cwn beloved two
hundred-year-old "Stradl" And after
hearing it sing and cackle, and thunder
and wall, and all but talk, 1t is not 50
easy to remain a doubling Thomas.
low did he do It?
Comparatively few Of the many hun
dreds Of violin votar;es Of San Francisco
know Of the lonely genius quietly but
eagerly at work in his retired den. Day
after day he sits shaping his magic
curves. each one, to him a prophecy
Inquiry among various violin makers
reveals the fact that they regard predic-
ton as to the tone qualities, before the
instrument is completes, as impossible.
And yet this man is said to have accur-
ately predicted the exact quality Of ev-
cry violin he has made as he shaped it.
'"'his one will be adapted to strong or
chestral work; that one for solos; that
will be sweet and mellow, another a clear
soprano" and so on.
The other day the leader of a prom
inent minstrel troupe dropped in to have
his violin repaired. He was asked to tyy
one Of the new instruments
New hddleS sound fiat and wood"
he objected. 80 don't to waste anY
time on them"
Being finally induced to play an air on
one Of them. he held it off at arms
length after the first bar or two
''Sav. ms is no new fiddle" he insist
ed. That's hundred years old if it's
Not until after he had tested two or
three more Of the new wonders did he
give in. That beats me-! he admitted.
''rhese are brand new Violins with old,
Old tones. How did you do it?"
Il viii tell YOU my secret-or the great
q part of it, Raffa sa d. as he ceased
gouging chips from the belly Of a new
creation Il am no miser-I DO not Seek
to control this discovery. 1t has taken
thirty-fve years of research. much close
study and many trips to ItalV, but the
Information which have at last acQu red
belongs to the musical world. It is enough
10 be able to give this discovery to the
Key to the methods of Stradivarins and
the other old masters he explained. "In-
deed, I know it. Every fresh applic'-
L
brings the predicted result.
''Thirty-five years ago I studied music
with Patti and even essayed an i'm
portant role with her on the operatic
stage. but stage fright was my undoing
as a vocalist. The PATHS and I have
oeen the closest friends for many year.
and it was her brother Carlo our vocal
teacher and eminent violinist who first
got me interested in importing and study
ing old Italian violins.
THESE imported Violips were inferior
looking. worn and i'll finished yet such
men as Theodore Thomas and my friends
7Arditi and Remenyi, purchased at
and studying. I could not find any mod
ed. that sold for any such prices. I
constructing really first-clas instru-
ments I resolved to rediscover that art
For thirty-ive years I studied and
trips across the ocean to Italy There in
the workshops of Cremona and among
the Woodworkers of the Alps, I learned
all that was to be learned which wa s
not much, excepting how to make the
soulless thing. Still searched for the
soul Fuew it ev'st'd snd I felt sure
II does not depend on exquisite workman
shin no. vet upon the shave or pattern.
decided then that it must be chiefly
IL Il IN. me wood Then 1t was that I began
and of the sycamore. curly maple and
AIpne pine in particular. as used by the
II found that all the grand old viol;os
OF JED and 200 years ago had been made
from wood cut in the Alps. Prior to the
invasion OF Napoleon there had been no
wagon roads. Consequently the green
legs mad been shot down the mountain
side in long chutes into mounta' n strea m :
and thence doated downward to the Riv-
or Po. | noted, as a significant cjrourr-
stance that all the good violins had hean
uaco in CremOna and towns situated an
the banks of the Pc river The fact thot
Instruments made in cities away from
the river were always inferior in +onn
srtck me as being most peculiar CIR
cumstance. What had the watey 70 do
With the resonance of the wood
4 remembered how the only p-raa+ Viz
nnIIaher outside OF Italy had been s7dfv
puHZIeu over the same phenomenon p;0
years ago. Jacob Stainer had eoaS
nome up IN the Tyrol but it was NOT mr.
III ne made pilgrimage TO Cremona ana
used the wood from the Po that he mado
4iS [TdiiT great INSTRUMENTS. such as the
I3mous 'l;lector Stainers. Leaving r aIv
AFTER having, as he thought mastered ~,
the secrets Of the great italian rnaete,
ne returned to his Tvrolese mountains
Ho cut his own Anime trees for -, =
bellies his own curly maple +raos &c
the backs selecting the choicest UoodS
anG preparing them exactly as had b.,
masters on the River Pc. But his v,9nd
YVES not sent down the mountain tbro,,o,b
a dumc into river It was mereiv wv Gri s
ana seasoned as wood is to this dav tbe
world ever. To his chagrin not a GOOD
Nloiln could he make in the Tvrol Re-
Ieclantly, he withdrew from 'das Water
land 10 Cremona. Italy, where again no
created masterpieces. Why he co1,Id not
turn out chef douvrcs elsewhere than ~
Ihe Pivcr Pc, Jacob Stainer never lrnayv
re HlII without knowing the real sec-et
o. making the best vi0i!nS-as have 6iei
StfadiNariUs. Amati and the other i1dIo
Kings. They did not know the secret ~