The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-29


 attached They are usually better il
 tone than in looks.
 Most of the genuine old vlolins to be
 met with, however, are of the cheaI
 grades which have been made in France
 and Germany for the past 150 or 200
 years. German violins, made in Sax
 ony Tyrolean violins, made in the Al
 pine region, and French instruments
 made in the Vosges, from the bulk ot
 such instruments. These violins have
 no art value whatever, and the only
 thing that recommends them at all Is
 the fact that age has softened their
 tones, so that they have the so-called l smooth old tone, although it is not of T line quality Such instruments usually pass for fine old violins but they are
 far from it. In the first place the wood
 employed in their construction was not
 selected with any care, but bought by
 the cord, and thus the very first essen
 tial of a good violin was wanting. That
 these instruments were originally made
 to sell,a not for any musical quality
 which they might be supposed to pos
 sess, is shown by the fact that many
 of them present a very fair appear
 ance on the outside, but the interior, ! which Is hidden from sight, Is left al-
 most untouched by the violin-maker' S i tools except for rough following out
 of the wood with gouges. The work ' of repair which is necessary on 9 vio
 lin of this kind costs from $12 to $2E, and the repaired instruments b Auzz from $30 to $100 depending on their ap- i pearance, the quality of tone and the eagerness of the purchaser.
 In buying anold violin, a purchaser pays dearly for name, just as he would in any other line of art, And here is just wherein a buyer of a vio- lin is apt to make a mistake in relying too much upon name. It Is only the connolsseur of very great experience who can call a violin inteligently by name-(that is, who can infallibly recognize the instruments of individual makers. Personally, I have never hap pened to meet either among collectors or musicians a connoisseur who had the knowledge which enabled him to identify the instruments of any great number of makers.
 There has been so much jugglery of makers labels which are usually past ed on the inside of vlolins, that the best judges never pay any attention to these labels in identifying individual instru- ments. After person has passed judg- ment on the make of a violin, it Is al ways a matter of interest to see if the label corroborates this judgment Many labels are deliberately forged, being very exact copies of the originals, and given an appearance of age to aid in the deception. Frequently genuine la bels are taken from the instruments to which they belong and are inserted in inferior instrument, which thus acquire a higher character in the eyes of those persons who judge of violin by it's la bel NY9
 Nine tenths of all the violins which have been made within the past 100 years and which are still being made, come from the neighborhod of Markneu- or Mittenwald in Germany, or Mirecourt in France. One factory in the latter town sends out 10000 instru- ments a year. Most of these violins bear the same relation to the really fine instruments by good makers and chromcs bear to- the paintings of great | artists. It is said that near Mark there are about 30,000 peo- | pie who are dependent on the violin in- l dustry, and the majority of the cheap | vioins come from there.
 The question arises as to the kinds of | violins made in America, and the an- swer Is that, while a few instruments are made here, and they range in ex- from the toy violin whittled put of common wood with a jack-knife, by many persons who have no knowl- edge of the art, up to the finest produc- lions of modern times, yet these Amer can-made violins are relatively few in number, and probably not two in 800 If the instruments sold In this country were made here.
 For 100 years the self-taught Ameri- ,an violin maker has been at work, but most of his productions have been but mediocre, and, so far as appearance goes, vastly inferior to the instruments produced in the great violin-making enters of Europe, where the traditions if the art have been transmitted through successive generations.
 Some of these violins of uninstructed American authorship have the advan- age that they have been made of we'll elected old wood and have been as well inished inside as out so that they ound better than they look. They are, however, most wofully lacking in just hose points which add so much to the eauty ana gracefulness of the violin amely, the shape of the curved sound oles and the inaying and bevel on the dge of the body of the instrument A ew of our native makers have made instruments of good and, in perhaps wo or three cases, of exquisite work 1anshp. Not many such have been 1ade, however, and they have usually assed directly from the makers into he purchasers hands, so that they ave not figured to any extent in the iolin trade in this country. There have, however, settled in the 'nited States many German and few 'ngllsh violin makers, some of them len of the very highest ability, who :, ave brought with them the best Euro can traditions of the art of violin laking Two or three of these artists ave produced some violins which have cen pronunced by excellent judges to ? unsurpassed by new instruments of ny other modern makers One thing hich has been detrimental to the pro- lction of many fin eviolins in the Uni d States is the fact that the good akers are good repairers of old rin-