El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-16

American collectors, and that IN Italy
itself there are practically none
AS for the habit itself 1T is said
20 have been begun by a strange ItaI-
ian, Luigi Tarisio, who, in the begin
ming of the eighties. secured the towns
and villages of Italy, and succeeded In
obtaining a large number of instru-
ments OF the best makes, which he
brought to- England. These gradually
, found their way into the hands Of other
| collectors
One of the last remaining strongholds
of the handmade violin is to be found
in the little village of Observation-Disclosures
| in Saxony. Here generations of vio-
lin makers have been at work, and
those of today use the same benches
and live in the same houses as did their
ancestors. Here. is to be found the
modern Stradivarius," the best maker
! there. who has received a decoration
| from the. king of Saxony-
Inaccessible and quaint as it is, Mark
/ neukirchen is in some respects modern.
A large business is done with the out
] side world, and many dealers partly
supply their market from this source
| Other marks Of progress which are
manifested are the reading of American
| technical journals, and the rendition
of Sousa's compositions by the sundry
bands which the town affords
Mechanical ViOIins.
There are performers who enjoy do
ing stunts on the violin. Two COM
positions which lend themselves 10 this
are Paganini's Motto Perpetuo" and
Mozart's Overture from his Figaro.
In the former the player is called upon
to read considerably over 5000 notes,
feat which has been done in about
three minutes and a half At a per-
Torrance Of the Scots Guard, under the
leadership of F. W. Wood. the latter
piece, equally difficult as the first, was
played in second or two under three
minutes and a half, and reported to
have been beautifully executed.
recent invention brings the vio-
lin within the class of the piano, in
asmuch as that instrument lends itself
to mechanical playing. This mechan-
ical device was put on exhibition in
England, and is reputed TO have given
wonderful results, the playing being
equal TO that Of a master musician.
The invention is an arrangement
whereby the fingers OF the player are
supplanted by a mechanical agency,
which in turn is run by electric mo-
tors driven by batteries. The result
not only is equal to human ability, but
beyond it, as both duets and quartets
can be rendered, all four of the strings
chanism IS the result Of several years
experiment and scientific research
scientific Violin"
London scientist and inventor has
made what he calls a scientific viO-
lin" Instead of the usual sounding
board there is substituted a metal
trumpet, or resonator. and a diaphragm
Of aluminium. The idea in doing away
with the wooden sounding board, and
- 4o1 70 49, or
an instrument which would be equal
to those Of Amati and Stradivarius-
This means of attempting that end has,
to all reports, never been tried before,
as the sounding board was the one fea-
ture which received the greatest at
tention, especially from the Italian
makers.
Not having improved for over 100
years, the violin at the present time
IS composed of the same number of
parts as in the time of Stradivarius.
There are 40 in all. only two of which.
the strings and loop. are of any other
material than wood. The greatest bow
maker used to select his material from
billets of dye wood shipped from Bra
zil. Sometimes il was necessary to go
through eight or 10 tons Of this wood
before a few suitable pieces were
found. The hair used in a bow is an
OIneT point OF interest," Inc present
number used in a French bow ranges
from rs to $50.
Curious Instruments.
A curious instrument was completed
not long ago 1t was made entirely
Of white brentwood toothpicks, OF which
there were 1874 used. Thomas Akin
son, of Greensboro, Indiana, is its ma
ker and he spent over a year in the
operation Violinists have experiment
ed on the instrument, and they say that
it is not only a curiousity but an ex-
ceptionally good violin.
A Canadian recently has invented a
new head for the violin, the idea being
to arrange it so that the player can
string his instrument without loss of
time. The pegs on which the strings
are frightened are removable, and can
be removed without detaching the
string.
1t is the inventors plan TO furnish
additional pegs with the strings at
tached. 1t Is claimed that removing
the old string, putting In a new one.
and tuning. consumes but 10 seconds,
and can be accomplished in the dark.
TomOrrOW-LaWS Of the Sea