Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-19


I'M IN perfection over 100 years ago,
Ia VI has not only failed to i'm
lpA Nkal prove, but has descended
lSzzAS1Al from an art to an industry,
from being the work of a master hand
to that of a machine. Hundreds of
thousands of instruments are now
turned out by machinery many of
which are later sold as "one of the
few remaining Strads." With the aid
| of carefully copied label and the
powers of eloquence and persuasion,
the gullible collector or the amateur
is continually taken in by these frauds.
Although it is claimed by many that
there are no good violin makers in
America, there have been a few who,
both in Europe and this country, have
been recognized as being among the
most scientific makers who ever lived.
One of these was George Gemunder
of Astoria, N. Y, who died few years
ago and whose son now ranks almost
as high as his father.
Violin making has never reached the
point of being an industry In the
United States. What instruments are
made here are for what might be
termed select buyers, and in the ma
jority of cases these bring good prices
There are practically no factories
which are devoted solely to the making
of Violins and few that turn out any
large number. However, the country
is full of amateurs, expert repairers
and others who make Violins. There
are several amateurs in Portland, Ore,
who have produced specimens that
have been favorably commented upon
by judges.
1t is said that the principal reason
for the lack of violin factories in this
country is the poor scale of wages
paid here. also the cheapness of the
German instruments. Although the
duty on these articles is As per cent,
they can nevertheless be imported into
this country and sold for less than it
would be possible to make them here.
But the United States has improved
in string making until today it stands
as a powerful rival to Europe in this
matter. Chicago, the great place of
slaughter, is where the best strings
are made.
1t was about the year 1860 when the
secret of the famous Italian varnish
was supposed to have been lost, and
along with it the varniSh itself rms
varnish, which it is believed gave the
violins what is known as the "ltallan
tone" recognized as the finest, has
been the object of constant search by
violinists and has been the means OF
keeping numberless chemists awake
nights in an attempt to rediscover it.
Time after time q hue and cry mas
been raised by some one who CLAIMED
to have found the cherished article
but always with the same result
failure.
The most recent instance of this, SO
far as is known, is the varnlsh ais-
covered by wealthy violin collector III
Baltimore. This varnish has beeh eN-
perimented with, and instruments,
which were once harsh nave beeh
The the
orv of its discoverer is that 1t is the ex-
pensive varnish formerly used on the
pondolas of Venice. After the law was
nassed decreeing that all gondolas
should be painted black the demand TOT
the magic Varnish fell off anu It's Sc
cret perished. A tradition in Venice
says that in reply to solicitations on tl,e
subject a Venitian varnish dealer salo;
MY supply is exhausted, l Know not
what it is nor where it came from.
Whatever the cause may nave peen,
all those violins made by the Italian
makers have since about the beginning
of the eighteenth century gradually rls
en- in value until today they are almost
priceless. One made by Joseph Guar
nerius was sold in New York a few
wears ago for the record price of $l2,000,
while a. Stradivarius brought $l5000.
1t is claimed that there have been Vlo-
Inns made by StradivariuS Whlch nave
sold in Europe for as hlgh as Szz'ooo,
and that S25, 900 has been refused for
great snecimens of this masters work.
Violins made by these two masters
which were bought for $2500 thirty
years ago now bring from $4,000 to $lO,-
600 each.
It is estimated that Stradivarius
made over two thousand instruments
during his lifetime, which he used to
sell for 500 apiece At that rate the
Instruments aggregated the sum of
900, an amount which would not
huy more than three of them today.
These violns have been given the high
est place among their kind, and have
been used by many of the worlds
greatest performers.
The habit of violin collecting is stead
lily growing. 1t is claimed that the ma
tority of the best specimens of ltaly's
art in this line areFnow in the posses
sion of English, French and American
aoIioo+orc and that in ItalV itself there