Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-09-19

That Keeps Them From Surprising
tho Work Of the Ancient Masters-
There must be thousands who Won
der why modern manufacturers cannot
reproduce the valuable old violins we
read so much about. says the Musical
Courier. When Ysaye recently inspect
ed the wonderful collection Of violins
owned by Rudolph Wurlitxer and play
cd on Rusgiero. a Stradivarius. a
Guarnerius. an Amati- and SO ON. some
Of our readers may have asked why
American makers do not copy those
old masters. We reply that every de-
tail OF the great Italian makers has
been studied for more than 100 years.
We have discovered every secret Of
the old masters except the recipe for
their varuish That is the mystery.
surely" claim some of our readers.
this il secondary consideration. Ii
you have good wood well put together
you must have good violin. no mat
ter what the varnish is"' We shall
see Hills OF London. the well known
violin experts and makers. In the book
Antonio Stradivari-His Life and
Works. say:
Though the wood and also constric-
ton and dimensions be perfect. the re-
suit win be astonishingly bad II the
instrument be badly Vanished. Hence
we are disposed to classify the reIa-
tive importance OF material. dimen-
sions and constructions and varnish ns
follows. First, varnish: second, con-
struction aud dimensions: third. mate
rial
SO here we have an acknowledged
authority stating that the most impor-
tant factor In the tone OF good violin
Is the varnish And does the quality
of the lost varnish mean that the old
makers were men of geriusf Not a
bit OF H. Apparently they were just
good workmen whose product could be
equaled today In any civilized country
IL the varnish could be discovered.
That this secret should be lost Is one
of the amazing facts OF history. 1t Is
uncomfortable to us that 200 years
hence no one viii be able TO supply the
shellac varnish that can be found In
any painters supply shop today. And
yet this Is what has happened 10 the
varnish used by the Cremona makers.
II has simply been forgotten: that Is
all II was no secret few hundred
years ago. We find chairs, tables. cab
incts and bedsteads Of the period COW
cred with the golden. lustrous varnish
OF Amati and Stradivari.
The old violin makers used II because
II was cheap and easy TO procure. It
began to go out Of general use In the
sixteenth century because II was found
to be too soft for the wear aud tear OF
furniture. II was still used by the yio-
lin makers however. none OF whom
seems 10 have left the recipe. Perhaps
they did not know IT, The average
cablnetmaker today need not know
how to make the varnish he buys by
the gallon Thus the varIIish which
was used by the whole Italian nation
for two centuries IL now an unknown
mixture OF mysteries.
Whence came the gums and oils of
tjt 6lu flbfiitf " y hhfN sN*s-
son for believing that they We're not
Indigenous To the Italian soil. We
know that much of the maple used by
the violin makers of the day came
from Turkey. Stradavari often used
the straight grained maple OF the ltal-
ian Alps for his cheaper instruments.
For his wealthy patrons he used n
beautiful curly maple that came from
Turkey Why from Turkey The rea-
son is obvious Venice and Genoa held
command of the eastern trade OF Italy.
1t was, cheaper 10 import maple TO
Venice by sea than to carry ii over.
land from northern Italy. But when
the Venetian oar makers came across a
pie Of maple too curly to be strong
e..oaeh they sold II 10 the violin max
ers The beautiful backs Of the best
Straaiyarius violinS. therefore are
made From wood that the oar makers
rejected
Now. II the gums and oils Of the old
yarn:sh came from the orient IL would
hecome more and more difficult 10 pro-
cure them In proportion as the vene-
tan trade diminished. History confirms
this theory. The Turks waged a war
against the opulent and powerful re-
public Of Venice from 1915 TO 1869. For
the first thirteen years of the eighteenth
century Venice had certain amount of
peace But In IT'S Venice. by the peace
NJ Passarowitx. abdicated her rank In
Europe. became aolentity In politics
and saw her trade begin to dwindle.
Venice. the former mighty queen OF the
Adriatic. last her great oriental trade.
Is it any wonder that the oriental
gums should disappear from her i'm
Oo-ts when the cabinetmakers no long
er used them? The little that the violin
makers needed was too small to keep
the trade alive. Then In 17J0 patent
was given by the king OF France to ST.
mon Martin for period Of twenty-five
years for the newly discovered process
Of making the much more durable and