Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-06-28
A VAni,ISi| PUZZLE
The Lost Secret of the Old Time
Makers of ViolinS.
1T MAY NEVER BE DISCLOSED,

This Amazing Mystery, That Defies the
Modern Experts, Is the One Thing
That Keeps Them From Surprising
the 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 yiolins
owned by Rudolph Wurlitzer and play
ed ON a Ruggiero, a Stradiyarius, 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 varnish. That is the mystery.
Surely" claim some of our readers,
"this is a secondary consideration. If
you have good wood well put together
you must have a good VIOLIN no mat
ter what the varnish is!' We shall
see. Hills Of London, the we'll known
violin experts and makers, in the book
Antonio Stradivari-His Life and
Works." say:
Though the wood and also construc-
ton and dimensions be perfect, the re-
suit will be astonishingly bad if the
instrument be badly vanished. Hence
we are disposed to classify the rela-
tive Importance of material, dimen-
sions and constructions and varnish as
follows: First, varnish; second, con-
! structiOn and dimensions; third, mate
rial"
/ So here we have an acknowledged
authority stating that the most impor
tant factor in the tone Of a good violin
is the varnish. And does the quality
of the lost varnish mean that the old
makers were men Of genius? Not a
bit of it. Apparently they were just
good workmen whose product could be
equaled today in any civilized country
if 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 will be able to supply the
shellac varnish that can be found in
any painters supply shop today. And
vet this is what has happened to the
! varnish used by the Cremona makers.
it has simply been forgotten; that is
ALL It was no secret a few hundred
years ago. We find chairs, tables, cab
inets and bedsteads Of the period COW
cred with the golden, lustrous varnish
of Amati and Stradivari.
The old violin makers used it because
it was cheap and easy to procure. 1t
began to 60 out Of general use in the
sixteenth century because 1t was found
to be too soft for the wear and tear of
furniture. 1t was still used by the VIC
lin makers, however, none of whom
seems to have left the recipe. Perhaps
they did not know it. The average
cabinetmaker today need not know
how to make the varnish he buys by
the gallon. Thus the varnish which
was used by the whole Italian nation
mixture of mysteries.
Whence came the gums and oils of
the old Italian varnish? We have rea-
son for believing that they were 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 1tal-
ian Alps for his cheaper instruments.
For his wealthy patrons he used
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 to import maple to
Venice by sea than to carry it over
land from northern Italy But when
the Venetian oar makers came across
piece of maple too curly to be strong
enough they sold it to the violin max
ers. The beautiful backs of the best
Stradivarius violins, therefore, are
made from wood that the oar makers
rejected.
Now, if the gums and oils of the old
varnish came from the orient it would
become more and more difficult to pro-
cure them in proportion as the Vene-
tan trade diminished. History confirms
this theory. The Turks waged 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 a certain amount Of
peace But in 1718 Venice, by the peace
Of Passarowitz, abdicated her rank in
Europe, became a nonentity in politics
and saw her trade begin to dwindle.
Venice, the former mighty queen of the
Adriatic, lost her great oriental trade.
Is it any wonder that the oriental
gums should disappear from her i'm
ports 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 1850 patent |
was given by the king Of France to ST.
mon Martin for period of twenty-five |