The Republican journal., 1917-06-28
A VARNISH PUZZLE
The Lost Secret of the Ud Time
Makers of VioIinS.
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.


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 Wurlitzer and play
| ed on a Ruggiero, 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 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 well 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-
I 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 good violin
is the varnish And does the quality
of the lost varniSh mean that the old
makers We're 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 300 years
hence no one will be able to supply the
! shellac varnish that can be found i'll
any painters supply shop today. And
yet this is what has happened to the
varnish used 10y the Cremona makers.
it has simply been forgotten: that is
all 1t was no secret few hundred
wears ago. We find chairs. tables, cab
inets and hedsteals of the period GOV
cred with the golden, lustrous vafniSh
of Anati and Stradivari.
The old violin makers used it because
| it was cheap and easy to procure. 1t
| 70 Of IN
sixteenth century because it 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 EarniSh which
was used by the whole Italian nation
for two centuries is now an unknown
mixture of mysteries.
Whence came the gums and oils of
the old italian varnish? We have rea-
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 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 171S Venice, by the peace
Of Passarowitz, abdicated her rank in
| Europe, became 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
err 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
years for the newly discovered process
of making the much more durable and
glossy copal varnish. That was the
finish of the old italian varnish, wrong
ly called "Crenona" varnish.
If the secret or lost process of the old
sarnish makers could be discovered we
believe that Guarnerius and Stradiva-
RUS and all the rest of them would
lose the title Of geniuses they have so
long enjoyed and be considered merely
good workmen. 1t is as difficult today
to make chair and cover it with the
mysterious varnish as it is to reproduce
the famous old violins.