The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-08-08
ii z PUZZLE
The Lost Secret of the Old Time
Makers of Vid1s.
iT MAY NEVER BE DISCLOSED.

iii May NEVER BE DISCLOSED.
.This Amazing Mystery, That Defies the
Mo6srn Experts, 10 the One Thing
II That, Keeps Thorn From Surprising
/ The Work Of the Ancient Masters.
There must be thousands who won
,oder Why modern manufacturers cannot
,lHeproduce 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 RNdolph Wurutzer and play
ed on Ruggiero, Stradivarius,
Guarnerius, an Amati, and so Oh, some
OF our readers may have asked why
y 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
tho old masters except the recipe for
their varnish That is the mystery.
Surely" claim some Of our readers,
this is q secondary consideration. If
you have good wood well put together
you must have good violin, NO mat
4 ter what the varnish ISL We shall
zee. Hills Of London, the well known
violin experts and makers, in the book
Antonio stradivari@73His Life and
I Works." say: 90 - s'l'"' a.
Though the wood and also construc-
ton and dimensions be perfect, the re-
sult viii be 7ANa.9hishl4gly bad If the
ihstiaaamnnssnatn be Badly yairnished. = Hence
We are dHIpdsedd Il classify the rela-
tive inlp599r4faMnacee OF material, dimen-
sions and Constructions and yarnish as
follows: First, varnish; second, con-
Gtrnction and dimensions; third, mate
rial" Es .5''..-- ...' =. :
s. here we have an acknowledged
authority stating that the most impor-
tant factor in the tone Of good violin
1s the varnish. And does the quality
Of the lost varnish mean that the old
makers were men Of genius? Not
BIT OF It. Apparently they were just
good workmen whose product could be
eaualed today In any, civilized country
II the yarnish could be discovered.
That this secret should he lost is one
Of the amazing facts Of history. 1t is
uncomfortable to us that 200 years
hence no one will De able to supply the
shellac varnish that can be found IN
any painters supply shop today. And
yet this IL what has happened to the
varnish used by the Cremona makers
IL has simply been forgotten; that Is
all. It was no secret q few hundred
years ago. We find chairs, tables, CAB
inets and bedsteads Of the period COW
cred with the golden, lustrous varnlsh
-ee AHaatauas4u Stradivari.
The old violin makers used 1t because
II was cheap and easy to procure cur !, II
began to 60 out of general use IN the l
sixteenth century because it was found
to be too soft for the wear and tear OF
furniture. It was still used by the v1o-
lin makers, however, none Of whom
seems to have left the recipe. Perhaps
they did not know It. The average
cabinetmaker today need not kno"
how to make the varnish he buys py
the gallon. Thus theSvarnish when
was used by the whole 1talian nation
for two centuries is now an unknown
mixture of mysteries. .
whence came the gums and 'dhs OF
the old Italian varnish? We have fea-
son for believing that they were not
INDIGENOUS to the Italian soil. we
4 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 Ital-
/ lam Alps for his cheaper instruments
Tor his wealthy patrons he used a
beautiful curly maple that came from
turkey. Why from Turkesaa s#he :rea
son IL obvious Venice and GenoasheAu
command OF tha eastern trade Of ltalY.
II was:-rheapfflto- import .paple 70
Venice by seal than to carry ittoyeerr'
lind from northern italy But when
t3e venetiaT ShF makers came across a a
niece Of msapi,ad tee curly ODE strong
ekough they sold It to the violin max
81. . The beautiful backs Of the best
stradivarius violins, therefore. are
made from wood that the oar makers
! rejected.
Now, II the gums and oils Of the OLD
yarnish came from the orient 1t would
become more and more difficult to pro-
cure them in proportion as the Vene-
tian trade diminished. History confirms
this theory. The Turks waged war
axainst the opulent and powerful re-
public Of Venice from 1645 to 1869. For
I the first thirteen years Of the eighteenth
century Venice had certain amount OF
peace. But in 1718 Venice, by the peace
81 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.
lis It any wonder that the oriental
Sims should disappear from her I'M
pbrts when the cabinetmakers no long
ek used them? The little that the violin
makers needed was too small to keep
tie trade alive. Then in 1850 patent
Was given by the king Of France to 81