Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE VIOLIN The violin, as already intimated, may have had its origin from several instruments, ? the rebab of Arabia, the ravonastron of India, the crwth of early Wales, or the crude instruments of Africa. Its use by the troubadours, in the form of a fiddle (fidicula, string instrument), gave rise to the viols, which in their turn were replaced by the violin in its present form. Among the earliest of the famous makers of this instrument were the Amati family, who flourished in Cremona. Andrea, the pioneer, was born in 1520. His two sons, Antonio and Geronimo, continued their father’s work, but it was under the hand of Niccolo, son of Geronimo, that the Amati violins reached their greatest development. Still more nearly perfect did the instrument become through the work of Niccolo’s pupil Antonio Stradivarius (1650-1737), the greatest of all violin-makers. Another famous family was that of Guarnerius, of whom Joseph (1683-1745), surnamed Del Jesu, grew renowned because one of his instruments was used by the great Paganini. The worth of these old instruments came partly from the care exercised in obtaining the proper model, the use of thoroughly seasoned wood, and the employment of a special kind of varnish; but their excellence is due largely to their age, for the constant use of a violin tends to set its material so that it will respond more readily to vibrations, and give a richer, mellower tone. That age is not the only requisite, however, is proved by the worth of some modern instruments, such as those of Vuillaume in Paris, and Gemun- der in New York. It is said that some of Gemunder’s violins, when exhibited in Germany, were refused a medal because their fulness of tone made the judges think that they were old violins marked over for the occasion. The…
