The Cremona Violin

I am perfectly convinced that there is something especially exceptional in its inner construction, and that, if I took it to pieces, a secret would be revealed to me which have long been seeking to discover, but–laugh at me if you like–this senseless thing which only gives signs of life and sound as I make it, often speaks to me in a strange way. The first time I played upon it I somehow fancied that I was only the magnetizer who has the power of moving his subject to reveal of his own accord in words the visions of his inner nature.