THE
Repairing and Restoration
of Violins,
BY
HORACE PETHERICK.
Of the Music Jury, International Inventions Exhibition, South Kensington, 1885; International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1890; Expert in Law Courts, 1891; President of the Cremona Society.
WITH FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
The proper sort of glue—Its preparation and use—Loose fingerboards—Injuries to the scroll—Insertion of fresh wood—Fracture of peg-box and shell—Worn peg-holes—Refilling or boring same—Grafting—Lengthening the neck—Treatment of worm-holes—Fixing on graft on neck—Ways of removing the upper table and the neck—Cleansing the interior—Closing of cracks in upper table—Getting parts together that apparently do not fit—Treatment of warped lower table—Repairing old end blocks by new ones—Matching wood for large cracks—Replacing lost portions—Repairs to purfling—Removal of a fixed sound-post—Fitting a fresh part of worm-eaten rib—Lining a thin back—Fixing the bar—Varnishing, etc., etc.
"The author is a man of wide experience, and with him it is a labour of love, so that few more suitable hands could be found for the task. To him fiddles are quite human in their characteristics, needing a 'physician within beck and call,' and developing symptoms capable of temporary alleviation or permanent cure, as the case may be, and no remedial measures are left undescribed."—Musical News.
"Mr. Petherick is a man of wide experience in violins, so his hints about the treatment and care of the instrument are invaluable. His imaginary interviews are both clever and amusing, and, moreover, contain useful information of what to do, and avoid, in the treatment of violins."—Hereford Times.
"THE STRAD" LIBRARY, No. XIII.
12mo., Cloth, 1.00.
THE VIOLIN:
Solo Playing, Soloists and Solos,
BY
WILLIAM HENLEY.
"Mr. William Henley is an excellent performer, and his book, 'The Violin: Solo Playing, Soloists and Solos,' is the result of considerable practice in the art he discusses.... The opening advice to violin students, the insistence on tune first and then on tone, the latter depending greatly for its excellence upon the correctness of the former, is not only worth saying, but is said well, and with conviction. Mr. Henley discriminates well between violinists: Joachim, the classic; Carrodus, the plain; Sarasate, the neat and elegant; and Wilhelmj, the fiery and bold.... The list of violin concertos, given in the last chapter but one of the book, seems a very complete one, and should be useful for purposes of reference."—The London and Provincial Music Trades Review.
"For the student whose intention it is to make the violin a means of livelihood—the professional soloist or orchestral player in embryo—this little work, written in a spirit of obvious sincerity, is well-nigh invaluable.... The chapters on 'Teaching and Studies,' 'The Artist,' 'Phrasing,' 'Conception,' and 'True Feeling,' are very well written, and the whole work is worth careful and diligent perusal."—The Musical World.
"The author of this book has thought much and deeply on the fascinating subject of which he treats, and is entitled to a hearing.... The author's remarks on 'Tone' are excellently conceived, and of no small interest, the subject being less hackneyed than that of ordinary technique. In his chapter on 'Style' he reminds the readers of the many factors which go to the making of a fine violinist, among which Style—which is the outcome of the imagination and the sensibility of the player—is one of the most important. The fine executant is common enough now-a-days, but the fine stylist as rare as ever."—Musical News.
12mo., Cloth, 1.00.
SELECTED VIOLIN SOLOS,
AND
HOW TO PLAY THEM,
BY
BASIL ALTHAUS
(Author of "Advice to Pupils and Teachers of the Violin.")
With 283 Musical Examples.
CONTENTS.
Introduction.
SECTION I.
Grade A.—Elementary Pieces.
Grade B.—Easy, not exceeding First Position.
Grade C.—Easy, using First and Third Position.
SECTION II.
Grade D.—Moderately Difficult, not exceeding the Third Position.
Grade E.—Moderately Difficult, as far as the Fifth Position.
Grade F.—Difficult, especially as regards Sentiment and
Expression.
SECTION III.
Grade G.—Difficult, using all Positions.
Grade H.—Very Difficult, including Standard Concertos and
Concert Pieces.
Grade I.—For Virtuosi.
12mo., Cloth, 1.00.
THE
VIOLIN AND ITS STORY:
OR THE
HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION
OF THE VIOLIN.
Translated and Adapted from the German of
HYACINTH ABELE
BY
GEOFFREY ALWYN.
WITH TWENTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS.
"The school of Cremona is dealt with at great length, but in the most interesting way. Short biographical sketches are given of the great exponents of this school, which was founded by Andreas Amati. To it belonged Antonio Stradivari, who is said to be the greatest of all violin makers, and Joseph Guarnerius. The pupils of the Amati and the others mentioned are duly tabulated before the schools of Milan and Venice are discussed. Following these we have the German school, etc., etc. Part III. of the book under notice deals with the constituent parts of the violin, and there is nothing that the seeker after knowledge cannot find here, even to the number of hairs which should go to the making of a bow. Strings, bridges, sound-posts, bass-bars, nuts, pegs—indeed, everything about a violin is treated in an authoritative way. Not for a very long time have we been so interested in a book, and for that reason we wish our violin players to share that pleasure by getting a copy."—The Cumnock Chronicle.
12mo., Cloth, 2.00.
JOSEPH GUARNERIUS,
HIS WORK & HIS MASTER,
BY
HORACE PETHERICK
(Of the Music Jury, International Inventions Exhibition, South Kensington,
1885; International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1890; Expert in Law
Courts, 1891; President of the Cremona Society).
With numerous Illustrations by the Author,
41 full-page Reproductions of Photographs,
AND
220 pages of Letterpress.
"Mr. Petherick is well known in the musical world as a violin expert with a special knowledge of the instruments made by the Cremonese master."—Lloyds.
This is the only exhaustive work published on JOSEPH GUARNERIUS, and the Author claims to have discovered his Teacher in Andreas Gisalberti, whose name is here mentioned for the first time as a maker of renown.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-157, FIFTH AVENUE.
FOOTNOTES:
All biographical notices of Paganini, with the exception of that in Riemann's "Dictionary of Music," give February 18th, 1784, as the date of birth. The correct date seems to have been established when the centenary celebration took place, in 1882.
[1]Anders, and others after him, give the name of the second singer as Albertinotti. No such name can be traced, and it is probable that it was the young Bertinotti, who was a juvenile prodigy, appearing in opera at the age of twelve. She sang in London about the year 1812.
[2]William Gardiner many years later spoke of the transparent delicacy of Paganini's complexion, and said of his little son Achille that he was the handsomest boy he had ever seen.
[3]Fétis calls it "Foudroyante exécution."
[4]Naumann, "History of Music," p. 1140 (English Edition.)
[5]- [6]
Cimarosa, who died in 1801, espoused the revolutionary cause when the French army entered Italy, and was imprisoned and condemned to death when the reaction came, but was restored to liberty on condition of leaving Naples. He would, naturally, have been popular with the Bonapartists, and it was rather ungenerous vanity on the part of Paganini to have exulted over this particular success.
[7]- [8]
Son of Giuseppe Dana, of Naples?
[9]- [10]
With the exception of a Literary Supplement to the "New Musical and Universal Magazine," 1774, there was no publication devoted to Music until the year 1818, when "The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review" appeared, edited by Robert Mackenzie Bacon. This was followed in 1823 by "The Harmonicon," edited by William Ayrton.
[11]- [12]
Where Beethoven gave his concerts in 1814.
[13]The writer's memory played him false. The meeting with Lafont took place in 1816; or, according to some, in 1812!
[14]This letter was reproduced in the "Harmonicon."
[15]Lady Morgan, in her book, "France in 1829-30," gives an account of the Giraffe just then arrived in Paris. The animal was added to the collection in the London Zoological Gardens in 1836.
[16]Litterateur, of Vienna: writer of comedies, etc.
[17]This letter was published in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review.
[18]Addressed to Le Corsaire, and reproduced (in English) in The Globe.
[19]An allusion to Michael Boai, whose performances in London, in 1830, were of a curious description,—producing tones by merely striking his chin!
[20]The Dilettante, in The Harmonicon, VIII, 479.
[21]- [22]
- [23]
At that time concert givers always engaged an orchestra, but the gigantic combinations of the present day were, of course, unknown, and unnecessary.
[24]Chorley, then living in Liverpool, had previously sent some short pieces in verse to that paper, but did not become a member of its staff until 1833.
[25]"Reminiscences," by Thomas Carlyle, I., 311.
[26]Which resulted in the Symphony, "Harold in Italy," with a solo part for the viola.
[27]The spelling betrays an ignorance of the instrument, though the writer must have been Chorley himself. Interest in those antique instruments had not then been revived, nor were there artists to play upon them.
[28]- [29]
The Athenæum puts the amount at 52,000 francs.
[30]In the Musical World of February 16th, 1843, there is a paragraph stating that Paganini's remains were still unsepulchred, the corpse lying in an uninhabited house.
[31]Life of Moscheles (English Edition), I., p. 252-7.
[32]Duranowski, a talented Polish violinist. He entered the French army and was aide-de-camp to a General. He lost his rank when released; returned to his violin, and was living at Strassburg up to 1834.
[33]An engraving of it is in Naumann's "History of Music" (English Edition), p. 255.
[34]- [35]
In the "Bow Bell's Annual" for 1878 (?)
[36]Little is now known of this artist. He married Veronica, sister of the pianist and composer J. L. Dussek, and was the father of Pio Cianchettini, composer, who died at Cheltenham in 1851.
[37]Berlioz was then thirty-five, Paganini, fifty-six years of age.
[38]Aus dem Tonleben unserer Zeit, Vol. II., p. 55.
[39]- [40]
Life and Letters of Sir Charles Hallé, p. 69.
[41]The last words of Liszt's article "Sur Paganini, A Propos de Sa Mort," published in the "Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris," December 23, 1840.
[42]Franz Liszt, Artist and Man, Vol. I., pp. 258-65.
[43]Karl Michael Esser, born about 1736, date of death unknown.
[44]In the Tonic Sol-fa method great stress is laid upon the mental effect of each note of the scale, altogether apart from pitch.
[45]Life of Mozart, Otto Jhan, English Edition, I., 319.
[46]In 1883, several musical papers stated that a certain amateur collector of violins, during a tour in Italy, visited the little Sardinian village, Ameglia, and purchased a collection of instruments used by Paganini, which were at that time in the possession of the widow of L. M. Germi, the intimate friend of Paganini. The said amateur also became possessed of "the secret," but what he did with it has never transpired.
[47]Born at Mantua, 1798; died at Paris, 1834.
[48]"The Violin," by George Hart. Popular Edition, 1880, p. 202.
[49]It is strange that the Biographical Dictionaries are silent concerning Oury, who must have been a man of some note. He is merely named as the husband of Anna Caroline de Belleville, the once famous pianist (1806-1880), who made her début in London at a Paganini concert in 1831.
[50]The Story of the Violin by Paul Stoeving, p. 208.
[51]- [52]
Carl F. W. Guhr, born at Militsch, Silesia, October 30th, 1787, violinist, pianist and composer, became Director of the Museum Concerts and Conductor of the Opera at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in which city he died July 22nd, 1848.
[53]Mrs. Tom Taylor (née Laura Wilson Barker) was a fine musician, a composer, and almost phenomenal performer on the pianoforte and the violin. She played with both Spohr and Paganini, and took down this set of variations after hearing Paganini play them twice. She died at Coleshill, Bucks, May 22nd, 1905, at the advanced age of eighty-six.
[54]Gustavo Carulli was the son of the celebrated guitarrist, Ferdinando Carulli, and was born at Leghorn in 1801.
[55]They were performed at the private quartet concerts given by Mr. Burnett in the Art Club, Blackheath, from about the year 1893 onward.
[56]The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, Vol. X., p. 205.
[57]Reproduced on page 144.
[58]The Musical Times, May 1st, 1886.
[59]
Transcriber's Notes
"Nicolò" and "Nicolo" were both used in the text. Many other variant and alternative spellings have been preserved, except where obviously misspelled in the original. Obvious punctuation errors have also been corrected.
The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the location of an illustration may not match the references to it in the text.
The printed text was followed by two series of advertisements. The first series was reproduced in the second, except with American rather than British pricing. The first series bore a header "Advertisements." on each page; this has been replaced by a heading preceding the advertisements. Only the second series had page numbers.