It has often occurred to me that violin players of all kinds find fault
when the strings are not arranged in the manner to which they are
accustomed, and almost every one believes his method to be correct. This
subject shall be discussed here, so that a clearer insight may be
obtained and the correct method ascertained.
There are violin players who have a greatly arched bridge, and others a
very flat one, on their instruments. The latter, therefore, more than
the former, have the advantage of being able to play on all violins,
because they are accustomed to a bridge which is flatter. These
different methods mostly arise from the different arrangements of the
violins upon which pupils learn to play.
Ole Bull was an exception to this rule; with him it was not chance; of
all violin players he used the flattest bridge on his violin; but it was
his principle. His music pieces required it, and in his method he
became a master.
I. B. Poznanski played at one time on a violin with almost as flat a
bridge as that on Ole Bull's instrument, and I believe it will not have
been forgotten that he produced, as if by charm, a great tone from his
instrument. This proves that a great tone can be gained on a flat
bridge. Therefore it depends only on the skill with which the bow is
handled. Many violin players, however, are of opinion that they must
press the bow on the strings very much, in order to bring forth a strong
tone on the violin; but the pressure of the bow is limited; for when it
is too strong, the ear becomes disgusted with the tone, nay, a scraping
and jarring tone is produced by too strong a pressure, because the G
string touches the finger-board in this case, in consequence of which
many violin players wish to have the finger-board very hollow. But it
must not be believed that in such a manner the right tone is produced;
on the contrary, the full tone, which lies ready in the violin, is very
easy to be gained by the knowledge and skill of handling the bow.
The rule is, that the tone must be drawn forth by the bow, and it must
not be forced forth by pressure. The bow must not be led oblique, but
straight over the strings, so that the hair lies flat on them; it also
depends on the flexibility of the arm, that the bow may not touch the
strings stiffly, but in an elastic manner. Those who attract attention
to their elbows cannot expect that the bow and the violin alone will do
their service.
The most perfect condition of a violin requires the instrument to be so
arranged that it can be played easily; therefore, I determine that the
height of the strings must be three-sixteenths of an inch at the end of
the finger-board, and that the arch of the bridge must have the same
measure, three-sixteenths of an inch, between its two extremes, for
bridges more arched than this cause difficulties to the player, because
the movement of the bow is too much abstracted when passing from the E
string to the G string. In such a manner, David in Leipsic had the
violins arranged for his pupils.
On such arched bridges the two middle strings lie too high from the top
towards the G string and E string, and it is an acoustical mistake,
because it produces an inequality of the character of tone.
Such knowledge should be taught to the pupils in conservatories of
music; but it is generally believed that when a violin player has been
made a professor he is able to satisfy the requirements of his position
in this regard.
For the benefit of the learner, however, I will enter more nearly upon
the knowledge which is required, especially in a conservatory, and to
the imparting of which the teacher should attend. First I will mention
as an example the conservatory at Leipsic when it was under the
management of Director David. Most of his scholars were then compelled
to play on new violins made by Bausch, which for their stiff and tough
tone are for the greater part unfit for those who would become artists.
This quality of tone, together with the fact that students were forced
into a certain position and fatigued, caused them to become nervous; but
many parents who had no knowledge of it, sent their sons to that
institute, even from America, and they had no idea that many of them
brought back a nervous disease and were thus ruined. I heard this of no
other conservatory in Europe. Thus it would appear that David pursued
his own interest rather than that he cared for the good of his pupils.
Here in America we have violin teachers whose methods are preferable by
far to such.
The following is a method according to which students should be
instructed: The student must not be forced into a position of holding
the violin so as to cause the ruin of health, but on the contrary, by
means of a free position and natural holding of the violin the chest
will be enlarged. This does not only benefit the health, but also
facilitates the learning and progress.
It is of the greatest importance that students learn on violins which
have good tone, for instruments which have a bad quality of tone usually
discourage the beginner, so that he becomes nervous and soon considers
playing an unpleasant work, and gives it up without knowing the reason
why. Teachers, therefore, should have the necessary knowledge of the
qualities which a violin must possess. A knowledge indispensable for
them and a great benefit for the learner. For only a good tone has a
charming influence upon the mind, and owing to this many beginners
advance early to a high degree of perfection; therefore it must also be
in the interest of the students to get familiar with the good tone of a
violin, that their ear may not be accustomed to a sickly tone. Alas!
This point is mostly disregarded by their parents, who have little or no
knowledge of a violin, and it provokes some indignation in
scientifically instructed teachers to teach their pupils on miserable
fiddles.
If a teacher knows how a violin should be arranged, it is above all his
duty to examine the instrument, and ascertain whether it can be used for
the instruction of a learner; for as the violin is first arranged for
him so he will ever be accustomed to have it afterward. For instance, on
the violin of the solo player Ed. Mollenhauer, the strings lie on the
finger-board lower than on any other that I ever saw. No doubt he has
learned on such an instrument. It is true that the virtuosoship is
facilitated, but the strength of tone is impaired by such an
arrangement.
The ingenious artist Brume, however, was so great a master that he
played even on violins the strings of which lay very high, although he
did not know this. Many, again, are accustomed to bridges that are very
much curved towards the E string, because they did not know, when
learning, how badly their violins were arranged.
A correct system must be the foundation of everything, but as the
theories in this art are still dead letters for most violin players,
there have arisen fantastical ideas, especially among the greatest of
them. Ole Bull did his best to impart such ideas to others, yet many of
them were, no doubt, excellent. Ole Bull always had a vehement desire to
find something better beyond all possibility. Many of his ideas were
contradictory to all the rules, and although he put some in practice he
did not persevere in any of them for a long time, for a new idea
occurring to him all others were supplanted by it.
It happened once that Ole Bull was visited in New York by another
artist, who was called the "American Sivori." He, as well as many others
thought that Ole Bull had a perfect knowledge of the structure of
violins. Sivori, seeing that Ole Bull had a bridge on his violin which
stood quite oblique--for the upper part of the bridge was bent backwards
by a quarter of an inch,--adopted this idea. When his violin had been
provided with such a bridge he came to me, and with great satisfaction
he showed me this queer position of the bridge on his violin. I was
highly astonished at him that he could approve of an idea which is
against all correct theory and is nothing but a farce. I then explained
to him not only the consequences which must arise from it, but also the
impossibility, by such an arrangement, of bringing to bear an even
horizontal pressure on the bridge. But he thought that which came from
Ole Bull was better than that which came from my knowledge. Let us see
what happened later. In a concert of his, while he was playing with
enthusiasm, the bridge fell and broke!
Another day an Italian artist came with his Maggini violin to show me
where the sounding post must stand in his violin, having obtained his
information about it from Ole Bull. I could not help smiling when I saw
that the sounding post was placed quite near the _f_ hole. Upon
expressing my surprise, he replied with the following insult: "What do
you know about the position of the sounding post? You are no violin
player like Ole Bull, therefore you cannot know about it." My answer
simply was: "Only a fool can talk to me in that way, and very soon you
will find out that you will have to give up such an insane idea!"
It was on the third day after that he came back begging me to place the
sounding post in his violin according to my judgment. When he had
apologized for his indiscretion, I fulfilled his wish.
Thus I have become acquainted with several artists who constantly
tortured their violins by getting the sounding post and bass-bar
displaced. This proves a want of correct theoretical knowledge, and
through this ignorance they make the sounding post wander about the
whole violin.
The place of the sounding post can only be ascertained through the
theoretical knowledge of the construction of the bottom and top of the
violin. Many players think they can obtain the right tone by the
position of the sounding post alone, but no sounding post can make good
a fault in the construction of the bottom and top.
CIRCULAR WHICH ACCOMPANIED MY "EMPEROR VIOLIN" IN THE VIENNA
EXHIBITION OF 1873--AN INTERESTING EXPLANATION ABOUT VIOLINS AND OF
THE SCIENCE OF TONE.
It is an indisputable fact, that of all productions of art in the world,
the violin has been least understood.
This wonderful instrument has remained an enigma to the musical world
until now. How fortunate it is that this instrument does not understand
human language, by which circumstance it escapes that medley of critical
remarks which are made in its regard.
It is, therefore, in the interest of art and its votaries that I have
determined to present herewith to the public the results of my long
experience obtained in making violins, and in examining those sciences
connected with it.
It is generally known that up to the earlier part of the eighteenth
century the Italian masters made the best violins, and with the death of
those artists a decline of that art, too, took place. Those so-called
classical instruments have been, especially of late years, eagerly
sought at high prices, by all artists and amateurs, because a settled
opinion has taken hold of their minds that nobody is able to construct a
violin which is fit for solo performances; that the secret which the old
Italian masters possessed is not yet found, and that new violins,
although constructed according to the rules of acoustics, cannot gain
the desired perfection until after the use of a hundred years. This,
therefore, animated many violin makers with an endeavor to overcome that
difficulty, but in vain; at last Vuillaume, of Paris, was impressed with
the thought of making wood look old by a chemical process, and he
succeeded in creating a furor with his instruments made of such wood, so
that people began to believe the right course was being pursued. It
turned out, however, that after a few years those instruments
deteriorated, and finally became useless and proved a failure.
This especially prejudices the minds of the virtuosi so far that they do
not believe it to be possible to make violins which answer the general
requirements of concert playing until they have attained a great age.
Vuillaume has, therefore, by his chemical preparation of wood, injured
this art seriously, because the previous prejudice was corroborated
thereby. Such prejudices stand in the way of progress in making good
violins.
But as everything in the world is going on, so the art of the
construction of violins has not remained behindhand, and I can prove
this to the musical world by my own experience.
To the knowledge of making such violins as artists and amateurs demand,
there belong besides ingenuity in carrying out the mechanical work a
knowledge of the following three sciences, namely: mathematics,
acoustics and the choice of wood.
A knowledge of acoustics, which is most indispensable to the violin
maker, cannot always be acquired, since it emanates from an innate
genius, which makes itself manifest in the very choice of the wood.
When by the aid of these sciences I had arrived by a natural proceeding
at what I aspired, I made violins in imitation of the old Italian
instruments and presented them to great artists and connoisseurs, and
the highest authorities of Europe and America. They pronounced them to
be genuine old Italian violins, not only on account of tone, but also in
regard to form and appearance. In this manner I broke that prejudice. I
proved to the so-called "connoisseurs" that those violins laid before
and acknowledged by them to be good, were of my making, hence they were
new. If I had presented those violins as new productions of my own to
those gentlemen, they would have condemned them forthwith and said that
they would not prove good till they had reached a great age, and that
they would perhaps in a hundred years equal the old Italian instruments.
In general, however, it is not taken into consideration that if a violin
is not scientifically constructed the good quality of tone will never be
obtained, either by much playing or by age. In applying the three above
mention sciences I have gained not only the fine quality of tone, but
also that ease with which the tones are made to come forth.
But we must be thankful to the great masters; they have laid for us the
foundation of the manufacture of violins, by which they became
immortalized.
Their system, however, is but little understood by the present violin
makers, because very few intelligent people devote themselves to this
art, and the most of those who are learning it, practice it not in the
way of art, but of business. What wonder, when even the greatest artist
in Europe, Vuillaume, imitated the very mistakes which the great Italian
masters made in regard to mathematical division. He did not consider
that they, in improving the art, made experiments in regard to form,
swell and different thicknesses in working out the bottom and top. But
there are a great many professional men who, from exaggerated
veneration, consider all productions of those masters as law and beyond
correction.
I have discovered that the old masters did not arrive at perfection, but
made mistakes in their mathematical division and in the workmanship of
the different thicknesses of the bottom and top. Those faults I have
endeavored to avoid in the manufacture of my violins, and I think I have
solved this problem.
Just so it is with the knowledge of tone. It is a great mistake to
believe that it is only the player who has this knowledge. Experience
has taught that playing and knowledge of tone are two different
provinces, because the artist very seldom has an opportunity to make
close study of the different qualities of tone, and is usually
prepossessed with his own instrument.
If many solo performers had more knowledge of tone they would not so
often play in concerts on feeble instruments, which are too old, too
defective in construction, or have been spoiled by bungling workmen who
were employed to repair them. Such instruments often injure the solo
performer exceedingly, and the critic is right in charging the fault to
feebleness of tone. But the artist is generally satisfied if he only
possesses an Italian violin.
Also in the science of tone I have found the way to gain that experience
by which I have been enabled to make a violin which will satisfy an
unprejudiced solo performer of the present and future.
I have confined myself to the natural process which the Italian violins
underwent, and I have put the problem to myself that it must lie within
the bounds of possibility to construct violins which will bring forth
good tones at once and not depend on a promising future for all their
good qualities, and I have not been mistaken, but have secured what I
sought.
Many are still of opinion that the art of making violins and
predetermining the qualities of tone, is a mere accident. This is, if
taken in a general sense, true, because most of those who make violins
scarcely know any more of it than a joiner, but the ability to construct
violins according to the rules of art, requires a man who has enjoyed a
technical education, and whoever has acquired the necessary capabilities
knows the method by which the different qualities of tone may be
produced and obtained.
Above all, he who occupies himself with repairs can least dispense with
these capabilities, since he is often intrusted with the most valuable
instruments; but alas! with what inconsideration do those who possess
such instruments often give them, for repair, to botchers and fiddle
makers.
This proves how great in this regard is the lack of correct judgment.
Through such spoilers of violins most Italian violins have come to
naught, because many who own such instruments think that whenever any
one makes a neat piece of work and knows how to use his chisel, file and
sandpaper, he is the man to be intrusted with such instruments. But
where there is a lack of science, the repairer's work, be it ever so
neat, may cause damage in half an hour which will be greater than can
ever be made good again.
If a violin maker constructs bad instruments it is his own damage, but
to make bad repairs is to ruin the instruments of others, the creations
of masters.
Neither is a violin maker who does not know how to construct excellent
instruments a good repairer. Yet there are many who think that good
repairers need not possess the knowledge of making good violins. But
what a mistake! It seems, however, wisely ordained by nature that even
he who is less gifted and less learned may enjoy life, and thus gladly
bear sacrifices in consequence of his error.
This is the plain and simple explanation of matters in regard to the
manufacture of violins and the knowledge of tone, and those to whom this
does not seem comprehensible may submit to a more thorough experience
than they have gained until now; in this case they will, after they have
fully convinced themselves of it, sometimes remember G. G.
A REPLY TO MR. E. SCHELLE'S CRITIQUE CONCERNING THE VIOLINS IN THE
EXHIBITION OF VIENNA IN THE LEIPSIG "NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FUR MUSICK,"
No. 52, 1873.
In the foregoing circular, treating upon violins, I said: "It is
indisputable that no production of art in the world has been less
understood than the violin." This truth has proved good again in Mr.
Schelle's critique concerning violins, and it shows how little he is
able to judge about them! In his very introduction it is plainly shown
that he has made no studies in regard to tone when he says: "Thus an
idea came to Vuillaume to make, by a chemical preparation, wood to look
like that of the old violins. Instruments made of this material excel in
regard to their splendid and real Italian tone."
Against this I assert just the contrary and can prove it to be nonsense
by the fact that wood, when submitted to a chemical process, will
produce a dry, covered tone, and the noble quality of tone--that which
affects the heart--is lost.
Mr. Schelle then says: "We may also discover a similar experiment in the
instrument which Mr. George Gemuender, of New York, has in the
exhibition, under the ostentatious name of Kaiser Violin (Emperor
Violin). Of course its manufacturer would protest against this
insinuation, for in a little pamphlet he declares that by the assistance
of three sciences, the mathematics, acoustics and knowledge of the wood
to be chosen, he had not only comprehended the system of Italian school,
but had even discovered errors in it, etc."
Mr. Schelle further says: "There have been many celebrated violin makers
who were gifted with the same talents and learned in the same sciences,
yet they could not reach what they aimed at, in spite of their most
strenuous efforts. We confess quite openly that in spite of his
assurance we harbor the suspicion that Mr. Gemuender has taken refuge in
a chemical preparation of the wood. The violin in question, a faithful
imitation according to Guiseppe Guarnerius, is indeed beautiful in its
appearance and has a very excellent tone. But the extravagant, really
American, price of ten thousand dollars could only be excused when its
excellence should have been proven good in future," etc.
From this (Mr. Schelle's) critique it is evident that he has tried to
throw into the shade the interesting production of art which I had in
the exhibition, in order to be enabled to put the productions of the
Vienna violin makers in a more favorable light. But this proves that
only such persons as are destitute of sufficient knowledge to judge of
violins may be transported to such one-sided critiques, dictated either
by partiality or other interests; for if that were not the case Mr.
Schelle ought to have blushed with shame in regard to that injustice and
disrespect with which he illustrated the experience of an artist and
spoke of his talents and sciences, to which Mr. Schelle is as much a
stranger as he is to the artist's person!
As Mr. Schelle takes into consideration that the violin at ten thousand
dollars exhibited by myself must first undergo "a proof of time," it may
be rather advisable for Mr. Schelle to take a lesson of Gemuender, that
he may learn those characters of tones which will prove good in future
and which will not; so that he may be able hereafter to show better
knowledge in his critique upon violins!
From my childhood I have grown up in this art in Germany and have
devoted myself to all those studies which are connected with it. The
last four years in Europe I passed at Vuillaume's in Paris, consequently
I am acquainted with the entire European knowledge of the construction
of violins.
Since 1847 I have made violins in America, therefore my instruments do
not require to be subjected to a "proof of time," for it is without such
a one that I have solved the problem and secured at once the fine tone
which all the preceding violin makers strove in vain to find. I obtained
my purpose in quite a natural way. This knowledge, however, does not lie
in an object whose secret is only to be secured by a patent; it lies
purely in the gifts of man. Another century may pass by before this
problem will be solved again. The closing page in Mr. Schelle's critique
sounds like a lawyer's pleading in favor of a criminal. In this regard
his writing is quite creditable, for he has well pleaded the cause of
the violin makers of Vienna!
But then those words in my circular about violin makers proved true
again: "This wonderful instrument has still remained an enigma to the
musical world until now. How fortunate it is that it does not understand
human language, by which circumstance it escapes the medley of opinions
which have been given in regard to it."
When, however, its clear tone was heard, and the easiness with which the
tones came was noticed, then it became an enigma to professional men and
they declared that this violin was an original fixed up again!
But later, when it was objected to and found to be a new Gemuender
violin, it was ignored even in the newspapers. The _Neue Wiener
Tageblatt_, of Vienna, called it afterwards "the false Cremona violin!"
How envy here glared forth again; for this violin was not exhibited as a
Cremona violin, although it has been demonstrated that it had been
previously really taken for a genuine Italian instrument.
Its introduction as "Emperor Violin" had a force and pungency which
tickled the professionals, and what surpasses all belief is, that they
themselves crowned the work. It was, indeed, the greatest premium that I
could gain, in spite of all the pains which those men gave to
themselves to deprive me of my merit. Thus a moral prize values higher
than a piece of metal?
Although many mocked at the high price, yet no such violin could be made
by all those deriders, should millions of dollars be offered to them.
Therefore an unrivaled artist has the right to fix any price on his
productions. Although an offer of $3,000 was made for it, yet nobody was
charged to sell it, even if $10,000 had been presented.
The newspaper of the exhibition of Vienna, published on the 17th of
August, 1873: "Gemuender found fault with the Italian constructions and
those of Vuillaume."
If Gemuender had not extended his studies so far he would probably not
have stirred up those matters which had given such a headache to those
people of Vienna, for George Gemuender became thoroughly acquainted with
both the faultless and the faulty points of the Italians in the
construction of violins. If those people of Vienna had had the good luck
to discover imperfections on the above mentioned constructions, then
they would have made a great cry about it.
The same newspaper says in another passage: "The tone of this violin is
indeed strong and beautiful and has an easiness that pleases, also it
has not that young tone peculiar to the very best new violins." In
saying these words the writer confesses the truth in his innocence, and
this verdict crowns this violin again, because this character of tone is
just that one which all violin makers in the nineteenth century have
been trying in vain to find.
And further: "For this reason some professional men gave vent to the
suspicion that the wood was submitted to an artificial preparation,
probably by the use of borax." Such was the nonsense to which this
peerless violin was subjected, since there was none to take up its
defence. _The annexed description in which all chemical preparations
were peremptorily opposed, was entirely disregarded by them._ Thus there
is no other way to advise those pseudo-professional men to have such
borax violins made and patented!
To those gentlemen who call themselves professional men, I, George
Gemuender, declare that I am ready at any time to sacrifice my "Emperor
violin" or any other which I have made, and I propose to give it to the
best chemists in the world to be cut to pieces, that they may examine
the wood and ascertain if any chemical preparation has been used. If
this is found to be the case they may be allowed to scold and blame me
publicly as much as they please; but, if nothing of that kind is found,
they are to pay ten thousand dollars for the "Emperor violin."
Address: GEORGE GEMUNDER.
ASTORIA, NEW YORK.