[29] These descriptions were given one day at the request of a friend.
Once after a rehearsal in Breslau, in the year 1862, an old amateur and
esteemed friend, Amtmann Zoller, who had purchased a collection of
violins, wished me to look at them. I went, in company with a
violin–maker, and saw the collection. The instruments were very fine,
but I said, “The pearl of all is this Gaspar da Salo.” The Amtmann
answered, “I think so myself, and I am much pleased to find you agree
with me. But the connoisseurs here are unwilling to see any special
merit in the instrument, and if it should be sold I do not think it
would bring so much as some of the others.” When we left his house,—we
had breakfasted with him,—the violin–maker said, “Why did you praise
that violin so highly? You surely did not think that a superior
instrument?” He then asked me why I did not offer to buy it. I said I
could not think of offending the Amtmann by offering to purchase, for I
did not suppose the violin was for sale. I consented, however, that he
should ask him. The following morning he came to me, saying he had been
to the Amtmann, who wished to see me. At our interview, in answer to his
question whether I thought the instrument would entirely suit me, I
assured him that it was a violin the tone of which could be graded in
all different colors, and that I was in love with it. He then offered it
to me at the price he paid for it (800 thalers); an offer I immediately
accepted. A German musician, Lansberg by name, had been living in Rome
for some twenty years, and had there made a collection of ancient
violins. At his death, these were sent to his home in Breslau. The
Amtmann Zoller purchased about a dozen of them, and among these was the
Gaspar da Salo. Since I purchased this violin I have used it in all my
public concerts.
I have another violin by a maker contemporaneous with Gaspar da Salo—in
all probability Matteo Bente, Brescia, 1580. It very much resembles my
concert violin in the model and _f_ holes. I received it in Rome in
1835, from the librarian of the Vatican, Michael Angelo Lanzi. During my
stay in Rome I had given some lessons to a boy who was a favorite of
his, and who had some talent for playing. As a return, he presented me
this violin from the Vatican. In the Vatican vocal music only was given,
and formerly violins and basses and violas were used in training the
choir–boys. Of late years, this method falling out of use, the
instruments gradually found their way into the hands of performers. I
have not used this violin in concerts. It has a very peculiar flute–like
tone, not capable of great variety of expression, but always in the
whole range or compass preserving the same character. Nor is it capable
of filling a large hall. The small turns of the _f_ holes are very near
together, the large ones correspondingly far apart. This nearness of the
upper turns necessitates a narrow bridge, which interferes with the
development of a great tone. It is evidently specially adapted for
playing in company with flutes, guitars, mandolins, and other soft–toned
instruments.