A DOUBLE-BARRELLED THEORY
A frequent contention against the new violin, especially when its
high-tone quality is so overwhelmingly apparent as to confound even the
unreasonably prejudiced, is the statement that this fine tone will
disappear in time. This appears strange when we remember it comes from
those who say tone is found only in the old violin! According to this
theory age seems a most accommodating adjunct. It not only gives tone,
but takes it away also--it all depends upon whether the maker is dead or
not! But the seeker of tone need not be alarmed when such
double-barrelled wisdom is solemnly imparted. The tone of the great new
violins is absolutely permanent. It does not owe its origin to age, or
to anything that time can alter any further than it can alter the tone
of any other great violin. Its continued existence is subject to the
same conditions as govern the existence, or tone-life, of the finest old
Italian instruments. If time influences it at all it is only to make it
better. Whatever effect age may have upon a fiddle constructed of green
wood, upon the factory-made article, or upon those unsuitably varnished,
where it is conceivable something unexpected may occur to the sound such
instruments are capable of emitting, nothing of this sort happens to
violins constructed by either old or new masters of tonal art.
This tone-disappearing theory is not only ridiculous, it is mean. Unable
to deny tone as a patent and present fact in a new violin, suspicion
must be created and the possessor frightened with the bogey of its
ultimate and certain loss. The tone-seeker’s interest must be struck in
the tenderest spot. Even if not immediately effective, the seed of
suspicion is sown, with the result that (in effect) the tone-lover sits
at the bedside of his (supposed) ailing fiddle applying home remedies
and patent nostrums without avail. At last the doctor, usually a quack,
is sent for and, without more ado, gives the tone its _coup de grâce_.
But this need no longer be the case. Fortified with knowledge and fully
aware of the purpose for which this entirely false theory is advanced,
the new violin possessing fine tone may be treasured with confidence in
the permanency of its brilliant voice.