I also make a peculiar kind of Maggini violin. For this purpose I have selected an older form than that which is generally known. I construct these violins in a manner to include all good qualities of tone, and they are, therefore, far preferable, because they surpass those of Stradivarius in greatness of tone. Such distinctions prove that I have made great progress in this art.
Most Italian violins are now of interest only to admirers of art, and may be recommended to antiquarians, for there are only a very few still existing which can be used for concerts, and although if even their voice disappears more and more out of their body, they will always be valued, kept as relics and admired by friends of art. But it is only fancy which makes most of them adore what they do not understand, and they trample down the blossom of the new productions which the world brings forth.
Therefore, it will be of some interest to many to hear more minute particulars about the method of construction of violins of the old Italian masters, as many persons are still in darkness as to which violins the best tone is to be ascribed. This want of knowledge comes simply from the fact that a combination of uninjured instruments of the best masters is a task very difficult to be effected, and these instruments would by all means have to be put in proper condition by an expert.
This has, perhaps, never been done yet, and a general comparison could only be made as the opportunity presented itself.
As I acquired knowledge of the system, the forms and swells of violins of the great masters, I also became so thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of tone that I have found out what the present needs require.
I will now consider in detail the different characteristics of tone of the productions of the great masters, and state in what manner this difference was obtained.
Jacob Stainer, at Absam, in Tyrol, was a pupil of Nicholas Amati, at Cremona. Stainer and Amati made violins which were mostly demanded by amateurs on account of their round, sweet, silver tone. This character of tone they produced by a small, round and some what oblong swell, as well as by a neat and somewhat smaller size than that of Stradivarius, who endeavored to gain a greater sonority of tone. Stradivarius, therefore, made the swell less high than Stainer or Amati, but of a broader circumference, drawn oblong, by which he obtained a sublime tone in an aristocratic and majestic form.
Joseph Guarnerius del Jesu.—As long as he made violins according to the school of his great master, Stradivarius, his productions were of a similar nature. Later, he made somewhat smaller models, sometimes with a circumferential swell, by which he gained a somewhat smaller tone, but with a striking, quick touch of a peculiar brilliancy. It is strange that he gave a different form to each of his violins, the f, the swells and the scrolls varying in almost every instrument. It is told that he was imprisoned for a long time, and, under great deprivations, he made violins secretly. In all his productions his great genius is recognized.
Duffu Prugar, at Bonninien, lived in the sixteenth century. His violins have a large and wide form, with interesting ornaments of carving work and inlay; their swells are beautiful, and as high as those of Stradivarius, and they produce a great and full tone. But as there are only few still existing, many violins are imitated in France according to this model, and they are spread far and wide.
Maggini's violins are mostly of a large size and of a higher swell and fuller toward the extreme parts than all the other violins of the Italian masters, therein producing a great fulness of tone; on the G and D strings their color of tone is particularly deep.