Antonio Stradivari

by Horace Petherick

Another detail of the workmanship always attended to by the master himself, was that of the purfling. Much has been said of the wonderful accuracy of Stradivari's purfling and that as a purfler he stands unrivalled. This must not be taken in the widest sense, as there have been, and are living, scores and scores of makers who have cut a rut round the border of a fiddle as sharply, and inserted the three conventional lines of dark and light wood as deftly as it could be by the hand of any man, be he named Amati, Stradivari, Ruggieri, Tononi, or Montagnana. There is a degree of evenness and keenness of cutting and clean insertion beyond which it is not possible to go. But there the imitators come to a full stop. Without the inventive power which will make this curious, simple, yet wonderful little fillet, aid in giving the desired expression to the whole work, the imitator is not—as people say nowadays—in the race. The finishing of the border, the corners and the delicate and often very elaborate system of curves around the sound holes, the hollowing of the wings of these latter, and the final surfacing of both back and front, I have no doubt had Stradivari's individual attention. All the delicate and small work of the scroll, perfecting that elegant flow of line and finish of each turn of the volute, as if everything depended on the exactness of its individuality, obliterating all marks of the tooling and giving his own impress to the gouging of the shell and even the completion of the peg-box; then last and not least, the preparation and application of that pellucid envelope that was to serve two purposes, utility and enrichment of effect.

With regard to this, much has been written and said about its incomparable quality, its elasticity, colour and transparency, with other excellences needless to dilate upon. Summarily taken as a whole, the simple fact is, that in no respect is his varnish different, or better than that of his predecessors, the Amatis and masters of the Brescian school; it had been done before and his most famous contemporaries were doing it still, and he was in this position for the simple reason that no better could be done.

If it was not possible for Stradivari to improve upon the varnish of the Amatis who had preceded him and the masters in the art belonging to the Brescian school,—among whom may be mentioned Giovanni Maggini, Antonio Mariani, and the first one to use it on violins, Gasparo da Salo—it was strictly in accordance with his invariable rule of putting forth his best that he so dexterously manipulated it, probably both as to its composition and final application, that faultiness in some respects to be seen in specimens of other masters is not noticeable in his. Thus, as is well known, the Brescians, perhaps without exception, were often very careless regarding the thickness of the film, it being occasionally of irreproachable evenness, at other times having almost the appearance of being laid on with a large brush in great haste. On some connoisseurs this haphazard fulness of treatment, this oft times generously effusive manner, carried out with a careless consciousness of power, acts as a charm, inciting to intense admiration the like of which is roused by the rich, juicy brush of Rembrandt and the masters of the Venetian school of painters. But this is not the perfect realization of aim with regard to the envelopment of masterpieces by the old Italian liutaros; in the instances referred to, and sufficiently numerous, we wonder at the wealth of material and smile at its manipulation. Antonio Stradivari would in no wise act thus at any time. To him it was enough that he was possessor in full of the knowledge of materials, and to deviate from the good paths pursued by the artistic Amatis, was not to be considered for a moment; we therefore find that with him the best material was laid with the utmost skill and care. It must be indeed rare that "frizzling," or contraction of the upper surface of the varnish, is to be seen to any appreciable extent. I do not recollect one instance, while with the Ruggieris, most of the Venetian school, and a number of makers of lesser note, it is quite common.

Concerning the colour or variety of tints adopted by Stradivari at most times, it was most likely done to the requirements of his different patrons, many having a desire for the rich orange, some, the light red or "cherry" tint, while others were not content with any than the red or rich full bodied port wine tint. The simple brown seems to have been less in demand, as it is during the period under consideration, rather exceptional. While using the lustrous coverings for his works with consummate skill, there is one qualification that must not be lost sight of. Beautiful, refined and artistic in the strictest sense of the term, Stradivari never gave way to a desire to outbid the rest of the fraternity for congratulations in respect of gorgeousness, he seems never to have fallen back upon his reserves in the direction of intensity of colour. Thus if a finely preserved specimen of his orange varnish is viewed side by side with one by Joseph Guarnerius, I.H.S., the extra degree of fieriness will be on the side of the latter, but it by no means places Stradivari on a lower level, as the combined qualities of his work, taken as a sum total, is not reached by any liutaro of old Italy.

It may be fairly taken as certain that if there was any master having at command all the necessaries for turning out musical instruments of matchless superiority, both as to acoustical and artistic qualities, it was Stradivari, and many connoisseurs would expect to find nothing but maple used of the richest curl, and that would throw up with delightful effect the lustrous varnish so carefully laid upon it; but, strangely enough, his most magnificently curled backs and sides are mixed with a few that are comparatively plain. A variety of reasons might be assigned for this, but that which bears the greatest probability about it is—that the instruments being chiefly made to order, the maple of richest curl was not always to be had, at least in time for the construction as required. In other respects these plainer mapled instruments are fully equal to anything that came from his hands. Of the proper tone-giving pine he seems never to have been short; there it is, always of beautiful growth, having, like his own handiwork, both delicacy and strength and of a general appearance such as would attract the eye of the veriest tyro in the liutaro's art. How many imitators of the great manipulator have looked at this growth of pine and wondered where the old master obtained it! and how he knew that it possessed the proper qualifications for his purpose. Swiss pine of course! obtained from the lower parts of the forests of the Alps, is an immediate loud response, and cut only from the south or sunniest side of the particular tree when found of course.

This idea was started in the early part of this century in books on the violin, professing to tell the reader all about it or nearly so, and he had only to go, get the stuff, and make Stradivari violins, in fact with the addition of the amount of scientific knowledge of the subject peculiar to modern imitators, he would make "old Strad" "take a back seat." This has been often tried by would-be "Strads," "Guarneris," or "Bergonzis," and full of specious promises that if you will but purchase their wares you be rewarded for your pains by being possessor of everything good that they could endow the instrument with. Keep it, persevere, and the precious qualities will come; some were daring enough to assert that they were already there, if even your mental vision was so obtuse as not to perceive it, absurd prejudice was the cause of this they said, oblivious to the fact that the best musicians of Stradivari's time used the violins fresh from the atelier of the master perfectly new, expressing their unbounded admiration for their beautiful acoustic properties or "pleasurable sounds."

Is the like said of new violins at the present time? These imitators, some of them might be with perfect truth termed forgers, are legion, as in the case of everything that is of a high standard of excellence and which makes acquisition desirable. These artificers had their day, so far as forcing their imitations upon the credulous and unwary could be accomplished, and others have replaced them, yet there aloft still sits the grand master upon his high eminence, unapproached, with the whole world clamouring and struggling for the possession of what in the earnestness of his purpose was only his everyday work.

Before leaving the imitators and forgers, for they are distinct one from the other, the first simply taken being honest, the other not, it may be as well to refer as briefly as possible to the general aspect as afforded by such specimens of Stradivari's art that remain with us after fairly constant usage during the generations that have passed since his decease. Most connoisseurs and dealers are well acquainted with the appearance of a "Strad" of fine model, work and varnish that has done its duty in former times, and is yet able and willing to answer all requirements of the present day and many to come. If the instrument has not been hidden and forgotten in the cabinet of some deceased collector, but has been handed down from one player to another, kept in healthy exercise, not meddled with, muddled, and maddened by the numerous would-be improvers, bridge regulators, sound post agitators and varnish vivifiers, then—it will probably present an appearance of what is called handsome wear, or as a writer has termed it, "adorned, not injured, by a century's fair wear."

Striking the eye first will be the varnish that has been chipped off from the back chiefly, often from a large space of a rough triangular form; the front being usually more smoothly denuded of its lustrous envelope. This chipping away of the varnish from the maple has been effected a long time ago, and is the result of a custom in olden times of hanging the instrument after use on a peg attached to the wall, or may be the interior of a cabinet. Fiddle-cases seem to have been used almost solely for travelling purposes. They are now in general use as the best means of preservation against damage and a good resting place at all times. During the last century there were scores and scores of makers in Italy who were ready, willing to, and did turn out excellent instruments with fine, artistical and acoustical properties, but the race has died out and their remaining works are of daily increasing value, and consequently much under lock and key, out of harm's way as much as possible. This old habit of hanging up violins not wanted for the moment was, as a matter of course, effected with a slight bang or two each time, and a corresponding cost, small or large, according to the blow to the top layer of varnish most highly charged with colour. Each instrument used in this way will declare to the sufficiently acute observer, its course of handling and even the peculiarities to some extent of the owner; for it will be seen that the chippings give indication of different degrees of energy or hurry, when the violin has come in contact with the more or less hard surface of the wall.

It must be borne in mind that the times referred to were prior to the introduction of wall-papers; the good, old-fashioned panelling of oak or hard wood, often of bold design, shattered or nicked away much of the old, delicate and precious varnish used for enveloping the works of the Italian masters. All these constantly recurring slight collisions by degrees brought about the results that have been defined by some as picturesque wear or accidental adornment, if such a thing be reasonable. Besides this there was going on the wear caused by handling by one or another of players, rough or mild, contact with the garments, especially the sleeves, all being larger and looser than are fashionable at the present time. The action of these would be more gentle if more continuous. It is noticeable at the lower end of the back of the violin, which is often worn away much below the penetration of the varnish, the corners being rounded down and if rather protuberant, even losing their original character. The upper table of pine being incapable of equal resistance to the destroying influence, wears away sooner, also the border at the lower end and at both sides of the tail-piece—for the old performers placed their chins on the contrary side to what is thought best now—and the right upper shoulder where the palm of the hand and part of the wrist is apt to work, too often, against the edge. We thus see when a handsome, fairly worn specimen of Stradivari's work comes under our notice, the different pieces of tell-tale evidence, varying of course in degree with each instrument. Now all this must have been going on during the time the master's works were being sent out to parts of Italy and to other countries. It had been progressing and was showing the onward march of Father Time in the instruments left by the Brescian makers a century before.