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| Old versus new Violins (1) |
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The purchase of a really good old violin at a moderate price, or rather at a price to suit the player, becomes every year more and more difficult. It is only a fancy price that secures a genuine instrument by one of the matchless workmen of the past.
Age is not the only essential quality required of a violin. An instrument which is intrinsically bad, and not properly made in the first place, cannot possibly become possessed of a first-rate tone, even after a century of age.
Good specimens of the finest old violins fetch large sums. The violins of Stradivarius, Joseph Guarnerius, Guaduagini, and other celebrated Italian makers, are only in the possession of the wealthy, some Strads having brought in as much as 10 million Euros each. The sum of 500,000.- Euros is now but a modest price for a lesser-prized violin, such as those left to us by Maggini, Landolfi, Testore, Joseph Rocca, Pressenda, Gagliano, Lupot, Vuillaume, and many other illustrious makers of the past.
The very large number of spurious imitations of these makers which exist has led to a great deal of deception on the unwary, and on even old and experienced performers. Imitations of good makers, which are passed off as genuine instruments, are often discernible only to the practised eye of connoisseurs, and sometimes even these gentlemen are puzzled and misled.
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