Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . sessed in common. Intesting the volume of tone, they would strive to gauge theresonance, the carrying or travelling power of thesounds ; and they knew by experience that, for violin toneto carry in a concert-hall, it must be produced in such away that the strings continue to vibrate after the bow has Ileft them, which implies that the strings must not beattacked with such force by the bow that the vibrationsare checked or damped. We digress to state this, as wefind such a large number of players leaning in the otherdirection, and evident
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . sessed in common. Intesting the volume of tone, they would strive to gauge theresonance, the carrying or travelling power of thesounds ; and they knew by experience that, for violin toneto carry in a concert-hall, it must be produced in such away that the strings continue to vibrate after the bow has Ileft them, which implies that the strings must not beattacked with such force by the bow that the vibrationsare checked or damped. We digress to state this, as wefind such a large number of players leaning in the otherdirection, and evidently believing that the greater the forcewith which they apply the bow to the strings the morecarrying must be their tone. Many instruments can bemost forcibly attacked and thoroughly satisfy the ear ofthe player ; but to the experienced listener in a concert-room the result is lamentable-sonority, brilliancy, qualityand charm all being found lacking. After ,699 no more Long Strads were made; andalthough during the years from i6yo to 1699 Stradivari. The Tuscan Stradivari, dated 1690. 157 ^ARCHING IN RELATION TO TONE 159 made other violins more or less in accordance with thisand his earlier designs—and, indeed, continued to use hisearlier designs until 1704—there is nothing in their tonalcharacteristics to call for individual mention. Many violinsof choice quality, with sympathetic responsiveness andsufficient volume of tone, can be found among those madebetween 1698 and 1704; but because Stradivari, in hisdesire to preserve some of the beauty and grace of theAmati form, made the arching somewhat Amatise, theyare not appreciated so much as they deserve to be. The existing prejudice against violins apparently highin the arching is the result of the defectively constructedand exaggerated copies of Amati and Stainer, so lackingin power, distinction of quality, and fulness of tone, whichwere made in large numbers by workers of inferior capacityduring the whole of the eighteenth c
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