George Gemünder's Progress in Violin Making. Gemünder George
were always crowded, yet the Gemünder brothers did not receive anything from the proceeds. They soon comprehended that they had had too much confidence in their agent, and after the lapse of a week they gave up the speculation.
For George Gemünder, who had then very little knowledge of the English language, which fact increased the difficulty of his position, there remained no other choice but to settle as a violin maker. He borrowed from a friend twenty-five dollars, and with this money he set out for Boston, Mass., and established himself there. The violins which he made he sold at fifty dollars each, and made repairs at low prices.
In 1851, when the first exhibition of London took place, Gemünder sent a quartet of bow instruments, in imitation of Stradivarius, and one violin according to Joseph Guarnerius, and another according to Nicholas Amati.
As his business in Boston did not prove sufficiently lucrative, Gemünder left the city after eighteen months, without waiting for news of the result of the exhibition, and established business in New York. Later he learned that his instruments had received the first premium at the exhibition.
When, in the following year, 1852, Gemünder received his instruments back from the exhibition, he learned that Ole Bull was in New York again, and, as he had formed his acquaintance in Paris, he paid him a visit and gave information that he had established himself in New York, and also that he had obtained the first premium at the London exhibition. Ole Bull was highly astonished at this news, as he said "Vuillaume is the best violin maker, and I have on one of my violins the best specimen of his workmanship as a repairer." He thereupon showed Gemünder his "Caspar da Salo." "Here," he said, "look at it, find the place where the repair was made." But Gemünder replied: "Sir, have you entirely forgotten that when you went with your violin to Vuillaume, he made you acquainted with a German in his studio, whom he directed to repair this 'Caspar da Salo' violin, and that this German was myself?" Upon hearing this a light seemed to break upon his mind, and he exclaimed, "Yes, yes, I do remember. Now you shall become in America what Vuillaume is in Europe."
Meanwhile the advantages which might have been derived from the London exhibition were lost, in consequence of Gemünder's removal from Boston and establishing business at New York. Spohr, Thalberg, Vieuxtemps and many more of such authorities, examined his violins in the exhibition and were much surprised at the excellent qualities of the instruments. Spohr observed: "These are the first new violins that I ever saw, tried and liked!" When they were played upon by him and others, they attracted hundreds of admirers and would have been sold at high prices had Gemünder not failed to make arrangements to dispose of them.
The results obtained at Paris and Vienna were similar, his instruments attracting much attention in each exhibition. In the Vienna Exposition, held in 1873, Gemünder gained the greatest triumph that was ever obtained by any violin maker. The "Kaiser" violin sent by Gemünder in response to an offer of a prize for the best imitation, was declared by the professional judges to be a renewed original; a genuine Guarnerius not only in regard to its outer appearance and character, but also as to its wonderful quality of tone and ease with which the tones come. To find these qualities in a new violin was beyond all expectation, since it had hitherto been taken for granted that such a result could not be obtained, because that object had been the unsuccessful study of different makers for hundreds of years. This proves, therefore, to the musical world, that Gemünder has solved that problem which has generally been considered impossible. In spite of all this, however, Gemünder had learned by painful experience that the prejudice existing among most of the violinists was not to be wiped out. These people are incapable of judging reasonably, and it is easier for them to say that Gemünder makes his new violins of wood prepared by a chemical process, or that it has not yet been proven that his violins have kept their good quality for an extended period of time, notwithstanding that Gemünder has been constructing violins in America since 1847, and that nobody can prove that any violin of his making has lost its quality of tone. On the contrary, they have invariably proved good. Gemünder, however, confesses that a few of his first made violins in America do not equal those of his present construction in regard to tone and varnish. The cause of it was that Gemünder being unacquainted with the woods of the new country, was not so successful at first in the choice of wood for his violins, and naturally would not be until his experience had improved. The prejudice above referred to would, however, be likely to exist for another century, could Gemünder live for that length of time among those people, the most of whom would persevere in their opinions.
The impracticability of the theory of using chemically prepared wood for violins is sufficiently understood at the present time to render it useless to pursue the discussion in these pages. Gemünder has informed himself as to the degree of success attained in the use of the different chemical preparations of wood, as well as those prepared with borax, by which, the inventor asserts, the wood becomes richer in tone and lasts longer than that which is left in its natural state. Yet, without opposing the inventor, Gemünder follows the principle of the old Italian violin makers, because their productions have been in use to this day; therefore the material left in its natural state has proved good and has satisfied the musical world for these three hundred years. He has indeed succeeded in constructing new violins of material in its natural state, which produce not only an extraordinary power of tone, but also a strikingly equal quality of tone, and the quality of easy speaking, and the outward appearance of the old violins has been so faithfully imitated that he who has not been told the fact, will take them for genuine instruments made by Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Maggini, Amati, and others.
It is therefore assuming not too much to say that George Gemünder has surpassed in this art all the violin makers of the present and past times; for where the Italian masters ended with their knowledge, George Gemünder commenced and improved, which fact can be proved to the satisfaction of every critic; for George Gemünder has not only gained the same results as those achieved by Stradivarius and others, but he has sketched a better acoustic principle for producing tone. It is for this reason that August Wilhelmj, the great violinist, calls George Gemünder the greatest violin maker of all times, for Wilhelmj had learned by ample trial of the instruments made by George Gemünder that they were incontestably all that the latter claimed for them. Wilhelmj admired Gemünder's "Kaiser" violin at the Vienna Exhibition, as it was the only violin of importance which attracted his attention, and this aroused within him the desire to become personally acquainted with its maker. By means of his renown as the great violin virtuoso, an engagement was offered him to go to America, which he accepted, and thus his wish was fulfilled. On the day after his arrival in New York, Wilhelmj went to see Gemünder at Astoria, and from that time has been Gemünder's friend and admirer.
Wilhelmj and other artists have expressed astonishment that a man of George Gemünder's capabilities in this art was to be found in America. Although he enjoys the highest renown in his art, yet he lives in a country in which the appreciation of that art is still in its development; for the number of amateurs such as are found in Europe, who spend enormous sums in instruments, is very small here. The fact is that George Gemünder lives here at too early a period, for his productions are a continuation of those which the great Italian masters brought forth. Taking into consideration all the foregoing circumstances it is fair to suppose that George Gemünder has had to contend with extraordinary difficulties during this long time. For ignorance and arrogance can do much damage, in this respect, not only to the artist, but also to the amateur, as these often times place their confidence in those musicians who have no knowledge of violins, and who can only mislead them.
APPENDIX
GEORGE GEMUNDER'S OBSERVATIONS IN REGARD TO VIEWS WHICH THE MOST OF VIOLINISTS AND AMATEURS HAD OF THE TONE OF OLD AND NEW VIOLINS – HOW THEY IGNORED THE NEW INSTRUMENTS, AND HOW THEY WERE DECEIVED AND SURPRISED IN THEIR PREJUDICE CONCERNING THEM.
Gemünder had learned that the knowledge of arrogant violinists and amateurs in regard to tone did not rest on any correct basis, and that their prejudice rested on a tradition arising from the decline of the manufacture of violins since the death of the celebrated Italian makers. All attempts of late years to make good violins having failed, an aversion to new violins has been gradually spreading, so that the most of people at the present time do not believe it possible for violins to be both new and good. Firstly, because it has been found that new violins have not been constructed so as to possess the tone of old Italian instruments;