SECRETS SOLVED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23145, 17 September 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

SECRETS SOLVED

Modern Ri)als For the Vplins Made byjOld Italian Masters

1 J DURING the pas 1 year some of the clever measuring devices that have ben used in improving the reproduction of music in wireless and talki/g pictures have been directed on p old problem, that of discoveringphe secret of the Stradivari us violin/ Some of the word's greatest scientists have tried inivaiu to learn the secret of tl;e exqujJte tones m violins niado by the old/Italian instrument makers. The secft has been there all the time, of coiu?e, but means of rovealing it has bch wanting, until the

now science of sound engineering came to the rescue. l£lcctrio recording instruments that can analyse the quality of a. sound and sort out the complicated mixture of fundamental tones and overtones which are responsible for its peculiar character are so intensely sensitive that their rcsponso until recently has boon too small to bo of much value. But the science of amplifying very tiny electric currents, which has helped so much in the development of television, wireless, and the cinematograph, has made it possible to reveal differences in sound quality which even a year ago were too delicate to analyse. Quito recent work has at last shown wherein the secret of the quality of tone produced by a Stradivarius violin "lies. As a result of theso studies, a Danish engineer, Mr. Paul Jarnack, has been able to nroduco instruments which have a quality very similar to those of the Italian violins made two centuries ago. Not only do the electric recording instruments prove this, but expert musicians have agreed that their findings are correct. !>n< >n< >n< >o< >p