Early violin cases

August 10, 2007 at 11:16 PM · I read your book! Welcome to V.com. :)

August 10, 2007 at 11:32 PM · I understand that earlier cases were end-opening, and that frequent insertion and withdrawal are responsible for the wear patterns we find on instruments of the period, specifically wear on the back along the centerlins.

I also understand that very elegant cases, heavily inlaid and furnished, were not used to carry the fiddle abroad; they resided on the spinet, harpsichord or what have you and kept the violin more or less on display.

August 11, 2007 at 04:22 AM · Here's the perfect person for you - Glenn Wood, a specialist on this subject. Give him my regards.

Glenn Wood

E-mail Address(es):

glennpwood@yahoo.com

He wrote an article on this subject for the Violin Society of America. One thing I can tell you meanwhile is that while there was quite a bit of variation in designs, most cases through the 19th C. had the handle on the top, as opposed to the side. Less practical, but very charming! I'm glad to say I have a 19th C. English wood case like that. Glenn helped me identify it.

August 11, 2007 at 01:08 PM · One of a number of discussions on Maestronet on old cases, including participation from Glenn: http://www.maestronet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=4&threadid=314989&enterthread=y

Neil

August 11, 2007 at 03:14 PM · There's a picture of a case supposedly made by Stradivari himself in Antonio Stradivari: His Life and Work, by the Hill brothers, which is widely available in a Dover reprint (p. 247, fig. 66). (You have to ask yourself how they knew the case was made by Stradivari, but chances are it was contemporary with him -- early 18th century perhaps.) The designs for the ornamental hinges are illustrated on p. 207 (figs. 56 and 57).

August 13, 2007 at 03:33 AM · My violin dates back probably over 100 years, and was made, or at least repaired, in Germany before being brought over to America during a period of German-American immigration.

The case is a canvas pouch, shaped roughly like a triangle, with the opening at the tail end. A large flap on this end can be folded inside the case to protect the violin from the weather. The canvas is bare on the inside of the pouch, rough and brown. The outside is black and smooth, almost like leather, but you can still see the canvas's weaving, like a plastic tablecoth. I'm not sure how this was accomplished.

The pouch will not fit anything besides the violin itself, and the violin cannot have a mute or chinrest on it (which it didn't until I purchased both) if it is to fit in the pouch. The shoulder pad was also omitted, and the bow was carried separately. In fact, the two bows which accompanied the instrument when given to me were in a plastic bag that you would buy a bow in, one of them entirely bald, and the other in very poor condition.

The pouch has had a few too many years on it. The canvas is tearing apart and simply sliding the violin in and out of it is taking its toll on the pouch (which, appears to have taken its own toll on the violin in its earlier years).

Here are two photos of the pouch. Pardon my terrible focusing skills!!!:

Full view: http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/2099/dscf0407tv7.jpg

Close-up of canvas: http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/8141/dscf0408ki3.jpg

August 13, 2007 at 09:00 PM · In my teenage years I had a 100 year old case called a "Berliner".It was oblong but narrowed quite a bit where the tip of the bow was.It had a brass handle on the top and was covered in a gorgeous walnut veneer.Totally impractical but nice to look at.I hope I got the name right...