place in the back which was to be repaired, which was almost invisible, and he gave Gemünder a magnifying glass for his assistance, but Gemünder returned it, saying that he could do better with his naked eyes, and when finished Vuillaume might examine it with the glass. When completed, the work proved to be all that Vuillaume had wished, and satisfied the owner of the instrument so thoroughly that in his ecstasy of delight he presented Vuillaume, in addition to the payment for his work, with a costly Russian morning gown.

On the return of Ole Bull from America, in 1845, that distinguished performer brought his wonderful "Caspar da Salo" violin to Vuillaume to be repaired, and requested the latter to do the work himself, as it was something about which he was very particular; but Vuillaume answered that he had a German in his workshop who could do it better than he. Impelled by curiosity to become acquainted with this German, he asked to be shown to the place. After some conversation, Gemünder undertook the repairing of the violin and completed it in as masterly a manner as he did in the case of the Russian gentleman.

After an interval of three years, while Gemünder was still working at Vuillaume's, the latter showed him a violin and asked his opinion about it. Gemünder, having examined it, replied that it was made by some one who had no school! "I expected to hear this," returned Vuillaume, "and now let me tell you, that this violin is the very same that I engaged you to make when you came to me. I show it only that you may recognize what you are now and what you were then!" Gemünder was not only surprised, but amazed, and would hardly have believed it possible. This incident is only mentioned to show that as long as the eye has not been fully cultivated, those who fancy themselves to be artists are not such, and in reality they cannot distinguish right from wrong. Gemünder has often experienced this in America. He knows no other violin maker who deserves to be compared with Vuillaume in this respect, for he correctly understood the character of the outline and form as well as the interior structure of the different Italian instruments.

Towards the end of 1847, when Gemünder had been four years at Vuillaume's, his two brothers, who were in America, invited him to go there, as the interest in and taste for music was improving and they intended to give concerts. Gemünder therefore determined to accept this invitation and left Paris. He arrived in November, at Springfield, Mass., and, meeting his brothers, arrangements for concerts were made with an agent, who engaged several other artists to make up the company. The instrumental quartet consisted of a clarinet, violin, flute and bass guitar. This music made quite a sensation, and the houses 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