I heard somewhere (but this might not be reliable) that these "violins with
horn" were made especially for recording since a normal violin was a) not
loud enough to record them conveniently together with an ensemble and b)
they sounded differently on an old recording; the argument b) implies that
the Stroh violin had a better sound when recorded than a normal violin.

By the way, in Romanian folklore this violin is used until recently or even
up to this day and is known for a specfic region (Bihor).

----------------------------------------------
Maurice Mengel
Music Archive
Ethnological Museum
National Museums in Berlin
http://www.ilkar.de
---------------------------------------------


On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:20 PM, Paul Charosh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> A query passed on from another list:
>
> Stroh violins were commonly used in orchestras during the acoustic  era.
> But when celebrities recorded (e.g., Maud Powell, Fritz Kreisler) as  the
> featured artists on a disc, did they also use them?
>
> Paul Charosh
>