Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments in the South Kensington museum, preceded by an essay on the history of musical instruments, 1874 › scan 391
Scan 391
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments in the South Kensington museum, preceded by an essay on the history of musical instruments, 1874
14 lines. Read by computer on 13 September 2026. Printed page 365. See the scan on archive.org.
1senior, violin-maker in Paris, during an excursion to Spain, happened to see the belly of this bass hanging up with other odds and ends in the shop window of Ortega, a fiddle mender in Madrid. Chanot, who at a glance appreciated its value, went in and bought it for about forty francs. Having secured the precious fragment, he asked Ortega where it came from. Ortega replied that he took it from an old violoncello which a lady of rank residing in the neighbourhood of Madrid had sent to him to be repaired. As there were so many cracks in the belly, he had substituted for it a nice new one of his own making. Chanot carried the belly away with him to Paris and placed it among the treasures in his shop. There it was seen, some time after, by Luigi Tarisio, the enthusiastic Italian collector before mentioned, who was charmed with it, and bought it from Chanot for a thousand francs. Having ascertained that the violoncello to which this fragment originally belonged was in the possession of a lady living near Madrid, Tarisio at once set out to Spain. Arrived at Madrid, he called first upon Ortega to learn the exact address of the lady, and how best to proceed. Now, the lady, when she became aware that a gentleman had travelled a long way to look after her old bass with a view of purchasing it, thought, of course, that it must be worth a great deal of money, and therefore said that she had no wish to sell it; she would, however, give it to him for four thousand francs. Tarisio was only too glad to pay the sum; and having secured the bass, he carried it triumphantly to Paris. The first thing he did was to have the new belly removed and the old cracked one reinstated. After its restoration M. Gallay bought the instrument for 20,000 francs (800l.).
3Double Basses.
5Among the double basses in the Exhibition deserving special mention, were:—
7A Basso di Camera, lent by Her Majesty the Queen. Supposed to be by Domenico Montagnana of Venice, about 1725; bequeathed to H.R.H. the Prince Consort by Signor Dragonetti; very fine.
9A Gaspar di Salo, Brescia, 1580; lent by the Rev. G. Leigh Blake, Buriton, Petersfield; a fine specimen, formerly the property of Signor Dragonetti.
11A Gaspar di Saio, 1590, lent by Mr. John Hart; a small bass in a good state of preservation.
13Two double basses assigned to Gaspar di Salo, probably by Maggini; lent by Mrs. Salomons, London; formerly belonging to Signor Dragonetti.
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