Books › A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860 › scan 42
Scan 42
A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860
7 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 20. See the scan on archive.org.
1The above maker was followed by Anthony Amati, who was perhaps his son*, but of whose violins I have seen only a few; so that probably most of them exist in Italy, France, and England. They are not very differently made from his father's†, except that he was not so particular as Jerome in selecting beautifully-figured maple; but in quality of tone they are nothing inferior, if they have not been spoiled in repairing, like some which have come into my hands, the wood of which had been shamefully scraped away: as an instance of this, I may mention one which the Duke Ernest Augustus purchased for 200 ducats, the back and belly of which I was obliged to patch and strengthen on the inside with old wood, in order to restore the instrument to its true proportions; for it had been so damaged, that, considering its tone, it was not worth more than 5 dollars. As already stated, I have seen but few genuine instruments of Anthony Amati; and this has led me to infer that only few of them have been brought into Germany. There are, however, the more of Nicholas Amati, of Cremona, who flourished during the same period as Anthony Straduarius.
3The violins of Nicholas Amati are particularly remarkable, as being of a rather smaller size, and having a peculiar model. They run rather flat from the purfling inwards, and then rise, more suddenly than those of either Jerome or Anthony, to an inch above the level of the side pieces, and form, in the highest part, a
5* This error of the author has been duly corrected in the 1828 edition of his work, where Anthony Amati is properly named as the brother of Jerome.—Tr.
6† His brother's.—Tr.
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