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, 1875 › scan 83
Scan 83
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, 1875
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 67. See the scan on archive.org.
1Some violin makers, born in foreign countries, have been formed in Italy in the school of Amati, or in that of Ant. Stradivari. At the head of these must be placed Jacob Stainer, the founder of the Tyrolese school, who worked during his youth at Cremona, under Nicholas Amati.* The genuine instruments of this maker have been classed into three epochs. To the first belong the violins dated from Cremona, all of which have written labels, signed with the hand of Stainer: these are of the greatest rarity. So much obscurity reigns over the second epoch of Stainer's career, that we can only say he lived and laboured at Absom (his native place) from 1650 to 1667. It is said that he was here assisted by his brother, Mark Stainer, who was a monk. According to tradition, Stainer retired to a Benedictine convent, after the death of his wife, and there ended his days. In this seclusion, he determined on closing his career by the manufacture of twelve violins of superior finish, which he sent to the twelve Electors of the empire. M. Fétis saw one of these instruments, in 1817, and speaks most highly both of its quality of tone and varnish.
3Matthias Albani, who sprang from the school of Stainer, was born at Botzen or Bolzano, in the Italian Tyrol, and died at the same place in 1673. His son, also named Matthias, was born at Botzen in the middle of the seventeenth century. After learning his trade from his father, he worked in the Cremonese manufactories, and made many instruments which have been esteemed nearly equal to the Amati violins.
5* P. Davidson (see The Violin, p. 141) says Stainer was first a pupil of Anthony and afterwards of Nicholas Amati. Luthomono-graphie (p. 58) denies this in toto, and says that he was a pupil of Albani! The reader can place what reliance he thinks proper on these statements.—Tr
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.