Scan 76
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1is more open in the grain than hitherto: fine at the joint, but widening out to a full \( \frac{1}{16} \)th of an inch at the edges. Another fine example of this date is the violin owned by Colonel Glennie.
3The year 1704 marks, as far as our experience permits us to affirm, the last of those violins with pronounced long corners: we know of no specimen of later date. The years 1705 and 1706 are especially noticeable for the fewness of the violins produced. We are acquainted with only nine instruments: five of the earlier and four of the latter year.*
5One might suppose that, having attained such perfection of build as is represented by the main features and proportions of the "Betts," Stradivari would have rested for a time; but fresh ideas, the result of his restless genius, continually crowded out the past, and, whether for better or for worse, he continued to put them into execution. Nevertheless, the violins of the years following 1704 show, by various parts of their construction, more especially the model, that Stradivari had settled upon certain points from which he henceforth but rarely deviated.
7The greater number of the violins produced during the years under consideration (1705–10) are characterised by a certain conciseness of form and construction, every part being closely knit together; and we are of opinion that they furnish us with examples which, in conjunction with fine proportions, represent the most compact type of violin made by Stradivari. The edges and corners are light, both in appearance and in actual substance; the margin around the sides is equally neat; the corners, shortened and more in accordance with those of his earlier instruments, are yet more elegant—i.e. less blunt: they recall, to a considerable extent, those of the long-pattern violins, with slightly increased curve or droop. The purfling, which is
9* See footnote, Chapter X., page 247.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.