Scan 105
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 81. See the scan on archive.org.
1the violoncello to be reduced in size was one for which he deserved the thanks of posterity; but alas! the fate of the violoncello was only deferred, as Ortega, the pupil and successor of Dom Vicenzo Ascensio, performed this ever-delicate operation in the most drastic and barbarous manner conceivable, and the instrument, ill-conditioned and uncared for, a ruin of its former self, is to-day to be seen reclining against the wall of the organ-loft of the Chapel Royal at Madrid. The head alone remains to speak of its original grandeur.
3As stated in our chapter on the number of existing Stradivari instruments, the large-sized tenor vanished at the dispersal of the Royal Collection. Whether it had been previously cut down or not we cannot say, but the probabilities are that it did not escape. Curiously enough, Stradivari does not appear to have made or finished this concerto of instruments at one and the same time, as the still-existing tenor is dated 1696, and the two violins 1709. The violoncello was certainly made at the same time as the tenor: its proportions and style are of pre-1700 date, and its original label also: but some vandal, probably Ortega, deliberately cut out Stradivari's figures, substituting 1709 in their place; the object of this being, apparently, to make the date agree with that of the violins which alone remained of the set. Possibly Stradivari did make a whole concerto in 1696, but afterwards disposed of the two violins, replacing them at a later date. The fact, however, of the varnish of these examples being yellow and their general character much more in accordance with that of his pre-1700 work, adds weight to our belief that they were made about the same time as the other instruments of the set, though they were not actually completed and labelled until 1709.*
5* We have observed that Stradivari did at times, though with rare exception, label his violins years later than they were made. We
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