Scan 34
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
7 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1remains that henceforth Alessandro, his wife and children, with the sole exception of Antonio, occupy no place in the family history.
3Nothing whatever is known concerning the early career of Antonio. Did his parents bring him back to Cremona in order to apprentice him to Nicolò Amati? What were the reasons that induced them to make him a violin-maker? As far as we can learn, no earlier member or connection of his family had adopted this calling. These questions, we fear, can never be answered. The first documentary intimation even of Antonio's existence in Cremona, as yet met with, is furnished by the label inserted in one of his violins, and dated 1666.* Then comes the announcement of his marriage in the next year. He married Francesca, the daughter of Francesco Feraboschi, and widow of Giovanni Giacomo Capra, who committed suicide with an arquebus on the Piazza S. Agata (now Piazza Garibaldi), in April, 1664. The following is the extract from the Marriage Register of the Parish of S. Agata: "On the 4th of July, 1667, having three times published the banns on feast days, the first on June 26th [wrongly written July in the register], which was a Sunday, the second on the 29th, the feast day of St. Peter, the third on Sunday, the 3rd of July, announcing the marriage which Signor Antonio Stradivari, of the Parish of S. Cecilia, intended to contract with Signora Francesca Ferabosca,† of my parish; I hereby beg to declare that, no impediment of any kind having arisen, I, the Reverend Pietro Guallo, Parish Priest of the Collegiate and renowned Church of S. Agata in Cremona, have united them to-day, here, in my church, in the holy bond of matrimony, in the
5* See Chapter II.
6† We have retained the different spellings of this name as found in the original documents.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.