Scan 51
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER II.
3Stradivari's Violins.
5THE tradition that Stradivari was a pupil of Nicolò Amati has been handed down to us by successive generations; and there has been a general disposition to believe it to be correct. Still, doubts have not unreasonably been raised, as it has been hitherto impossible to point to the existence of any documentary evidence to confirm the tradition.
7Stradivari, unlike several of Nicolò Amati's other pupils, did not make his master's name generally known by mentioning the fact that he was his apprentice on the various labels he inserted in his instruments during so many years. Andrea Guarneri, for instance, from time to time uses the words "Alumnus Nicolai Amati"; so also did Francesco Ruger*; whilst we believe this to have been the invariable practice of G. B. Rogeri, who worked at Brescia. Lancetti, the Cremonese biographer, who about the year 1823 compiled a work on the different celebrated violin-makers (but it was never published, owing to its non-
9* The several members of this family appear to have spelt their name Rogeri, Ruger, and Rugerius, though the name more frequently met with on the labels is Ruger. It is usual, however, to speak of them as "Rugeri." This family of makers must not be confounded with the two named Rogeri who worked at Brescia and who were of Bolognese origin.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.