Scan 84
Cremona: an account of the Italian violin-makers and their instruments, 1894
17 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 62. See the scan on archive.org.
1possess nevertheless a certain originality. There is nothing artificial in his model, and the outlines are powerful and handsome. He had the curious habit of cutting his F holes in various directions. The varnish is dark brown, and is more in the Neapolitan than the Cremonese style. Vieuxtemps used a Storioni violin for some time for concerto-playing, which had a superb tone, and public attention was thus directed to this maker. (v)
3189. STRADIVARIUS, Antonius. Cremona. The fame of this Titan
5Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis among violin-makers
6Faciebat Anno 17—AXS overtops that of all others. He has left us more than a thousand instruments, and each one is a masterpiece.
8Stradivarius was born in the city of Cremona, and came of a family of some note, which, as early as the year 1127, through one Ottolinus Stradivarius, a senator, found mention in history. (z)
10The year of his birth is not to be found in the registers of the state, and we should be in ignorance on this point, were it not accidentally for one of his instruments, of the year 1736, in which is found the inscription, "92 years old," in his own handwriting. From this it appears that he was born in 1644. (a)
12Other credible data concerning his life are as follows: He married and had four children—three sons, Francesco, Omobone, and Paolo; and one daughter, Catherina. With respect to the last, the following entry in the register of deaths appears: "Catherine, daughter of Antonio Stradivari, deceased, living in the parish of the Cathedral of Cremona,
14(v) He began to make about 1770, and died in 1799.
15(z) For the early references to members of the family, see "Cenni sulla celebre scuola Cremonea degli strumenti ad arco, non che sui lavori e sulla famiglia del sommo Antonio Stradivari." Cremona, tipografia Della Noce, 1872. Per sacerdoti Paolo Lombardini.
16(a) The actual inscription is, "d'anni 92."
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