Scan 86
Cremona: an account of the Italian violin-makers and their instruments, 1894
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 64. See the scan on archive.org.
1Chapel of the Rosary was led to the belief that the exact spot where his mortal remains reposed had been forgotten. Credit is due to the researches of Signor Sacchi for the discovery that the Church of S. Domenico had belonged to the parish of S. Mattheo, and that the Rosenkranz Chapel is the third chapel from the entrance on the right in the Church of S. Domenico. The parish Church of S. Mattheo was too small, and in 1720 further interments were prohibited, whence the minor Church of S. Domenico became the burial-place for the parishioners. Here Stradivari purchased the grave.
3Among the effects of the Abbate Lancetti was found a letter written by Count Cozio de Salabue to Paolo, the youngest son of Stradivari, which runs: "I am pleased to receive the exact information from you that the church in which your father was buried is the Church of S. Domenico." (c)
5In another letter of Count Cozio, a year later, is found: "I have ascertained, beyond all doubt, that Stradivari, then nearly ninety-four years old, died at Cremona, in 1737, and was buried in the Church of S. Domenico." The stone bearing the inscription, "Sepolcro di Antoni Stradivari E svoi Eredi An. 1729," is preserved in the town-hall of Cremona.
7As further information about the great master is wanting, we must derive the rest from his instruments, which give us a sufficient insight into his life.
9It has never been proved that Stradivarius was a pupil of Nicolas Amati, and yet we find from his work that this must have been the fact. Although not one of his instruments bears a date earlier than 1688, there are violins with the mark of "Nicolas Amati," in his latest period, which are beyond all doubt made by the hand of Stradivarius; these have not been allowed longer to sail under a false flag, but
11(c) It appears from the papers of Lancetti and Count Salabue that at the time of Stradivari's death ninety-one of his violins were in his possession. In 1775 ten of these were in the hands of Paolo Stradivari; he sold them, as well as two violins by Francesco Stradivari, with the models and tools of Antonio Stradivari, to Count Salabue; and such models and tools subsequently came into the hands of Count Della Valle.
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