Scan 87
Cremona: an account of the Italian violin-makers and their instruments, 1894
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 65. See the scan on archive.org.
1have been provided with Stradivari labels. The year in which Stradivarius left the workshop of Amati must have been 1668. From that time his instruments are in complete harmony with those of his master. Some years later he gave them a scroll with a bolder form, and made them broader and somewhat deeper. The instruments of this period display wood of a fine quality of tone, though it is not beautiful.
3The next period is from 1686 to 1694. The archings became flatter, the F holes more elegant and less upright; the design of the middle bouts is more expanded than in his later model, the corners are longer, and the whole instrument becomes larger and the scroll much more powerful. The varnish is differently coloured, often a bright golden colour, clear or dark, often clear red; the latter colour being generally found in those instruments in which the back is jointed. The purflings are fine.
5Then comes a period in which Stradivarius adopted a longer pattern, the so-called "patron allongé." It is narrower in the middle, and for this reason appears to be longer. The colour of the varnish also varies between amber-yellow and clear red, but it is invariably beautifully transparent. These long violins have as fine a tone as the others, and show the same veiled quality of tone, a fact which would hardly be thought possible considering the difference in the model.
7In the year 1687 he made a quartet of instruments for the Spanish Court, inlaid with ivory; of these one violin came into the possession of Ole Bull. (d) At this time he also made
9(d) One of the first specimens known distinguished by this kind of work is the violin which belonged to Louis Rode, the violinist: this instrument is now in the possession of an English collector, the owner of a quartet of Stradivaris. It may be pointed out that some of Stradivari's finest work was executed for these special commissions, for example, the concerto made for the Court of Tuscany, of which one, of 1690, a very fine violin, is that which recently it is believed has been in the hands of Messrs. W. E. Hill & Sons, who sold it to an English collector. For the full description and curious history of this magnificent violin, see the first of Messrs. Hill's interesting publications on famous instruments and on famous makers "The Tuscan Strad." 1890.
11This is considered to have been one of the concertos supplied, in 1684 and 1690, to Cosmo III. of Medici. Stradivari also made instruments for the Duke of Alba, for Charles III. of Spain, Augustus King of Poland, and for the Court of Modena.
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