Books › Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896 › scan 146
Scan 146
Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 126. See the scan on archive.org.
1happens to catch my eye, I cannot help thinking what an admirable workman he must have been, and what a debt of gratitude all violinists owe to him, and his conscientious fellow-labourers, his two sons, and Lorenzo Guadagnini, who helped him.
3"You see there were once at Cremona, in the same workshop, near the old church of Santo Domenico, three men named Nicolo Amati, Andrea Guarneri, and Antonio Stradivari, who have left three of the greatest reputations in the world of musical instrument makers, men who have supplied musicians with some of the finest-toned violins ever heard."
5"Oh yes, George, I have often heard of them, and of the enormous prices some rich enthusiasts have given for their instruments. Yet you once told me that Stradivari never got more than about 100 francs, or £4, for any violin he made, unless it was specially ornamented to suit the taste of the purchaser."
7"It is so, my dear sister. In the eighteenth century there was but one price for a first-rate violin all over Europe; it was about fifty shillings of our English money, and a violin of Cremona, being rather more sought after, went up to something higher, and in the case of Stradivarius to as much as £4. These violins now sell at £200 to £2000, when in good condition and well preserved."
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