Books › Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927 › scan 123
Scan 123
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
18 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 77. See the scan on archive.org.
1AMANI, NICHOLAS (b. 1875; d. 1904), a Russian composer; wrote a string trio, op. 1, suite, variations, etc., for pianoforte; and songs.
3AMAT, JUAN CARLES (b. Monistrol, near Barcelona, mid. 16th cent.), a Catalan apothecary and author of the earliest known treatise on the Spanish guitar: Guitarra española, y vandola en dos maneras de guitarra, castellana y cathalana, de cinco ordenes . . . (Gerona, 1639) (Brit. Mus.). The work, the text of which is in two languages, Castilian (Spanish) and Catalan, ran into numerous editions, the latest being dated Valencia, 1758. A plagiarised version, by Andres de Soto, appeared in 1764. There is evidence for thinking that the book was published originally at Barcelona in 1586. Amat was also the author of various scientific works, e.g. Fructus medicinae (Lyons, 1623).
5J. B. T.
7AMATEUR ORCHESTRA OF LONDON. This Society was formed in Ap. 1922 as a protest against the common practice of employing professional wind players and leaders to strengthen amateur orchestras, and was able to start regular rehearsals with a full complement of wood wind and brass in the following September. It numbers about 80 players, the only professional musician actively associated with it being the conductor, H. Wynn Reeves.
9Its two concerts given during the early part of the year 1923, one in the Central Hall, Westminster, the other in the Kingsway Hall, were so successful as to place the orchestra on a safe financial basis, although the programmes were chosen with regard to worthy artistic standards rather than to popular attraction. Among its secondary aims is that of performing neglected native works. The orchestra has a strong backing of well-known conductors, instrumentalists and vocalists, whose names appear as vice-presidents.
11H. A.
13AMATI, the surname of a family of violin-makers who lived at Cremona in Italy and worked at this special craft for over a hundred years in the 16th and 17th century. The family was of patrician rank.
15(1) ANDREA (b. circa 1520; d. circa 1575–80) was the first member of this family, as far as is known, to devote himself to the craft of the luthier. The exact date of his birth is not known, but from the date of his daughter's marriage it may be placed at least as early as 1520. He died shortly before the year 1580. That he was already dead in that year is proved by a document in the Cremona archives dated Jan. 11, 1580, which refers to the brothers Antonio and Girolamo as sons and heirs of the late Andrea Amati. There is an entry in the register at Cremona dated 1611 recording the burial of the second wife of Andrea Amati who was then alive; this Andrea cannot have been the subject of the present notice for the reason just stated; the record most probably concerns Andrea, son of Girolamo and grandson of Andrea the violin-maker. Andrea Amati, or Amadi (he styled himself Amadus on his labels), was the contemporary of Gasparo da Salo and Maggini, the Brescian instrument-makers; he could not therefore have been a pupil of either of these. It is likely that he began his career as a maker of lutes and viols, but it has been pointed out that many fine wood-carvers were at this time in the employ of the Church, and the skill and taste which they developed in this craft may have induced some of them to turn their attention to making musical instruments. In former editions of this Dictionary it was argued that the brothers Amati were mathematicians as well as craftsmen, and that they consciously strove to unite freedom and harmony of outline with tone-producing qualities and facility of handling. There is no need to labour such a point; the early makers would seem much more probably to have developed the fine outline and beautiful form of their instruments, as well as their vastly improved qualities as compared with the flat-backed viols, by that natural instinct which a craftsman of true genius possesses inherently. And it must be remembered that the Italian craftsman of the 16th century was surrounded on all sides by things of beauty—beautiful buildings, beautiful decoration, beautiful colour; and inspired by these influences he could, and did, evolve beautiful curves and exquisitely proportioned designs and forms without the need of any abstruse mathematical knowledge. Be that as it may, Andrea Amati, more than any other violin-maker, deserves the credit for the design of the modern violin; and this fact is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that in one span he bridged the entire gulf between the viol and the violin, and that except for the small improvements in detail which Antonio Stradivari introduced rather more than a century later, the violin of Andrea Amati is virtually the violin of to-day.
17The earliest known violins of Andrea Amati are dated about the year 1564. One extremely fine instrument, belonging formerly to Miss Bowles of Harrow, and bearing an authentic label dated 1564, was lent to the exhibition of musical instruments at the Fishmongers' Hall in 1904. Another fine specimen bears the same date on its original label and is at present in the hands of Messrs. W. E. Hill & Sons. This latter instrument belonged formerly to the set of Amati's which are sometimes said to have been made expressly for Charles IX. of France; no evidence has been found to prove that Amati received such an order, but it is certain that these instruments belonged to the royal collection, because the violin just mentioned bears decorations which denote the ownership. The tradition that this set of instruments was dispersed at the time of the French Revolution is disproved by the fact that this same instrument
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.