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Scan 192
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
49 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 150. See the scan on archive.org.
1was dated 1678. It is known that 'Il barceggio' was written for performance in 1681.
3Stradella's compositions, comprising operas, serenades, religious and secular cantatas, oratorios, motets, madrigals and string concertos, are nearly all in MS. Hess gives a full account of the operas and discusses them from the point of view of their novelty of structure and treatment. Burney traces the influence of Stradella on Purcell, founding this hypothesis on the latter's use of the ground-bass, which, he says, was fostered 'by viewing the works of an author who, according to tradition, was his greatest favourite.' Parry 1 mentions Stradella at some length in regard to his use of ground-bass and his position as a composer of cantatas and oratorios. The oratorio 'S. Giovanni Battista' is probably Stradella's greatest work and is undoubtedly of interest, showing, as it does, an important step in the evolution of that form from Carissimi to later oratorio writers like Handel. Parry says of it, 'The genuine musicianship and breadth of treatment in this work are indeed remarkable for the time when it appeared. . . . ' In this respect it is of interest to notice the two sides of Stradella's character. On the one hand there is the free-living, amorous gallant; on the other, the composer of moving and apparently deeply felt religious music. one of two readings
4Stradella's compositions, comprising operas, serenades, religious and secular cantatas, oratorios, motets, madrigals and string concertos, are nearly all in MS. Hess gives a full account of the operas and discusses them from the point of view of their novelty of structure and treatment. Burney traces the influence of Stradella on Purcell, founding this hypothesis on the latter's use of the ground-bass, which, he says, was fostered 'by viewing the works of an author who, according to tradition, was his greatest favourite.' Parry¹ mentions Stradella at some length in regard to his use of ground-bass and his position as a composer of cantatas and oratorios. The oratorio 'S. Giovanni Battista' is probably Stradella's greatest work and is undoubtedly of interest, showing, as it does, an important step in the evolution of that form from Carissimi to later oratorio writers like Handel. Parry says of it, 'The genuine musicianship and breadth of treatment in this work are indeed remarkable for the time when it appeared. . . . ' In this respect it is of interest to notice the two sides of Stradella's character. On the one hand there is the free-living, amorous gallant; on the other, the composer of moving and apparently deeply felt religious music. one of two readings
6The serenata which Handel laid under contribution for 'Israel in Egypt' is 'Qual prodigio ch'io miri,' and is to be found in the supplement of the German Handel Society's edition.
8An exhaustive catalogue of the Stradella MSS. will be found in Hess. The following list shows the principal printed works:
10Scelta di canzonette italiane di diversi autori. Printed at London by Godbid and Playford. (1679.)
11SILVANI MARINO: Scelta delle suonate con il B. C. per organo. (Bologna, 1680.)
12CHRYSANDE: Supplemente, enthaltend Quellen zu Händels Werken, iii.
13CROSTI: Les Airs célèbres. (Paris, 1896)
14EITNER: Acht Gesänge.
15GEVAERT: Les Gloires d'Italie, i. and ii.
16HALÉVY: Canti a voce sola dell' insigne A. Str. (Paris, 1861.)
17NOVELLO: Fitzwilliam Music. (1825.)
18PARISOTTI: Libro secondo di arie antiche. (Milan, 1890.) one of two readings
19PARISOTI: Libro secondo di arie antiche. (Milan, 1890.) one of two readings
20RUNG: Musica scelta di antichi . . . musici italiani. (Copenhagen.)
22BIBLIOGRAPHY
24Apart from the usual Dictionaries and Histories the following should be consulted:
25ADEMOLLO: I teatri di Roma nel secolo XVII. (Rome, 1888.)
26BOURDELOT: Histoire de la musique et de ses effets. (Paris, 1715.)
27BURNEY: General History of Music. (London, 1789.)
28DENT: Alessandro Scarlatti. (London, 1905.)
29GALVANI: I teatri musicali di Venezia nel secolo XVII. (Milan, 1878.)
30HESS: Die Opern Alessandro Stradellas. (Leipzig, 1906.)
31MAZZUCATO: Article in this Dictionary, 2nd edition.
32RICHARD: Stradella et les Contarini, Le Ménestrel. (Paris, 1865-66.)
33Delle opere di A. Stradella esistenti dell' Archivio mus. della R. Bibli. Palatina di Modena. (Modena, 1865.)
35STRADIVARI (STRADIVARIUS), (1) ANTONIO (b. ? 1644; d. Cremona, Dec. 18, 1737), 'brought the violin to perfection and left to Cremona an imperishable name as master of his craft'; thus the inscription now affixed by the municipality of Cremona to the house in the Piazza Roma where the great violin-maker passed the most successful years of his life 2 and where he died. one of two readings
36STRADIVARI (STRADIVARIUS), (1) ANTONIO (b. ? 1644; d. Cremona, Dec. 18, 1737), 'brought the violin to perfection and left to Cremona an imperishable name as master of his craft'; thus the inscription now affixed by the municipality of Cremona to the house in the Piazza Roma where the great violin-maker passed the most successful years of his life² and where he died. one of two readings
38Regarding the etymology of the name, E. J. Payne, in the first edition of this Dictionary, pronounced it to be derived from 'the plural form of 'Stradivare,' a Lombard variety of 'Stradiere,' a tollman or douanier, a feudal official who was posted on the Strada (or high road) for the purpose of exacting dues from passengers'; while Mandelli, quoting from the catalogue of ancient rolls of the community of Cremona, compiled by the Piedmontese professor, Astegiano, to the year 1300, and printed at Turin in 1899, states that:
40'The form of the name "de Stradaverta" as used in 1298 is derived from "Strada Averta" of the Cremonese dialect; in Italian, "Strada Aperta."'
42A further outcome of Mandelli's researches is the remarkable genealogy of the Stradivari family which he traced down to 1883. Beginning with Giulio Cesare Stradivari of the parish of S. Michele Vecchio, who married Doralice Milani, a widow of the cathedral parish, on Apr. 10, 1600, we find Antonio Stradivari's father recorded in the register entry of the son born to them two years later and christened Alessandro, Jan. 15, in the same church. Later we find this same Alessandro, son of Giulio Cesare Stradivari, entering into the bonds of matrimony with Anna, daughter of Leonardo Moroni, on Aug. 30, 1622, which fact is duly recorded in the marriage register of the parish of S. Prospero. Three children are recorded to have been born of this union: Giuseppe Giulio Cesare, (b. Mar. 1623); Carlo Felice (b. Sept. 1626); Giovanni Battista (b. Oct. 1628). After the birth of the last-mentioned child documentary evidence concerning the family ceases entirely, and no effort has yet dissipated the obscurity which enshrouds the birth of Antonio Stradivari. Every record relating to the subject has, it would seem, been destroyed, or lost, and the only available explanation of this singular deficiency has been furnished by the wars and famine which visited Cremona in 1628, the year Giovanni Battista was born, and again in 1629. Again in 1630 the inhabitants were further harassed by the ravages of a plague which caused innumerable deaths, and compelled all those who could do so to leave the city. It is further recorded that Hieronymus Amati, his wife and his daughters, succumbed to the disease; but there is no indication that Alessandro Stradivari and his family were still at Cremona at the time, and Mandelli has perhaps rightly interpreted the complete lack of documentary evidence regarding the date and place of Antonio Stradivari's birth, to signify that
441 Oxf. Hist. Mus vol. iii. pp. 181 et seq. one of two readings
45² It should be stated at once that the whole of the facts available as the reward of untiring effort and research concerning the family of the great 'Stradivarius,' as well as his own personality and work, have been amassed in the monumental study which has been, it may be said, the life-work of the sons of William Ebsworth Hill—Antonio Stradivari, his Life and Work (1644-1737), by W. Henry Hill, Arthur F. Hill, F.S.A., and Alfred Hill (London, 1902). To this work the writer acknowledges his great indebtedness. one of two readings
472 It should be stated at once that the whole of the facts available as the reward of untiring effort and research concerning the family of the great 'Stradivarius,' as well as his own personality and work, have been amassed in the monumental study which has been, it may be said, the life-work of the sons of William Ebsworth Hill—Antonio Stradivari, his Life and Work (1644-1737), by W. Henry Hill, Arthur F. Hill, F.S.A., and Alfred Hill (London, 1902). To this work the writer acknowledges his great indebtedness. one of two readings
48¹ Oxf. Hist. Mus vol. iii. pp. 181 et seq. one of two readings
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