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Scan 189
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1928
13 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 151. See the scan on archive.org.
1his parents had fled to some haven of refuge where in the fullness of time Antonio first saw the light. The names of the three children above mentioned are the only entries to be found in the birth registers relating to children born in wedlock to Alessandro Stradivari, and the only direct allusion to the relationship existing between Antonio and Alessandro Stradivari is furnished by the contract for the purchase of his house wherein he signs himself 'Antonio Stradivari, son of the late Alessandro.'
3The earliest authentic evidence of Antonio Stradivari's residence in Cremona has been supplied by a violin—dated 1666—recorded by Alfred Hill, in whose hands it has been. The original label in this instrument runs as follows:
5'Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Alumnus Nicolai Amati, Faciebat Anno 1666,'
6followed by the familiar Maltese cross and the initials A. S. enclosed within a double circle. He was then—as will be gathered later—22 years of age and, it may be assumed, had probably served an apprenticeship to Nicolo Amati (see AMATI, 4) for the seven or eight preceding years. It is quite possible that he began to insert his own labels some years before 1666, but this date may be said to have marked the later limit of his pupilage; in any case it proved his competence to claim the authorship of his own instruments, and the labels found in his violins of the following year bear no allusion to Nicolo Amati, nor is there any further reference to his master on the labels of any of his later instruments. Following the same lines of deduction, the year in which Antonio Stradivari was born has been generally accepted as 1644, by reason of his custom of adding his age to his labels during the latter part of his life. In 1732 he states himself to be '89,' in 1736, '92,' and in 1737, '93.' Another noticeable feature of these labels is the alteration in the spelling of his name. About the year 1730 he seems to have discarded the first orthography, i.e. 'Antonius Stradiuarius,' and replaced the u with a roman v. The origin of this change may have been a chance misprint which commended itself to him; but it was certainly not due to any orthographical views on the part of the Stradivari family, for his son, Omobono, still continued to employ the earlier, while Francesco adopted the later spelling.
8Accepting the year of Antonio Stradivarius's birth as 1644, we find that he was twenty-three years of age when he married Francesca Feraboschi in 1667. This lady was the widow of Giovanni Giacomo Capra, who had committed suicide in the Piazza S. Agata, Cremona, three years previously, and was Stradivari's senior by a few years. After the union Stradivari and his wife settled in a house known as the Casa del Pescatore, which was situated in his wife's parish of S. Matteo; and a year after the marriage the Cremona census reports record that a daughter, christened Giulia Maria, had been born to them. Until 1680 Stradivari continued to live at the Casa del Pescatore, where his family was increased by the birth of a second daughter, Catterina (b. Mar. 25, 1674; d. June 17, 1748), and four sons: Francesco (b. Feb. 6, 1670), who only lived a week; Francesco (2); Alessandro (b. May 25, 1677; d. June 26, 1732); Omobono (3). In 1680 Stradivari and his family removed to the house he had purchased in the Piazza San Domenico of a Cremonese family named Picenardi. According to the deed of sale, first brought to light by Lombardini,1 and now preserved in the National Archives of Cremona, Stradivari paid 7000 imperial lires (about £840) for his new home. 2000 lire of this amount he paid in cash, 4990 he agreed to pay within four years, and the balance of ten lire was foregone by the vendors provided he paid the Canons of the Cathedral the yearly tithe of six imperial sols. Until his death Stradivari resided in this house, known in his day as No. 2 Piazza San Domenico, but since 1870 as No. 1 Piazza Roma, and for nine years after his demise the remaining members of his family lived there. In 1746 it was let to Stradivari's pupil, Carlo Bergonzi, who occupied the house until 1758. In the following year it was tenanted by Giacomo Caraffe, and until 1777 by Giuseppe Paleari and others; but in that year Stradivari's grandson, named Antonio after him, sold the house to Signor Giovanni Ancina. During these years the building escaped alteration, but in 1888 the proprietor of the adjoining caffè purchased it and carried out such extensive alterations that little of the original form of the structure remained.
10Eighteen years of domestic tranquillity followed the establishment of the Stradivari family—which included Susanna Capra, his wife's only daughter by her first husband—in their new abode, until May 25, 1698, when a break was caused in the home circle by the death of the violin-maker's wife, Francesca Feraboschi. She was buried with conspicuous honours in a tomb situated in the choir of the church of St. Domenico, and fifteen months after her death Stradivari consoled himself, becoming united in Aug. 1699 to Antonia Maria Zambelli, daughter of Antonia Zambelli, of the parish of S. Donato. This second marriage was blessed with five children: one daughter—named after the first wife—Francesca Maria (b. Sept. 19, 1700; d. Feb. 11, 1720); Giovanni Battista Giuseppe (b. Nov. 6, 1701; d. July 8, 1702); Giovanni Battista Martino (b. Nov. 11, 1703; d. Nov. 1, 1727); Giuseppe (b. Oct. 27, 1704; d. Dec. 2, 1781), who became a priest; Paolo Bartolomeo (b. Jan. 26, 1708; d. Oct. 14,
121 Antonio Stradivari e la celebre scuola cremonese, 1872.
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