Scan 259
GROVE'S DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN FIVE VOLUMES, 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 215. See the scan on archive.org.
1of the grain in the bellies of his instruments bears evidence to this particular trait of the Brescian master. His varnish is principally deep yellow, and rich in tone, though some of his instruments are much darker in colour; in fact some are almost black, an effect doubtless due to age. The sound-holes are long, parallel, and pointed in form, and in the gambas and viols still retain the more simple C shape; yet in spite of their length they are in perfect harmony with the form of the instrument. The purfling is usually single, and the general appearance of his work is bold, but not highly finished. His tickets run as follows: 'Gasparo da Salo: In Brescia,' and are undated.]
3The pattern of Gasparo da Salo was partially revived in the 18th century, owing no doubt to its great tone-producing capacity, by the celebrated Joseph Guarnerius (see that article), and to a less extent by some of the French makers. As a maker of tenors and double-basses Gasparo da Salo has never had an equal, and his instruments of these classes are eagerly sought after. The objection to his tenors is their great size, but their effect in a quartet is unrivalled. Two remarkably fine specimens, formerly in the possession successively of Dr. Stewart of Wolverhampton, and of Mr. John Adam of Blackheath, are now in the possession of Mr. J. A. Torrens Johnson. [The most perfect specimen of a da Salo viola ever seen by the writer was the one which belonged to Mr. Edward Withers in 1884. This was a fine primitive instrument, and another perfect specimen was the property of Mr. Tyssen Amherst, an English amateur of celebrity. At the Special Loan Exhibition of Musical Instruments at the Fishmongers' Hall in 1904 there were three of da Salo's masterpieces. One was a viola of 1570, the property of Mr. E. A. Sandermann; another a viola da gamba of the same date, lent by Messrs. W. E. Hill & Sons; and a third was a viol of 1565, belonging to F. Pengrie, Esq. (The dates quoted are according to the catalogue.) At the Victoria and Albert Museum there are two Gasparo da Salo Viole da Gamba. One is mounted with seven strings, an innovation attributed to Marais in the 17th century. The sound-holes are in the C form, the ribs curve into the neck in the true viol fashion, the wood of the belly is even in grain, and the varnish is brownish yellow. Its complete length is 4 feet, and it was bought at the sale of the Engel collection for £8. The other gamba by this maker is mounted for six strings. The neck terminates in a well-carved grotesque head of an old woman; the wood of the belly is even in grain; the sound-holes are in the C form; the varnish is slightly darker than the instrument mentioned above. The finger-board is ornamented with ivory and tortoise-shell, and bound with catgut frets. The purfling is in one single broad line. It is labelled within 'Gasparo da Salo: In Brescia.' The length measures 3 feet 9 inches, and it was bought at the sale of the Engel collection for £10. The well-known violin-maker, August Reichers of Berlin, possessed a small-sized violoncello by this maker in 1894 (probably a cut-down bass), and Dragonetti possessed three or four double-basses by da Salo. The most celebrated of these instruments was presented to him by the monks of the monastery of St. Marco, Venice, about the year 1776, and was returned to the donors after his death. It would appear that this bass has disappeared. Another of Dragonetti's basses was bequeathed by him to the Duke of Leinster, and a third was in the possession of the Rev. G. Leigh Blake in 1875. In the same year Mr. John Hart owned a Gasparo da Salo bass (small size) in an exceptional state of preservation. The most renowned instrument of this maker is the violin which was made by him to the order of the Cardinal Aldobrandini, a noble patron of the fine arts in Rome, who paid da Salo 3000 Neapolitan ducats for his work, and presented it to the treasury of Innspruck, where it was preserved as a curiosity. The head of this curious violin is said to have been carved by Benvenuto Cellini; it represents an angel's face carved and coloured, surrounded by flowing locks of hair. Behind this there leans a little mermaid, the human form of which terminates in scales of green and gold. The tail-piece is another mermaid, in bronze colour, and the finger-board is ornamented with arabesques in blue and gold; while the bridge is delicately carved in the form of two intertwining fish, similar to the zodiacal sign of the month of February. The belly is made of an exceedingly rare species of Swiss pine, which grows on the Italian side of the Swiss Alps, and is even-grained. When Innspruck was taken by the French in 1809, this violin was carried to Vienna and sold to a wealthy Bohemian amateur named Rahaczek, who was a well-known collector. Ole Bull saw it at Rahaczek's house during a visit to Vienna in 1839, and tried to persuade his host to part with it, but this he refused to do. However, after his death Rahaczek's sons offered it to the great Norwegian virtuoso at a price, and he purchased it from them in the year 1841. At the death of Ole Bull this violin became the property of an American amateur resident in the United States.] Gasparo's violins, which are mostly of small size, are not in request for practical purposes.
5M. Fétis, in A. Stradivari (1864), mentions a very remarkable violin of da Salo which was sold at Milan in 1807; and that Baron de Bagge also possessed one in the year 1788, of which Rudolph Kreutzer spoke with admiration. Another violin he states to be in the possession of Mr. T. Forster, an English amateur, and the owner of a numerous collection of violins, which bore the inscription 'Gasparo da Salo: In Brescia, 1613,' but either the ticket or instrument was
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