Scan 28
GROVE'S DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN FIVE VOLUMES, 1908
12 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1of instrumental music at the Royal Courts of Europe induced Antonio Stradivari (see that name) to turn his attention to the making of 'sets' of instruments, comprising violins, tenors, and basses. The first 'set' of instruments, recorded as by this maker, is that mentioned in the Arisi MSS., a document written by Desiderio Arisi, a Cremonese priest of the order of St. Jerome and belonging to the Church of St. Sigismondo (see Antonio Stradivari, his Life and Work, W. E. Hill & Sons). He states that Stradivari received an order, in 1682, from the Venetian banker Michele Morigi, for a complete 'sett' of instruments, destined to be presented to James II. of England. As no trace of these instruments has as yet been found, their existence rests entirely upon the statement made in the MSS. referred to. In 1690 the same maker produced the so-called 'Tuscan Concerto,' or 'set' of instruments, for Cosmo di Medici. This probably consisted of two or three violins, a contralto (small tenor), a tenore (large tenor), and a violoncello. The tenore of this set1 has been preserved in its original state, and may be seen, together with the violoncello, in the Musical Institute at Florence. In 1696 Stradivari made the inlaid quintet which for some years was owned by Philip IV. of Spain, and at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, the 'set' (dated 1696-1709) destined to have been presented to Philip V. of Spain, but not sold until after Stradivari's death, when his son Paolo disposed of it (in 1775) to a priest named Padre Brambrilla for £148, and later it became the property of Don Carlos, afterwards Charles IV. of Spain. This 'set' consisted of two violins, two violas, one tenore, and a violoncello. The large tenore vanished at the dispersal of the royal collection, and the rest of the 'set' were submitted to such barbarous reparations at the hands of Dom Vincenzo Acenzo and his successor Ortega, that, especially in the case of the violoncello now in the Chapel Royal, Madrid, little of their original character remains.
3In modern times 'sets' of instruments by one maker have been largely collected by ardent connoisseurs. We are told that the Dumas family, friends of Beethoven, assembled a quartet of Gio. Paolo Maggini's instruments, violin, viola, violoncello, and small bass, and that with the exception of the last, they are some of the finest specimens of this master's work. The Prince J. de Caraman Chimay owned a very interesting quartet of instruments by Stradivari's pupil (?) Ambrose de Comble of Tournay (about 1750) and also an ornamented quartet (copies of Stradivari) made by J. B. Vuillaume in 1865. [These instruments were exhibited in the Albert Hall in 1885.] Quartets of Stradivari's instruments have been collected by the following: Count Archinto of Milan, who died in 1860. This quartet passed into the hands of J. B. Vuillaume, and the violoncello (1689) was the instrument used by Mons. Jules Delsart. Nicolo Paganini also owned a quartet by this maker. The Duc de Camposelice, who died in Paris in 1887, possessed about twenty of the great master's instruments, and M. Wilmotte of Antwerp, who died in 1893, left eight violins, two violas, and two violoncellos. M. de St. Senoch's quartet—violin, 1737; second violin, 1704; viola, 1728; violoncello, 1696—was sold after his death in 1886, at the Hôtel Drouot. At the present time Stradivari quartets are owned by Baron Knoop, Dr. R. E. Brandt, and the Herren Mendelssohn. The late Dr. Charles Oldham's quartet was bequeathed to the British Museum. The quartet of Stradivaris employed by Lady Hallé and her collaborators at the St. James's Hall Popular Concerts were dated as follows:—Lady Hallé's violin, 1709; Mr. Ries' violin, 1710; Mr. Gibson's viola, 1728; and Signor Piatti's violoncello, 1720. It would appear that the only present-day instrumentalists who play upon a complete set of Stradivari's instruments are the Joachim quartet. Dr. Joachim's violin is dated 1715, Prof. Hausmann's violoncello, 1724, Prof. Carl Halir's violin is a long-pattern Stradivarius, and the fine viola played upon by Prof. Wirth is lent to the quartet by the Herren Mendelssohn.—Agricola, Musica Instrumentalis; Burney, History of Music; Hawkins, History of Music; de Laborde, Essai sur la Musique; Hart, The Violin; Hill, Antonio Stradivari; Engel, Catalogue, South Kensington Exhibition of Instruments, 1874; Catalogue of Inventions Exhibition, 1885; von Moser, Joseph Joachim.
51 For the history of the violin of this set see article Mosel.
7QUARTET ASSOCIATION, THE. A Society for the performance of chamber music, started in 1852 by Messrs. Sainton, Cooper, Hill, and Piatti, with such eminent artists as Sterndale Bennett, Mlle. Clauss, Mme. Pleyel, Arabella Goddard, Pauer, Hallé, etc., at the pianoforte. They gave six concerts each season at Willis's Rooms, but ended with the third season, the time not having yet arrived for a sufficient support of chamber music by the London public. The programmes were selected with much freedom, embracing English composers—Bennett, Ellerton, Loder, Macfarren, Mellon, etc.; foreign musicians then but seldom heard—Schumann, Cherubini, Hummel, etc., and Beethoven's Posthumous Quartets. The pieces were analysed by G. A. Macfarren.
9QUASI, as if—i.e. an approach to. 'Andante quasi allegretto' or 'Allegretto quasi vivace' means a little quicker than the one and not so quick as the other—answering to poco allegretto, or più tosto allegro.
11QUATRE FILS AYMON, LES. An opéra-comique; words by MM. Leuven and Brunswick, music by Balfe. Produced at the Opéra-
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