Scan 22
Joseph Guarnerius, his work and his master [Andreas Gisalberti], 1906
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 4. See the scan on archive.org.
1the goal of their ambition was the attainment of the greatest possible excellence in every part, in order that the totality should be beyond compare.
3The wonderful Amati family were not alone while working on these lines; in company with them the Ruggeris tried to keep pace, but did not possess equal powers of originality. Quite as numerous as the Amatis, they were prolifically perhaps ahead of them: they also had, as it were, "hanging on to the skirts of their garments," many trying to do as they did, with occasional success in a modified way.
5These, from a variety of causes, some of which they may even have combated and failed, went to other places and became in themselves fresh sources of supply for the growing needs of the musical world.
7With the Amatis and Ruggeris in the city of Cremona, many liutaros were working side by side. Some, whose names alone have been handed down to us, may have won a degree of celebrity during their day in the comparatively narrow confines of their own circle of patronage. Others may not have lived long enough to secure a recognised standing among the yet extending ranks of the Cremonese school.
9Owing to these, and most likely many other circumstances occurring at the time and since, not forgetting the removal from the interior of the original labels, a large number of instruments, some of a high standard of excellence, are floating about in different parts of the world, the authorship of which no one can point to with any degree of certainty.
11A somewhat peculiar phase of the liutaro's art in Italy was the frequency with which the calling was continued for several generations, the son, grandson, or great grandson following each other in regular rotation, with perhaps a relative or two of the same name.
13Among the many instances besides the families of Amati and Ruggeri was that of the Guarneri, whose progenitor was trained in the house of the first-mentioned, or it may be said "took his degree" there.
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