Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864 › scan 64
Scan 64
Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864
4 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1or rebec with three strings, which existed in the valuable collection of instruments formed by Count Cozio de Salabue, of Casal-Monferrato, and preserved at Milan, at the residence of the Chevalier Carlo Carli. This instrument bore the name of Andrew Amati, and the date of 1546. Baron de Bagge possessed, also, about 1788, a medium viol (viole moyenne), otherwise called, in Italy, viola bastarda, which bore the date 1551. It is therefore certain that Andrew Amati was born during the first twenty years of the sixteenth century.
3Who was the master of Andrew? Where did he acquire the skill which is observable in his works? We know not. The author of a letter inserted in the "Correspondence of Professors and Amateurs of Music," published by Cockatrix, in 1803, assures us that Andrew Amati worked as an apprentice at Brescia, before establishing a shop of his own at Cremona. The fact is not impossible, for the two towns are situated near each other, in Lombardy; but assertions of this kind are of no value unless supported by documentary evidence of incontestible authority. The instruments of Andrew Amati have particular forms, which clearly distinguish them from those of the ancient school of Brescia. He must have made special studies before adopting the proportions answering to the requirements of his time. When he worked, no one demanded a tone of that power and brilliance which is now required. So far from it, an instrument which should have possessed such a degree of sonority would have offended the ears of an audience accustomed to the tranquil music of which we still possess specimens. The spinets, lutes, theorbos, mandoras,
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