Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864 › scan 59
Scan 59
Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1the figures published by Agricola and by Othmar Nachtgall, is purely attributable to the inadvertence or the forgetfulness of the designers. Of this we have a proof, in regard to what is seen in these two authors themselves; for their contemporary, Silvestro Ganassi del Fontego, from whom we have a special treatise on the art of playing the viol*, has represented a concert, in the frontispiece of his book, in which the viols have bridges.
3Two new facts of great importance are revealed in the figures published by Agricola, Nachtgall, and Ganassi del Fontego; namely: the bends or hollows which have replaced the slightly defined curves on the sides of the instruments, and the frets which occur on the necks of viols, like those which are still seen on guitars. The figures represent these bends inaccurately, for they are too greatly extended, and consequently the upper and lower parts of the instruments are reduced to too small proportions. Some viols and bass viols of the sixteenth century, which still exist in the cabinets of the curious, demonstrate that the bends were of less extent, although proportionally greater than in violins, altos, and violoncellos.
5Want of skill in the performers induced the putting of frets on the neck of the instruments, in order to show the places where the fingers should be set to produce the desired notes: so that, instead of being instruments of variable sounds, and adapted for perfect intonation, the
7* Regola Rubertina che insegna a sonar de viola d'archo tastada da Silvestro Ganasi (sic) del Fontego. In Venetia, ad instantia de l'autore, 1542, sm. obl. 4to.
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