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Scan 44
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 30. See the scan on archive.org.
1violins found their way into this country, for, when Nicola Matteis, a celebrated Italian violinist, came here in 1672, he created such a furore that, according to Roger North, Attorney General to James II., "the violin is so universally courted, and sought after to be had of the best sort, that some say England hath dispeopled Italy of violins" (North's "Memoires of Music"). This was about a hundred years after the death of Andreas. I find in some old notes of mine a Nicholas Amati, who worked in conjunction with the above Andreas, his brother, as partner from about 1568 till 1580, and subsequently on his own account till 1586. A French writer, L'Abbé Sibire, in a work published in Paris in 1806, mentions this Nicholas, and a further allusion is made to him by another authority quoted by M. Vidal, as being the real chief of the Amati family, and the actual maker, aided by his brother Andreas, of the collection of twenty-four instruments sent to Charles IX. about 1566, and which disappeared as aforesaid. His name, however, does not appear elsewhere, and there is not sufficient unanimity on the point to justify more than this incidental allusion to him. Nothing is known of his violins as distinct from those of Andreas.
3Antonius Amati (born at Cremona about 1550, died about 1635), and Hieronymus Amati (also born at Cremona about 1550, died about 1638), are the next two makers of this family. They were sons of Andreas, and it will be observed that the same year is assigned to the birth of each. It will not, of course, be assumed that they were twins, all the dates hitherto given for the births and deaths being merely approximative ones, through lack of any certain information on these points.
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