Scan 306
The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 15 September 2026. Printed page 236. See the scan on archive.org.
1composer of that time had the fiddle ever at his hand much as those of the present have the pianoforte.
3To Gaspar da Salo is attributed the work of reducing the size of the viola to that of the violin. That he was a good maker is attested by the fact that although Ole Bull had an Amati and a da Salo, he preferred the latter.
5Andrea Amati, born in 1520, stands as the first of the Cremona school. His sons Anthony and Jerome ("Antonius et Hieronimus," as their labels read) were great among their kind, and each generation had a beneficial secret to add to the accumulating treasure of the craft. The brothers Amati made violins distinguished for their comparative frugality of adornment. To Nicholas, son of Jerome, must be given the glory. He was the teacher of Stradivarius, and his instruments were but little inferior to those of his celebrated pupil. After Stradivarius came Jacob Stainer, Frances Ruggieri, and Joseph Guarnerius. The products of the last named find favor in high places. Paganini's favorite violin was of this make and was held so dear by the virtuoso that when he died he bequeathed it to his native city, Genoa, that it might not be desecrated in alien hands.
7The fruitless efforts of violin makers of today to repeat the work of the Cremona masters suggests many questions. If the secret died with the last of the Cremonese, will not violin music three hundred years later be a lost art, since time destroys and the Cremona instruments will gradually drop from existence? Or does the secret of their excellence lie in their age, and will they eventually wear out while the products of recent years which have been received with disdain will age into prominence?
9When it first sought favor the violin's small size and the high tension of the strings rendered its tone too shrill for unaccustomed ears. Mace (1676) makes reference to the "scolding violins," also he says: "You may add to your Press, a pair of violins to be in readiness for any Extraordinary Jolly or Jocund Consort-Occasion; but never use him but with this proviso, viz., be sure you make an Equal
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