Books › The Belle Skinner collection of old musical instruments, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1933 › scan 96
Scan 96
The Belle Skinner collection of old musical instruments, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1933
20 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 78. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1No. 26
2(no line here) one of two readings
4THEORBO
6WENDELIN TIEFFENBRUCKER
7PADUA
9ITALIAN
101592
12The finest instruments of the lute family are said to have been made in Italy, especially at Bologna, Rome, Venice and Padua. (Engel, p. 244). Praetorius calls the theorbo a great bass lute (p. 52) and shows in his Theatrum Instrumentorum, Plate XVI, one to which he gives the name, Paduan Theorbo, as distinct from those made in Rome or elsewhere.
14This theorbo is in an unusually fine state of preservation and is the work of one of the most distinguished Paduan lute-makers of the sixteenth century. The body of cedar, inlaid with fine lines of ivory, is covered with a dark red varnish. Cut into the sound-board is a beautiful rose of Florentine design. The neck and finger-board are of ebony. The lower peg-box, with fretted back of graceful design, holds eight pegs; the upper peg-box for the bass strings also holds eight pegs and ends in a simple scroll. Inside the instrument is the printed label, with the date in writing:
161592
17In Padova Vvendelio Venere
19Very little seems to be known about this lute-maker whose instruments are so highly prized. Lütgendorff (II, p. 517) lists him as Wendelin Tieffenbrucker of Padua (1572-1611), a violin maker of the sixteenth century, who signed himself Vendelinus and also Wendelino Venere de Leonardo; venere being identical with genre. Often he used only the upper part of his labels so that only Wendelio Venere with place and date remained, as in the label pasted within this theorbo. He has, therefore, been listed as two persons: Wendelino Tieffenbrucker and Wendelino Venere. Instruments by Wendelin Tieffenbrucker are found in various collections, Lütgendorff lists lutes and theorboes at Berlin, Vienna, Braunschweig and Darmstadt.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.