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Scan 154
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 80. 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.
1THE HAWLEY COLLECTION OF VIOLINS
3flourished in many cities in Italy, which were the offshoots of Cremona and Brescia. While following closely in the main the fundamental principles of construction found in parent schools, local peculiarities in varnish, wood, and style of workmanship existed in nearly all of them. Particularly noticeable is the difference in varnish which prevailed in the various centers, occasioned by the prevailing preference of the people for certain colors and qualities of varnish, the local markets which supplied local makers with their woods, and materials for varnish, and the willingness or ability of the public to pay for high-class work and materials. Next to Cremona in point of artistic merit come the schools in beautiful and wealthy Venice and Mantua. The latter situated close to Cremona, is more nearly associated in matters of varnish, wood, and general character to the parent school than those of other cities. But in the commercial value of number, as well as high average musical merit, Milan and Naples furnished the world a more important quota. Rome, Florence, Turin, Genoa, Bologna, Piacenza, Palermo, and many other cities were at one time or another the seats of a more or less flourishing industry of violin-building. But a few of these centers are represented by their products in the Hawley collection.
5No review of the art as it existed in Italy during the two hundred and fifty years which saw its rise, perfection, and decline would be complete without a brief survey of the work of some of the most prominent of the large number of splendid makers, whose industry and skill leave the world to-day much in their debt, because with the increasing scarcity and cost of Cremonas, it is to their instruments we must turn. Italian violins of the second and third class have reached such value that those of the poorest type of workmanship have advanced to the position they held less than a quarter of a century ago. Consequently all Italian work has become of interest, not alone to the connoisseur, but to all players of the violin and violoncello as well.
7Cremona
9In addition to the famous master violin-makers whose names will always be associated with that of the city of Cremona, there were many in the humbler positions in the violin world who, by their works, contributed largely in making their city's name imperishable. Among these we will mention some of the best known.
11Michael Angelo Bergonzi and Nicola his Son
13Michael Angelo Bergonzi, the son of Carlo, worked until about 1760, and was one of the first of the second-rank workers. Like others of his class, catering to a second-rate clientèle, he varied his work to a marked degree. Some of his better instruments are constructed on fine lines and are finished with care, and varnished in a manner well up to the Cremonese traditions. Other specimens lack this fine character, showing plainly that they were intended for a cheaper class of customers. The wood is more common, the varnish hard and unevenly administered, such specimens being altogether of poorer workmanship. The tone of this maker's violins varies in accordance with the character,—those of the former class are splendid in volume and quality, while those of the latter are lacking in these beauties; but, nevertheless, no instrument of this maker, if it possesses wood and strength, is unworthy its name. Nicola Bergonzi, his son, worked along the same lines, following a flat, broad model,
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