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Scan 46
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
26 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 30. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE HAWLEY COLLECTION OF VIOLINS
3would not relinquish that idea until death came to close his career. Second, old age only serves to increase a man's belief in his own infallibility, so the natural probability is that in these years Stradivari was unaware of his own failing. If he could find no one in former years whom he considered competent to do the work he considered his own, it is not likely that he would find him in his later years. Third, Stradivari loved and took great pride in his work and was proud of his ability in his old age, as witness the number of his labels which bear, in his own writing, the statement of his age. Note that all such labels occur after his eighty-fifth year, and are indicative of his pride in his years. Such a man was not likely to acknowledge defeat until unable to raise his hand. Fourth, the labels inscribed "Sotto la disciplina d' Antonio Stradivari," indicate that he desired to make it known when his sons or pupils assisted in any work of importance in the same manner that by his own label he indicated his individual authorship. He wished the work of others, although done under his direction, to be distinguished from that of his own hands. It seems to us, therefore, that Antonio Stradivari was the maker of every violin which left his shop with his label. His violins of this period are varied in their characteristics. The wood varies in texture from absolutely plain to a beautiful figure. In some the scroll is poorly done, in others it is nearly up to the old standard. The sound holes at times are artistically placed, and in other violins are very poorly done, one being as much as 1-16 inch higher than the other. This seems to have been a common failing with many Italian makers, but never before noticeable in the work of Stradivari. The varnish, however, is the same and varies only in the skill with which it was applied. In the years 1732 to 1734 he made several large violins, there being as much as 2-16 of an inch difference between them and the 1715 to 1716 period. The one now owned by Prof. Hugo Herrmann and recently heard during his concert tour in the States, is a fine example of the 1733 period. Among the instruments of this period are striking examples of Stradivari's ability in tone-building.
5Measurements of Latest Period.
71732.
8Length – – – 14 1/8 inches.
9Width, lower bout – – 8 3/4 inches.
10Width, upper bout – – 6 1/16 inches.
11Sides, highest – – 1 1/4 inches.
12Sides, lowest – – 1 3/16 inches.
141736.
15Length – – – 14 inches.
16Width, lower bout – – 8 3/32 inches.
17Width, upper bout – – 6 1/2 inches.
18Sides, highest – – 1 1/4 inches.
19Sides, lowest – – 1 3/16 inches.
21On the 18th day of December, 1737, the great master passed away. His second wife had died in March and he had never recovered from the loss. The record from the register in the Church of San Domenico reads as follows:
23"In the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven, on the nineteenth day of the month of December, Signor Antonio Stradivari, a widower, aged about ninety-five years, having died yesterday, fortified by the Holy Sacraments and comforted by prayers for his soul until the moment he expired, I, Domenico Antori Stancari, parish priest of this Church of San Matteo, have escorted to-day his corpse with funeral pomp to the Church of the very Reverend Fathers of San Domenico, in Cremona, where he was buried."
25Eight years before he died Stradivari purchased a tomb of a Cremonese family. It was situated in a small chapel named "Blessed Virgin of the Rosary," in the
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