Books › The Salabue Stradivari. A history and critical description of the famous violin, commonly called "le Messie." Containing many particulars obtained from authentic sources and now published for the first time, 1891 › scan 30
Scan 30
The Salabue Stradivari. A history and critical description of the famous violin, commonly called "le Messie." Containing many particulars obtained from authentic sources and now published for the first time, 1891
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1but the careful examination which we made of the interior when the belly was removed, has enabled us to finally dispose of this idea. The label has never been moved since Stradivari fixed it in its place, nor have the figures upon it been tampered with in any way.*
3Details of construction, such as we have examined in the preceding paragraphs, offered, to a man of Stradivari's great originality, scope for almost endless variety of treatment, which has furnished us with a key to the pronounced distinctions between his instruments and others of the Italian school.
5In the Brescian instruments, for instance, there is, as a general rule, no hollowing near the edges of the backs and bellies, nor any bordering ridge like that discussed above. They consequently have an appearance of strength and solidity, but lack the style and elegance of the Cremona school. The Amati family, on the other hand, gifted with a keen sense of harmony and beauty of form, gave perfect expression to these ideas in their works; but, unfortunately, at some sacrifice of dignity of appearance. Stradivari attained the happy mean between these two extremes, and carried his ideas into execution with such perfection of detail, that all his successors have had to content themselves with the rôle of copyists, and none have been found to improve upon their model.
7There can be no doubt that the Salabue Violin has exercised a strong influence upon modern copyists. The
9* There is a curious mistake in M. Vidal's valuable recent work "La Lutherie," in which the transcript of the label accompanying the illustration of "le Messie" bears the date 1715.
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