Books › The story of the violin, 1904 › scan 121
Scan 121
The story of the violin, 1904
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 87. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Amatis
3starved? At all events it was Cremona, because a man was born there whose name was Andrew Amati. This Andrew Amati (see Fig. 19)—a descendant from an old decurional family of Cremona—was the founder of the world fame of his little native town, being the senior of that remarkable family of violin-makers which for nearly one hundred and fifty years upheld the best traditions of their art. The year of Andrew's birth is not known, but from an instrument of his making—strange to say, a three-stringed rebec1—bearing the date 1546, it has been inferred that he was born about 1520—that is, twenty-two years before Gasparo da Salo. It is therefore surprising that some writers still entertain the belief that Andrew was a pupil of Gasparo da Salo, on account of certain minor similarities in their productions. He may have been in Brescia before he established himself in his native town. He may also have known Gasparo in riper years, and profited from the younger master—but pupil—no. More likely is it that—unless we assume that Andrew was entirely autodidact and discovered the violin form simultaneously with Gasparo—he learned by observation
51 Fétis, Stradivari.
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