Scan 266
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
13 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Violins, which had been ordered of Stradivari, and he remained here three months; and when all the instruments were ready, he took them with him to Poland."
3Arisi doubtless refers to the Belgian musician Jean Baptiste Volumier, who was musical director to Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, famous as a patron of music and the arts. It was Augustus who appointed Francesco Maria Veracini as his solo Violinist in 1720, and on the title-page of the charming Sonatas of Veracini we read,
5"Dedicata
6a sua Altezza Reale,
7il Serenissimo Principe Reale di Pollonia
8et Elettoreale di Sassonia.
9Francesco Maria Veracini Fiorentino
10Compositore di Camera di sua Maestà."
12The blending of the names of Stradivari, Augustus, and Veracini, serves to carry our thoughts into channels overflowing with interesting musical records. Although Volème (Volumier) is said to have taken the instruments from Cremona to Poland, it is more likely they were taken to Dresden, where the Elector had his music, and which Jean Baptiste Volumier directed from the year 1706 to 1728. Veracini was appointed solo Violinist in 1720 to Augustus, and the instruments which Stradivari made for the King were, therefore, only five years old. Though new, their tones were doubtless rich
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