Scan 181
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
18 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1ficiency, by consulting documents relating to the city of Cremona during the 17th and 18th centuries. The results of these inquiries are of much value, and the reader will be made acquainted with them in the following pages.
3With a patience worthy of reward, the late librarian at Cremona, Professor Peter Fécit, searched for the will of Stradivari, but as no proper register appears to have been kept until long after the famous maker died, his efforts were unsuccessful. Although the contents of the will might throw but a faint light upon the doings of the testator, there might be found particulars that would link together much of the information we already possess.
5The date of birth of Antonio Stradivari was made known to M. Fétis in 1856,1 upon evidence contained in an inventory of instruments which belonged to Count Cozio di Salabue. The inventory was made upon the occasion of the instruments being deposited with Carlo Carli, a Milanese banker. Among the Violins there appears to have been one by Antonio Stradivari, bearing a label upon which, in the handwriting of its maker, was stated his age, namely, ninety-two years, and the date 1736; thus making the year of birth 1644.
7"That plain white-aproned man who stood at work,
8Patient and accurate, full fourscore years,
9Cherished his sight and touch by temperance;
10And, since keen sense is love of perfectness,
11Made perfect Violins, the needed paths
12For inspiration and high mastery."
13Stradivari, by George Eliot.
15Previous to the publication of this evidence by M. Fétis,
171 "Antoine Stradivari, luthier célèbre," par F. I. Fétis. Paris, 1856.
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