Scan 193
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
10 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Grandi, called Il Fassina, leader of the Court Orchestra of His Royal Highness the Duke of Savoy,1 ordered of Stradivari a whole set of instruments for the Court Orchestra."
3"In the year 1686, on the 5th of April, His Serene Highness the Duke of Modena (Francesco II. D'Este was then twenty-six years of age) ordered a Violoncello, which, by special invitation Stradivari was requested to take to the Duke himself, who told him how pleased he was to make his personal acquaintance, praised greatly his work, and beyond the sum agreed paid him thirty pistoles (golden Spanish) as a present."
5On the 22nd of August, 1686, Marquis Michele Rodeschini ordered a Viol da Gamba to be sent to King James II. of England.
7We now arrive at the time when Stradivari made, together with the form of instrument just described, that known to connoisseurs as the "long Strad." We have here quite a differently constructed instrument; it is less graceful, although there is no absence of the masterly hand throughout the work. It has received the title of "long Strad" not from increased length, as the name would imply, but from the appearance of additional length, which its narrowness gives it, and which is particularly observable between the sound-holes. The dimensions of these instruments vary considerably; in some the width across the lower portion is but a shade less than that of his full-size "Amatese" instruments, but in the upper part the diminution is more marked. On these, again, there is much
91 Victor Amadeus II., Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia, was the Prince for whom Bartolomeo Grandi ordered the concerto of instruments.
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