Scan 91
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1be counted among Violin makers. The only maker, therefore, of the Violin of the earliest date, it remains to be said, was Gasparo da Salò, to whom belongs the credit of raising the manufacture of bowed instruments from a rude state to an art. There may be something in common between the early works of Gasparo da Salò and Gaspard Duiffoprugcar, but the link that connects these two makers is very slight, and in the absence of further information respecting the latter as an actual maker of Violins the credit of authorship must certainly belong to Gasparo da Salò.
3We are indebted to Brescia for the many grand Double-basses and Tenors that were made there by Gasparo da Salò and Maggini. These instruments formed the stepping-stones to Italian Violin-making, for it is evident that they were in use long before the first era of the Violin. The Brescian Violins have not the appearance of antiquity that is noticeable in the Double-basses or Tenors, and for one Brescian Violin there are ten Double-basses, a fact which goes far to prove that the latter was the principal instrument at that time.
5From Brescia came the masters who established the School of Cremona. The Amatis took the lead, their founder being Andrea Amati, after whom each one of the clan appears to have gained a march on his predecessor until the grand masters of their art, Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù advanced far beyond the reach of their fellow makers or followers. The pupils of the Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri, settled in Milan, Florence, and other cities previously mentioned as centres of Violin making, and thus formed the distinct character or School belonging to each city. A close study of the various Schools shows that there is much in common among them.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.