Scan 106
the violin its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1men in Italy engaged in artistic vocations contemporary with the great Viol and Violin makers cannot fail to be interesting to the lovers of our instrument, for it has the effect of surrounding their favourite with an interest extending beyond its own path. It also serves to make prominent the curious fact that the art of Italian Violin-making emerged from its chrysalis state when the painters of Italy displayed their greatest strength of genius, and perfected itself when the Fine Arts of Italy were cast in comparative darkness. It is both interesting and remarkable that the art of Italian Violin-making—which in its infancy shared with all the arts the advantage attending the revival of art and learning—should have been the last to mature and die.
3Whilst the artist, scientist, and musician, Leonardo da Vinci, was painting, inventing, and singing his sonnets to the accompaniment of his Lute; whilst Raphael was executing the commands of Leo X., and Giorgio was superintending the manufacture of his inimitable majolica ware, the Viol-makers of Bologna were designing their instruments and assimilating them to the registers of the human voice, in order that the parts of Church and chamber madrigals might be played instead of sung, or that the voices might be sustained by the instruments.¹
5¹ The importance of this epoch in its bearings upon instrumental music generally, and stringed instrument music
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