Scan 251
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
9 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 195. See the scan on archive.org.
1and the instruments were not delivered until 1690. The instructions given in the above letter to Stradivari to complete the concerto by making the Tenors (the patterns of which are among those in the possession of the Marquis Dalla Valle, signed, and dated 1690), and the existence of the Violoncello and one of the Tenors at Florence, dated 1690, are confirmatory of the opinion that the order was executed in 1690. The following inscription, under the left shoulder or side, is in the Tenor: "Prima 20 Ottobre 1690 per S. A. Da Fiorenza." It is interesting to find that the Grand Duke also possessed a Stradivari Violin, dated 1716, which is in Florence, together with the instruments above referred to. It is therefore evident that the belief of the Marquis that Stradivari would receive further orders from the Grand Duke was realised.
3Between the years 1690 and 1700 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" from its increased length, as the name would imply.¹
5¹ The usual length measurements of the various patterns are as under:—
6(1) "Amatisé," 13 7/8 inches.
7(2) "Long Strad," 14 1/8 (occasionally 14 1/4) inches.
8(3) "Grand pattern," 14 to 14 1/6 inches.—EDITORS.
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