Scan 51
The violin & its story : or, the history & construction of the violin, 1905
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 35. See the scan on archive.org.
1Brittany a maker of lutes named Kerlin, one of whose instruments, made in the year 1449, he had himself seen. In 1804, about twenty-five years after Laborde's work was published, this instrument was in the possession of Koliker, the violin maker, at Paris. It was more arched than the viols of a later date, the upper and lower bends were not rounded enough, and the corners of the middle bouts were blunt; instead of the usual tail-piece it had a strip of ivory, bored with four holes to hold the strings. The tone was soft, but dull. The label read—"Joan Kerlino, ann. 1449." Fétis thinks that the fact that in Brittany there were very many family names beginning with "Ker," led Laborde to believe that Kerlin worked in that province; whereas we are indebted to the labours of Vuillaume, the Parisian violin maker, for the knowledge that in 1450 there was in Brescia a lute maker named Johann Kerlino, and there is every reason for believing that this Kerlino was the founder of the school of Brescia, the oldest of all schools of violin making in Italy. The arbitrary conclusion of Laborde thus loses all weight, and the conjecture that Kerlin may have been of German origin must be left for some future writer to establish.
3The oldest Italian lute-maker after Kerlino was Pietro Dardelli, of Mantua, who worked from the year 1500 onwards. A few of his beautiful viols are still preserved as treasures in the cabinets of connoisseurs.
5But a far greater fame than that of either of these two, has fallen to the lot of the next artist, Kaspar Duiffoprugar, who was born in the Tyrol, and settled in Bologna in 1510. Some writers suppose that he afterwards went to live at Lyons, and that he died there. Various collectors in Paris still have beautiful instruments made by Duiffoprugar, including Bass, Tenor, and Discant viols, made by him for the Royal chapel. His works reveal an industry truly wonderful, and are of great beauty. Vuillaume, of Paris, had a 'cello made by this master, on the back of which was inlaid a plan of the Paris of that day.
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