Scan 61
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 45. See the scan on archive.org.
1The instruments made by Stradivarus from 1725 to 1730, while still good, do not show the same careful and skilful hand as before. The somewhat higher arching interferes with their brilliance of tone, the varnish is brown; but the output also diminishes, for there remain but few samples of this epoch.
3From 1730, or even from a somewhat earlier date, the characteristic stamp of the master entirely vanishes. The firmness and masterfulness of the hoary headed old artist had, as was natural, departed from him. Some of the violins of Stradivarius of this time show that they were simply made under his own direction—"sub disciplina Stradivarii"; in others we recognise the hand of Carlo Bergonzi, or of some of the old artist's sons. After the death of the famous craftsman many unfinished instruments were found in his workshops; these were completed by his sons, and have his name on the printed labels; hence the uncertainty and confusion regarding the productions of his final period.
5Stradivarius only made a small number of violas, and these were all of large size. Their penetrating, noble, and sympathetic quality of tone is of the greatest splendour.
7The violoncellos made by him are more numerous. They display the same ever-growing progress in workmanship, the same exemplary exactness, as is found in his violins. They are of two sizes—one very large, and the other of much smaller proportions. To the former class belongs the instrument used by the famous artist Servais, which is celebrated both for its magnificent construction and for its beauty and extraordinary volume of tone. Another Stradivarius 'cello, of the smaller model, was formerly in the possession of Duport, and is now* the property of the virtuoso Franchomme, who paid £800 for it. It is the finest known example of Strad's 'cellos, and permits of the execution of all the
9* We venture again to remind the reader that Abele wrote forty years ago.—Translator.
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