Scan 74
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1The real and esteemed Stainers were divided into three periods by Lupot, the well-known violin maker of Paris, and by Cartier the violinist. To the first class belong the instruments made at Cremona, the labels of which bear the master's own handwriting. These are very scarce. They are known by their small pattern; the soundholes are small and narrow; the volutes are less than those of the Italian fiddles, but the points stand well apart; the wood is of somewhat coarse grain, and the varnish is like that of Nicholas Amati. A fine instrument of this period, dated 1644, was in the possession of the ballet-master Gardel, of Paris. Another was bought from Count Tranthuansdorf for no less than £415.
3The violins of Stainer's second period, of which a magnificent specimen was the property of Alard, are not so scarce as those of the first period. Those of the third period were for the most part made by pupils under Stainer's immediate direction, and the labels are printed.
5Vuillaume mentions one especially beautiful specimen of Stainer, on which he heard Sivori play, and which had an unusually splendid, sympathetic tone. Count Castel-Barco, of Milan, possessed a Stainer viola which was a grand sample of fine tone and excellent workmanship; and in the same collection were to be found quartets of instruments by Stradivarius, Joseph Guarnerius, Nicholas Amati, and one by Stainer.
7It was stated that there was a Markus Stainer, who is said to have made some good violins. He is thought by some to have been the son, and by others the brother of Jacob Stainer. Vuillaume thought he was Jacob's brother, and that, although he was a monk, he used to help his brother with his instruments. Jacob had but one son, who died in infancy; but there is no trace to be found, in the baptismal register of Absam, of any Markus Stainer. Veracini, who next to Tartini was the finest player and the best informed fiddle connoisseur of his day, maintained that his two Markus Stainer violins,
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