Books › Violins and violin makers. Biographical dictionary of the great Italian artistes, their followers and imitators, to the present time. With essays on important subjects connected with the violin, 1866 › scan 65
Scan 65
Violins and violin makers. Biographical dictionary of the great Italian artistes, their followers and imitators, to the present time. With essays on important subjects connected with the violin, 1866
6 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 57. See the scan on archive.org.
1on which the immortal Mozart first learned to play the violin, which event, could he have foreseen, would no doubt have compensated him for the want of more general fame.
3MALDONNER, —— Bavaria, about 1760.
5MALLER, LAUX, Venice. This artiste was an early and highly esteemed maker of lutes. Mace in his curious and very interesting book, "Music's Monument," mentions him as one of the best authors, i.e. makers. He also says he has "seen two of his lutes ('pittiful, battered, cracked Things,') valued at £100 apiece." Mace's book was published in 1676. Think of £100 for a lute two hundred years ago, when the value of money was at least six times less than it is now! This would make the comparative value of a "battered" old lute about £600, a sum (with the exception of the King Joseph Guarnerius, mentioned elsewhere) exceeding the highest price we have heard of in modern times. Even the most splendid and perfect violins of Stradiuarius have never realised as much
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.