The Italian School of Violin Making - Part 4
From Brescia came the masters who established the School of Cremona. The Amatis took the lead, their founder being Andrea Amati, after whom each one of the clan appears to have gained a march on his predecessor, until the grand masters of their art, Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, advanced far beyond the reach of their fellow-makers or followers. The pupils of the Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri settled in Milan, Florence, and other cities previously mentioned as centres of Violin-making, and thus formed the distinct character or School belonging to each city. A close study of the various Schools shows that there is much in common among them. A visible individuality is found throughout the works of the Italian makers, which is not to be met with in anything approaching the same degree in the similar productions of other nations. Among the Italians, each artist appears to have at first implicitly obeyed the teaching of his master, afterwards, as his knowledge increased, striking out a path for himself. To such important acts of self-reliance may be traced the absolute perfection to which the Italians at last attained. Not content with the production of instruments capable of producing the best tone, they strove to give them the highest finish, and were rewarded, possibly beyond their expectation. The individuality noticed as belonging in a high degree to Italian work is in many instances very remarkable. How characteristic the scroll and the sound-hole of each several maker! The work of master and pupil differs here in about the same degree as the handwriting of father and son, and often more. Although Stradivari was a pupil of Niccolò Amati, yet how marked is the difference between the scrolls and sound-holes of these two makers; Carlo Bergonzi worked with Stradivari, yet the productions of these two are more easily known apart. A similarly well-defined originality is found, in a more or less degree, to pervade the entire series of Italian Violins, and forms a feature of much interest to the connoisseur.
In closing my remarks upon the Italian School of Violin-making, I cannot withhold from the reader the concluding sentences of the Cremonese biographer, Vincenzo Lancetti, as contained in his manuscript relative to the makers of Cremona. He says: “I cannot help but deeply deplore the loss to my native city (where for two centuries the manufacture of stringed instruments formed an active and profitable trade) of the masterpieces of its renowned Violin-makers, together with the drawings, moulds, and patterns, the value of which would be inestimable to those practising the art. Is it not possible to find a citizen to do honour to himself and his city by securing the collection of instruments, models, and forms brought together by Count Cozio di Salabue, before the treasure be lost to Italy? I have the authority of Count Cozio to grant to such a patron every facility for the purchase and transfer of the collection, conditionally that the object be to resuscitate the art of Violin-making in Cremona, which desire alone prompted the Count in forming the collection.” These interesting remarks were written in the year 1823, with a view to their publication at the end of the account of Italian Violin-makers which Lancetti purposed publishing. As the work did not see the light, the appeal of the first writer on the subject of Italian Violins was never heard. Had it been, in all probability Cremona would at this moment have been in possession of the most remarkable collection of instruments and models ever brought together, and be maintaining in at least some measure the prestige belonging to its past in Violin-making.
The Violin -Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators
by George Hart
Published in 1909
