Antonio Stradivari

his Pupils and Assistants-Qualities of

rmy of identical imitators, fair copyists, and all sorts of connoisseurs and theorists during the present century will be at once admitted, and the results may be summed up in a few words. Stradivari did not leave clearly defined any evidence of a system of gauging which he str

cases to simply charm a small family circle of friends in an apartment of modest dimensions. He would, therefore, naturally enough vary the amount of wood left. This would be quite in accordance with what is perfectly well known to all makers and repairers of experience-that with a violin if very "thickly timbered,

of general principles from a few particular instances and their researches-as

with. What a meeting! and what a parting! let us hope that each table, upper or lower, that had so long been working in harmony, eventually became again properly mated and gave no cause for lawyers to "put their fingers in the pie." The results of the examin

he upper tables to be of the same thickness, two and a half m's. all over, but that the backs varied in thickness. Some discrepancies here s

e that the calipers would drag forth the precious secret. I recollect many years back seeing a very fresh Strad, and a h

s would have to take place, either by my own hands, or those of some other person, the rectification being impossible from the exterior as it sometimes may be. With all necessary care, guided by past experience, the opening was safely accomplished, and after a very interesting examination of the interior, which to an ordinary

perceptible; and why? because the fiddle at one time had been what we moderns-with our ideas of regulation and fitting-would term "too thick in the wood." The instrument had undergone much affliction from various physicians, but, judging from various little details of evidence, been at almost all times highly prized. Here and there were the studs or buttons of various kinds of pine stuck by repairers of different nationalities and degrees of skill, some placed with apparent good intention, others without

rts of a violin by Antonio Stradivari. One or two further remarks may be interesting on this part of our subject. The fact must not be lost sight of that the pupils of the now well established master of his art in Cremona were working either at that place likewise, or in the large cities of Italy, and had become famous, or were soon to be so and themselves surrounded by lea

tion Lorenzo Guadagnini, his son Joannes Battista, Alexandri Gagliano, one or two of his sons and Carlo Bergonzi, as the best known, each adopted their own, or shall we say, left no more evidence for us of having a set rule for thicknesses than their master. The nearest approach to the asserted system of Stradivari, that of a gentle declination of substance in the wood down to the edge, was made by Lorenzo Guadagnini in his extra sized violins; but then the tone,

who take up with the "air mass" theory. I am afraid the arguments in favour of

ons must-according to the "air mass" theory-have been acting quite "in the teeth" of it and Stradivari's regulation, further there is not one fiddle in a hundred-perhaps not that-which has been in use for a generation but what shows a sinking one side or the other, or, when the modelling is full, a depression in the middle of the upper table, and very frequently a greater fulness at the back where the sound post touches and presses from the inside. These alterations, individually or collectively, alter the "air mass"

erence between the upper and lower tables peculiar no doubt to that master. This sort of committee of scientific experimenter, violin dealer and author, did not-while centralising their efforts on the violins of one master-say whether

ght; of Gobetti, perhaps more "Straddy" than any other Italian, Gofrilleri, Seraphino, two or three of the Tononis, besides other lights of lesser magnitude, with exceedingly fine qualities, but perhaps open to the charge of intermittency. Further, several of the Milanese school,-offshoots of the Amati and Stradivari,-of Lorenzo Guadagnini, a master of his art in all its details, if ever there was one, his son Joannes Battista, steadier in his working, but more uncertain in his results-shifting from place to place, may have

abled them to get at least a hint as to the means whereby Stradivari gratified the tastes of his patrons at the time and connoisseurs in general of the present day. As indicated before, the Venetian masters were-probab

he makers of the chief seats of violin making, has led to the inference that the differenc

ugh artists, proved themselves alive to the requirements of the fresh district that was henceforth to be the scene of their labours for generations. The Brescian quality had either been found by them, or was known beforehand, to be too

g more and stronger indication of what was possible and likely to follow soon and in its turn, like all other things, become antiquated and old-fashioned. Undoubtedly, it was this progressive condition of the music of the period that induced Stradivari,

in themselves be sufficient in an instrument with such a future as the violin seemed to h

ional qualities. In short, the violin wanted in Cremona was one of substantial power and suitable for more dramatic expression on the part of the performer. To bring fort

investigator? was it resulting from the correct air mass inside? the relative thickness of the tables, or we may as well include the straight and fine grain theorists, the amber varnish in the wood theorists, the wood of great age theorists, and the generations of use theorists, and lastly those who mix them a

of eminent rank, taken apart from the usual assistance found to be obligatory from pressure of work. If we glance over the Italian schools taken one after another, the facts, if acknowledged, will be seen to point in other directions. Taking for instance the Milanese master, Lorenzo Guadagnini, who tells us himself that he learnt his art under Antonio Stradivari, we find distinct traces of it in his tone, the general calibre is the same and most of the fine, distinguishing features noticed in the tone produced by his master; the difference, however, is that which is peculiar to the master makers of Milan, that of a slightly less reedy emission of sound. Some have called it harder, which is not a correct description. Chords are produced with it as easily and roundly as with any other, the individual notes blend beautifully and give an impression of ho

qualities for the obtaining of which the great master of Cremona had carefully trained his gifted pupil. All this is not in the least interfered with by the fact of Joannes Battista Guadagnini's tone differing in some respects-and more at times-with that of his father, but rather helped by it; both assert on their tickets that they were instructed by Stradivari, and both show the results of their training in that largeness and impressiveness which is so much beloved o

is nothing about it inconsistent with his statement; his typical design is formed upon that of Stradivari, and many of his details of workmanship

e the best of the Gaglianos-for it is not at all certain that there were not more than two of them assisting at different times in Stradivari's atelier-brought the same kind of improvement to Naples as the Guadagninis did to Milan, the scale was better regulated so as to give greater breadth of effect,

y and that by matters unknown to us, he kept steadfast to the Stradivarian lines to the end. The rest of his family were either his own pupils, or they may have even been at times with his master, as they all-so far as I am acquainted with them-are of the same school.

point of view, apart from the higher aspect of his career, there may have been-we might say-the usual disposition amongst sons of successful fathers to take life more easily and repose among the laurels won for them, requiring only a little caretaking. There is some possibility of Thomas Balestrieri, of Mantua, having worked for a time under Stradivari, but not as a pupil; there is much in his work suggestive of this

is Bernardus Calcanius; his earliest dates, if we can rely upon them, and they may prove at any moment to have been earlier than hitherto known, almost preclude the possibility of his having worked under Stradivari except as a youth. The infl

iduals of the group of eminent Venetians must have been well known and of established reputation. In this there is some apparent indication of one if not more of the party having taken a trip to Cremona and brought back a few hints of no inconsiderable value, perhaps received personally from the master. On the other hand, if this was not the case, his works must have been brought into Venice and their merits artistically as well as acoustically well thought over. The outcome was a change, the Amati genius hitherto pr

ies artistically or acoustically considered, while giving him a commanding position, did not reach so far as to annihilate, during competition, those of the Amatis, especially where the latter had been of long standing and followed earnestly in deta