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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 Gift of 
 
 Mrs, Lawrence C. Lockley 
 
 MUSIC 
 1 IBRARY
 
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 Plate I. Frontispiece. 
 
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 GiO: Paolo Maggini 
 
 His Life and JVorJ^, 
 
 COMPILED AND EDITED 
 FROM MATERIAL COLLECTED AND CONTRIBUTED BY 
 
 WILLIAM EBSWORTH HILL 
 
 AND HIS SONS 
 
 WILLIAM, ARTHUR, & ALFRED HILL 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARET L. HUGGINS. 
 
 W. E. HILL & SONS, 
 38, NEW BOND STREET, LONDON, W. 
 
 NOVELLO, EWER tif CO., LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 
 1892.
 
 Printed by 
 
 NovELLO, Ewer & Co.. 
 
 London, W- 
 
 rorNTOn TV ir 
 
 T>r» im «-
 
 Music 
 Library 
 
 Hz4 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Plate Page 
 
 I. The Dumas Maggini, front view.... Frontispiece 
 
 II. Brescia .... .... .... .... .... 13 
 
 III. Maggini's House .... .... .... .... 25 
 
 IV. Maggini Sound-holes and Devices .... 41 
 V. Maggini Violin Heads* .... .... .... 45 
 
 VI. Fac-simile OF A page of A Polizza d'estimo 47 
 VII. The Dumas Maggini, back view .... .... 61 
 
 VIII. ,, ,, side view 62 
 
 The Design on the cover represents the Arms 
 OF Brescia. 
 
 * The head at the top of the Plate is that of the De Beriot Maggini 
 belonging to Mr. Sternberg. The other head, of which back and side views 
 are given, belongs to the violin in the possession of Captain Warner. 
 
 t •; r^ r ^ < . i ~» # -V
 
 1-RlNTEl, BY 
 
 NovELLO, Ewer & Co., 
 
 London, W.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 " For out of the oldefeldis, as men saieth, 
 Comith all . . . iiewe come, .... 
 And out of aide bokis. in eode faietli 
 
 NOTICE BY MESSRS. HILL &" SONS. 
 
 Messrs. Hill & Sons beg to give notice of their 
 intention of publishing the remaining portion of the 
 original information which they have collected relating 
 to the Early Brescian School, in a separate monograph 
 of this series of publications — On Gasparo da Said 
 and his Predecessors — if they receive sufficient promises 
 of support to meet the expenses of the necessarj' 
 illustration. 
 
 Ill tuc oLciLc riitiuves preserveu iii me i own nan ana 
 in the Quirinian Library of Brescia ; and partly from
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 " For out of the oldefeldis, as men saicth, 
 Comith all , . . newe come, .... 
 And out of olde bokis, in godefaieth 
 Comith . . . this newe science, . . , ." 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 HIS work forms the third of the series of 
 pubHcations undertaken by Messrs. Hill 
 with the view of throwing new light upon 
 the history of the violin and its makers. 
 As great interest attaches on many grounds to the 
 Brescian school, and very little trustworthy information 
 respecting it has hitherto been available, it seemed 
 desirable to deal with it early in this series. With 
 great energy and insight Messrs. Hill initiated 
 and directed searches at Brescia and elsewhere, which, 
 ably carried out by Signor Cavaliere Giovanni Livi, 
 Director of the Brescian State Archives, and Signor 
 Federico Sacchi, have brought to light a large number 
 of most interesting and important facts concerning 
 many makers of the Brescian school. Indeed, so rich 
 has been the harvest gathered in the course of these 
 searches that it has been thought best not to attempt 
 to include the whole in this volume, but that portion 
 only which relates more particularly to Maggini. 
 
 The materials for this account of the life and work 
 of Gio. Paolo Maggini are entirely new, and are derived 
 partly from the Registers of the Census and Taxation 
 in the State Archives preserved in the Town Hall and 
 in the Quirinian Library of Brescia ; and partly from
 
 4 Preface. 
 
 the rich note books — the fruit of years of arduous 
 practical work and critical enquiry — of the Hill family. 
 
 In constructing a narrative from the material above 
 mentioned it has been the aim of the writer to present 
 faithfully historical facts without confounding them 
 with inferences which may be drawn from them ; and 
 scrupulously to avoid interference with the views and 
 opinions of experts so accomplished as the Messrs. Hill. 
 The writer has regarded herself chiefly as a medium 
 through whom they might find expression. 
 
 To presei've continuity in the narrative the copies of 
 documents, tables of dimensions, and a few other 
 particulars have been placed in an Appendix. 
 
 The introductory sketch of Brescia is based in part, 
 though by no means wholly, upon DelV Istorie della 
 Citta di Brescia di M. Elia Cavriolo (Venezia, 1744); 
 and Brescia e sua Provincia : descritte da Carlo Cocchetti 
 (Milano, 1859). 
 
 Messrs. Hill wish here to thank the Prince Caraman 
 de Chimay for kindly giving them opportunity to 
 examine his collection of instruments. They have also 
 to thank H. Sternberg, Esquire, not only for a loan of 
 the De Beriot Maggini belonging to him, but for 
 interesting information and generous assistance. And 
 finally, they have to thank Baron Erlanger, Sir Joseph 
 Chitty, and others, for their kindness in allowing them 
 to see and examine the valuable instruments in their 
 possession. 
 
 Upper Tulse Hill, 1891.
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 Introductory.
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 " Terra antiqua, potens annis atque ubere glebce." — 
 
 Virgil, y£«. Bk. i. 
 
 " Brixia Veroncs mater amata mece." — 
 
 Catullus, Carm. Ixvi. 
 
 N treating of any life it is both natural 
 and desirable that something should be 
 said of its surroundings in time and place. 
 A short sketch of the history of Brescia 
 will serve at once as introduction and 
 background to the life of Maggini, for all men are in 
 part the outcome not only of their own times but of 
 those which preceded them. 
 
 The story of Brescia is one of great interest, 
 and can be traced back at least to the sixth or seventh 
 century B.C. 
 
 History and physical geography are ever closely 
 connected. The situation of the province of Brescia in 
 the Northern parts of the rich Lombard plain, bounded 
 on the North by the Rhcetian Alps, on the East by the 
 Lago di Garda, on the West and South by the Lago 
 d'Iseo and the valley of the Oglio, was such as at once 
 to ensure it importance and a chequered history. The 
 province was also beautiful enough in some parts 
 to merit the description ^^ un pezzo di paradiso caduto iji 
 terra."
 
 8 Brescia. 
 
 The first people we know of directly as inhabiting 
 this favoured district were the Ligures. One of their 
 kings, Cigno, is mentioned by Pausanias as highly 
 skilled in music ; and the Ligurian citadel of Cicnea, 
 mentioned by Catullus, was the origin of the city of 
 Brescia. 
 
 The Ligures fell under Etruscan power. The 
 Etruscans in turn succumbed to the Cenomani ; the 
 Cenomani to the Romans. A Roman colony was 
 established in Brescia by Julius Caesar, and it became a 
 Roman free city. Both province and city are full of 
 remains of Roman civilization. 
 
 After the fall of the Western Empire the barbarian 
 tribes several times pillaged the North of Italy, and 
 Brescia more than once suffered severely. She 
 did so specially at the hands of the Huns under 
 Atilla, A.D. 452. But in the sixth century something 
 approaching order was again established by the 
 Longobardi, who in 568, under their king Alboin, took 
 possession not only of what was later called Lombardy 
 after its conquerors, but of a great part of Italy. This 
 was the last barbarian invasion of Italy, and its effects 
 were abiding. It fused Teutonic vigour with Latin 
 acuteness and refinement, and so deeply affected 
 Italian mediaeval and renaissance life and genius, which 
 in their turn have greatly influenced the world. 
 
 At Alboin's death his kingdom was broken up 
 into thirty or forty separate dukedoms, reaching 
 from Friuli to Benevento, of which one was a 
 dukedom of Brescia. Brescia then passed through the 
 hands of Charlemagne and of the Franks. Later she
 
 Brescia. 9 
 
 fell under German power, and being made a free 
 imperial city by Otho the Great, shared and suffered in 
 the fierce struggles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. 
 
 In Brescia, as in most of the North Italian cities, 
 the struggles between the consuls and the people, 
 between the podesta or single chief magistrates and the 
 councils, between the councils and the citizens, between 
 the nobles and the citizens, resulted in government 
 more or less republican. 
 
 Fierce feuds raged between the different cities ; 
 and in the cities themselves, discord was continually 
 at work, setting family against family, and producing 
 riots similar to those between the Capulets and 
 Montagues described in Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 We may believe that in Brescia these features of 
 the city-republic life of the time existed, serving in her, 
 as in other cities, to give intense stimulus to all kinds of 
 human energy and to foster brilliant intellectual life. 
 
 Even in such a circumstance as the passing of an 
 ordinance in 1480 — the earliest attempt of the kind in 
 any European city — that all who in digging or other- 
 wise might find Roman inscriptions should be required 
 to look to their preservation, we see already advanced 
 enlightenment in the Brescians ; and the facts that 
 Luther made his translation of the Old Testament 
 from the Hebrew edition printed at Brescia in 1494, 
 and that in 1502 a chair was instituted for the study of 
 Greek, tell the same tale. 
 
 Brescia was subjected by the Lords of Verona in 
 1378 ; then by the Milanese ; and lastly by the Vene- 
 tians in 1426 under Carmagnola. At this point the
 
 o Brescia. 
 
 French, in pursuance of the League of Cambray, overran 
 the Venetian States, and Brescia fell. After a time, 
 however, the city was recovered (except the citadel) 
 by one of the Venetian commanders, and the whole 
 district, detesting the French, revolted and raised the 
 Venetian flag. This led to the long and famous siege 
 and sack of the city by the French under Gaston de 
 Foix in 1512. 
 
 Among the many awful tales of war few equal in 
 horror that of the sack of Brescia. Desperately the 
 Venetian troops and the inhabitants fought, but in 
 vain. For three days the city was given over to the 
 mercies of a brutal and infuriated foreign soldiery, and 
 slaughter, pillage, and outrage went on unchecked. 
 It is variously estimated that from 17,000 to 40,000 
 persons perished in the fighting and the sack, 
 and the booty was rated at 3,000,000 crowns. 
 As an illustration of the horror of those days, the 
 case of " Tartaglia " the mathematician is interesting. 
 An infant at the time, as his helpless mother tried to 
 shelter him in her arms, he received five sword wounds, 
 had his skull fractured, and his lip split. One bright 
 gleam of better things greets us in the beautiful story 
 preserved of Bayard, who was wounded at the assault 
 which carried the city ; but there is not space to linger 
 over it here. 
 
 From the terrible blow inflicted by Gaston de Foix, 
 Brescia never perfectly recovered ; but restored to the 
 Venetians in 1516, the city by degrees became some- 
 thing of her old self. Even the sack of 15 12 could not 
 wholly dissipate a wealth second only to that of Milan,
 
 Brescia. 1 1 
 
 or crush the spirit of a people renowned for their 
 valour, and whose intellectual powers had been braced 
 and sharpened by perpetual conflicts, by city-republic 
 life, and by the frequent necessity of adapting them- 
 selves to a new order of things. 
 
 The time, too, was one favourable to re-growth. 
 That great intellectual movement in Europe which 
 began in the fifteenth century, and to which we give 
 the name Renaissance, was still working, and in Italy 
 its developments were of special interest and strength. 
 The Italy of this time is portrayed for us inimitably 
 and pricelessly in the autobiography of Benvenuto 
 Cellini : it was a time of intense intellectual and ar- 
 tistic activity ; of picturesqueness, splendour, squalor, 
 superstition, godlessness, religious fervour, philosophy, 
 and humanitarianism strangely mingled. It was an 
 age of great men. In England were living Shakes- 
 peare and Bacon ; in Spain, Cervantes and Lope de 
 Vega ; in Holland, Grotius and Jansen ; in Flanders, 
 Rubens ; in Germany, Kepler ; in France, Palissy and 
 Montaigne ; in Italy, speaking generally, Galileo, 
 ToricelH, Veronese, Tasso, Guido, Giordano Bruno, 
 the Carracci. But of Brescians alone there is a noble 
 list in such names as " Tartaglia," Castelli, and Zendrini, 
 mathematicians and natural philosophers, the last- 
 named being one of the first to show the advantages of 
 the infinitesimal calculus; Ferrando the printer; the 
 painters Foppa, Ferramola, Savoldo, Moretto, Roma- 
 nino, Muzziano; the sculptors Olivieri, Raffaello da 
 Brescia, Alessandro and Jocobo Medici ; the com- 
 posers Bonaventura and Marenzio ; and a number of
 
 12 Brescia. 
 
 distinguished musical instrument makers. Of these, 
 those who devoted themselves to the making of stringed 
 instruments will be noticed in some detail in the body 
 of this work ; here, mention is made only of the 
 Antegnati, or Antignati as the name was written later. 
 We learn from Giovan Maria Lanfranco, in his rare book 
 Scintille de Musica* that Giovan Francesco Antegnato 
 made — " diligentissimamente " — monochordi, arpi- 
 chordi, et clavacymbali ; while his brother Giovan 
 Giacobo's organs were so perfect in tone and general 
 make that they seemed, says Lanfranco quaintly, " non 
 da mano di huomo ma da natura creati." Later 
 members of this family were Graziadio, chosen by 
 Ferrando Gonzaga, Duke of Milan, to build the organ 
 in the ducal chapel of Santa Barbara, and Graziadio's 
 son, Costanzo, sent by him from Brescia in 1570 to look 
 over this organ when he himself was ill. Brescia, it 
 may be added, specially excelled in the artistic and 
 important manufacture of arms and armour ; and 
 Galileo's daughter evidently thought highly of Brescian 
 thread. 
 
 Such, broadly speaking, were the times, such the 
 contemporaries of Maggini and his more immediate 
 predecessors of the Brescian school of violin making. 
 Maggini's Brescia — at his manhood the Brescia of 
 some ninety years after the sack — was still in part 
 mediaeval. Maggini's grandfather was a youth at the 
 time of the sack ; he may even have been in the 
 fighting. In Maggini's boyhood many were living who 
 
 'Scintille ossia Regole di Musica, che mostrano a leggere il canto fermo et 
 figurato, etc. . . — Brescia, Aprile, 1533.
 
 Plate II.
 
 Brescia. 13 
 
 must have heard from their fathers moving tales of 
 Brescia's gallant struggle. Such tales rouse the blood 
 and stir the spirit. 
 
 Many of the old Brescian buildings remained, and 
 chief among them its great brick Broletta, or city 
 Palace, the focus of the city hfe, with its massive belfry 
 of rough stone {Torre del Popolo) and glorious brick rose 
 window — one of the finest buildings of its kind in Italy; 
 the Castello; the old Duomo, an interesting round church 
 dating from the seventh century ; and many ancient 
 churches with their campaniles. The streets in many 
 cases were bright and picturesque with frescoes, the 
 art-loving Brescians not unfrequently employing their 
 native artists to paint the outsides of their houses, 
 Romanino and Gambara for instance both executed 
 work of this kind. The walls also remained with the 
 battlemented bastions and gates, the drawbridges and 
 the moat. What the city was about 1560 — 1632 we 
 may fairly divine from the print dated 1764 reproduced 
 on PI. II. 
 
 The new Duomo and the new Market without the 
 walls, which appear in the print, were not yet in 
 existence, and no doubt the number of houses was 
 smaller. Still, the print may well serve to recall 
 mediaeval Brescia, and we know from Venetian returns 
 that in 1561 Brescia contained 5,242 houses, 1,733 
 shops, and 41,168 inhabitants. 
 
 But the site and physical surroundings of the city 
 had not altered. The print shows us the citadel erected 
 by the Visconti in the fourteenth century crowning 
 the summit of the hill round the sides of which the city
 
 14 Brescia. 
 
 clusters, and it looks much the same as we see it in the 
 background of Moretto's [1498 — 1555 ?] great picture 
 of the Feast of the Pharisee now in the church of 
 S. Maria della Pieta, at Venice. The print too gives 
 us hints of the suburban spots from which Moretto drew 
 sometimes backgrounds for Madonnas and Saints. It 
 shows us the fertile country 13'ing round and the distant 
 mountains; and we can imagine from it the magnificent 
 view which the citadel commanded over the Lombard 
 plain. 
 
 Such sights met the eyes of the men of 1600, and 
 the sound of the bells of most of the campaniles which 
 stand out in the print were in their ears. These cam- 
 paniles, for the most part attached to churches and 
 monasteries, wake many thoughts, and their number 
 brings vividly before us the large part played by the 
 Church in mediaeval life, while in Brescia, as elsewhere, 
 it was a liberal and wise fosterer of the fine arts. We 
 learn from Lanfranco in his Scintille di Mtisica before 
 cited that he instructed the clerics and soprani of the 
 Cathedral of San Pietro de Dom in his musica mistirata,* 
 and that the Cathedral possessed a cappella of the 
 first order, and besides an organ a complete orchestra. 
 Other churches of the city would probably too have 
 orchestras, while in the monasteries there must have 
 been many lovers of music. It was two monks who 
 proved themselves most kind friends to Gasparo da 
 Salo at a critical time in his life. 
 
 * Measured music (musica tnensitralis), strictly so termed, consisted of 
 notes of various and determined length, and was so called to distinguish 
 it from the older vtusica choralis or {^lana in which all the notes were of 
 equal length.
 
 Brescia. 15 
 
 We gather too from Lanfranco, what we may 
 indeed infer from the number and succession of musical 
 instrument makers resident in Brescia, that the city was 
 distinguished for its excellent musicians — as good, 
 probably, as were to be found at the splendid courts of 
 Florence, Ferrara, and Mantua, where the Princes 
 delighted to surround themselves with artists. This 
 view is further borne out by reference in the Mantuan 
 sixteenth century archives to one Giacometti " Del 
 Violino," a Brescian ; and to Paolo Virchi, a noted 
 Brescian organist, who entered the service of the 
 Gonzaga Princes, and was much esteemed by them.* 
 
 Brescia, after 15 12, was restored to Venetian rule, 
 and enjoyed tolerable quiet until the plague — that 
 terrible scourge of the middle ages — and a famine 
 together ravaged her. The plague raged elsewhere in 
 Italy: we know that, in 1630, owing to its virulence, 
 communication between Rome and Florence was 
 suspended ; and that it gradually increased in and 
 around Florence to such an extent that a quarantine 
 of extreme strictness was established so as to put 
 a stop even to neighbourly intercourse. In the 
 correspondence of Galileo's daughter, Sister Maria 
 Celeste, we find her begging her father not to procure 
 for her sundry little necessaries in case the plague should 
 be brought back by the person sent to buy them ; and 
 an interesting light is thrown upon the pharmacy of the 
 period in a description of an electuary much esteemed 
 as a preservative against the plague and pressed by the 
 
 *La Musica in Mantova. Musici alia Corte dei Gonzaga in Mantova. Dal 
 Suolo XV. al xviii., per A. Bertolotti.
 
 i6 Brescia. 
 
 anxious daughter on her father, consisting of dried 
 figs, walnuts, rue and salt, mixed together with honey. 
 A piece of this, the size of a walnut, was to be taken in 
 the morning fasting, with a little good wine, and the 
 efficacy of the delectable compound was reported to be 
 — " wonderful." 
 
 Electuaries or no electuaries, however, the plague in 
 due time reached Brescia, and there it raged so fearfully 
 that " La citta era un deserto, le contrade un cimitero.'^ 
 
 Remaining under the Venetian Republic until its 
 dissolution in 1797, Brescia formed the capital of a 
 department in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy ; and 
 in 1814 it passed into the hands of Austria. In 1849 
 the city revolted, but was reduced by the Austrians 
 under Haynau, who shelled the city barbarously from 
 the citadel. Her sons, however, showed in 1849 the 
 spirit of the Brescians of 1512 : gallantly they fought 
 against the Austrians, and their gallantry was recorded 
 in a monument by their king when at last Italy emerged 
 from her many conflicts and struggles — free and united 
 from Lombardy to Sicily. Brescia, indeed, may claim 
 the honour of having in part foreshadowed a free and 
 united Italy, for the heresies of Arnold in the twelfth 
 century, Brescia's greatest son, were not simply 
 ecclesiastical. He was politically a heretic, and in 
 advance of his time. The political ideal he held forth 
 was something far higher than either Guelphs or 
 Ghibellines aimed at. He conceived of an independent 
 Roman Republic, free from the temporal authority of 
 either Pope or Emperor. Arnold of Brescia's ideal for 
 Rome foreshadowed Mazzini's ideal for Italy. And the
 
 Salb. 17 
 
 man himself, with his eloquence, perfect disinterested- 
 ness, and extraordinary personal influence, foreshadowed 
 MsLZzini. 
 
 The poets have sung of Brescia as " Rich in iron 
 courage and honour." Her story justifies their praise. 
 
 
 M 
 
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 ;^v^ 
 
 "^f^ . 
 
 
 SALO. 
 
 ALO, in the province of Brescia, roughly 
 some twenty miles from the city, is 
 perhaps the most beautiful spot on the 
 Lago di Garda. Roman remains have been 
 found there, and it is mentioned in documents as early 
 as A.D. 1016. 
 
 Gratarolo's record that in 1585 there were many 
 schools there to which foreigners came, proves that 
 Salo in mediaeval times, though a small place, valued 
 intellectual life and promoted it. 
 
 Salo had its own distinguished men, and music 
 generally was cultivated there — sacred music specially 
 so. This is proved by the Corporation records.
 
 GIO: PAOLO MAGGINI. 
 
 B 2
 
 (tIO: PAOLO MAGGINI. 
 
 [1581— 1632 ?] 
 
 " Planting before us 
 A sensible type." — 
 
 Goethe. 
 
 HE unfortunate practice of not dating their 
 works which prevailed among the earlier 
 makers of bowed instruments renders it 
 extremely difficult to arrange them and 
 their works in true order. When they 
 inserted labels they put on them their names and places 
 of abode, but no dates. Had they given dates and 
 stated whose pupils they were, as was sometimes done 
 by later makers, we should have had stepping-stones 
 over many a treacherous bit of ground. As it is, we 
 can but try to discover the order in time of the men 
 and of their works from a critical examination of the 
 works themselves. But here again we find ourselves 
 involved in difficulty, because to arrive at complete 
 truth by this critical method sufficient comparative 
 material is necessary, and such material in the case of 
 old instruments is, alas ! all too small in amount.
 
 22 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 The law of death in the world of living things, by 
 which races disappear when they no longer meet the 
 new conditions of existence which arise, applies not 
 less to the works of man. These, too, must pass 
 away unless they can become transformed to answer 
 to the new demands made upon them. It is not 
 surprising therefore that the older forms of musical 
 instruments almost completely disappeared soon after 
 they ceased to be in actual use. Yet for the study of 
 musical history, and of contemporary art as illustrated 
 in their forms and decoration, how precious to us these 
 " useless " things would have been ! 
 
 The case of the great violin maker Gio. Paolo 
 Maggini well illustrates these remarks. He put 
 nothing on his labels but his name, and that he worked 
 in Brescia ; and but few of his instruments survive. 
 Little accordingly has been known of him, and that 
 little has been gathered entirely from a comparison of 
 his surviving instruments with such few as remain of 
 earlier Brescian makers. Recently however search 
 among the State Archives of Brescia has brought to 
 light so much of interest respecting Maggini that it is 
 now possible to form a tolerably complete idea of his 
 character, culture, and circumstances. As regards his 
 personal appearance alone is there a complete blank. 
 So far as is known at present no portrait of him exists, 
 nor has any description of his personal appearance 
 been found. 
 
 Maggini as a family name was not uncommon in the 
 North of Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries. Contemporary with Gio. Paolo there were
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 23 
 
 other families bearing the name at Brescia ; and there 
 was Giovan Antonio Maggini, a native of Padua, 
 holding a professorship at Bologna. There were, there- 
 fore, we may suppose, Maggini at Padua and possibly 
 at Bologna, as well as at Brescia at the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. The name Maggini was written 
 Magino by Gio. Paolo; and a still earlier form of it was 
 Maglino. But Gio. Paolo's labels always give the 
 name as Maggini. 
 
 The Brescian State Archives give us information of 
 three generations of the Maggini family with which we 
 are concerned. It appears that they came originally 
 from Botticino"di sera" {i.e., West Botticino), a village 
 on the hills about an hour's drive from Brescia. We 
 may infer that Ser Bertolino or Bartolomeo de Maggini, 
 the grandfather of Gio. Paolo, lived and died at 
 Botticino ; and as his son Zovan stated himself to be 
 45 in 1568, we are justified — as apparently the male 
 members of the family did not, as a rule, marry very 
 early — in assuming that Ser Bertolino de Maggini was 
 born about 1493. 
 
 In his Income Tax return of 1568 we find that 
 Zovan or Giovanni Maggini was married and living in 
 Botticino with his wife Giulia and two children. A 
 later return made by Giovanni, in 1588, shows the 
 family settled in Brescia, he himself not following 
 any occupation ; his elder son a shoemaker and 
 married, and Gio. Paolo a boy of seven. 
 
 We have here a fund of information of much value. 
 The parents of Gio. Paolo, Giovanni and Giulia 
 Maggini, were probably both country folk, natives of
 
 24 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Botticino who removed to Brescia in middle life after 
 the death of Ser Bertolino, and who probably had 
 some private means. Gio. Paolo Maggini was born 
 late in his father's life — in 1581. 
 
 There remain attached to certain legal documents 
 various signatures of Maggini which lead one to think, 
 from their characteristics, that he had had but slender 
 education, and was but little accustomed to penmanship. 
 It must be pure conjecture what led to the selection of 
 an occupation for the lad, but it does not seem an 
 unreasonable one that he may have chosen instrument 
 making from being fond of music. He may have had a 
 good voice and received musical instruction. Many of the 
 early instrument makers we know were also musicians. 
 
 What is certain is that he became apprentice to the 
 Brescian instrument maker Gasparo da Sal6, and was 
 still his apprentice when he was twenty-one years of 
 age. This is proved by a legal document dated 1602, 
 signed by both Gasparo and Maggini, the latter 
 stating himself to be an apprentice (garzone is the word 
 used) of Signor Gasparo. 
 
 But if documentary evidence now directly proves 
 Maggini to have been a pupil of Gasparo da Said ; 
 it is instructive to remember that this truth had 
 been inductively arrived at from critical examination 
 of Maggini's work and comparison of it with that of 
 Gasparo. The many points of similarity there are 
 between the two will be noticed in detail later. 
 
 On January 20th, 1615, Gio. Paolo Maggini, then 
 about 34, was married to Maddalena Anna, aged 19,
 
 Plate III.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 25 
 
 daughter of Messer Faust Foresto, and probably at 
 once took his young wife to a house in Contrada del 
 Palazzo Vecchio del Podesta, opposite to the Old 
 Palace, of which in its modernised condition, and 
 tenanted by one Zanetti, a saddler, a view is given on 
 PI. III. We learn from a deed in the Archives of 
 the Notaries of Brescia that on January 28th, 1615 — 
 eight days after her marriage — Maggini's wife signed 
 a receipt for the dowry fixed by her father, in the 
 kitchen of this house on the first floor, one of the 
 witnesses* being Jacobo de Lafranchini, " maestro di 
 violini," her husband's assistant living in the house, and 
 who, as we know from a document relating to Gasparo 
 da Sal6, was a fellow apprentice with Maggini to 
 that maker. 
 
 * Besides Jacobo de Lafranchini there were two other witnesses to 
 this deed — namely, Signer Santo de Santis, carpenter, living at the corner 
 of Contrada delle Bombasarie, and Signor Pompeo de Gissoli, bootmaker. 
 As a Santo, or more frequently a Pietro Santo Maggini, has been stated by 
 various modern writers to have made violins in succession to Gio. Paolo 
 Maggini, although no record of any Santo or Pietro Santo Maggini has 
 come to light, it has been suggested that the above Santo de Santis, 
 carpenter, may have been employed by Maggini to do work for him, and 
 may after his death have made violins, and palmed them off under the 
 assumed name of Santo Maggini. But such a view has no proper founda- 
 tion. In 1641, at least nine years after Maggini's death, we know that 
 Santo de Santis in an income tax return still called himself "a carpenter." 
 And not one of those writers who have spoken of Santo or Pietro Santo 
 Maggini has ever given any satisfactory authority for doing so. It may 
 well be doubted if such persons ever existed ; but if they did it would be 
 more reasonable to look for them among the other families of the name of 
 Maggini, known to have been resident in Brescia m the days of Maggini 
 and presumably later, or among the descendants — if he had any — of Carlo 
 Francesco Maggini, Gio. Paolo's only surviving son, than to invent a story 
 which probably belies poor Santo de Santis the carpenter. The fact dwelt 
 on later in the text must also be remembered — that no violins, tenors, or 
 basses by a Maggini other than Gio. Paolo have come to light.
 
 26 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 From the time then of his marriage Maggini had a 
 skilled assistant and was probably in comfortable 
 circumstances, his shop and workrooms occupying, as 
 was usual, the ground floor of his house. 
 
 At this point it seems fitting, before proceeding with 
 Maggini's maturer life and work, to take a short survey 
 of his forerunners in bowed instrument making in 
 Brescia, and of the precise stage of development at 
 which he found the violin. 
 
 Hitherto there has been little certainly known of the 
 early Brescian makers of stringed instruments, but the 
 recent researches have thrown much light upon them 
 and upon contemporary music and musical instruments. 
 
 It is not intended to go into full detail here about 
 these early Brescian makers, but a few remarks are 
 almost necessary, and to make them more intelligible 
 and interesting the following table has been carefully 
 compiled from original documents— the dates given 
 being those of birth.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 27 
 
 Table of Early Brescian Makers of Stringed 
 Instruments. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 MAKER. 
 
 INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 c. 1450 
 
 KERLINO (Giovanni) 
 
 Viole. 
 
 1484 
 
 DELLA CORNA(Gian 
 Giacomo) 
 
 " Che fa lauti." 
 
 c. 1495 
 
 *DE MICHELIS (Za- 
 
 nettot) 
 [Probably Zanetto da Monte- 
 chiaro, a village near 
 Brescia.] 
 
 Citharedus. 
 
 1520 
 
 DE MICHELIS (Pele- 
 
 " Magistro de instrumenti 
 
 
 grino (or Peregrine) 
 
 de sonar." 
 
 
 di Zanetto) 
 [Son of preceding.] 
 
 " Magistro de cittere % et 
 lire."§ 
 
 He made also " Viole, 
 lire, bassi, cittare, lauti, 
 et aitri instrumenti." 
 
 1520 
 
 VIRCHI (Benedetto) 
 
 " Citere," " Citeraro." 
 
 * The Latin forms of names, such as De Michelis, De Lafranchinis, 
 De Setis, De Bertolottis, and also the Italian corresponding ones of 
 De Micheli, De Lafranchini, &c., occur in the documents of the Middle 
 Ages and succeeding centuries ; but in the present century the De has been 
 quite dropped in such cases. 
 
 ■f A diminutive of Giovanni, and equivalent to little John or Jack. In 
 North Italian dialects Ginan, 2ane, 2aneto, Zovan, 2anin, Giano, Giane, 
 Giannin are all diminutives of Giovanni. 
 
 J This instrument was of the guitar kind, with a flat back, and strung 
 with wire played with a quill plectrum. Many cetere were beautifully 
 carved and decorated. An exquisitely beautiful specimen of early sixteenth 
 century workmanship, and of the Brescian school, was exhibited at South 
 Kensington in 1885, and is figured in " Musical Instruments," plate xiv., 
 accompanied by excellent critical remarks by Mr. Hipkins. 
 
 § This instrument was made in several varieties — Lira di braccio, lira di 
 gamba, and archiviole di lira. It differed from the viol in having a second 
 and higher neck, from which bass strings were hung outside the finger- 
 board.
 
 28 
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Table of Early Bresciax Makers of Stringed 
 Instruments (continued). 
 
 A.D. 
 
 MAKER. 
 
 instruments. 
 
 1523 
 
 VIRCHI (Girolamo) 
 
 Lutes and other instru- 
 ments. 
 "Magistrode instrumenti 
 
 
 
 de 
 
 musica." 
 
 1529 
 
 D'ONEDA (Gio. Bat- 
 
 " Fa di violini." 
 
 tista) 
 
 " Lavorente di instru- 
 
 
 
 menti de citere." 
 
 1542 
 
 DE BERTOLOTTIS 
 
 1568. 
 
 " Magistro de vio- 
 
 
 (Gaspare da Salo) 
 
 
 lini." 
 
 
 
 >' 
 
 " Instrumenti da 
 sonare," for sale. 
 
 
 fGasparo da Salo died 
 
 1570- 
 
 Magistro a violinis. 
 
 
 April 14, 1609.] 
 
 1579- 
 
 Magistro a violinis. 
 
 
 
 »» 
 
 Magistro a cittaris. 
 
 
 
 1583- 
 
 "Artefice d'instru- 
 menti musici." 
 
 
 
 1585- 
 
 " Magistro di vio- 
 lini." 
 
 
 
 1588. 
 
 " Magistro instru- 
 mentorum musi- 
 corum." 
 
 1579 
 
 BENTE (Matteo) 
 
 " Cithere et altri instru- 
 menti." 
 
 1580 
 
 MAGGINI (Gio. Paolo) 
 
 "Ma 
 
 sstro di violini." 
 
 
 
 " Che fa le cetera." 
 
 
 
 "Che 
 
 fa violini." 
 
 This table shows that from the middle of the 
 fifteenth century there is an unbroken record of Brescian 
 stringed instrument makers to the time of Gaspare da 
 Salo. It has now become possible to fix approximately
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 29 
 
 the date of Kerlino's birth, from a reference to him 
 which has been found in the Mantuan Archives.* In 
 1493 la Marchesa Isabella D'Este, a most accom- 
 plished woman, fond of music and a performer, we may 
 infer, on the viola, cithara, lute, and clavicordo, sent her 
 lute teacher Testagrossa to Brescia, to report upon 
 certain " viole " she had ordered from Kerlino. He 
 had become a maker of repute no doubt before receiving 
 such distinguished patronage, and we may reasonably 
 suppose him, therefore, to have been at least about 43 
 at the time. 
 
 If the third column of the above table be examined 
 carefully it will be seen that the following stringed 
 instruments were made in Brescia from 1450 to about 
 1600 : — The viol in different sizes: the lute : the cetera 
 (citera, cittera, citharra, cittara, citerano, cithera, 
 cithardus) in variety ; the lira ; and from about 1500 
 probably — the number gradually increasing towards 
 1600 — the violin, though the evidence for this view is 
 cumulative, and does not depend upon the occurrence 
 of the term violini. It is not proposed here to discuss 
 completely the origins of the violin, or to attempt to fix 
 precisely the date when it first appearedf. The time is 
 
 * " La Musica in Mantova." A. Bertolotti. 
 
 f On this subject may be consulted the articles Violin and Tenor in the 
 Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Grove. 
 
 " Die Violine in XVII. Jahrhundert." Wasielewski. 
 
 " Les Instruments a Archet." Vol. I. A. Vidal. 
 
 "Die Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente." J. Riihlmann. 
 
 " History of the Violin." W. Sandys and S. A. Forster. 
 
 " Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family." C. Engel. 
 
 " Letters on Cremona Fiddles." C. Reade. (Reprinted in " Readiana.") 
 
 " La Lutherie et Les Luthiers." A. Vidal.
 
 30 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 not yet ripe for such a discussion — for such an attempt. 
 But something will be gained if what is fairly certain 
 about these questions is separated clearly from what is 
 obscure and uncertain. 
 
 One point, which it is of the utmost importance to 
 emphasize, is that arguments for the invention of the 
 violin at this or that date cannot be based safely upon 
 the mere occurrence of the term violino. This term was 
 early in use ; in the documents we are now considering 
 we meet with it as early as 1540 and 1549, and from then 
 up till at least the beginning of the seventeenth century — 
 Maggini's time — it was either used generically*^ or to 
 mean the te7ior-\ or the alto. In 1533 Lanfranco plainly 
 uses the term violini generically, for he speaks of 
 " violini da tasti et da arco"; andas late as 1722 Bonanni, 
 in his " Gabinetto Armonica," describes the violino 
 as a tenor, but also mentions several varieties of violini. 
 There can be no doubt that the term violino did become 
 transferred from the tenor to the violin, but the change 
 was probably gradual. 
 
 Both violino in Italian and violon in French 
 originally meant the tenor. The first music so far as 
 is at present known in which the term violino occurs is 
 a double quartet by Gabrielli,:[: published 1597, and 
 
 * The term ciUre seems also to have been employed generically. See 
 case of G. B. D'Oneda in the historical table, who is called " lavorente 
 di instrumenti de citere." 
 
 + At one time the alto and tenor were distinct instruments, they had the 
 same pitch but the tenor was a size larger. The original tenor — to which 
 probably the term violino was first applied — dropped out, the later tenors 
 which our modern tenors succeeded being truly altos. 
 
 ♦ Sonnle Plan c Forte alia qiiarta bnssa. Giovanni Gabrielli, 1597. Printed 
 in the musical appendix to Wasielewski's "Die Violine im XVII.Jahrhundert."
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 31 
 
 clearly the music marked violino was written for the 
 tenor — it could not be played upon the violin. 
 
 Up, then, to 1597 the term violino was either used 
 generically or to indicate the tenor. A further proof 
 of this lies in the fact that in 1608 Monteverde, one of 
 the founders of modern opera and the father of modern 
 orchestration, and who in his Orfeo was the first to 
 assign the violini — violins here, not tenors, as the 
 music shows — a part in the orchestra, indicates them 
 as " piccoli violini alia Francese," showing that the term 
 violini alone would not have indicated the instrument 
 he had written for — and probably as well, that the 
 violin had come earlier into somewhat general use in 
 France than in Italy. 
 
 In 1615 Gabrielli wrote true violin passages in a 
 sonata for " tre violini " and a bass. 
 
 Up to the beginning of the seventeenth century the 
 violin was chiefly an instrument of accompaniment 
 supporting or doubling the soprano voice, and by degrees 
 used to replace the cornetto and treble viol in the orchestra 
 and the treble viol in chamber music. But by 1610, in 
 one of Monteverde's scores there are violin passages 
 going up to the 5th position ; by 1615 special parts 
 were being written for it, and it was coming rapidly in 
 Italy into orchestral use ; while in 1624 i" Monteverde's 
 Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda we find tremolos, 
 pizzicatos, and gradations of tone with the bow 
 expected of the violinist. 
 
 Bearing all this in mind, let us now consider the 
 term violino in relation to Gasparo and to Maggini. 
 Did the term mean precisely the same thing in both
 
 32 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 cases ? It would seem not. Gasparo died in 1609, 
 and, as we have seen, it was only in 1608 that the first 
 violin orchestral music appeared in Italy. This fact, 
 taken in connection with the extreme rareness of 
 Gaspare's violins, and the numbers of other musical 
 instruments which he made, points to the term violini 
 being employed either generically by him or to indicate 
 tenors — many of which of his making do survive. 
 
 Gasparo, in short, was probably largely a maker of 
 viols and of instruments of the cetera order. But he 
 also made numerous tenors — in demand, probably, for 
 use in orchestras where the cornetto took the upper 
 part — and some violins. 
 
 An effort has been recently made to prove that 
 Gasparo invented the violin, on the strength of a 
 passage in an income tax return of his. The passage 
 runs thus : ^^ per non andar Parte mia nella Franza 
 secondo il solito."*' From this it has been argued that 
 Gasparo was conscious of having invented a remarkable 
 thing. 
 
 The document warrants no such interpretation. To 
 a "plain man" the passage above given, its context 
 and the rest of the document being of course considered, 
 conveys the simple and ordinary facts that Gasparo 
 was just then in pecuniary difficulties and thought of 
 going to France as a good place to follow his calling 
 had not friends helped him, as Duiffoprugar and many 
 another had done before him. The document shows 
 
 ♦ The following is the complete passage from the original document : — 
 " Item son debitor al R^"- P. D. Gabriel frate in S'o- Piero de £60 per tanti 
 a me prestadi per non andar I'arie mia nella Franza secondo il solito. £to s. d."
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 33 
 
 how certain monks did help him : this was in 1588 ; and 
 another document shows how similar help was again 
 given in the following year. His friends lent Gasparo 
 money : there was nothing in the transactions of the 
 nature of their paying him to remain in Italy. 
 
 It must be noticed too that in the document where 
 the above words occur, while at the beginning Gasparo 
 calls himself " magistro de violino," at the end he 
 speaks generally of the " instrumenti da sonare " he has 
 for sale. In no way in this document or in any other 
 document does he lay emphasis upon the term violini, 
 or draw attention to it as specially important in his 
 case. 
 
 On the contrary, if the historical table be examined 
 it will be seen that a variety of expressions no doubt 
 authorized by him are used in describing him. More- 
 over the term violini was not first used by him in 
 connection with instrument making. His own father, 
 Francesco de Bertolottis, was known as " violi " or 
 "violini";* and Gio Battista D'Oneda in 1562, when 
 Gasparo was but twenty and beginning his career, 
 reported himself in his income tax return as one who 
 "/a di violini." These facts are also against any 
 particular significance being attached to the notice of 
 Gasparo's death in which he is called "maestro di 
 violini." 
 
 As regards Maggini the case is very different. He 
 as certainly as Gasparo made various instruments. 
 Early in his individual career he is returned in legal 
 documents as " maestro di violini " ; and as one " che 
 
 * Violi in the Brescian dialect is equivalent to violini. 
 
 C
 
 34 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 fa le cetere."* But the records of his individual career 
 begin in 1615, when vioHn music was already well 
 started and the violin was coming rapidly into general 
 use. Moreover, we have numerous violins of his 
 making and he does not seem to have made mmty tenors. 
 
 Need makes deed. A demand was undoubtedly 
 being created for violins, which able musical instrument 
 makers would not be slow to meet. There is good 
 reason, therefore, for concluding that in 1615 and 
 a fortiori in 1626, Maggini meant, at least primarily, 
 violins by violini, and if so, it follows that the term 
 had become in part at least transferred from the tenor, 
 and was well understood in 1615 to mean violins, being 
 still used however generically, and not excluding neces- 
 sarily other instruments, for we know that Maggini 
 made cetere, tenors, and violoncellos besides violins. 
 When, then, was the violin invented ? 
 
 The term violino preceded, as has been shown, the 
 violin. It was derived from the violono, the viol bass, 
 and was a smaller instrument. It is likely enough that 
 the violino was invented as a suitable instrument to 
 support the cornetti and trumpets in capelli, and to take 
 the place of the bowed instruments we see in the 
 engraving on Agricola's title page,f or in the Psaultier 
 du Roi Rene [1405].^ 
 
 There was exhibited at the Loan Collection of 
 Musical Instruments at South Kensington in 1885 a 
 
 * Liber Livellorum Sancta Agatha, or book of tithes and tributes due to 
 the Parish Church of St. Agatha. [An. 1500— 1636.] 
 
 f Reproduced in "La Musica in Mantova," p. 11. 
 
 J An etching is given of a page of this work in Vidal. " Las Instruments 
 k Archet," Vol. I., frontispiece.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 35 
 
 tenor (violino), by Pelegrino, son of Zanetto, which was 
 essentially modern in model and detail, though with 
 remaining touches of archaicism. Pelegrino Micheli, it 
 will be found on referring to the historical table, 
 preceded Gasparo by twenty-two years. 
 
 The violin no doubt was founded upon the model of 
 the violino, and would be readily suggested by it, 
 "Piccoli" instruments of different kinds being not 
 uncommon. As has been noticed, Monteverde, in 1608, 
 actually calls the violin " violino piccolo." 
 
 At this moment no specimens of the violin earlier 
 than those of Gasparo's are known, and it may be 
 taken as certain from a critical study of his work that 
 his violins were fairly early specimens of the instrument 
 which, modified by his great pupil Maggini, by the 
 Amati, and later by Antonio Stradivari, is to-day the 
 king of bowed instruments. Nevertheless, there is no 
 evidence at present which justifies us in attributing the 
 invention of the violin to Gasparo da Salo — great artist 
 as he assuredly was — or to his near contemporary, 
 Andreas Amati. It probably originated earlier — quite 
 early in the sixteenth century — and it may have done 
 so, considering the immense activity at the time among 
 makers of musical instruments, in more than one 
 centre. 
 
 Attention may be here drawn to a beautiful picture 
 by Bartolomeo Montagna (Accademia di Belle Arti, 
 Milan) of the Madonna enthroned, with attendant 
 saints and angel musicians, of which the date may 
 be 1500 or earlier. One of the angels depicted is 
 playing on a viol of early type as regards the stringing, 
 
 c a
 
 36 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 but the general pattern and modelling of the body of 
 the instrument are singularly violin-like. One cannot 
 doubt that the back was modelled as well as the belly, 
 for a similar old instrument shown at the South 
 Kensington Loan Exhibition of 1885 had a modelled 
 back. 
 
 In the remarkable engraving executed by Pierre 
 Wceiriot at Lyons in 1562, of Duiffoprugar* we see 
 several instruments, which prove clearly how much 
 advance had been made towards the violin. One of these 
 instruments has four strings and is a true violin, though 
 early in form. 
 
 In the picture, too, of the Marriage in Cana, by 
 Jacobo da Ponte (Bassano) in the Louvre, painted 
 probably about 1555, there appears, according to Vidal, 
 a " charmant specimen" of the violin. f 
 
 The last word on the deeply interesting question as 
 to when and where precisely the violin first appeared, 
 cannot be held to have been said until special and 
 searching examination has been made of pictures, 
 prints, and illuminated MSS. from about 1450 to 1550, 
 in France, Germany, Austria, and Italy ; and of early 
 concerted music, much of which probably exists 
 unpublished. 
 
 Progress means at once destruction and construc- 
 tion, for in the thing of to-day the past more or less 
 survives and the future is potentially present. The 
 violin of to-day is a composite outcome which repre- 
 
 * Reproduced in Naumann's " History of Music," translated by F. 
 Prjeger. Vol. I., p. 329. 
 
 f " Les Instruments a Archet," Vol. I., p. 60.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 37 
 
 sents to us, on the one hand, the classic lyre and the 
 monochord transmitted through the twanged crowd or 
 cruth ; and, on the other, a form of bowed Arabic rebab. 
 These origins, the crowd or cruth, and rebab, ever more 
 and more amalgamated in the various forms of rebec, 
 geige, vielle, and viol, resulted at last in the violin. And 
 what is true of the violin as a whole is true of its parts. 
 Sound-holes, scroll, and bridge, as we have them, have 
 developed slowly. In pictures, illustrated MSS., and 
 sculptures, we are able to trace many of the successive 
 stages through which the violin and its parts have passed. 
 
 Many were the unknown workers who have con- 
 tributed to form the wondrous instrument which has 
 given so much pure pleasure to the world. To 
 countless men whose names are nowhere written we 
 owe homage : " Not with the skill of an hour, nor of a 
 life, nor of a century, but with the help of numberless 
 souls a beautiful thing must be done." 
 
 When, therefore, Maggini set up for himself, the 
 transition from viol to violin had already been in part 
 made by earlier makers, and the way was well prepared 
 for an advance in violin construction. A fair end lay 
 before Maggini — to transform still further the violin 
 and develop its powers. 
 
 The time was in harmony with such an end. Modern 
 life had begun ; medisevalism was passing away. 
 Society was becoming more and more based on 
 education and on wealth rather than birth, and the freer, 
 more enlightened human spirit, with its immensely 
 enlarged range of feeling, was naturally seeking 
 new and deeper expression in music — the art which is
 
 38 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 essentially that of feeling ; and finding more and new 
 possibilities for the violin, the instrument which most 
 perfectly and simply expresses musical feeling of all 
 kinds — " il lamento dell' amore o la preghiera 
 agli dei." 
 
 Nevertheless Maggini's life would still be com- 
 paratively mediaeval. There were still conditions 
 for the artist workman making it possible for him to 
 enjoy his work, for his mode of life was simple and 
 he worked in a leisurely though industrious way. He 
 had usually an apprentice and assistants interested in 
 the work. Competition had not yet become a curse, 
 nor self-advertisement a mania. There remains for 
 us among the clever woodcuts of Jost Amman of 
 Zurich (1539 — 1591), illustrative of mediaeval crafts, one 
 of a lute and viol maker in his workshop* which 
 may enable us in a general way to realise how 
 Maggini lived and worked. The strong simple 
 bench, with the cutting tools, the glue pot, the 
 block of the trunk of some fine old tree, doubtless a 
 cherished possession, the instruments in progress on 
 the wall and on the bench, with the artist workman, in 
 his aproned, picturesque working dress, carefully trying 
 a lute just finished as he sits on his three-legged stool — 
 all makes up a picture of singular charm. The pleasure 
 which should be felt by a worker in his work, and which, 
 when felt, raises a trade into a vocation, is well 
 indicated. 
 
 * Reproduced from ihe Biichlein aller Stdjide o! ]ost Amman, in Naumann's 
 History of Music, Eng. trans., Vol. I., p. 624; and in Vidal's Instnimciites a 
 Archet, Vol. I., PI. xxiii.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 39 
 
 There is usually a natural process of develop- 
 ment In a man's work as in his life. Childhood, youth, 
 maturity, age succeed each other in the one as in the 
 other. Sometimes in work, as also in life, development 
 is so gradual that its successive stages melt into each 
 other without its being possible to draw lines of demar- 
 cation between them. Sometimes — and with workers 
 of strong individuality and capacity for impulse it is 
 frequently so — work seems to divide itself naturally 
 into periods, each of which is marked with distinctive- 
 ness. 
 
 It is easy, however, especially in the absence of 
 complete biographical and critical data, to push the 
 period system too far, and it is to be understood that it 
 has been used in the following pages chiefly for clearness 
 and convenience. Not that there are not striking 
 differences in Maggini's work ; but sufficient of his work 
 is not known (at present at least) on which to base 
 satisfactorily " period " classification. 
 
 With so much proviso we may now proceed to 
 Maggini's first period, in which we find him reproducing 
 all the characteristics of Gasparo. There is the same 
 heavy ungraceful modelling; the same short unpro- 
 nounced corners ; the same poorly inlaid purfling with 
 badly prepared grooves ; the same indifferent mitres. 
 The heads of his instruments of this earliest period are 
 of very rough work and lack trueness in curve and form 
 — one side of the scroll differing much from the other, 
 and its faces being deeply and unevenly worked. The 
 fluting of the back of the head is also wanting in regu- 
 larity, with the centre line heavy and badly defined.
 
 40 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 These heads are, however, full of character, for we have 
 clearly to do even now with an able artist, though with 
 his hand and artistic feeling but impei-fectly developed. 
 The wood Maggini used in these early works is of the 
 same kind as that used by Gasparo. The backs, 
 heads, and sides are mostly cut on the slab, and 
 what is a specially noticeable feature, so are the 
 bellies, which is interesting, as being a link between 
 the viol and the violin. Wood is said to be cut on the 
 slab when the sections are made in slices parallel to 
 the axis of upward growth of the tree, and it is this 
 mode of cutting which produces those cross-markings 
 or curls which are so noticeable on the bellies of the 
 viols and other instruments by the predecessors of 
 Maggini. Later, Maggini discarded this practice of 
 cutting bellies on the slab, and was himself one of the 
 first to adopt the straight way of the grain for 
 them, which was obtained by cutting the wood in 
 wedge-shaped pieces, the wedges tapering from the 
 circumference to the heart of the trunk. 
 
 The sound-holes of Maggini's first period show a 
 slight change from Gasparo's, but it can hardly 
 be called an improvement, though they are less 
 open, which was better for tone. There can be no 
 doubt that several of the later productions of Gasparo 
 are really the work of Maggini, for instruments exist 
 bearing Gasparo's label which leave little doubt that 
 they were made by Maggini. 
 
 In Maggini's second period the influence of his 
 master is not so apparent, and the work shows not only 
 improvement in execution, but a great advance in violin
 
 Plate IV. 
 
 ffg\ 
 QoYer leaf hv'ice pr bacK of 
 v'lolin at iopan(l]>olto7Ti 
 
 f^3 
 
 
 mc simile oj^ d 
 
 
 •Device JT>r 
 .IxkVoJ-VioIir 
 7^33mt * 
 
 Gio: Paolo Maggini in Breicia .
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 41 
 
 construction. Maggini had in these years no doubt been 
 experimenting, thinking, and yet again experimenting, 
 and had now become the pupil of that great teacher — 
 a man's own experience — a teacher who makes the 
 master. 
 
 The most noticeable feature in the instruments of 
 the second period is the pronounced raised border 
 associated very rarely with a slight hollowing and 
 usually accompanied with a higher arching than is 
 found in Maggini's earlier and later instruments. The 
 substance of the purfling is a little thicker and is 
 inserted with much more precision. The sound-holes 
 are more graceful and truer in curve and cutting, 
 though still preserving an originality of character (Fig. 2, 
 PL IV.) ; while the head is much more symmetrical and 
 is better cut. 
 
 The wood of the instruments of this period is rarely 
 cut on the slab, the bellies never so ; and although the 
 maple is not so handsomely figured, the quality otherwise 
 of the whole of the material is as fine as that of any 
 used by the Cremonese makers. 
 
 As typical instruments of Maggini's second period 
 the violins belonging to Sir Joseph Chitty and 
 Mr, Sternberg, and the " Dumas " tenor may be 
 mentioned. 
 
 Maggini's third period is marked by an obvious 
 determination to produce instruments of much higher 
 form, carried out with greater accuracy of work. He 
 may possibly have been stirred to increased exertion by 
 seeing some of the beautiful work which was turned out 
 by Antonius and Hieronymus Amati at about this time.
 
 42 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 But Maggini may have reached this higher form and 
 more accurate workmanship naturally through practice, 
 though chiefly perhaps from having attained to clearer 
 views as to what would give the best results. 
 
 At any rate, Maggini, in his third period, certainly 
 succeeded in reaching a higher standard of finish 
 throughout each work ; in fact, his early irregularities 
 entirely ceased. The work was now true, the purfling 
 sharply and finely inserted, the mitres accurately 
 and cleanly made, and the sound-holes as sharp as 
 those of the Amati (Fig. 3, PI. IV.). The arching of 
 the model is less, with lighter edges, giving to the 
 whole instrument a more graceful and pleasing 
 appearance. The curves of the head were now made 
 quite symmetrical and show considerable improvement 
 on the past ; while the fluting on the back of the head 
 was especially well done, not being so hollowed as 
 previously, with the centre line as true as possible. 
 
 The interior work also probably showed advance — 
 namely, in the use of stronger corner blocks and linings. 
 
 The development of these adjuncts of the violin, so 
 important for its strength and resonance, was gradual. 
 
 Corner blocks one can hardly doubt would probably 
 be employed in the fifteenth century in the larger viols, as 
 their use obviously would facilitate construction. They 
 would then come in for the smaller instruments. 
 
 The first violin blocks were naturally slight, 
 considering the small demands then made upon the 
 instrument ; and where they have survived have had to 
 be re-faced or strengthened. Blocks preceded linings : 
 canvas linings probably preceded wooden ones.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 43 
 
 Maggini was among the first to use corner blocks 
 and linings such as are now employed, and he also 
 deserves credit for having arranged his thicknesses with 
 more plan and accuracy than did his predecessors. 
 
 The varnish used by Maggini in his different periods 
 varied in colour only, and not in quality. His early 
 works have usually varnish of a brown tone of colour, 
 similar to that on the majority of the instruments by 
 Gasparo. The varnish of his later works is more 
 brilliant in colour through a greater preponderance of 
 orange or yellow. The basis and quality of his varnish- 
 were quite equal to that of the Cremonese makers. 
 
 Most of Maggini's instruments are double purfled, 
 and the extra line of purfling is in consequence taken by 
 the ordinary observer as the great distinguishing feature 
 of this maker, leading to every violin with double purfling 
 being fathered upon him. There are, however, some 
 violins by him with only one line of purfling, of which 
 three, together with one viola, are known. There is also 
 a violin existing of Maggini's best type of work, which 
 although double purfled on the belly has only imitated 
 purfling on the back, the double line being nicely drawn 
 with ink or paint. The wood of the backs of violins 
 being harder than that of the bellies, purfling is not so 
 necessary for them as a safeguard against splintering. 
 Maggini may on this account have been content 
 simply to draw the back purfling in this violin. It 
 is unlikely that his action was due to haste, as the 
 instrument is finely finished. 
 
 Occasionally Maggini, in his first period, possibly 
 through making viols at the time, introduced some of
 
 44 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 the devices with which they were commonl)^ ornamented 
 into his vioHns, such as inlaid purfling, the "clover-leaf" 
 (Fig. I, PI. IV.) at top and bottom of backs, and the 
 design (Fig. 4, PI. IV.) on the centre of backs. But the 
 "clover-leaf" at the top and bottom of back and the 
 central back design have never been seen by Messrs. 
 Hill on the same instrument. The giving up of super- 
 fluous ornamentation on the violin, which did not 
 originate with Maggini, as perfectly plain Gaspares 
 exist, is important and marks, we may say, its final 
 separation from the viol. 
 
 It may be instructive to mention here that our 
 English maker, Barak Norman, nearly a century later 
 double purfled, and used ornamental devices on his 
 violoncellos. In some cases he used the so-called 
 "clover-leaf" design, while Nicolo Gagliano, one of 
 the Neapolitan family of violin makers, used the centre 
 design (Fig. 4) on some of his violins ; but in other 
 respects neither of these makers copied Maggini. 
 
 Maggini's sound-holes varied much in character. 
 Those in one of the two famous Magginis that belonged 
 to De Beriot, but which are now in the possession of the 
 Prince de Chimay, are large and very open ; but, speak- 
 ing generally, those of his later instruments are distin- 
 guished by their more graceful lines and sharper finish. 
 
 Maggini, as has been remarked, followed the methods 
 of the viol makers in his sound-holes in under- 
 cutting or bevelling their inside edges. The Amati 
 were the first definitely to discard this practice and 
 cut the sound-holes always and at all points with a 
 perpendicular edge.
 
 Plate V.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 45 
 
 Owing to the usually large size of Maggini's violins, 
 their sides may, to a superficial observer, seem lower 
 than they actually are. As a matter of fact, their height 
 at the neck-end is about the same as that of many 
 Amati violins, and of some by Stradivarii ; but at 
 the tailpin-end they are, on the average, about one- 
 sixteenth of an inch lower than in violins by those 
 makers. It must be clearly understood that the larger 
 scale on which Maggini's violins are usually built in 
 length and breadth, make relatively low sides necessary ; 
 and, indeed, in no other proportion than that actually 
 adopted by Maggini could the soprano quality of tone, 
 combined with great volume, be obtained, for which his 
 violins are so remarkable. But when, for the conveni- 
 ence of playing, Stradivari made instruments of reduced 
 length and' breadth, he was as undoubtedly right to make 
 up for diminished area by a greater height of the sides, 
 in order that the cubical contents of the violin box 
 should not fall below what is essential for a rich 
 resonance and true violin quality of tone. 
 
 In the joining of the two middle bouts, Maggini did 
 not finish them so pointedly as did later makers, 
 the mitres are therefore thick and present a squarer 
 and blunter appearance ; indeed, this bluntness of the 
 mitres is a feature in nearly all the Brescian instru- 
 ments. Maggini's heads and scrolls vary considerably 
 in passing from the early rough and quaint to the late 
 true, symmetrical forms. In a general way four types 
 of heads may be distinguished, of which two are shown 
 on PI. V. The marked peculiarity in them all is 
 that the scrolls have from a quarter to half a turn less
 
 46 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 than those of any other great maker. Another feature 
 common in instruments of the Brescian school is the 
 sHght protuberance or ridge (" cheek ") found on each 
 side of the head at the point where the scroll springs 
 from the peg-box. As Maggini improved in style and 
 in quality of work the above feature or " cheek " 
 gradually disappeared from his instruments. It was a 
 survival from the viol. 
 
 The labels of Maggini, in size, type, position in 
 the instrument, and absence of date, so much resemble 
 those of Gasparo da Salo as to furnish evidence, apart 
 from similarities of work, that he was Gasparo's pupil. 
 On PI. IV., Fig. 5, a reproduction of a Maggini label 
 is given from a careful tracing. 
 
 After this examination of Maggini's work, let us 
 return to the man himself, whom we left newly married 
 and established in his shop opposite the Old Palace 
 of the Podesta. 
 
 From his first Income Tax return, dated 1617, we 
 saw that his household included, besides his wife, an 
 infant son and himself, an assistant Jacobo de Lafran- 
 chini, and a maid servant. He had also, considering his 
 later return, a good trade stock at the outset of his career. 
 Nine years later, in 1626, we learn from another 
 Income Tax return of his that six other children had 
 been born to him, and that death had been many times 
 his guest, for three only of his seven children were 
 living. 
 
 A sheet of this 1626 Income Tax return is reproduced 
 in fac-simile on PI. VI., to show what these interesting
 
 PlATE VI. 
 
 C 
 
 
 •^ 
 
 '/^. 
 
 ^^' 
 
 -n 
 
 
 c 
 
 /O ■ '' 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .^
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 47 
 
 documents are like. The Income Tax returns {Polizze 
 d'estimo) are among the valuable relics left by the 
 ancient administrations of the towns subject to the 
 Venetian Republic. They go back as far as 15 16, and 
 the head of every household was bound to submit them 
 to the Magistrates of his town. They were more frequent 
 in the seventeenth than in the sixteenth century ; each 
 returning citizen was under obligation to send in four 
 or five duplicates of his return for distribution among 
 different offices, and it was customary, therefore, to 
 dictate the returns in the first instance to public clerks 
 or writers, who afterwards wrote out the copies required. 
 Wealthy families had their returns printed. There were 
 no fixed times for taking the Income Tax returns. 
 Some were taken at long intervals, some at short ones. 
 They were generally announced by proclamation. 
 
 There is abundant evidence, however, that Maggini's 
 business success had been great during these years, 
 for we find that the salaries and boarding expenses 
 of his assistant and maid servant were increased, and 
 also that his trade stock was larger. We find also that 
 Maggini, by 1626, had become the possessor of a second 
 house and shop in Contrada delle Bombasarie, 
 to which we may surmise he had removed with his 
 family, retaining, however, the house and shop opposite 
 the Old Palace of the Podesta. The house in 
 Contrada delle Bombasarie was probably larger and 
 better. 
 
 But he had acquired greater possessions. He had 
 one property on the hills of about ten acres, with both 
 a residential and a farm house ; another property in
 
 48 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 the plains of about seven acres ; and a third one of 
 about four acres, close to the estate of the heirs of 
 Bertolino or Bartolommeo di Maggini, at Botticino. It 
 is touching to find this purchase of land near the old 
 family home.* Then there were a couple of loans, 
 together equal to a considerable sum, and each 
 bearing five per cent. 
 
 It is not likely that all this prosperity was wholly 
 the outcome of his nine years of instrument making, 
 as we know he had but one assistant. It is more 
 reasonable to suppose that Maggini, when he first set 
 up, had means independent of his business. His father, 
 Giovanni Maggini, it will be remembered, was following 
 no profession in 1588, and probably had some means, a 
 portion of which would come to Gio. Paolo on his 
 death, which must, one would think, have taken place 
 before — though possibly not long before — Maggini 
 began business on his own account. Then Anna 
 Foresto, Maggini's wife, had a dowry. 
 
 As has been mentioned, this was made over to her in 
 1615, the year of her marriage, and the deed before 
 referred to in the Notaries' Archives of Brescia gives 
 its amount — namely, some^ fields valued at 3,250 lire of 
 " starred " coin and 2,950 lire in cash. 
 
 The properties of ten and seven acres respectively, 
 mentioned above, were probably the dowry fields, as 
 they are both described as being neighboured by the 
 estates of Messer Faust Foresto. 
 
 * It appears from a deed among papers of the notary, Gio. Paolo 
 Dugazzi, that in Botticino di Sera, in Maggini's time, there was a street 
 leading to some vineyards called after his family name — Contrata Brolorum 
 
 sive de Maginis.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 49 
 
 Yet even with these reservations the prosperity to 
 which Maggini attained in nine years is noteworthy 
 and speaks well for his business capacity. And 
 when we consider that in these same nine years he 
 probably finally differentiated the violin from the viol, 
 and created the model which is essentially that of 
 to-day, for he lived only six years longer, we may well 
 feel that he must have been no common man — that his 
 successes were no chance matters, but the outcome 
 of rare powers of intuition, of judgment, and of 
 energy. 
 
 No mention occurs of a pupil or apprentice in any 
 of the documents connected with Maggini, although a 
 shop-assistant or workman is referred to in the returns 
 of both 1615 and 1626. 
 
 In Liutai Antichi e Modline per il marchese De 
 Piccolellis (F'irenze, 1885) a fac-simile is given of a violin 
 label with the statement 
 
 Giovan Gaetano Pazzini allievo de 
 
 Maggini di Brixiae 
 
 Fecit Firenze anno 1630. 
 
 And a notice in the text, p. 62, states Pazzini to be a 
 
 little known Florentine maker. 
 
 If this label be genuine it would seem that Maggini 
 had a pupil. 
 
 Messrs. Hill have not themselves seen any work by 
 Pazzini or any label of his, and reserve their opinion 
 upon this maker and his claim to be Maggini's pupil. 
 
 It has indeed been positively asserted that Pietro, 
 Maggini's " son," made instruments surpassing his ; 
 and that Budiani, Lanza, and Santo Maggini were his 
 
 D
 
 50 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 followers. But Maggini's son, Pietro, died in infancy; 
 therefore the Pietro, son of Gio. Paolo, of some 
 authorities, is a myth ; and there is never a hint in any 
 of the documents we are referring to of a Budiani, of a 
 Lanza, or of a Santo Maggini. Moreover, considerable 
 enquiry has failed to bring to light any record of a 
 single violin, tenor, or bass by a Maggini other than 
 Gio. Paolo. 
 
 Maggini's son, Carlo Francesco, the only son who 
 survived him, was not born until 1626, and was still 
 quite a child, only six years of age, at his father's death. 
 There is no reason to suppose that Carlo Francesco 
 Maggini ever followed his father's profession. He 
 appears to have become a silk merchant, and so styles 
 himself in his Income Tax return of 1661. 
 
 The Income Tax return of 1626 is the last direct 
 word we have from Maggini. In 1632 he was already 
 dead, as in a schedule presented in that year by his son 
 Carlo he uses the formula " filius quondam Johannis 
 Pauli." From the same document it appears that 
 Maggini's widow and his surviving children were then 
 living in the house in Contrada delle Bombasarie. 
 When then did Maggini die ? 
 
 So far as is known, his residence when he died was in 
 the parish of S. Lorenzo, and searches have been made 
 in the archives of the Church of S. Lorenzo in the hope 
 of finding an entry of his death. But in vain. The 
 registers of this parish anterior to 1700 have been 
 either lost or destroyed. Maggini's wife, Anna Foresto, 
 died, we know, on the 24th November, 165 1, and was 
 buried in the church of St. Agatha. " Madonna Ann(i
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 51 
 
 Foresto, MagginVs widow, aged about 58, rendered her soul 
 to God in the faith of our holy religion ; her body was 
 buried in this church ; she received the sacraments ^ It 
 seems strange that all this should be recorded of 
 Maggini's wife and no record remain of his end, unless 
 we suppose either that the missing registers contained 
 it or that unusual circumstances had paralyzed the 
 ordinary procedure. 
 
 We have not far to look for such circumstances. 
 Indeed, the fact that it was in 1632 that Carlo Maggini 
 spoke of himself as " filius quondam Johannis Pauli " 
 may point significantly to them. It was in 1632 that the 
 plague ravaged Brescia in a peculiarly awful manner, 
 and it may have been that Maggini was one of its 
 victims. We know that houses for the reception of the 
 sick were organized at the public expense ; and that the 
 dead were thrown from them into the streets. In that 
 dreadful time the ordinary usages of life fell much into 
 abeyance. Maggini may have died away from home in 
 a "pest house," and so no note of his death or burial 
 have been made. 
 
 Assuming then that Maggini died, at the latest, in 
 
 1632, he died comparatively a young man. His age 
 
 was only 51. This may account partly for the 
 
 small number of his instruments still existing, probably 
 
 about fifty ; but it must be remembered that he certainly 
 
 made at least some cetere and probably some viols ; 
 
 and also that there is good ground, as has been 
 
 shown, for believing him to have been, from the first, 
 
 fairly well off. He never seems to have very largely 
 
 increased his trade stock. 
 
 D 2
 
 52 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 In the earliest collection of violins and other instru- 
 ments of which we have any record, that made by 
 William Corbett, an eminent English violinist, who 
 went to Italy in 1710 and resided there for some years 
 acquiring many instruments and much music, we find no 
 record of any instrument by Maggini. A double bass 
 by Gasparo is the sole example of the Brescian school. 
 
 In the Loan Exhibitions at South Kensington of 
 1872 and of 1885 the absence of fine examples of Maggini 
 was marked. His viols and cetere have no doubt mostly 
 perished ; and it is to be feared that in earlier times, 
 when the money value of violins was small, the originally 
 not too large number of Maggini instruments would be 
 still further reduced by want of care. No one who has 
 had much to do with old violins can have failed to 
 wonder with sorrow at the obviously rough usage to 
 which they have in so many cases been subjected. 
 
 The scarcity of his instruments has had much to do 
 with retarding the recognition of Maggini not only as a 
 great violin maker, but as one of the leading originators of 
 the model of our modern violin. Few players have ever 
 seen fine Magginis, much less played upon them. It 
 must be admitted, too, that to some players Maggini 
 violins may present a little difficulty in the handling 
 on account of their usually large proportions and 
 length of stop, though these difficulties can certainly 
 be surmounted. 
 
 All things come to him who can but wait, and 
 whatever may have been the causes which relegated 
 Maggini to the background during the whole of the 
 eighteenth century, the scarcity of his instruments,
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini, 53 
 
 their size, or the popularity of Stradivari as a maker, 
 there can be little doubt that the special charm and 
 great power of tone of Maggini's instruments will, in 
 the future, receive fuller acknowledgment, and their 
 maker be more fully recognised as the creative master 
 and admirably careful workman he assuredly was. 
 
 An earnest of this fuller recognition has already 
 come to Maggini in the extraordinary amount of 
 copying to which his instruments have given rise. In 
 fact, he is one of the makers who have been most 
 frequently copied, to which the performances of De 
 Beriot and Leonard, who used violins by him, no doubt 
 contributed. 
 
 In England, Bernard Simon Fendt, and Remy a 
 French maker settled in London ; in Belgium, the 
 Darches and N. F. Vuillaume ; in Paris, Gand (pere), 
 Bernardel, Chanot, and Vuillaume were the principal 
 though not the only copyists. Vuillaume (Paris) in 
 particular made some very excellent copies, of which 
 one, constructed of old wood procured from a Swiss 
 chalet, was a marvel of art in its way. Every pecu- 
 liarity of an original Maggini was reproduced, including 
 that more or less darkened appearance which age so 
 often gives to wood. Even " worm " holes (truly beetle 
 holes, the mischief worker being a small beetle, anobimn 
 domesticunt) were present and had been carefully filled 
 up, and the varnish was admirably copied. 
 
 From Paris the models and features of these pseudo- 
 Magginis travelled to Mirecourt, where its numerous 
 workmen were not long in producing copies of more or 
 less correct Maggini form and style. The copies of
 
 54 (jio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Maggini by Fendt were excellent, but in too many 
 instances he used acids to counterfeit the brown 
 appearance of old wood, which was highly detrimental 
 to the instruments. The German makers do not 
 appear to have copied Maggini in the past, probabl}' 
 because they were too deeply wedded to the Steiner 
 model. But at the present day they copy Maggini in 
 the most exaggerated manner ; in fact, their imitations 
 are almost burlesques. 
 
 The copies of Maggini we have mentioned were all 
 legitimate, and there was no purposeful deception about 
 them. Unfortunately, contemporaneously with the 
 acknowledged copying, there was carried on quite an 
 industry of Maggini forgery, the details of which are as 
 curious and instructive as any in the history of literary 
 or artistic forgery. 
 
 Naturally the first necessity for the Maggini forger 
 was to obtain suitable violins on which to operate, and 
 consequently all violins of large dimensions and antique 
 appearance were sought out and their fitness for 
 adaptation thoughtfully considered. Two lines of 
 purfling were a sine qua non, and as but few violins 
 possessed this feature it had to be added. French 
 violins of the Bocquay-Pierray period (1700-1740), 
 English ones of the Rayman-Urquhart period (1630- 
 1700), and German violins of all periods were easily 
 Magginified as regards purfling and the elongation of 
 the sound-holes. When the violin to be adapted was 
 sufficiently large and of a suitable model, an inner line 
 of purfling was inserted ; when of smaller size or 
 unsuitable in form the original edge and purfling were
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 55 
 
 removed, and a new rim of wood about f of an inch in 
 width added all round, which was joined to the old part 
 by an under-lapping joint; this new edge was then 
 slightly hollowed and purfled. The groove for the inner 
 line of purfling being made over the joining of the old 
 and new wood effectually hid it. "Clover-leaves" 
 were inserted at the top and bottom of the back, and 
 the central device of Maggini at the middle of the back. 
 The scroll was also worked on, but here the peculiarities 
 of Maggini were not mastered, and the scroll was 
 invariably turned too far. 
 
 Labels, as might be expected, were forged for 
 insertion in these Magginis. But here the forgers 
 habitually slipped. More than once emphasis has been 
 laid on the fact that Maggini, following the practice of 
 Gasparo and other early makers, did not date his labels. 
 The label forgers overlooked or forgot this and inserted 
 dates. " Liars," as the proverb says, " need have 
 good memories." 
 
 In the representation of a Maggini label given by 
 Vidal in " La Lutherie et Les Luthiers," Part i, the 
 two dots after Gio : are omitted, and as Messrs. Hill 
 have never seen them absent in a genuine label they 
 conclude that it must have been reproduced from a 
 forgei'v — these dots are a small matter and forgers have 
 nearly always forgotten them. There can be little 
 doubt that the representation of a Maggini label in 
 Vidal's "Instruments a Archet" must also have been 
 taken from a forgery. 
 
 It may be mentioned here that Gasparo da Salo and 
 Maggini were among the first to use Roman type in
 
 56 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 labels. The genuine labels of the earlier makers are, 
 it is believed, in black letter, or are written. The label 
 in the Pelegrino son of Zanetto tenor before referred to 
 is written in the handwriting of the sixteenth century ; 
 but a printed label of this maker's is known to exist. 
 
 A summary of the chief points which characterize 
 genuine and representative Maggini instruments may 
 prove useful and interesting to connoisseurs — 
 
 1. The materials used are of the best kind: the 
 
 workmanship is original and of the highest 
 order. 
 
 2. The arching always rises at once from the inner 
 
 line of purfling. The model is never in the 
 slightest degree like that of the Amati, 
 
 3. The sides are set close to the edges of the back 
 
 and belly, leaving but little margin compared 
 with what is usual with other makers. 
 
 4. Blunt, square termination of corner-joints is 
 
 usual. 
 
 5. The purfling is neatly done, whether single or 
 
 double. On that portion of the belly under- 
 neath the finger-board there is no inner line 
 of purfling. 
 
 6. The lower circles of the sound-holes are always 
 
 smaller than the upper ones, and this feature is 
 entirely peculiar to Maggini. The internal 
 edges of the sound-holes are always undercut. 
 The nicks on the sound-holes are very deeply 
 cut, and in such a position that the lower part 
 of the sound-holes looks smaller than the upper 
 part.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 57 
 
 In many of the imitation Magginis the sound- 
 holes are placed higher than they would be in 
 a genuine instrument, thus shortening the 
 stop. (The stop length of any instrument is 
 estimated by measuring to the nut from the 
 front of a bridge placed upon a straight 
 line across the belly joining the nicks in the 
 sound-holes.) 
 
 7. The scroll of a genuine representative Maggini 
 
 is always from i to ^ turn shorter than that of 
 any other maker, consequently the ears of the 
 head have a massive, broad appearance. In 
 imitations this peculiarity has been overlooked. 
 
 8. Messrs. Hill have never seen a genuine Maggini 
 
 in which both the " clover-leaf" device and the 
 
 centre-of-back device occur together. In 
 
 imitations these ornaments are often associated. 
 
 g. The usual dimensions adopted by Maggini for 
 
 his violins, tenors, and violoncellos will be 
 
 found in the Appendix. 
 
 ID. Genuine Maggini labels are never dated, and are 
 
 placed close to the centres of the instruments. 
 
 It would be a deeply instructive chapter in universal 
 
 history if analyses could be made of all the cases in 
 
 which truth, through being misunderstood, has passed 
 
 at last into positive falsehood. As a small contribution 
 
 to this great chapter yet to be written — it never can 
 
 be fully written — the following story is not without 
 
 interest : — 
 
 A very successful Maggini copy was made by 
 Bernard Fendt, jun., of the firm of Fendt and Purdy,
 
 58 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 violin makers and dealers in Finch Lane, and sold by 
 them admittedly and openly as a copy in the ordinary 
 way of business to a Mr. Stannard a violin player, 
 leader and soloist at one of the Portsmouth Saloons. 
 The instrument was one of powerful tone, and was in 
 constant nightly use by Stannard, who was a heavy, 
 coarse player, wearing it hard and never even cleaning 
 it, under which circumstances it was not surprising 
 that after twenty years of use the violin looked much 
 older than it really was. After Stannard's death, about 
 1870, his widow brought the Maggini copy to Mr. W. E. 
 Hill wishing to sell it, and fully believing it was a 
 genuine Maggini and very valuable. But Mr. Hill, 
 with his rare critical gifts and immense experience, was 
 not to be taken in, and at once explained the truth 
 to her. 
 
 Stannard's widow, no doubt in need of money and 
 sorely disappointed about the violin — for which reasons 
 she should not be judged too harshly — then took the 
 unjustifiable step of advertising the instrument as a 
 genuine Maggini. This brought several possible 
 purchasers, among them a Mr. Nash, reputed a good 
 judge of violins in certain circles. This man bought the 
 copy, being convinced that it was a genuine Maggini, and 
 gave a good round sum for it. From him it passed into the 
 hands of a well-known collector, who also believed in its 
 genuineness and sent it as a Maggini to the Loan 
 Collection of Musical Instruments at South Kensington 
 in 1872 ; and as a genuine Maggini it was there 
 accepted and actually exhibited, although subsequently 
 withdrawn, on account of the detection of the mistake
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 59 
 
 by Mr. Hill and the public exposure of it by the 
 Rev. H. R. Haweis. 
 
 It has been stated that probably there are not more 
 than fifty instruments by Maggini existing. In England, 
 where there are more Italian instruments than in any 
 other country, Messrs. Hill do not know of more than 
 twelve violins, six or seven violas, and one violoncello 
 by him. 
 
 We will now describe in detail a " set " of Maggini 
 instruments of great interest, brought together by two 
 brothers, members of a family named Dumas. This 
 family lived in an old chateau near Lyons, were 
 enthusiastic amateur musicians, and were also, 
 happy people ! friends of Beethoven. The term 
 " set," used above, is not to be understood as 
 implying that these particular instruments were origin- 
 ally made to go together; but neither must this 
 explanation be taken to imply that Maggini did not 
 make " sets " of stringed instruments. In all probability 
 he did so. Viols, to which violins, violas, and violon- 
 cellos succeeded, had long been made in sets which were 
 denominated "chests of viols." A "chest of viols "has 
 been described by an old writer as " a large hutch with 
 several apartments and partitions in it, each lined with 
 green baize." A model " chest " contained six instru- 
 ments : two trebles, two tenors, and two basses. A 
 large quantity of music in parts was composed for these 
 sets of viols. 
 
 At first, very early in the sixteenth century, the per- 
 formers probably simply played the different voice parts 
 of madrigals and motets; but even in 1523 a collection
 
 6o Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 of songs in several parts for stringed instruments was 
 published at Vienna by Hans Juderkiinig.* Later such 
 compositions were numerous both in this country and 
 abroad, and amateur concerted viol playing was much 
 cultivated. A delightful illustration of such playing 
 (though there are also other instruments besides viols) 
 occurs in Paul Veronese's Marriage in Cana, in the 
 Louvre, And the group of viol players is specially 
 interesting, as it is Titian who is performing on the 
 bass while Paul Veronese, with Tintoretto behind him, 
 perform respectively on the alto and the tenor. An 
 ecclesiastic plays the treble viol. 
 
 It may be of interest to mention here that even as 
 far back as the eleventh century there would seem to be 
 evidence of a " set " in a drawing in an MS. prayer-book 
 of the period, t 
 
 Returning to the Maggini "set," let us premise before 
 describing it in detail that each instrument composing 
 it is in future to bear the name Dumas prefixed to its 
 specific term ; partly as a compliment to the memory of 
 Beethoven's friends, partly to furnish a means of dis- 
 tinguishing the instruments. 
 
 First the violin — now the property of Captain W. 
 P. Warner, and of which the three coloured plates 
 
 * " Ain schcene kiinstliche untereweisung in diesem Biichlein zu 
 begreyffen den rechten Grund zu lernen auff der Lauten und Geygen diirch 
 Hans Juderkiinig lutenist yetz zu Wien in ffisterreich, getruckclit im 1523 
 Jar." 
 
 ■f Gebetbuch des Erzh. Leopold d'Heii v. Oesterreich. Bibl. zu 
 Kloster Neuburg bei Wien. Codex No. 98, Fol. 11° , xi. Jahrh. Figured 
 in Riihlmann's Die Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente : — but a mistake is 
 made in calling the instruments Welsh crwths: they are certainly crouts or 
 crowds.
 
 LA lb V 11. 
 
 5lo-e<>'*»'^'' 
 
 V<'E-^ia&-5orvs
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 6i 
 
 are most faithful representations. This ideal specimen 
 of Maggini's powers is most remarkable in every way. 
 The model is of his finest and most characteristic 
 type. It springs upwards at once from the inner line 
 of purfling, and the degree and character of the arching 
 are what we now recognise as the best possible for tone 
 — especially for great volume of tone. At every point 
 the powerful forms of the modelling are felt to be 
 suitable embodiments of the great volume and solidity 
 of tone so pre-eminently characteristic of Maggini. 
 
 The moulding of the edge and the inlaying of the 
 two lines of purfling are beautifully done, perhaps 
 more so than in any other specimen, and the slight 
 outward rise of the edge is in perfect harmony with the 
 model. 
 
 The sound-holes are the smallest, prettiest, and 
 most delicately formed that Messrs. Hill have ever seen. 
 
 The head is in excellent keeping with the sound- 
 holes and edge ; the fluting of the back is most highly 
 finished, and the slightly crude prominence of the 
 " cheeks " on the side of the head at the point where 
 the scroll joins the peg-box is less apparent than usual 
 in Maggini's work, as if at once to betoken the cul- 
 mination of his life's work and the passing away of 
 the viol. The outline and dimensions of the Dumas 
 instrument are those of all the finest violins of 
 Maggini's latest period. 
 
 The sides are set close to the edges of the back 
 and belly, and the joints of their corners (mitres) do 
 not show the usual bevel or blunt termination : they 
 are neater and in harmony with other points of the
 
 62 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 work. The two lower sides are not, as is usual, in two, 
 but are formed out of one piece of wood. 
 
 A side view of the instrument shows that the edges 
 of the back and belly are exceptionally delicate for 
 Maggini, and this in conjunction with the above- 
 mentioned peculiarities of the sides, accounts for its 
 elegant appearance. 
 
 A glance shows that the wood and varnish are both 
 of the finest quality. The whole of the wood is cut on 
 the wedge plan — the usual way ; that of the back, 
 sides, and head being apparently from the same piece. 
 
 The back is in two pieces, with a broad handsome 
 curl slanting down from the centre. The belly is also 
 in two pieces, the widest grain outwards. 
 
 The corners, edges, and surfaces, with one exception, 
 are all original ; even the underneath surface of the 
 belly not having required strengthening The exception 
 referred to is the small circular projecting piece at the 
 top of the back, technically called the button, which has 
 been replaced since Messrs. Hill first had knowledge of 
 the instrument, — and quite unnecessarily, in their 
 opinion. 
 
 The edges of the sound-holes are absolutely sharp 
 and would conclusively prove, if nothing else did, that 
 no "sound-post fiends " — as those persons deserve to be 
 named who will persist in experimenting with bridges 
 and posts on choice instruments — have had this violin 
 in their clutches. 
 
 The interior of the violin Messrs. Hill believe is as 
 its maker left it, excepting, of course, the necessarily 
 stronger bar. The blocks and linings are as well
 
 Plate VIII. 
 
 A\ ^f]ei^iottH» i' e 
 
 VEjiaU-5ons
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 63 
 
 designed and finished as those of the other great 
 makers. All other Maggini instruments examined by 
 Messrs. Hill have had their original linings replaced by 
 stronger ones ; in the case of the Dumas violin this 
 does not seem to have been done. 
 
 The varnish of the violin is fine and abundant, 
 and most pleasing in colour, being of a peculiar golden 
 yellow subdued in places with pale brown. It yields, 
 when a good light plays on it, effects delightful in 
 their way, embodying at once the fascinations of amber 
 and of gems such as the sardius and topaz, though 
 no doubt some part of this fascination is due to 
 changes effected by time. 
 
 Though from forty to eighty years older than those 
 well known "perfect" instruments, the " Alard " 
 Amati; the "Tuscan," " Betts," and " Salabue " 
 Stradivaris, the Dumas Maggini violin is in equally fine 
 general preservation. On the edges of its belly there 
 are indeed some few little splinters or " shakes" — they 
 can hardly be called cracks; but these are scarcely 
 perceptible, and there is nothing of a similar nature in 
 any other part of the instrument. 
 
 Such is the startling newness and novelty of appear- 
 ance of this violin, seeing that the majority of violin 
 lovers associate Maggini with darkness of colour, 
 crudeness of style, and the ravages of time, that many 
 have said — " it must be a modern copy " ; and some 
 persons, such was their ignorance of the capabilities of 
 Maggini, have not hesitated to declare it was a copy 
 made by Stradivari or some other contemporary Italian 
 maker.
 
 64 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 We have now to notice the viola of the Dumas- 
 Maggini set. 
 
 Speaking in a broad way, Maggini seems to have 
 made as few violas as Gasparo da Salo did violins. 
 This may have resulted from the increasing use of the 
 violin as an independent instrument in the early 
 part of the seventeenth century. 
 
 As has been said, not more than some eight or 
 nine Maggini violas are at present known, but all of 
 them have fine tone. Four have lately been minutely 
 examined and measured, and the dimensions of the 
 instruments were found practically the same. A table 
 of these dimensions is given in the Appendix. Very 
 precious indeed are the violas which remain to us of 
 any of the older makers. By far the greater number, 
 owing to their large size, have been ruthlessly cut 
 down, a vandalism which has destroyed them histori- 
 cally and artistically. 
 
 The model of the Dumas viola is of the master's 
 most arched type, beginning to rise at once in every 
 part, both back and belly, from the inner line of pur- 
 fling, the rising being most rapid near the purfling. 
 From the inner purfling the model rises outwards 
 steeply to a high and slightly ridged border. 
 
 There is the usual double purfling in the usual 
 position, but no other inlaying; and the sides of well- 
 proportioned height, set close to the edges of the 
 back and belly, leaving but little margin, possess the 
 characteristic Maggini bevel at their corner joints. 
 Unfortunately the original head is wanting. 
 
 On considering the general outline it is felt to be
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 65 
 
 completely original and different to that of Maggini's 
 violins, noticeably in the shortness of the corners and 
 their unobtrusive appearance. The / holes are placed 
 proportionately higher than in his violins ; are short, 
 broad for their length, very upright, have very narrow 
 wings, and the usual features of the top curves being 
 larger than the bottom ones, and undercut at their 
 internal edges. 
 
 In every part the wood is of fine quality. The back, 
 which is in two pieces, has the curl or stripe showing in 
 the most usual way — i.e., on the quarter and slanting 
 down from the centre on either side. On the sides the 
 curl of the wood although broad is not so distinct as on 
 the back, which is partly owing to the wood of the sides 
 being cut on the slab. This want of conformity between 
 the cuttings of the wood for the sides and back is very 
 characteristic of the makers of Maggini's time. 
 
 The belly is also in two pieces, and of wood close 
 and vigorous in grain, the broader grain being placed 
 outwards. As a matter of necessity the bass-bar is 
 modern, and so also are the linings. One or two of 
 the blocks have been re-faced. It is of interest to 
 note that the interior of the back shows the original 
 rough finish of the toothing plane so characteristic of 
 the Brescian school. 
 
 Time and men have indeed dealt kindly with this 
 noble instrument. Not only is the wood intact, but the 
 varnish shows only slight signs of wear, and is of the 
 finest quality and most original colour, a rich golden 
 brown, ever ready to flash under the magic of light into 
 colour surprises which beggar words. In sunshine the 
 
 E
 
 66 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 back seems compact of "myriads of topaz lights" 
 touched here and there with gleams of purple, though 
 here again no doubt time has done its part. 
 
 But such colour effects are indescribable and can 
 only be felt. It is perhaps the landscape artist 
 accustomed to watch and note the lovely mysterious 
 effects of light on Nature's face divine, which he can 
 never hope to imitate, who can best appreciate the 
 delight and beauty of a good violin, viola, or violoncello 
 back. 
 
 As a specimen of Maggini's violas the Dumas 
 instrument may confidently be pronounced unsurpass- 
 able. It will bear comparison with the finest violas 
 of the other great makers. 
 
 When the Maggini proportions for the viola ai-e 
 carefully compared with those used prior to Andrea 
 Guarnieri and Stradivari, it must be admitted from the 
 point of view of the modern performer that Maggini's 
 viola model was an advance. In one particular, and 
 that a very important one, the high placing of the 
 sound-holes, thereby shortening the "stop" and 
 increasing convenience for the player, Maggini showed 
 greater forethought and knowledge of viola construction 
 than any other maker. 
 
 In the Dumas violoncello there are two lines of 
 purfling but no ornamental device. The bottom circle 
 of the sound-holes is smaller than the top. There 
 is the same under-bevelling of the inside edge of the 
 sound-holes, as in Maggini's other instruments, the 
 same arching of the model. The wood of the back 
 and sides is cut on the slab. The back is jointed
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 67 
 
 and also the belly, the latter having the wood the 
 ordinary way of the grain, and the coarser grain being 
 outside. 
 
 As we look at this instrument the thought in- 
 voluntarily rises in us — to Maggini we owe our modern 
 violoncello ! And indeed this is so. Analysis shows 
 that he initiated for it proportions which are almost 
 identical with those perfect Stradivari violoncellos made 
 after 1700, which are the accepted standard of violon- 
 cello excellence. That Stradivari learned from Maggini 
 in the matter of violoncellos, as he did, as will be 
 shown, in the matter of violins, is fairly certain when 
 measurements [see Appendix) are compared, and when 
 it is borne in mind that all the Amati, and Stradivari 
 in his early violoncellos, adopted outside proportions 
 which were found to be far too large, and which 
 has led to the cutting and reducing in size in 
 modern times of so many "Italian" basses. Indeed 
 there are cellos by Amati and even by Stradivari 
 which are so large that playing upon them is very 
 difficult, so that practically they are unused at the 
 present time. Maggini's instincts were far truer — he 
 is the father of the modern cello. 
 
 In all essential features and proportions, the 
 two Maggmi violoncellos known are practically 
 enlargements of the viola. The same relative position 
 of the sound-holes as, in the violas is very noticeable ; 
 they are placed rather high on the instrument. The 
 sides of Maggini's violoncellos are a little low, and 
 doubtless with a view to obtain the needful interior 
 volume, he made them of considerable breadth. 
 
 E 2
 
 68 Crio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 It is of interest that there does not appear to exist 
 a single viol da gamba by Maggini. This would seem 
 to show that the earlier instrument in his time was in 
 scanty demand and was being fast superseded. 
 
 Maggini is reputed to have made a considerable 
 number of double basses, and may have done so, but 
 the Dumas bass is the only original one known 
 to Messrs. Hill. It is of very small size, and is what 
 would be called a basso di camera. Its workmanship is 
 poor, the head is not original, and the mitres are not 
 distinctly bevelled ; but on the whole it shows many 
 of the characteristics of Maggini. 
 
 It will be convenient to make here some general 
 observations upon Maggini tone, which is in the 
 instruments of his representative years as markedly 
 individual and original as are the material forms and 
 features of his instruments. 
 
 The character of Maggini-tone combines great 
 fulness and perfect mellowness, tending rather to 
 plaintiveness— this last being more commonly termed 
 "the alto voice or tenor violin quality." Practically, 
 however, the plaintive or alto quality can only be 
 readily heard by the ordinary listener in slow notes on 
 the lower strings. Amount of brilliancy or brightness 
 of quality varies in his different instruments ; but there 
 is a general feeling that Maggini violins are lacking in 
 brilliancy of tone, although it should also be mentioned 
 that recently two fine specimens in the hands of good 
 performers on public occasions were proved to possess 
 remarkable brilliancy of tone. 
 
 While, however, there may be some cause for
 
 Gio. Paolo Mag^^ini. 6g 
 
 difference of opinion as to the brilliancy of Maggini 
 tone, there can be none as to its volume. Dr. Joachim 
 sums up a universal feeling when he says : " The 
 violins of Maggini are remarkable for volume of tone." 
 For the public rendering of the six solo sonatas for 
 violin, and other compositions of Johann Sebastian 
 Bach ; of kindred works by other composers ; of 
 Ernst's Elegy and pieces of similar nature ; and of 
 many works by composers of to-day, with heavy and 
 elaborate orchestration — a Maggini in the opinion ol 
 many excellent performers is peculiarly well suited. 
 
 It remains to consider Maggini's influence, a 
 question of the more importance that it has been much, 
 if not almost completely overlooked. 
 
 That he had no son, no well-known pupils, has no 
 doubt fostered the notion that Maggini's influence 
 counted for little in the history of the violin and its 
 congeners. Such a notion is false every way. 
 
 " The true heirs of a great man are not his kinsmen 
 in blood, but those who continue his work." Every 
 master has countless pupils whom he never saw, and 
 who themselves may be unconscious of his forming 
 influence. Father son, master disciple — such relations 
 are but types of deeper realities, of certain profound 
 universal truths. 
 
 A maker named De Vitor, working in Brescia in 
 1740, reproduced some of the features of Maggini's 
 violins — viz., their large size and general model. A 
 fine violin by this maker is in the possession of Mr. T. 
 Adamowski, of Boston, Mass.
 
 70 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Another maker, Heinrich Krigge, of Danzig, 1756 — 
 or perhaps '8 — has in three vioHns and a tenor, known 
 to Messrs. Hill, reproduced some of the characteristics 
 of Maggini, such as large size, neat edges and work, 
 double purfling in ink, as well as his general model. 
 Only one label of this maker has been seen by Messrs. 
 Hill and was found in a violin bought by them in 
 Holland. It is a written label and the ink had faded 
 much ; care and skill, however, have deciphered it as 
 above. In the other instruments the original labels 
 had been replaced by spurious Maggini labels. It is 
 worthy of mention that the Krigge tenor has a remarkably 
 fine tone. 
 
 Andrea Guarnieri (1650 — c. i6g6), a personality of 
 great interest as the founder of a famous family of violin 
 makers, and himself a pupil of Nicolo Amati, made 
 some violas — three at least are known — which although 
 founded on Amati's style and general features are in 
 their dimensions utterly unlike any violas previously con- 
 structed except those of Maggini ; but Maggini's work 
 they decidedly suggest, directly in size, and indirectly in a 
 general way. Antonio Stradivari, contemporary with 
 Andrea Guarnieri and also a pupil of Nicolo Amati, 
 appears in his violas, as regards dimensions at least, to 
 have followed Andrea Guarnieri. That is to say, both 
 Andrea Guarnieri and Stradivari took the basic lines of 
 their violas from Maggini. They added and developed 
 it is true, and what they did was of importance ; but 
 still it is not alone to these two makers that we owe the 
 accepted form of the viola of to-day, but to Maggini 
 followed by them.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 71 
 
 So much for the viola. When we consider the 
 violin the case for Maggini's influence on the two great 
 masters of violin making, Stradivari and Giuseppe 
 Guarnieri, is overwhelmingly strong. 
 
 Previous to i6go Stradivari had always more or less 
 in his work — and mostly it was more — reflected the 
 style of his master, N. Amati. This was quite what 
 was to be expected. But in i6go Stradivari appears to 
 have suddenly begun producing the type of violin 
 known as the " Long Strad," which does not suggest 
 N. Amati in any way — is, in fact, quite unlike his work. 
 
 It has been denied, and that too by good authorities, 
 that there is such a thing as a " Long Strad." It has 
 been stated confidently that it is simply the narrowness 
 of the form which gives an idea of greater length. The 
 question, fortunately, is one which can be decided by 
 accurate measurement ; and measurements by experts 
 prove conclusively that the " Long Strad " is a reality 
 — that it is longer than the other types of Stradivari's 
 work by a full quarter of an inch. 
 
 The comparative table of the dimensions of pre- 1690 
 Stradivaris, of " Long Strads," and of Magginis, given 
 in the Appendix, shows not only ground for believing in 
 " Long Strads," but for the further belief that 
 Stradivari's " Long Strads" were inspired by Maggini. 
 The figures are most striking, and have been derived 
 in each case from a sufficiently large number of 
 specimens. 
 
 In the two most important dimensions in violin 
 construction, length of body and length of stop, which 
 last fixes the length of string between the top of the
 
 72 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 bridge and the nut, " Long Strads " are practically the 
 same as Magginis. 
 
 Remarkable however as are these coincidences, 
 they are not the only points of resemblance. No 
 competent observer can look at a violin by Maggini, of 
 his finest and latest period, without being struck with the 
 likeness of " Long Strads " to it. The modelling of the 
 back and belly, the shorter corners, the bolder and more 
 open sound-holes, and the air of Brescian solidity — all 
 these features in " Long Strads " recall Maggini, and 
 are quite unlike what we find in Stradivari's work before 
 i6go. Another proof of connection lies in the tone of 
 " Long Strads." It is very peculiar — is, so to speak, 
 early Stradivari tone Magginified. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to doubt that Stradivari, about 
 i6go, had met with a violin by Maggini, and struck 
 with its great superiority in volume and richness of 
 tone, set himself to obtain these qualities without 
 saci-ificing the brilliancy and more soprano-like quality 
 of the Amati school. This view accounts naturally and 
 satisfactorily not only for the marked similarities of 
 " Long Strads " to Magginis, but also for the minor 
 differences between them. About 1700 Stradivari ceased 
 apparently to make " Long Strads," but it would be 
 unwise to suppose that the great master, who during 
 those ten years had so strongly inspired his efforts, no 
 longer influenced him. In 1700 Stradivari entered upon 
 his own latest and finest period. He gave up the 
 "Long" pattern probably for the reason that its greater 
 length and longer stop made it less easy to handle, 
 and handiness of size must have been becoming at
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 73 
 
 that time ever more important from the increasing 
 use of the violin as an orchestral instrument : we 
 cannot doubt that this circumstance would have led 
 Maggini to modify the size of his violins had he lived 
 later : as it was, he made some violins of smaller 
 size. We believe that Stradivari's post 1700 work was 
 different to what it would have been had he not for 
 a time been so strongly influenced by Maggini ; it 
 probably owes some of its incomparableness to the 
 earlier master. We have heard at least one fine 
 Stradivari of the later period in which something of 
 Maggini tone was unmistakably present. 
 
 As regards Giuseppe Guarnieri, the evidence for 
 strong influence of Maggini is even more interesting 
 and striking; although, strange to say, some authori- 
 ties have attributed what is really Maggini influence 
 in this maker to Gasparo da Salo. 
 
 It is true, of course, that the best of Gasparo sur- 
 vived in Maggini ; so far, there is truth in connecting 
 G. Guarnieri with Gasparo. Nevertheless, it is one 
 greater than Gasparo — Maggini — upon whom G. 
 Guarnieri formed his style. The similarities between 
 Maggini and G. Guarnieri violins are so pronounced 
 that they can escape no truth-seeking eye. The 
 slanting sound-holes often with a curious peakiness at 
 top and bottom ; the outline with short corners, and 
 strongly semi-circular middle bouts ; the model rising 
 at once from the purfling, with more or less absence of 
 hollowing near the edges ; the appearance of the G. 
 Guarnieri violin as a whole ; and, not least, the head, 
 with its solidity and rough force of character, with
 
 74 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 comparative absence of grace and refinement — all these 
 things, to which must be added remarkable similarities 
 in volume and essential quality of tone, lead to the 
 conclusion that the debt of G. Guarnieri to Maggini 
 was indeed a great one. 
 
 We do not hesitate to claim for Maggini that G. 
 Guarnieri was his spiritual pupil and successor ; and 
 that his finest violins represent to us what Maggini 
 would probably have produced if he could have lived 
 long enough. 
 
 Great names — great players — uphold the Stradi- 
 varian quality of tone as superior to the Maggini- 
 Guarnierian, and Dr. Joachim has stated the tone of 
 Stradivari in his opinion to have " more unlimited 
 capacity for expressing the most varied accents of 
 feeling"; but the facts that such great players as 
 Giornovichi or Jarnowick, Dragonetti, Lwoff, De 
 Beriot, Ole Bull, Leonard, and Vieuxtemps used 
 Gasparos, Magginis, and instruments of their type ; 
 while Paganini, Ole Bull, David, Vieuxtemps, 
 Wieniawski, Sainton, and Alard used "Josephs," may 
 well " give us pause " before being too ready to place 
 Maggini tone below that of Stradivari. For it must 
 be remembered that the players just mentioned taxed 
 the resources of their instruments. De Beriot in 
 particular was nothing if not a brilliant player and 
 interpreter of " brilliant " music. He used a fine 
 Maggini violin all his playing life, and such was his 
 admiration for this maker that being himself a very 
 capable workman he actually made a " Maggini " 
 violin.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 75 
 
 The truth is that elements enter into the tone 
 problem which have not received sufficient attention. 
 It is certainly less easy to produce fully the tone of 
 Gasparos, Magginis, and "Josephs," than of Stradivaris. 
 The physique and temperament of players must be 
 suited to their instruments if perfect justice is to be 
 done to them. This is a most important consideration. 
 Another is, that due regard being had to the physique 
 and temperament of players, the individualities of great 
 violin makers should be more taken advantage of — that 
 the violin to be used should be chosen with reference 
 to the music to be interpreted ; why toujours Stradivari ? 
 Music will gain assuredly from increased appreciation 
 of Maggini and G. Guarnieri. 
 
 In conclusion, a summary of Maggini's contribu- 
 tions to the development of violins, violas, and violon- 
 cellos may be useful : — 
 
 1. Initiated the model of the modern violin.* 
 
 2. Among the first to use corner-blocks and linings as we 
 know them. 
 
 3. Among the first to tise the straight way of the grain 
 for belly wood. 
 
 4. Initiated increased system and accuracy in thicknesses. 
 
 5. Initiated the modern viola. 
 
 6. Initiated the modern violoncello. 
 
 ' " The world," as Charles Reade observes in speaking of Maggini 
 (letters to the Pall Mall Gazette on Cremona Fiddles, and Letter, August 
 24th, 1872), " has come back to this primitive model after trying a score, 
 and prejudice gives the whole credit to G. Guarnerius of Cremona."
 
 76 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 When we consider that Maggini died at the age of 
 fifty-one, this is surely a surprising Hst of achievements. 
 The more it is considered, the more his influence on 
 Stradivari and G. Guarnieri is pondered, the greater 
 surely must become our admiration for the great maker 
 of musical instruments, who passed so long ago, and 
 comparatively so young, into — 
 
 " The quiet of Death's unimagined lands." 
 * * * * 
 
 " II n'y a que les morts qui reviennent."* Gio. 
 Paolo Maggini is with us whether we choose to 
 recognise the fact or not ; and whether the credit which 
 is justly his due be yielded to him or not — "beyond 
 these voices " — he knows that the true reward of things 
 well done is to have done them. 
 
 * A fine variation by Louis Blanc on the cruel saying 01 the Great 
 Revolution — " Les morts ne reviennent pas.'
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Table of Measurements. 
 VIOLINS. 
 
 
 PRE-1690 Strad, 
 
 Long Strad. 
 
 Maggini. 
 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Length of Body . . 
 
 13^ to 14 
 
 14A 
 
 Ht's 
 
 „ Stop . . 
 
 7U 
 
 7i% 
 
 7ii 
 
 Top width of Body 
 
 6{i bare 
 
 6A 
 
 en 
 
 Bottom „ „ ,, 
 
 8t\ .. 
 
 8 bare 
 
 8A 
 
 Top height of Sides 
 
 ifV 
 
 ^t\ 
 
 1 :A* 
 
 Bottom ,, „ ,, 
 
 i^ 
 
 It\ 
 
 VIOLAS. 
 
 
 Gasparo da Salo. 
 
 A. & H . Amati, 1620. 
 
 Maggini, 
 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Length of Body . . 
 
 17A 
 
 17II full 
 
 lfil3 
 
 „ Stop . . 
 
 9 
 
 QtI bare 
 
 8-,^ bare 
 
 Top width of Body 
 
 8^ 
 
 K 8 
 
 8j\ full. 
 
 Bottom „ „ „ 
 
 iot% 
 
 lO-I^ 
 
 9H 
 
 Top height of Sides 
 
 lA 
 
 It% 
 
 iT^ 
 
 Bottom „ „ „ 
 
 lA 
 
 lA 
 
 ^-h 
 
 VIOLONCELLOS. 
 
 
 Strad, 1701. 
 
 Strad, 1713. 
 
 Maggini. 
 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Length of Body . . 
 
 31 
 
 30 bare 
 
 29ff 
 
 ,, ,, Stop . . 
 
 16U 
 
 15U 
 
 14JI bare 
 
 Top width of Body 
 
 HtV 
 
 I3A 
 
 H\% » 
 
 Bottom ,, ,, ,, 
 
 I8A 
 
 ^7U 
 
 18A 
 
 Top height of Sides 
 
 4U 
 
 4il 
 
 4t\ 
 
 Bottom ,, „ ,, 
 
 5 
 
 5 bare 
 
 * The height of the sides at the bottom is sometimes variable, and as 
 much as one-sixteenth of an inch greater than at the top.
 
 78 
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 NOTES IN EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE OF 
 MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 The foregoing dimensions are those of instruments which have 
 not been altered from their original form in any way. 
 
 The modes of construction of the early Italian schools did not 
 apparently permit of the absolute accuracj' of dimensions which 
 the improved appliances of our times easily secure. No doubt the 
 Masters of earlier days set little store on obtaining that mechanical 
 accuracy of appearance which now tends to destroy all originality. 
 
 Therefore possessors of instruments by the makers mentioned 
 in the table who compare the dimensions of their instruments 
 with those given there may find a diflference of one-sixteenth of an 
 inch more or less. 
 
 Many instruments have had their edges much worn ; it is our 
 practice to allow for this when measuring. 
 
 The measurements in the table were all taken with a wooden 
 rule, over the modelling — i.e., exterior to the instruments. 
 
 The violins byMaggini selected for measurement represent the 
 usual size of his instruments : but a few violins by him of a smaller 
 size exist. 
 
 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 300. 
 
 Pa Johannii. 
 
 Del Padre, di 
 Gio. Paolo 
 Maggini. 
 
 POLIZZE d'eSTIMO DELL' ANNO I588. 
 
 Polizza de mi Giovanni f. q. Ser Bertolino Maggini, cittadino 
 et habitante in Bressa. 
 
 lo Giovanni, senza exercitio alcuno, d'eta d'anni 
 
 Giulia mia moglie, d'eta d'anni 44. 
 
 Bertolino mio figliolo, caligaro in Bressa, d'eta d'anni 
 
 Margaritta sua moglie, d'eta d'anni 
 
 Gio. Paolo mio figliolo, d'eta d'anni 
 
 70 
 
 44 
 22 
 
 18 
 7
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 79 
 
 2. 
 
 POLIZZA PRESENTATA NEL 1617 (iNCLUSA FRA QUELLE DEL 1614). 
 
 Polizza del estimo di M. Gio. Paolo Maggini, maestro di 
 violini in contrada del Palazzo vecchio del Podesta. 
 
 M. Gio. Paolo Maggini d'anni trentasei ... n" 36 
 
 Anna sua moglie d'anni ... ... ... ... n'° 22 
 
 Gio. Pietro suo figliolo d'anni ... ... ... n'" i 
 
 Debiti del sudetto Maggini — prima per uno lavorentedella 
 mia bottega con le spese et salario Lire duecento et 
 ottanta planet ... ... ... ... ... £280 
 
 Item, una serva con salario et spese Lire cento £100 
 
 Crediti del sudetto Maggini — prima una casa in contrada 
 del Palazzo vecchio del Podesta, con bottega per mio 
 uso, choerentie a mezzodi la strada, a mattina 
 Madonna Teodora Gizzola, a sera gli heredi di M. 
 Pavol Batteo, a monte uno ingresso (i). La bottega 
 si potria fittar Lire sedeci ... ... ... ... ^230 
 
 Item, mi ritrovo in mercantia di violini, lignami et cordi di 
 
 essi violini Lire cento planetti /^loo 
 
 ,56. 
 
 2* Johannis. 
 
 (I)- 
 
 Parola indeci- 
 
 frabile che deve 
 
 signiHcare 
 
 vicolo. 
 
 POLIZZA PRESENTATA NEL 1626 (iNCLUSA FRA QUELLE DEL 1627). 
 
 Polizza dell 'Estimo di me Gio. Paolo Maggini che fa Violini 
 in Contrata delle Bombasarie a S'" Agata. 
 
 lo Gio. Paolo Maggini, de Anni .. 46 
 
 Anna, mia Moglie, de Anni ... ... ... 32 
 
 Cecilia, mia filiola, d' Anni ... ... 5 
 
 Veronica, de Anni dui ... ... ... ... 2 
 
 Carlo, de mesi sei ... ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Debiti de me Gio. Paolo da uno lavorante nella bottega 
 
 con salario et spese de Planetti ... ... .. ... £300 
 
 Una Serva con salario et spese . . . . .^150 
 
 Mi ritrovo debitore sopra la casa alii Heredi di 
 Messer Francesco Fracasso de Planetti con aggravio 
 et int. cinque per cento ... ... ... ... ... £'1,270 
 
 Prima Johannis.
 
 8o Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Crediti per una Casa et Bottega parte per mio uso et 
 parte de affitar quale se potria affitare £i20- Hora 
 se affitta hora non se affitta, in la suddetta contrata 
 coherente a mattina et coher. merid. il Tresandello a 
 mezzo di parte Messer Cesare della Porta et parte 
 Messer Vincenzo Botturino a gera strada per valore di /"a, 600 
 
 Item uno Roncho di Pio X. in circa con casa per uso del 
 Padrone et una per uso del Massaro in contrata di Sto 
 Fiorano coherente a mattina il Sig'- Calimerio Cigola 
 et Mess. Giovanni Castedo et a monte la strada de 
 Sto. Gottardo, a sera Mess. Fausto Foresto parte et 
 parte il Rev. Dom Ventura et parte la strada a mezzo 
 di li Rev. di Padri di Sta Afra parte et parte il Sig'' 
 Bernardo Vinacese di valore di lire dui millia planet £'2,000 
 
 Item un altra pezza di terra aradora in Spianada, confina 
 con li Ronchi in contrada di St. Fiorano de Piosei et 
 tavole novanta in circa, coherente a mattina parte 
 Mess. Thomaso Pilotto et parte de mezzo di a sera et 
 a parte de monte Mess. Fausto Foresto qual potra 
 valer ... ... ... ... ... ... ... £1,000 
 
 Item un altra pezza di terra boschiva in contrata della 
 Paijna verso Bottecino de sera de Pio quattro in circa 
 coherente a mattina et medio del Comune di Botticino 
 mattina, a sera li Heredi di Andrea di diio Paina a 
 monte strada e parte li Heredi di Bartolomeo di 
 Maggini di valore di lire cinquanta ... ... ... £50 
 
 Un altro livello con la Sig" Chiara moglie del Sig'- 
 Lelio Castello de lire cinquanta planet di capitale a 
 ragione del cinque per cento ... ... ... ... ;^5oo 
 
 Un altro livello con Maddalena Castiliola de Pegozzi 
 de lire mille e sette cento planet come sopra un casa a 
 5 P- 100 i'i,7oo 
 
 Per il mio Arte in Legname et Corde per il mio arte 
 
 del capitale di lire cento et cinquanta planet ... ... ^^150 
 
 19 Sbris, 1626, JuRAViT Carolus, Magister.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 8i 
 
 Chiesa Parrochiale di S. Agata, Registro Matrimoni III. dal 
 1607 al 1672, pag. 42. 
 
 A di 20 8bre, 1615. 
 Mg. Gio. Paolo Maggini ha contratto matrimonio per verba de 
 present! con Maddalena Anna figlia de Ms. Fausto Foresto in 
 casa privata per licentia Ordinaria alia presentia di me Pre 
 Salvador Cargnoni Curato foraneo per testimoni Ms. Hercule 
 Buio et Ms. Nicolo Delia Torre. Servato pero I'ordine del sacro 
 Concilio Tridentino le denuntie furono fatte adi 18, sudd, et adi 
 20 detto, feste de Precetto et consuetudine, la 3° tralasciata de 
 licentia ut supra come si vede in filza. 
 
 Translations. 
 
 Income Tax returns preserved in the collection of 
 similar papers in the Quirinian Library of Brescia. 
 
 1588. — Declaration of me, Giovanni, son of the late Ser Bertolino 
 Maggini, citizen and inhabitant of Brescia. 
 
 I, Giovanni, without any profession, aged ... ... 70 
 
 Giulia, my wife, aged ... ... ... ... 44 
 
 Bertolino, my son, shoemaker, in Brescia, aged ... 22 
 
 Margaritta, his wife, aged ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 Gio. Paolo, my son, aged ... ... ... ... 7 
 
 300. 
 
 Quarter or Gate 
 of St. John. 
 
 The father of 
 Gio. Paolo 
 Maggini. 
 
 2. 
 1617. — Form presented in the Year 1617 (included among 
 
 THOSE OF 1614). 
 
 Declaration of expenses and income of Master Gio. Paolo 
 Maggini, Violin Maker in Contrata del Palazzo vecchio del Podestd. 
 M. Gio. Paolo Maggini, aged ... ... ... ... 36 
 
 Anna, his wife, aged ... ... ... ... ... 22 
 
 Gio. Pietro, his son, aged ... ... ... ... i 
 
 F 
 
 4 
 
 St. John.
 
 82 ' Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Debts of the said Maggini — first for a workman in shop, 
 boarding expenses, and salary, lire, two hundred and 
 eighty of planet coin (viz., with stars) ... .. ... ;£'28o 
 
 Also a female servant, with salary and boarding expenses, 
 
 lire, one hundred ... ... ... ... ... ... .^loo 
 
 Credits of the said Maggini — first, a house in the street 
 of the old Palace of the Town Mayor, with a shop for 
 my use, neighbouring on the south side with the street ; 
 on the east with Madonna Theodora Gizzola ; on the west 
 with the heirs of M. Paul Batteo ; on the north with a 
 little lane (a manor footpath called " Trasandello," or 
 little passage). The shop could be let for sixteen lire ;^230 
 
 Also, I have in stock in violins, woods and strings for the 
 
 same violins, one hundred lire of planet coin . . ^loo 
 
 3- 
 1626. — Form presented in the year 1626 (included among 
 
 THOSE of 1627). 
 
 Income return presented by me, Gio. Paolo Maggini, maker of 
 
 First of St. John. . ,. . .^ , . „ ■ , ro A 1 
 
 Violms m Bombasane Street, parish 01 St. Agatha. 
 
 I, Gio. Paolo Maggini, aged 
 Anna, mj' wife, aged 
 Cecilia, my daughter, aged .. 
 Veronica, aged 
 Carlo, aged six 
 
 ... 46 
 ... 32 
 
 ••• 5 
 
 2 
 
 six months 
 
 Debts which I, Gio. Paolo, have for a workman in the shop, 
 
 with salary and board expenses, in starred coins . . . ^Tsoo 
 
 For a Maid Servant, with salary and board expenses .^150 
 
 I have a residual debt for this house towards the 
 heirs of Messer Francesco Fracasso, with onus of 
 interests at 5% , in starred coin ^'1,270 
 
 Credits for a house and shop, part for my own use and 
 part to be let, which should be let for ^130 (sometimes 
 it is let, sometimes not), situated in the same street, 
 with following boundaries : on the East and South side 
 the (lane called the) Trasandello ; the neighbouring
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 83 
 
 houses on one side being that of Messer Cesare della 
 Porta, and the other that belonging to Messer Vincenzo 
 Botturino, on the west side of the street, valued ... ^2,600 
 
 Also a Hill of about ten acres, with residential house for 
 the owner and a house for the farmer, situated in the 
 district of S. Fiorano, neighbouring on the east side 
 with the estates of Signor Calimerio Cigola and of Master 
 Giovanni Castedo ; on the north side with the road of 
 St. Gottardo ; on the west side with the estates of 
 Master Faust Foresto, of the Reverend Dominic 
 Ventura, and with the road; on the south side with the 
 estates of the Reverend Fathers of the Convent of St. 
 Afira and of Signor Bernardo Vinacese ; of the value of 
 two thousand starred lire ... ... ... ... ;£'2,ooo 
 
 Also another piece of cultivated land, " the Plain," in the 
 district of St. Fiorano, near the Hills, of about seven 
 acres, neighbouring on the east side with the estates of 
 Messer Tommaso Pilotto, and on the south, west, and 
 north sides with those of Messer Fausto Foresto. The 
 value might be reckoned at ... ... ... ... ;^ 1,000 
 
 Also a piece of wooded land in the district of the Paijna, 
 near Bottesino, consisting of about four acres, neigh- 
 bouring on the east and south sides with the district of 
 Botticino ; on the west side with the estates of the heirs 
 of Messer Andrea, son of Mr. Paina ; on the north side 
 with the road and with the estate belonging to the heirs 
 of Bartolommeo di Maggini. Of the value of fifty lire ... /"50 
 
 Also a loan to Signora Chiara, the wife of Signor Lelio 
 
 Castello, of the sum of fifty starred lire at the rate of 5% ;^50o 
 
 Also a loan to Maddalena Castiliola de Pegozzi of one 
 thousand and seven hundred starred lire, with a 
 security on a house and at 5% ... ... ... ... £1,700 
 
 Stock in wood and strings for my business, representing a 
 
 capital of one hundred and fifty starred lire ... ... ^^150 
 
 On the 19th of October, 1626. Sworn by Master Charles, 
 
 An Income Tax Collector or Lawyer.
 
 84 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 4- 
 Translation of Record of Maggini's Marriage. 
 
 In the Marriage Registers of the Parish Church of 
 S'*' Agata (in Brescia), Vol. III., extending from 1607 
 to 1672, at page 42 is entered the marriage certificate oi 
 Gian Paolo Maggini as follows : — 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1615, I, Priest Salvador Cargnoni, 
 certify herewith that Messer Gian Paolo Maggini has contracted 
 marriage with Maddalena Anita, daughter 0/ Messer Faust Foresto, in 
 a private house by ordinary licence at my presence, the witnesses 
 being Messer Hercule Buio and Messer Nicolo dalla Torre, the 
 regulation of the banns as prescribed by the Sacred Council of 
 Trient having been observed by publication of the same on the 
 1 8th and 20th instant (both regular and consuetudinary feast days), 
 the third bann being omitted by licence, as mentioned above and 
 as can be seen in the file (of papers). 
 
 Taxation of 164 i. 
 
 Charles, son of John Paul Maggini. 
 
 A house (see sketch in the original), with shop, in the street of 
 the Old Palace, bordering on the east side with the heirs of the 
 late Pompeo Gezzol ; on the south with the street ; on the west 
 with Francis Usupino ; on the north with the foot-path {or lane for 
 foot-passengers only). 
 
 Francis Usupino. 
 
 A house in the same street, neighbouring on the east side with 
 the heirs of Gio. Paolo Maggini ; on the south with the street ; on 
 the north with the lane ; on the west also with the lane.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 85 
 
 The following is the translation of the additional 
 items relating to Gian Paolo Maggini and his family, 
 published by Prof. Berenzi : — 
 
 I. Income Tax return for the year 1568 (Village of 
 Botticino). 
 
 Schedule presented by Zovan (Giovanni) of the 
 late Bertolino di Magini and by his brother 
 Laurentio. 
 
 Zovan, aged ... ... ... ... ... ... ac 
 
 Laurentio, aged ... ... ... ... ... ... »o 
 
 Julia, wife of Zovan, aged 28 
 
 Bertolino, son of Zovan, aged ... ... ... ... 3 
 
 Zovana (Jane), daughter of Zovan, 8 months old. 
 
 From this entry it appears that the names of 
 Maggini's parents were Giovanni and Giulia ; that the 
 first was born in 1523 and the second in 1540 ; and that 
 they were originally from Botticino " de sera" (viz., 
 West Botticino), a village on the hills about an hour's 
 drive from Brescia. 
 
 II. Date of Maggini's birth. 
 
 (Register of births of the Parish Church of Botticino 
 di Sera, leaf g.) 
 
 August, 1580.— Paul ... son of Messer John 
 Maglino (the old form for Magino) and of Signora 
 GiuUa his wife, was christened on the 25th instant by 
 the Rev. Rector Francesco Pasina, and Messer Michel 
 di Maglini was the godfather. 
 
 III. Dates of birth and death of the Ten children which 
 Maggini had by his wife A nna Foresti (from the Registers 
 of the Parish Church of S. Agata) :—
 
 86 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 1. Giovanni Pietro, born June 23rd, 1616; christened on the 
 
 same day ; died, aged 3, on September 17, 1621. 
 
 2. Giulia Barbera, born 21 December, 1617 ; christened on 
 
 the 24th ; died, aged 5, on December 28th, 1622. 
 
 3. Domenica, born ist September, 1619 ; christened on the 
 
 3rd ; died — ? 
 
 4. Cecilia Elena, born April 26, 1621 ; christened on the 28th. 
 
 5. Giulia Costanza, born February 17th, 1623 ; christened on 
 
 the 20th. 
 
 6. Veronica, born towards the end of 1624. 
 
 7. Carlo Francesco, born April 13th, 1626, and christened on 
 
 the 14th. 
 
 8. Biagio Gio. Battista, born February 2nd, 1628 ; christened 
 
 on the 6th ; died on December 24th of the same year. 
 
 g — 10. Faustino-Giovita and Catterina Silvia, twins, born May 
 17th, 1630; christened on the i8th. Faustino-Giovita 
 died, two months old, on July 5th, 1630. 
 
 IV. Purchase by Gian Paolo Maggini of the house in 
 the street of " Palazzo Vecchio del Podesta " (from the 
 " Liber Livellorum Sanctae Agathas," or book of tithes 
 and tributes due to the Parish Church of S. Agatha) : — 
 
 At pages 271-272 there is an entry stating that in the 
 first years of the seventeenth century " Gian Paolo 
 Maggini bought from Signor Ludovico Serina the house, 
 which is situated opposite the Old Palace of the 
 Podesta (Mayor)," and that "Gio. Paolo Maggini, who 
 makes citheras," began as owner of the house to pay 
 yearly Seven Lire of perpetual tribute to the Parish 
 Church of S. Agatha. 
 
 V. The house is now occupied by the Saddler Zanetti. 
 VL Date of Maggini' s death.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 87 
 
 Though writers on the history of the vioHn have 
 advanced the suggestion that Maggini died an old man, 
 the facts show that he must have died aged only 50. 
 From a Schedule presented by his son, Carlo Maggini, 
 in the year 1632, we gather that Gian Paolo was 
 already deceased in that year, the son using the formula 
 " filius quondam Johannis Pauli," and from the same 
 document it also appears that the widow, as well as 
 the only children still remaining — namely. Carlo, Cecilia, 
 Veronica, and Cattarina — were then living in the other 
 house in Contrada delle Bombasarie and S. Agata, 
 where Gian Paolo had opened another shop in 1626. 
 Perhaps he died there, but in the Register of Deaths of 
 the Parish his name does not appear, and I suppose 
 that he must have fallen a victim of the plague which, 
 in 1632, desolated the town ; perhaps he was carried 
 away from home to die in the pest-house. 
 
 VII. His wife, Anna Foresti, died twenty years after, 
 and was buried in the church of S. Agata on the 24th of 
 November, 1651. "Madonna Anna Foresti Maggini, 
 widow, aged about 58, rendered her soul to God in the 
 faith of our holy religion ; her body was buried in this 
 church ; she received the Sacraments." 
 
 VIII. What about Pietro Santo Maggini, universally 
 believed to be the son of Gian Paolo ? He was 
 certainly not his son, but I have found mention of other 
 families of the name of Maggini, in the parishes of S. 
 Agatha, of S. Alexander, and of S. John ; there are a 
 Girolamo, a Benedetto, and a Giovanni Maggini, but 
 shall I be so fortunate to find trace of Pietro Santo ? 
 We shall see !
 
 88 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 Directions for Finding Maggini's House, now 
 Occupied by Zanetti, the Saddler. 
 
 Either of two routes may be followed : — 
 
 (i) Starting from the steps of the Duomo, proceed 
 down the Via del Duomo, Via S. Ambrogio, Via S. 
 Agata, and the Via del Palazzo Vecchio del Podesta 
 till Zanetti's is reached. 
 
 (2) Starting from the Railway Station, proceed down 
 the Corso V. Emanuelo, Via Dolzoni, and then 
 turn to the right into the Val del P. V. del Podesta 
 and proceed down it till Zanetti's is reached. 
 
 The George III. Maggini. 
 
 A line Maggini, now in the possession of Baron 
 d'Erlanger, was formerly the property of George III., 
 who is supposed to have given it to Baumgarten, a 
 violinist, member of the Royal Private Band, and 
 orchestra leader at Covent Garden for forty years. 
 The latter parted with it to an amateur, named Gorham, 
 a watch and clock maker to the Royal Family, living in 
 High Street, Kensington. Mr. Gorham was accustomed 
 to have musical and quartet parties in which the late 
 Henry Hill, the viola player, and other musicians took 
 part. A violinist named Cotton Reeve, who was the 
 principal second violin for many years at the Opera 
 House in the Haymarket, on Gorham's death became 
 its owner. It was eventually purchased by Mr. W. E.
 
 Gio. Paolo Maggini. 8g 
 
 Hill, with a Stradivari* that also belonged to Cotton 
 Reeve, through a Mr. Ward, a solicitor acting for the 
 executors of Miss Reeve. The Maggini soon after this 
 passed into the hands of its present possessor. 
 
 The De Beriot Maggini Violins. 
 
 Of the two instruments which are associated with 
 this player's name, one was purchased of De Beriot 
 towards the end of his life by his friend and pupil, the 
 Prince de Caraman Chimay, who still has this violin 
 in regular use at Brussels. The other, De Beriot had 
 previously parted with to a favourite pupil, Mr. H. 
 Sternberg, who came to England but has not followed 
 the career of a musician although possessed of great 
 talent and executive ability as a violinist. From the 
 lips of Mr. Sternberg's father, who had long connection 
 with the lives of De Beriot and Vieuxtemps, we have 
 gathered the information that De Beriot purchased the 
 Maggini in the possession of the Prince at the shop of a 
 dealer in antiquities in Paris, for the sum of fifteen francs. 
 Where De Beriot obtained his other Maggini is not 
 known. Mr. Sternberg's Maggini has varnish of a fine 
 
 * In connection with this Stradivari there is a circumstance to record 
 which testifies strongly to the danger of leaving a violin unused and 
 neglected. It is not known for how many years after Cotton Reeve's 
 death his violin remained untouched in its case ; but on the case being 
 opened by Mr. Hill at the solicitor's office it was found that a fungus was 
 growing on the back of the violin through its resting on a bed of mildew. 
 The old case was at once destroyed, but on the violin being wiped it 
 was seen that the growth of the fungus had had the effect of bleaching, 
 or taking from the varnish its beautiful red colour.
 
 go Gio. Paolo Maggini. 
 
 golden brown colour, similar to that on the " Dumas" 
 tenor, and we think from the style of its work and 
 the absence of the more perfect finish met with in 
 the " Dumas " that it belongs to the second period 
 of Maggini's work. The fine tone of this instrument 
 is heard to advantage in Mr. Sternberg's occasional 
 performances.
 
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