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 JAMES M. FLEMING.
 
 THE 
 
 FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE 
 
 A MANUAL 
 
 OF INFORMATION REGARDING 
 
 VIOLINS, VIOLAS, BASSES AND BOWS 
 
 OF 
 
 CLASSICAL AND MODERN TIMES 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES AND PORTRAITS OF THE MOST 
 FAMOUS PERFORMERS ON THESE INSTRUMENTS 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES M. FLEMING 
 
 Author of "Old Violins and their Makers,^., &>c. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 With Fac-similes of Violin Tickets 
 
 IDonicm : 
 
 HAYNES, FOUCHER & CO., 14, GRAY'S INN ROAD 
 1892
 
 I'KINTED BY 
 
 E. SHORE AND CO., TYPE-MUSIC AND GENERAL PRINTERS, 
 3, GREEN TERRACE, CLERKENWELL, B.C.
 
 Music 
 Library 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE Reader who may be interested in the subject of this 
 Guide will, I hope, find the contents of the book to be of 
 some value to him how much, if any, more than usual, is 
 not for me to say. I think, however, I may, without 
 egotism, state that there is hardly a maker of any import- 
 ance, from the earliest to the latest, about whom, or about 
 whose work, something fresh in the matter of descriptive 
 detail may not be gleaned from these pages, while a very 
 large number of the more ordinary class of craftsmen 
 have had certain points of their work briefly elucidated 
 in a manner calculated to be helpful for purposes of 
 identification. 
 
 Everything in the book has been, to employ a common 
 phrase, brought up to date, and although, as a matter of 
 duty to my readers and to myself, I have, in writing 
 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE, consulted and collated 
 afresh, with great advantage, every source of information 
 known to me, I think I may yet fairly claim that the 
 results which have been tabulated throughout, are very 
 largely those of my own observation and practical 
 experience, and where these have failed me, the names 
 of the authors on whose assistance I have drawn, will be 
 found duly recorded in the body of the work. 
 
 J. M. FLEMING. 
 
 London, 1st October, 1892.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGB 
 
 THE Bow AND CRUTH i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE Bow AND CRUTH (continued) 12 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE CRUTH AND VIOLS 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ON OLD AND NEW VIOLINS .. .. .. .. .. 25 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS 30 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 SECOND SERIES OF CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS 135 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 VIOLIN Bow MAKERS 230 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VIOLINISTS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 244 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 BASSES AND BASS PLAYERS 301
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Corelli 249 
 
 Tartini 254 
 
 Viotti 266 
 
 Nicolo Paganini . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 
 
 Louis Spohr 279 
 
 Ole Bull 283 
 
 Henri Vieuxtemps . . . . . . . . . . . . 293. 
 
 John Tiplady Carrodus 296 
 
 Martin Meliton Sarasate. . .. .. .. .. 298-
 
 THE 
 
 FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 anb (truth. 
 
 THE Arabs have a saying that the best discourse 
 is that which is " short and clear." No doubt 
 they mean " clear and short." That is, at least, how 
 I should prefer to understand the apothegm lucidity 
 first, and brevity afterwards, in as far as it may 
 be possible. In whatever order they appear, I trust 
 both virtues may be found illustrated in the method 
 of this manual, but I shall make, at any rate, a 
 sincere effort to secure the presence of one of 
 them by beginning at once the consideration of 
 my subject. 
 
 Eleven years ago, when writing a work on the 
 history of the violin, I began by referring to what 
 was then, in my view, the more important factor in 
 dealing with the antiquity of the instrument, namely,, 
 the violin bow, and I pointed out that the hard and fast 
 conclusion which then prevailed with regard to the age 
 of this adjunct was not altogether a very philosophical
 
 2 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 one. Writers of eminence, who, at that time, might 
 be said to represent the literary view of the subject, 
 had stated that it was then proved that the Greeks 
 and the Romans were not acquainted with the use 
 of bowed instruments. I suggested that the investiga- 
 tions which led to that conclusion had not been so 
 thorough as to justify its expression in these absolute 
 terms, and I offered some evidence in support of my 
 conception that more proof of the bow's antiquity 
 might be available if due care were observed in 
 seeking it. Since then the question has been in some 
 measure revived, and it is now admitted that the 
 Greeks and Romans probably did know something 
 about the archaic representative of the fiddle bow, 
 and were very likely practically acquainted with its 
 uses. From subsequent investigations, I confess it is 
 to me almost impossible to believe that they could 
 have been ignorant of it, when we take into considera- 
 tion the antique monuments in existence which display 
 figures of musicians with stringed instruments and 
 rods in their hands, the latter of which could be of 
 little or no use to them in any capacity other than 
 that which the violin bow has to us. 
 
 The evidence which I offered on the above point 
 was a drawing from an Etruscan vase, in which 
 an implement like an early bow was placed across 
 the strings of a musical instrument, and in calling atten- 
 tion to this drawing, I said that the bow was placed 
 so close to the strings as to appear as if it had no 
 hair, and that it might on that account be claimed 
 as a kind of plectrum, with which the ancients were
 
 THE BOW AND CRUTH. 3 
 
 understood to strike or twang the strings. I said 
 then that if we remembered how Paganini is reported to 
 have played exquisitely with a rush on the occasion of a 
 contest which he had with a young man in Italy, there 
 Avould be no difficulty in supposing that the ancients may 
 have excited the vibrations of their strings by a similar 
 contact before hair came to be used. A year or two after 
 the publication of this view, it appears to have been 
 accepted in a tentative manner, and it is now admitted 
 as a highly probable explanation. I may here em- 
 phasise the view which I then expressed by pointing out 
 that had the artist who decorated that vase intended to 
 depict a plectrum for striking the strings, he would 
 hardly have placed it across them, but would probably 
 have shown it hanging parallel to the instrument. The 
 position in which this implement is found across the 
 strings at the very place where the musician would use 
 his bow, is, in my view, evidence of a conclusive kind 
 that in those times, they were acquainted with, and 
 practised, the method of producing musical sounds by 
 means of continuous friction over strings. Indeed I 
 do not see how evidence of this kind could be more 
 decisive, for the Greeks were under the most stringent 
 laws with regard to the reproduction, in the domain of 
 art, of instruments which w r ere in established use. 
 Artists were not allowed to invent forms which did not 
 actually exist. They were not permitted to make 
 innovations or alterations pictorially in the instruments 
 which they represented special mention of ".musical 
 branches " being actually made in the law of which 
 Plato informs us. In the scene depicted on the vase 
 
 B2
 
 }. THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 referred to there are t\vo musical instruments one on 
 each side of the principal figure. In this case they 
 indicate the profession of the person whom they flank, 
 and the personage represented on the cup to which I 
 refer was Chironeis, a learned Greek musician and 
 scientist. 
 
 Since these views were expressed in 1881, the ten- 
 dency has been to pursue the subject on similar lines, 
 and even the mounds of Nineveh are now, and I think 
 rightly, supposed to yield their quotum of evidence in 
 the same direction. \Yhether it will ever be possible to 
 bridge over the gulf which separates the eighth or ninth 
 century of the Christian era from the time of the fulfil- 
 ment of Jonah's prophecy and bridge it over in such 
 a manner as will yield a firm footing to the historical 
 inquirer it may not be at the present moment easy to 
 s:iv, but I am very hopeful of such a solution, and I am 
 sure it will come all the more quickly the less people are 
 anxious to have their personal theories and fads accepted 
 at all cost and at every hazard. As one of the very 
 mildest instances of the results of unconscious bias 
 towards a preconceived idea I may here quote a few lines 
 from an old Welsh poem which has been printed in a 
 volume entitled " Musical and Poetical Relics of the 
 \Yelsh Bards," by Edward Jones (1794) for the purpose of 
 showing that the early Welsh Crwth or Cruth was played 
 with a bow. The precise date of the composition of the 
 poem is not known, but the name of the author is, and it 
 is supposed by those who claim to have a knowledge of 
 Welsh literature, that the verses were written in the 
 fifteenth century. The poem contains a detailed account
 
 THE BOW AND CRUTH. 5 
 
 of the instrument, but four lines will be sufficient for my 
 purpose. 
 
 " A fair coffer with a bow, a girdle, 
 A finger board and a bridge ; its price a pound. 
 It has a frontlett formed like a wheel 
 With a short-nosed bow across." 
 
 Now the comment on these lines by a distinguished 
 writer is that "it is by no means certain to the 
 unbiassed enquirer that it (the bow) is alluded to in the 
 above description of the instrument. The bow which is 
 mentioned may possibly refer to the curved shape of the 
 frame." If the first line were the only one in which the 
 word "bow" occurred, I could understand how one 
 might maintain that it \vas a reference to the shape of 
 the instrument, but how the fourth line could be 
 supposed to, be a repetition of the same description 
 passes my comprehension. I confess it seems to me as 
 clear an account of a primitive fiddle bow as could well be 
 put in English words. If literary evidence of that kind 
 is to be rejected, or even discredited, one may as well 
 reject everything that has ever been written by any 
 writer in any country of the world. I am almost 
 inclined to believe that the author of the above comment 
 had forgotten all about the details given in the poem, 
 and had turned to the first line only when penning his 
 curious remark. There is no mistake in the translation, 
 as even a reader accustomed to very old English will 
 see on comparing it with the original : 
 
 " Prennolt teg bwa a gwregis, 
 Pont a bran, punt yw ei bris ; 
 Athalaith ar waith olwyn, 
 A'r bwa ar draws byr ei drwyn, etc."
 
 6 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 It so happens that the rejection of this evidence would 
 not, in this case, be of great importance, but it might have 
 been, and at any rate, it is not a right way to deal with 
 evidence, however slight it may be. The same author 
 says, " sure enough, in Wales they found a curious sort 
 of fiddle, said by the natives to have been in use with 
 them from time immemorial, as people always say when 
 they possess something peculiar, the origin of which 
 they are unable to trace. The supposed high antiquity 
 enhances to the people the value of their relic, especially 
 if they find it admired by foreigners and learned anti- 
 quaries." So much for the claim of poor Wales. Just 
 previously the same distinguished writer had given an 
 illustration of a Burmese " Thro," which happens to be a 
 very near approach to violin form, and which appears to 
 have been unearthed from a book of travels (Embassy 
 to Ava in the year 1795). The only evidence which 
 is adduced in support of the conjecture that this instru- 
 ment is of Burmese invention, or, at least, not a repro- 
 duction from a European model, is the statement of the 
 person who was of the Embassy. " I at first imagined 
 it had been of European introduction, and brought 
 to Pegu by the Portuguese ; but I was assured that 
 it is an original instrument of the country." This simple 
 statement of a traveller, together with the circumstance 
 that the Burmese name " Thro " is said to be a deriva- 
 tive from a Sanskrit root sarva, which means " entire " 
 or " universal," and from which a number of Indian 
 musical instruments have received their names, is to be 
 accepted as evidence that the Burmese fiddle is ancient 
 and indigenous to the country in which a member of a
 
 THE BOW AND CRUTH. 7 
 
 diplomatic mission saw it, while a three or four hundred 
 year old Welsh poem minutely describing an instrument 
 then in existence is to be rejected as evidence of that 
 existence for no reason whatever unless it be that 
 " people always say these things when they possess 
 something peculiar, the origin of which they are unable 
 to trace " the Burmese people, of course, alone excepted, 
 I merely mention this to show how lightly scientific 
 modes of reasoning weigh sometimes with cultured minds, 
 and how utterly unreliable are the conclusions which are 
 drawn in such fashion. If the circumstance that the 
 name of the Burmese " Thro," derived from a Sanskrit 
 root sarva, meaning " entire " or " universal " be 
 considered an element sufficiently weighty to make 
 evidence pointing to its Oriental origin, why should I 
 hesitate to trace the Welsh Cruth in a much more direct 
 manner to the Hebrew participle Cnith signifying " cut " 
 or " engraved ? " It has never been suggested before, 
 but suppose I do so in this FIDDLE FANCIERS'S GUIDE 
 merely to show how easy it is to work out a plausible 
 conclusion on paper with the aid of etymology. The 
 ancient Eastern lyre had an arched back cut and 
 engraved to imitate the shell of a tortoise. The Greeks, 
 who had their letters if not their literature and sciences 
 largely from the cities of the plain, seeing this, called 
 it chelys (x^ l ) their name for a tortoise, and the 
 Romans called it testudo, which is the Latin name for 
 the same creature, and also, secondarily, for any stringed 
 instrument whose body is of an arched character. Now, 
 how is it that the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh, alone 
 among all occidental peoples, retained the original Hebrew
 
 8 THE Finm.E FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 word in almost its primitive phonetic purity for that the 
 two words are identical I have not a doubt ? The Anglo- 
 Saxon word is Cruth, and the Welsh Crwth, in old French 
 Cayoth. In old high German chrota, whence it degene- 
 rated to chrotta, from that to hrotte, thence to rotte, with 
 intermediate modifications, such as crotta, and the English 
 crowd, until it ultimately became rote. There are besides 
 these, some dozens of different forms of the same word and 
 its degenerations, such as the Irish emit, krnith, and the 
 Cornish kroud. In Halliwel's " Dictionary of Archaic and 
 Provincial Words " croud and cronth are found as nouns 
 signifying a fiddle, while the verb crowd is "to move one 
 thing across another, to make a grating noise." It is 
 more than merely interesting in this last connection to 
 note that the old Hebrew verbal root ghrad or gJiwnd is 
 almost identical in phonetic power and meaning. It 
 signifies " to scrape " or "scratch." Suppose we go a 
 little further and point out that long before the Greeks 
 and Romans knew anything about the British Isles, the 
 Canaanites (Phenician) had colonised a considerable 
 portion of the mainland, and were busy working it? 
 mining resources. The Cassiterides islands were no 
 doubt known to the later Greeks by name, but Diodorus 
 Siculus confesses that he did not know where they were. 
 He had merely heard of them as places to which the 
 early Phenicians had gone. Although some modern 
 scholars for reasons which do not appear to be very 
 cogent have relinquished the notion that the 
 Cassiterides of these Canaanitish settlers are the Scilly 
 Isles off the Cornish coast, Cornwall itself, and all the 
 southern district teem with etymological reminiscences
 
 Till: HOW AND CRUTH. y 
 
 of these almost prehistoric colonists. They baptised 
 the streams by which they squatted, giving them 
 designations which have come down to our own 
 day. The Taff, the Taive, the Teiffy, the Tavy these 
 are all names of rivers at the " end " of the land, and 
 are formed from the Phenician Tauv, Tav, Tau, or Te 
 the final letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet 
 and signifying a mark, limit, or boundary. There is 
 at the extreme limit of farther India another river so- 
 called by the same colonising race, namely, the Tavoy, 
 and we have another instance of it in the Tay, which, in 
 Scotland, drains the Southern boundry line of the 
 Grampians. In addition, we have in the North the Yare, 
 the Yore, and the Yarrow all modifications of " Yen," 
 a river. We have the Plym, the Tamar, the Thames 
 and how well they named this last great stream may 
 be realised by anyone who visits Herne Bay or Southend, 
 and observes the steady manner in which the great 
 estuary still performs the duty which earned for it the 
 title it has now borne, for, it may be, three or four 
 thousand years. It is still " melting away " the land 
 carrying the " London clay " in solution out to sea. In 
 the matter of names in almost their original purity the 
 country, as I have said, teems with these ancient 
 Hebrew words and the Phenician or Canaanitish 
 dialect is nearly identical with ancient Hebrew. 
 
 What does all this point to ? That the Cruth is 
 the progenitor of our present violin ? Most certainly 
 that, and nothing less if etymology is to have its say 
 in the matter. Of the score of spellings in which this 
 musical instrument's name is to be found throughout
 
 IO TIIK RDUl.K FANCIER S GUIDK. 
 
 Europe and Asia the purest is that still current in the 
 British Isles, and all the others are corruptions of it. 
 Charuth, C'ruth or Cruth is the Hebrew form. Cruth 
 and Crwth the British and Welsh. Kruith and Cruit 
 the Irish, Caroth, old French. Chrotta, Crotta and 
 Chrota, Latin and German. The initial sound of the 
 Hebrew word is a strong gutteral like the ch in the 
 Scottish word loch, or in the German hoch. By variety 
 of vocalisation this gutteral became a strong aspirate, 
 and then we have on the Continent of Europe hrotta 
 and hrota. Still further softened it becomes rotta, rota, 
 rotel, roet, and has about a dozen other changes, among 
 which are rotteh, rote, riote, rott, rotha, rothes, rotten. 
 But in whatever forms this name appears they are all 
 corruptions of the primitive Hebrew word Cruth, instead 
 of Cruth being a corruption of Chrotta. That is, as it 
 appears to me, the conclusion to which etymology points 
 and in a very decisive manner. 
 
 With regard to the actual delineation of these bowed 
 instruments in historical records there are, in existence, 
 manuscripts dating from about the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries which contain drawings of them in various 
 forms called the crowd, the crout, and rote, and on 
 architectural edifices dating a century or two later 
 sculptures of them are found, but it is a mistake to 
 suppose that the dates of these manuscripts and sculp- 
 tures indicate in even the vaguest manner the time or 
 period of the instrument's introduction to use with the 
 people among whom it is found thus .commemorated. 
 This is, however, a common error, and many writers do 
 not seem to realize that before such musical instruments
 
 THE BOW AND CRUTH. II 
 
 could in those old times become conventionalized decora- 
 tive adjuncts of architectural structures especially when 
 connected with edifices erected for purposes of religious 
 worship they must have been part and parcel of the 
 people's life for ages one might* say, if not from time 
 immemorial a phrase to which some of us object for no 
 particular reason, but which, in the circumstances, is 
 strictly accurate. Although I look with a kind of 
 respectful terror on that magnificent hyperbole of 
 Michelet's where he describes the sixteenth century as 
 extending " from Columbus to Copernicus, from Coper- 
 nicus to Galileo ; from the discovery of the earth to that 
 of heaven," I would point out in somewhat of the same 
 spirit, but in less beautiful and epigrammatic form, that 
 these drawings and sculptures of the tenth, eleventh, 
 twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, with their fiddle bows 
 and fiddles of all sorts "and sizes, indicate that the 
 objects which have lent themselves in this way to schools 
 of decoration or, folk-lore treatises, have been in existence 
 and familiar to the people for ages before the time of the 
 chroniclers who wrote about them, or the Cathedral 
 builders who used them. They are of little or no use 
 either in fixing the comparative age, or in tracing the 
 development of any one of them. They are merely 
 valuable monuments of their existence, but are not 
 evidence capable of fixing priority of use. The changes 
 found in their appearance are almost certainly the 
 results of selection on the part of the decorator, and, in 
 the matter of manuscripts, the differences probably 
 indicate the limits of their writer's research.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 (continued). 
 
 THE earliest known literary reference to the cruth 
 is contained in two well canvassed lines of a 
 Latin poem written by Venantius Fortunatus, a bishop 
 of Poitiers the capital of the old French province of 
 Poitou, and which is now called the department of 
 Vienne. This rather important poet from a fiddle 
 fancier's point of view was born in the year 530. 
 near Ceneda, in the vicinity of Treviso, in Italy, and 
 died early in the following century at Poitiers. The 
 two lines, which have for many years afforded oppor- 
 tunities of discussion to musical antiquarians, occur in 
 an ode to be found published in a volume in 1617. 
 called " Venantii Fortunati Poemata." They are as 
 follows : 
 
 " Romanusque lyra plaudat tibi, Barbarus harpa, 
 Graecus Achilliaca, Chrotta Britanna canat." 
 
 The passage has been translated in several ways to 
 be referred to later on, but, in the meantime, we may 
 take one rendering which is, perhaps, the least faulty. 
 
 " Let the Roman praise thee on the lyre, the Barbarian on the harp, 
 The Greek on the Achilliaca, and let the Britan Crouth sing." 
 
 What the Achilliaca was is not certainly known. 
 It is supposed to have been the Cithara, or Cyther. 
 That is, however, of little importance to us at present,
 
 THE BOW AND CKUTH. 13 
 
 except as a passing matter. What we are chiefly 
 concerned with is that portion of the extract formed 
 by the words, " Chrotta Britanna canat." That this 
 word, taken along with its context, means that the 
 1 iritish Cruth sang, appears to me to be quite beyond 
 dispute. Why the bishop should have described the 
 cruth as a singing instrument has been explained by 
 Welsh commentators as a complimentary allusion to 
 the excellence of the technique of British performers, 
 and people have made merry in gentle fashion over 
 what appeared to them to be an interpretation having 
 about it a soupqon of egotism. I do not think there is 
 any particularly good reason for banter of this kind, 
 because it appears to me that the conclusion was a 
 very natural one to draw, although I do not think 
 it was the correct one. \Vhen His Grace of Poitiers 
 was writing poetry he would doubtless choose his 
 similes much after the manner of his kind when 
 seeking to describe some distinction either of appear- 
 ance or effect. He did not scruple, for example, to 
 employ, or compound, the term " Achilliaca," to 
 describe the Greek instrument, although for it there 
 were already then at his disposal one or two names 
 which would have been clearly enough " understanded 
 of the people "such as Cithera or Chelys. But it is 
 just possible that he thought the term " chelys " to be 
 derived from " Achilles," and made a new name for 
 the instrument on that account although such a 
 dreadful supposition should perhaps be advanced only 
 with the greatest diffidence. But a scholarly man like 
 Fortunatus, having such an impression on his mind,
 
 1^. THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 would undoubtedly seek to discredit what he con- 
 sidered to be a corrupt form of the name, and en- 
 deavour to restore it to a closer relation with its origin, 
 and hence we might well have, instead of " Chelys," 
 the mediaeval substitute, " Achilliaca," which nobody 
 except Venantius Fortunatus appears to know anything 
 about. That is not the first time in the history of 
 musical nomenclature where a new name suddenly 
 appears in a well developed literature, and of which 
 no trace can be found either before or after the solitary 
 instance of its materialisation. At any rate, whatever 
 *' Achilliaca " may mean, we know that canere means 
 " to sing." Now it does not appear to have struck 
 any one of the numerous commentators on this precious 
 couplet of the bishop's, to enquire why he used this 
 term to describe the cruth, if he does not mean that 
 the sounds emitted by that instrument when played 
 were continuous sounds such as are characteristic of 
 the voice in singing. In other words, I think the 
 bishop is, of set purpose, describing the sounds of an 
 instrument played with the bow. I am supported in 
 this belief by another circumstance which also appears 
 to have entirely escaped the notice of those who have 
 engaged in this discussion. Fortunatus does not say 
 " Let the Romans extol thee on the lyre," etc., in a 
 general fashion, but in quite a particular manner. He 
 is indeed very much concerned to be accurate. He 
 does not employ laudare, which would have suited well 
 enough had his purpose merely been to invoke the 
 unanimity of nations and races in their musical praises. 
 He wanted to indicate their methods, and therefore he
 
 THK BOW AND CRUTH. 15 
 
 used plandaYC. " Let the Romans praise (applaud) 
 thee (by beating, striking, plucking, twitching, twang- 
 ing by any kind of percussive action whatever) on 
 the lyre, the Barbarians on the harp, the Greeks on 
 the Achilliaca," and " let the British Cruth sing.'' 
 He could not well have been more explicit. Plaitdare 
 signifies to clap, to beat, to strike, to stamp, and, 
 secondarily, to applaud in that fashion, and this 
 mediaeval writer seems to be most emphatically specific 
 in his choice of words to describe the marked distinction 
 between the instruments which were struck or twanged, 
 and the British or Breton cruth which was bowed. It is 
 rather a curious thing that several translations have been 
 made which appear to go pretty wide of the original. 
 For example, M. Vidal renders it as follows: 
 
 " Le Romain t'applaudit sur la lyre, le Barbare sur la harpe et 
 le crouth breton, le Grec sur la Cythare." 
 
 This, in English, would be : 
 
 "The Roman praises thee on the lyre, the Barbarian on the 
 harp and the Breton Crouth, the Greek on the Cithara." 
 
 Why he should have so translated it does not very 
 clearly come out. I hope it is not uncharitable to 
 suppose that it was merely not to seem to literally 
 copy M. Fetis, who had previously translated it thus : 
 
 " Le Romain t'applaudit sur la lyre, le Grec te chante avec la 
 cithare, le Barbare avec la harpe, et le crouth Breton." 
 
 This in, English, would be : 
 
 " The Roman praises thee on the lyre, the Greek sings to thee 
 with the Cithara, the Barbarian with the harpe, and the Breton 
 crouth."
 
 if) THK FIDDLE I-ANCIHK's GL'ID! . 
 
 M. Fetis' translation is quite as unsatisfactory as 
 M. Vidal's. We have another version from Herr Abele 
 which runs : 
 
 " Der Romer lobt dich auf der Leier, der Barbar singt dir mil der 
 Harpe, der Grieche mit der Cyther, der Britannier mit der crouth." 
 
 This becomes, in English : 
 
 " The Roman praises thee on the lyre, the Barbarian sings to thee 
 with the harp, the Greek with the Cyther, the Briton with the crouth." 
 
 Then we have in English, direct from the Latin 
 of Fortunatus : 
 
 " Let the Romans applaud thee with the lyre, the Barbarians with 
 the harp, the Greeks with the cithera; let the British crouth sing." 
 
 I confess I like none of these. They all appear to 
 have been made without a careful consideration of the 
 original. I take the liberty of offering another trans- 
 lation which, I imagine, is more faithful to the words, 
 construction and intent of the author. 
 
 " To thee the Roman strikes the lyre, the Barbarian the harp, 
 the Greek the Chelys, and the British Crouth sings." 
 
 At the risk of being considered a little prosy, I should 
 like to point out that the literal and fully extended 
 meaning of the mediaeval bishop who died just when 
 the Latin tongue had ceased to be a living language is 
 as follows, with those words added w r hich poetic usage 
 elided from his verse. 
 
 " The Roman the lyre strikes to thee, the Barbarian (strikes to 
 thee) the harp, the Greek (strikes to thee) the Chelys, and (to thee) 
 the British Crouth sings." 
 
 And now I have done with this valuable couplet 
 for it certainly is valuable as evidence of the existence
 
 THE BOW AND CRUTH. 17 
 
 of the bowed form of the cruth as early as the sixth 
 century in literature, and when we realise that these 
 literary and architectural witnesses testify to the preva- 
 lence of forms long prior to the periods when they 
 are themselves found in the witness box, the real 
 importance of their evidence is enormously enhanced. 
 
 A representation of the crouth trithant, or three 
 stringed crouth, played with a bow, was found in 
 a manuscript of the eleventh century in the abbey of 
 Saint Martial of Limoges. That manuscript would not 
 be a register of new inventions any more than the 
 bishop's reference to harps and lyres indicated new 
 instruments. It is, however, a far cry from the sixth 
 to the eleventh century, but the instrument, neverthe- 
 less, existed during all that time and down to a much 
 later period. The Welsh cruth only went out of use 
 with the death of John Morgan, of Newbury, in the 
 island of Anglesea, in the end of the eighteenth century. 
 He was alive in 1776. 
 
 I have also, in a previous work, indicated that 
 evidence of the cruth having been played with a bow 
 as early as the tenth century in Wales, might be found 
 in the prizes awarded to musicians by Howell Dda, a 
 king of Cambria who reigned from 904 to 948. The 
 first, second, and third prizes consisted respectively of 
 a harp, a cruth, and a bagpipe. I have thought I 
 recognised in these, representatives of the various 
 methods of producing musical sounds for purposes of 
 melody and harmony, namely, the harp by percussive 
 sounds, the cruth by bowed sounds or continuous 
 friction, and the bagpipes as representing the wood wind.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Uhc Cvuth anti Diob. 
 
 AFTER the early Cruth period of Fortunatus, 
 literature and the arts are, for nearly five hundred 
 years, almost silent about this primitive instrument. 
 But it had not disappeared during that time. On the 
 contrary, it was quite as much an item in the life of 
 Occidental nations in the eleventh century as it had been 
 in the sixth ; quite as familiar to them, and found to be 
 quite as suitable as the decorative adjunct of a monk's 
 manuscript as it had been deemed fitting to adorn a 
 poet's line. In the Latin illuminated work of the 
 eleventh century already referred to and which was 
 discovered at the abbey of Saint Martial of Limoges, 
 but which is now in the National Library of Paris, the 
 body of the three-stringed Cruth or Cruth trithant, is 
 not unlike that of a Guitar, having three strings led 
 over a bridge from one end of the instrument to the 
 other, and having no neck nor fingerboard, but a some- 
 what large oblong opening on each side of the strings, so 
 as to permit the hand to pass through from the back in 
 order to stop them. Coeval with this cruth trithant of 
 the eleventh century we find a large variety of stringed 
 instruments played with a bow, and which perhaps on 
 account of their irritating multiplicity appear to many 
 to have claims to separate classification as of distinctly 
 different origin. I have grave doubts of the necessity
 
 THE CKUTH AND VIOLS. 19 
 
 for such a classification, but the pages of a brief manual 
 like the present, which is chiefly concerned with the 
 modern violin, are hardly a suitable medium for more 
 detailed expression of those opinions. I will content 
 myself with saying here that I still harbour the 
 conviction that the cruth through the viols is the 
 progenitor of the violin, and that I have found no 
 reasons adduced in any quarter sufficiently cogent to 
 change the tendency of this belief, but that most results 
 of subsequent research have, on the contrary, tended to 
 confirm it. I have shown, I think as clearly as words 
 fairly dealt with can, that the Cruth of the sixth century 
 was played with a bow, and there is very little room for 
 doubt seeing that almost everyone is agreed that 
 the cruth of the eleventh century is a similar instru- 
 ment. And now I want my readers particularly to 
 notice the fact that for a period of five hundred 
 years there has not been found a single literary refer- 
 ence to, or artistic reminiscence of, this instrument 
 between the two dates over the whole area of the then 
 civilised world. I am not concerned at present with 
 the reason for this temporary oblivion, I am merely 
 asking an interest in it as a fact, for the purpose of 
 enquiring if such a fact as this should not teach us 
 to be chary in drawing conclusions. Should it not 
 inoculate us securely against the inroads of the fever 
 for immature classification ? I certainly think it should. 
 Here we have a popular instrument existing through a 
 period of five centuries without the slightest reference 
 to it being found in any literary or artistic monument 
 of the period intervening these two dates ! We may 
 
 C2
 
 2O THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 well pause when we are asked to believe that certain 
 other instruments were not known at all, merely because 
 no trace of them has been found in literary or artistic 
 remains. In face of a circumstance like this, I shall 
 not venture at present to follow too dogmatically any 
 particular line of classification in dealing with the 
 ancestry of the violin. I will merely point out that among 
 all the forms which have been marshalled to show their 
 kinship to the monarch of string instruments, not one 
 of the earlier species has a sound-post except the old 
 viols. That circumstance alone is, in my view, sufficient 
 to prove their direct descent from the cruth, which, 
 although it had no sound post in the sense in which 
 we now understand that term, namely a movable sound 
 post, it certainly had one in principle the long, left 
 foot of the bridge going through the left sound hole and 
 being supported on the inside of the back. 
 
 The only other instrument which has been set up 
 with any particular claims to notice as the ancestor of 
 the violin is the rebab. It, however, had no sides, and 
 although it may be called a contemporary of the cruth 
 seeing that illustrations of it have been found as far back 
 as the ninth century I am afraid its claims must be 
 lightly passed over. Its form was that of a heart-shaped 
 block of wood, hollowed out and narrowed towards the 
 handle. It had, at different times, one, two, and three 
 strings, and its name rebab supposed to be an Arabic 
 word is quoted as meaning " emitting melancholy 
 sounds." I think this derivation is a mistake. The 
 word rebab is, I fancy, an Arabic variation of the old 
 Hebrew word " lebab " the Hebrew letters r and
 
 THE CRUTH AND VIOLS. 21 
 
 being interchangable. " Lebab " signifies the heart, 
 and it appears to have had also the meaning of " hollow"- 
 if we may follow Gesenius and Principal Lee. It has, 
 further, the meaning of " hollow-hearted " an epithet 
 which admirably describes the primitive form of the 
 rebab. 
 
 The earliest known illustration of a viol the instru- 
 ment which seems to me to be clearly the only direct 
 descendant of the cruth is contained in a work entitled 
 " The First Book of Songs," and printed at Verona in 
 1491. This illustration will be found reproduced in No. 5 
 of " The Violin Monthly Magazine." The instrument 
 is a five-stringed viol having, in addition, two deep-toned 
 strings under or outside of the fingerboard and apparently 
 for a purpose similar to that which the two detached 
 strings of the Welsh Cruth serve, but which, on the 
 latter instrument, are placed on the opposite side of the 
 fingerboard. A most interesting feature of this very 
 early viol is found in the circumstance that although it 
 has no middle bouts as we now know them it possesses 
 an approximation to what we are familiar with as the 
 Brescian violin corner. I am quite sure that we cannot 
 in every case depend on the entire accuracy of these 
 early drawings, for we find in them many little details 
 which are visibly absurd, but in their main features, and 
 in their outline I think they are quite trustworthy, and 
 in this, the very earliest known illustration of such an 
 instrument, there is a clear and unmistakable approach 
 to violin form in the rounded end, the corners, the 
 position of the sound holes in relation to the corners, 
 and the position of the bridge in relation to the sound
 
 22 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 holes. There is also a tail piece to this viol attached to 
 the end of the instrument in precisely the same fashion 
 as many old specimens of tail pieces are still attached. 
 In addition there is in this drawing a most important 
 feature, which must not be overlooked. The finger- 
 board is quite a long and broad one, and displays no frets. 
 A drawing of this kind having such a striking resemblance 
 to violin form, and found in a work published in Italy 
 in 1491 long before we have any historical trace of lute 
 or viol makers anywhere, should dispel for the present all 
 the hazy speculative notions regarding the post-historic 
 Arabian origin of either the violin or the bow, for, side 
 by side with this vio*l there is the drawing of a bow as 
 like the modern violin bow in principle and in measure- 
 ment as could well be expected in so early a specimen. 
 It is a little longer than the instrument and has a 
 mechanism shown on the stick quite evidently for the 
 purpose of increasing or decreasing the tension. The 
 original bow might even have a backward curve when 
 in a relaxed condition as the hair in the drawing 
 is represented to be tight while the stick is drawn 
 straight. In view of all this, in the picture of a viol 
 coeval with the cruth, and almost identical in style 
 and stringing with known forms of the latter instrument, 
 it appears to me difficult to avoid at least one tentative 
 conclusion, namely, that the " First Book of Songs " of 
 Augurellus temp 1491, confirms in a singularly cogent 
 fashion my previously expressed opinion that the cruth 
 was the progenitor of the violin. 
 
 Subsequent to the publication of the above work, one 
 or two musical treatises came from the early printing
 
 THE CRUTH AND VIOLS. 23 
 
 presses, and in these are found illustrations of viols of 
 various shapes, until 'we come to the large work of 
 Athanasius Kircher issued from the Roman press in 1650, 
 and entitled " Musurgia Universalis." The illustrations 
 of viols in this book represent violin form as it is at the 
 present day. In every point, these illustrations conform 
 to our- present outline and model. He calls them 
 Chelys major and Chelys minor. They are four-stringed 
 instruments large and small having volute and scroll 
 precisely like our present violin. The shaping of the 
 neck and fingerboard is much the same as we have them. 
 The outline of the instruments almost exactly corresponds 
 to that of our violin. The design *of the sound holes, 
 and the placing of them are what might well be called 
 identical with our methods. We are only shown the 
 front of the viols, but the shading round the margins, 
 combined with that on the fingerboards, and the evident 
 curve of the bridges, plainly indicate the nature of the 
 arching to be broad and long. Kircher, in describing 
 these instruments, says that the larger one was commonly 
 called violone, and that it had at the utmost four strings. 
 That the stopped portion of the strings was a third part 
 of their whole length, he further adds, with regard to the 
 violone, but, in describing the lesser " Chelys," which 
 he calls a noble instrument, he says that although it has 
 at the most four strings, one can ascend as far as 
 the fourth octave. This implies a much longer finger- 
 board than is shown in the drawing, which, for the rest' 
 is remarkably accurate in its general features. The 
 only other point in which its absolute faithfulness might 
 be questioned would be the indication of the precise
 
 24 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 
 
 spot in which the bridge is placed. With us it occupies 
 a position between the notches in the sound holes, but in 
 Kircher's drawings the bridge stands just a little nearer 
 the tail piece. Whether the backs of these viols were 
 flat or arched in the same way as the fronts, is not of the 
 slightest importance. There they are, violin forms from 
 head to tail, and at the present time instruments claiming 
 to be violins are sent out into the world with similar in- 
 felicitous outlines, similar heavy-looking sound holes, 
 similar crude scrolls and volutes, and almost as stinted 
 fingerboards. What, if any, particular individual can claim 
 to have been the inventor or designer of this violin form 
 will be considered in another portion of this book, but 
 here it may be said that it can be traced in various ways 
 through many models and fanciful variety of outline back 
 to the viol of 1491, and that the violin, as we have it, 
 also actually existed long before Kircher's book was 
 printed.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (Dn (Dlb anb Jlcto Violins. 
 
 BRESCIA and Cremona are, no doubt, the chief 
 centres of interest for the intelligent fiddle 
 fancier that is, the fancier of old fiddles. If it is not so, 
 it should be so, for, although there are many other 
 places where fine fiddles have been produced in times 
 past, the great majority of these places are still producing 
 fine instruments of much the same class if people only 
 knew what to look for, and where to look for it but 
 there are no places in the world producing violins of 
 the same high character in all respects as those which 
 have come down to us from the great masters of the 
 Cremonese and Brescian schools, and here it may be, I 
 think, just as well to say a word or two about new fiddles. 
 It is, undoubtedly, a general opinion current among pro- 
 fessional and amateur players that new violins are usually 
 new in the matter of tone. That means that the tone 
 is " woody," " hard," or " metallic." These are really 
 the only terms that may properly describe the supposed 
 defect. Now, that opinion is, in regard to the vast bulk 
 of ordinary trade violins, perfectly sound, and these three 
 terms very accurately portray the kinds of tone which 
 new violins of the trade class possess. Curiously 
 enough, the same three terms will exactly describe the 
 tones of ninety out of every hundred fiddles of the old 
 type to be found in the market at the present time. I
 
 26 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 am speaking now principally of violins from twenty-five 
 and thirty pounds downward to eight, six, five, four, and 
 even fewer pounds. These sums are freely given for 
 common, old rubbish, such as are really only fit to be 
 broken up when compared with new instruments at 
 similar prices. The reader will observe that I have 
 said ninety out of every hundred a rough and ready 
 way of indicating the proportion of bad to good instru- 
 ments. And by " bad " I here mean not intrinsically 
 bad, but bad by comparison with new instruments at 
 equal prices. It is now going on for half a century since 
 I began to take an interest in violins, and few aspects 
 of the subject have caused me more surprise from time 
 to time than the apparently fixed determination of 
 people to have an old fiddle at all hazards. It is not so 
 much that they want a beautiful old violin, or an 
 exquisitely toned old violin, for these distinctions cannot 
 generally be promiscuously secured at such prices as they 
 are willing to give, but they want an old violin, because 
 they consider that its age will be a kind of guarantee of its 
 excellence. Few notions could well be more absurd than 
 this. Age guarantees nothing, except the possibility that 
 there will be a few cracks here and there in the wood 
 of the instrument, a few square inches of varnish rubbed 
 off, a fracture or two in the ribs, a scroll defective on one 
 side, or some such indication of abuse or wear, but age 
 guarantees nothing with regard to excellence of 
 manufacture or quality of tone. If the instrument has 
 originally been a good violin, with a good quality of tone, 
 age and use undoubtedly improve that quality in a 
 manner which no person scientific or unscientific has
 
 ON OLD AND NEW VIOLINS. 2J 
 
 as yet been able satisfactorily to explain. A great many 
 people have, from time to time, advanced more or less 
 plausible reasons for this important betterment of violin 
 tone through kindly treatment and the beneficent 
 influences of the lapse of years, but the best of these 
 explanations are merely careful examinations of, and 
 researches into, the mechanism of phenomena which 
 have nothing to do with the question of improvement of 
 tone, but only concern its production or existing 
 quality. If a scientist \vere to set about subjecting to 
 practical analysis the constitution of one of the eternal 
 verities, he would probably find himself involved in 
 conditions of work and experiment, which would render 
 his efforts of little use to his fellow man, and although 
 I daresay it will not be found quite so hard a task to 
 investigate the causes of improvement in violin tone, 
 I do not think it will be accomplished in a trustworthy 
 manner under present limitations. To shake together, 
 as it were in a box, a few choice selections from a 
 technical terminology and sprinkle them, with a little ink 
 and more or less taste and skill, over the surface of a 
 sheet of paper is one way of explaining this curious 
 phenomenon and a good many other much more 
 important phenomena, be it said, without offence but it 
 is never resorted to by genuinely scientific writers. It 
 is the stock-in-trade of the secondary hand, who, having 
 nothing particular to say, but, convinced in deadly earnest 
 that he must say something for his own preservation, 
 rushes with a sensation of fierce hunger in his literary 
 stomach, and clutches at the little store of some patient 
 worker who has modestly placed the results of his
 
 28 THK I'IDDLK FANCIER'S GL'IDli. 
 
 research before the world in some out-of-the-way corner 
 of the country. Lucubrations of this kind are valueless, 
 because they are generally compiled by those who only 
 in a very superficial manner understand what they are 
 writing about, and who indeed do not always appear to 
 comprehend the precise meaning of the terms they cull 
 from the works upon which their efforts are based. 
 Many felicitous instances of this kind of misplaced confi- 
 dence in what are frequently considered quite legitimate 
 authorities might be quoted, but this is hardly the place for 
 them. Now, whatever may be the cause or causes few 
 or innumerable of this improvement through age and use 
 in a violin's tone, the general reader may rest assured that 
 any instrument possessing it in a marked degree in com- 
 bination with those excellences which no\v characterise 
 the better classes of modern work, will be well looked 
 after. There is always, of course, the chance of a fine 
 old violin of the second, third, or fourth rank coming 
 within reach at a moderate price, but a " moderate 
 price " is not now determined by the figures employed, 
 but by the quality of the instrument to be sold. Forty 
 pounds may be a moderate price for one violin, and two 
 thousand pounds may be a moderate price for 
 another. But it is now one of the rarest things to find an 
 instrument of good quality and finish, having that round 
 maturity of tone so much desired, at anything like forty 
 pounds. And under that and down to five pounds, if a 
 buyer only knows how to choose, modern instruments 
 will put old ones entirely out of court. I say this 
 unhesitatingly, and with regard to almost every point in 
 which one violin can excel another. The difficulty is in
 
 ON OLD AND NEW VIOLINS. 2CJ 
 
 the choosing of them. In the matter of tone and capacity 
 there are hardly two violins alike, and one does not meet 
 a great many people who are really good judges of tone. 
 It appears to be a faculty something like tea-tasting, 
 and for which no amount of training seems to be a very 
 good substitute. Many grocers' assistants could tell you 
 a fairly sound tea by closing their hand on a small 
 quantity, and others could indicate a similar quality by 
 scanning the roll of the leaf, but standards of that kind 
 are the result of an experience which might fail any day. 
 No man during this century had better opportunities of 
 training himself in the matter of proper violin tone than 
 the late J. B. Vuillaume of Paris, and few men have spoken 
 with a calmer assumption of supreme knowledge than 
 he, and yet few I was about to say not any have been 
 so thoroughly hoaxed on this subject as he was. He 
 made splendid violins with a most excellent quality of tone 
 in a great many instances, but he did not know appar- 
 ently although he professed to know the differences 
 when he heard them. My advice to all readers of this Guide 
 who think of laying out five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or even 
 twenty-five and thirty pounds on a violin, is to purchase a 
 sound, new instrument unless, of course, they have some 
 exceptionally rare opportunity of getting one of the finer 
 old ones at the same money a chance which is not 
 likely to occur. And if they have no knowledge them- 
 selves of what a violin tone should be, let them seek 
 the services of someone who does know.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Classkal anb -post-classical Violin 
 
 reader will find the following alphabetical 
 JL arrangement easy of reference. He will be able 
 to turn at once to the name of the maker, and find 
 there explained such points of his work as I have 
 found it possible to differentiate. There is a very 
 large number about whom little or nothing can be said, 
 and these have been excluded from this list, and given 
 in one later on, but the latest particulars are given in all 
 cases where any particulars were available. I have ex- 
 cluded certain names which are found in tickets in old 
 violins sold at the present day, because in the mean- 
 time, I am inclined to the belief that they are absurd 
 concoctions of violin dealers and others. Such names 
 are Raccomodes, Revisto, Renisto, etc. I have seen 
 Renisto gravely described as a pupil of Carlo Bergonzi. 
 To me all these names appear to be concoctions 
 suggested in the following fashion. Italian makers, 
 when they repaired a violin, have occasionally put in a 
 ticket intimating that circumstance as follows, generally 
 in handwriting, but now and again printed, " Revisto 
 da me," followed by the repairer's name. This means 
 in our idiom, " overhauled by me," literally, " revised 
 by me." I have seen a ticket of Carlo Bergonzi's 
 which is, I think, reproduced somewhere containing 
 this expression, " Revisto da me Carlo Bergonzi."
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKKKS. 31 
 
 Sometimes these inscriptions are not very legible, and 
 1 daresay an enterprising man coming across one of 
 the half erased tickets, and not, perhaps, acquainted 
 with Italian, might readily think Revisto was a maker's 
 name and that da meant, in this case, " from " and not 
 " by." I could conceive him, then, in the interests of 
 his art, getting a few tickets printed to put into violins 
 which he was absolutely certain were made by the same 
 hand. Having accomplished this, these tickets might, 
 in their turn, become partially illegible, and some other 
 dealer might very readily misread v for n, and feel that 
 he also had a duty to perform to society, and hence we 
 have Renisto. At any rate this is my present view with 
 regard to these names, but, of course, I am quite open 
 to change it on proper evidence being adduced that 
 persons bearing them, and who were fiddle makers, 
 really existed. There are many queer names in the 
 world. I have the same opinion with regard to 
 " Raccomodes," which appears to be a corruption of 
 the French participle raccommode, and which signifies 
 " repaired." 
 
 Acevo and Sapino have long been suspected as 
 fabricated names, and I have not included them either. 
 They were at one time supposed to have been pupils of 
 Cappa. The first name appears to be a corruption of 
 acero which, in Italian, means maple, and sapino means 
 pine, the two woods of which a violin is generally made. 
 Of course we have, in this country, both these names, 
 the owners of which both work in wood, the one in 
 fiddles, the other in furniture, but there is an air of 
 mystery in addition attached to Acevo and Sapino
 
 32 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 which has never been dispelled, and there seems to be 
 little ground for supposing them to be the names of 
 actual makers. 
 
 ACTON, W. J. Contemporary. One of our good 
 native makers. Violins. 
 
 AIRETON, E., London, 17271807. A very good 
 maker who made for Peter Wamsley and afterwards 
 for himself in Piccadilly. Model Amati. 
 
 ALBANI, M., Botzen, 1621 1673. -^ n ^ Tyrolese 
 maker. Good quality, but tubby Stainer model. 
 
 ALBANI, M., Botzen, 1650 1712. Son of preceeding 
 maker. Totally different style of work from that of his 
 father. In some cases it is really of a very high class, 
 and might very readily be mistaken for Cremonese work. 
 Beautifully figured wood. 
 
 ALBANI, M., Gratz. I know nothing of this maker. 
 
 ALBANI, P., Cremona, 1650 1670. I know nothing 
 of this maker. He is supposed to have been a pupil of 
 Nicolas Amati, and to have made instruments of that 
 model and of good workmanship. 
 
 ALDRIC, Paris, 1792 1840. Some of the work of 
 this maker calls for the highest praise. He made 
 beautiful copies of Stradivari, not only in model and 
 arching, but in some cases succeeded in getting the 
 Cremonese quality of tone to quite a marvellous degree. 
 His varnish is sometimes very spiritless and common- 
 looking, but one might say it is his only defect. The 
 heads of his violins are strong and massive-looking, and 
 finely designed. The grain of the belly is sometimes 
 irregular in width, which in some people's eyes indicates 
 carelessness in selection, but the tone tells a different
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 33 
 
 tale. His sound holes are prettily cut, but just a little 
 pot-bellied. His arching is very fine, and his ribs of a 
 full height. His finest varnish is of a dark reddish 
 brown, and a perfect specimen of this maker's work- 
 might be played along with many a fine Stradivari and 
 not suffer much by the comparison. 
 
 ALLETSEE, PAUL, Munich, 1726 1735. A very artistic 
 and in some respects chiefly in matters of design an 
 original worker. Sometimes has beautifully grained 
 wood, such as even A. and H. Amati might have been 
 proud of. Made large instruments mostly. Tickets 
 generally in German letters " Paulus Alletsee Geigen- 
 macher in Munchen." 
 
 AMATI, ANDREA, Cremona, was the founder of this 
 family of violin makers. The date of his birth is not 
 known. It is conjectured that he was married to his 
 first wife in 1554, and that his sons Antonio and 
 Hieronymus were born in 1555 and 1556, respectively. 
 By this marriage he had also a daughter, Valeria, who 
 was herself married for the first time on 3rd May, 1587. 
 This is the earliest fixed date regarding the Amati family 
 that has been ascertained from documentary evidence. 
 The father, Andrea, was married a second time in 1609, 
 and of this union was born another daughter, Candida, 
 who did not survive a month. Of the work of Andreas it 
 is only possible to speak in very limited fashion. I have 
 only seen two specimens \vhich could claim to be from 
 his hand. One was the famous " King Andreas Amati " 
 'cello which, it is said, was presented by Pope Pius to 
 Charles IX. It is a magnificently decorated instrument 
 with somewhat narrow but finely finished margins, and
 
 34 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 having beautiful golden-brown varnish over wood of which 
 it is not very easy to see the quality, or to say anything 
 that could not be said of its very clever copy by John 
 Betts. The purfling certainly is of exquisite quality, 
 but there does not appear to have been the same care in 
 the selection of wood as makers displayed later on. 
 The second was another of the same suite, but a violin, 
 the outline of which did not strike me as being particu- 
 larly good. Instruments by this maker are scarcely 
 known, and are chiefly of antiquarian interest. 
 
 AMATI, A. and H., Cremona. Antonius and Hieronymus 
 Amati were the sons of Andreas, and are supposed to 
 have been born in 1555 and 1556 respectively. Hierony- 
 mus died on the 2nd November, 1630, and there is no 
 trace of his brother Antonius either having lived or died. 
 There is an Antonius mentioned in the documents of 
 another parish in Cremona as having died in 1595, but 
 those who have carried out the researches believe that 
 he was only distantly related to the fiddle family. The 
 instruments of this firm are of the highest merit in their 
 class. They are finished in the most perfect manner, and 
 covered with varnish passing from a warm maple brown 
 to a beautiful golden brown with a tinge of red. The 
 wood selected is of the finest character, and the sizes 
 of the instruments are generally small. The arching is 
 somewhat high, but finely and gracefully carried 
 out, and has, of course, nothing of the grotesque 
 and tubby character displayed in imitations. All 
 the work is of a refined and delicate nature, and 
 harmonises well with the choice of wood, which may be 
 described as fine, and delicate too. I have seen some
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 35 
 
 of this firm's wood of a nice open grain, but it is usually 
 close. Many of their two-piece backs are beautifully 
 matched, and have a clearly defined figure. The sound 
 holes are graceful, and well placed, and have a slightly 
 peculiar look which has given rise to certain extremely 
 odd effects in the imitations. The inner side of each 
 sound hole being, to a certain extent, on the rise of the 
 long and graceful arch, these have a slightly misleading 
 appearance given to them, as if they were in fact, just a 
 little knockkneed, so to speak. The result of this mis- 
 apprehension is that in so cutting them in many of even 
 the best imitations, the grossly exaggerated arch of the 
 copies gives to these sound holes quite a ludicrous 
 appearance in the eyes of a connoisseur, although it 
 might not be so easily observed by anyone not acquainted 
 with the originals. Some of their work, like that of 
 Andreas Amati, was painted and gilded, and otherwise 
 decorated or abused as many might not think it 
 unseemly to say. The tone of the A. and H. Amati 
 violins is generally exceedingly rich and sweet, although 
 it is not usually very powerful. 
 
 AMATI, NICOLAS, Cremona. This maker was the 
 great artist of the family. He was a son of the 
 Hieronymus Amati previously mentioned, by his second 
 wife, Madonna Laura Lazzarini, who died of the plague 
 some six days before her husband, on the ayth October, 
 1630. Nicolas was the fifth child of the second union, 
 his brothers and sisters by the two marriages numbering 
 in all thirteen. He was born on the 3rd December, 1596, 
 and died on the i2th April, 1684, being buried in the 
 Carmelite Church of Saint Imerio. His work is very 
 
 D2
 
 36 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 rare, although one would not readily suppose so from the 
 number of instruments claiming to be original specimens 
 from his hands. He somewhat flattened the model of 
 his father's firm, and brought the arching nearer to the 
 margins. Indeed I have seen late specimens Q his work 
 in which the contour of the arch might almost be described 
 as quite rounded. In work again dating forty years 
 before his death, the arch is quite high, but all his work 
 is, of course, fine. That goes without saying. One 
 peculiar characteristic of his early period may be seen 
 in the very pronounced corners. They are so fully 
 developed that they are not unlike a dog's nose. Later, 
 that peculiarity almost disappears. At any rate, it 
 ceases to be so strongly in evidence. The figure of his 
 wood, both back and ribs, is generally very full. The 
 sound holes are narrow in early work, and in later a 
 little wider. His varnish is a beautiful golden yellow, 
 through brown, to golden red. The model of a 
 Nicolas Amati of the grand pattern has a distinctly solid 
 look about it. The width of the upper portion of the 
 violin is much nearer that of the lower portion than in 
 the work of his predecessors in the firm, namely, A. and 
 H. Their violins have a more tender, less robust look, 
 chiefly because of this difference between the width of 
 the upper and lower portions. The sound holes that 
 is, the main stems of their design in a fine specimen 
 appear as if infinitesimally drawn toward each other at 
 the lower half of the stems. They are, in reality almost 
 parallel, and that delusive appearance is the will o' the 
 wisp which leads copyists astray. Nicolas Amati was 
 married on 23rd May, 1645, to Lucrezia Pagliari, who
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 37 
 
 was his junior by thirteen years. They had nine children, 
 of whom only one followed the father's calling. Among 
 the pupils who resided in the house of Nicolas Amati,. 
 as is evidenced by extracts from the parish records, 
 may be mentioned, in 1641 Andrea Guarnieri, fifteen 
 years old. Five years afterwards, Andrea Guarnieri is 
 not mentioned. Then, in 1653 ne reappears, and is 
 described as being then married, and next year dis- 
 appears for good from the house of his master. 
 
 AMATI, HIERONYMUS, Cremona. Born 26th February, 
 1649, died 2ist February, 1740. This was the only 
 member of Nicholas Amati's family who followed the 
 father's calling. He appears to have done so chiefly as 
 a dealer, for the styles of the instruments bearing his 
 name are of such remarkably varied character as to 
 leave one strongly doubting that they were all made by 
 one man. 
 
 AMBROSI, P., Brescia, Rome, 1730. Reputedly some- 
 what common work. 
 
 ANSELMO, P., Cremona and Venice, 1701. Very 
 little known about him. Described as good work. 
 
 ASSALONE, G., Rome, 17 . Poor work. 
 
 AUBRY, Paris, 1840. A nephew of Aldric, already 
 referred to, and who succeeded to his uncle's business, 
 but not to his skill or fame. 
 
 AUDINOT, NICOLAS, Paris. An excellent French 
 maker, born in Mirecourt in 1842, and trained by his 
 father, who was established there. He was afterwards 
 employed by Sebastien Vuillaume (who w r as a nephew 
 of the great J. B. Vuillaume) and was in business in 
 Paris. His instruments are of great merit.
 
 38 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 AUGIERE. A very good Parisian maker, established 
 about 1830. 
 
 BAGATELLA, ANTONIO, Padua, 1786. Chiefly known 
 as the author of a work on violins which is of great 
 interest even yet. He was a fine repairer of old violins, 
 and was employed by Tartini. 
 
 BALESTRIERI, T., Cremona and Mantua, 1720 1772. 
 A very good maker indeed. Some of his work is re- 
 markably like that of Stradivari in almost all points, 
 except finish. Powerful and good quality of tone. 
 
 BALESTRIERI, P., Cremona. Brother of preceeding. 
 Poor work. 
 
 BARNIA, FIDELE, Venice, 1760. A Milanese trained 
 maker, who was established in Venice. Fairly good, 
 neat work, yellow varnish. 
 
 BANKS, BENJAMIN, Salisbury, 1727 1795. One of 
 our finest English makers. Quite equal in style, finish, 
 and tone to many of the fine Italian makers. His margins 
 are splendid. His edges beautifully rounded. His 
 corners full, and of true Nicolas Amati early style. His 
 ' arching is exquisite, and the tone of his violins fine and 
 ringing. The grain of the wood is generally remarkably 
 equal, and of medium width. His varnish is decidedly 
 rich, of a beautiful purplish cherry colour, and fairly 
 transparent. His bigger instruments are also superb, 
 and grand in tone. 
 
 BELOSIO, ANSELMO, Venice, 1720 1780. A pupil of 
 Santo Serafino, but a mediocre worker. Dull, thicker 
 varnish than his master's. 
 
 BARRETT, J. London, 1714 1725. A copyist of 
 Stainer whose model he has much exaggerated, like
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 39 
 
 dozens of other makers who have tried it. It may 
 indeed be said that the bulk of Stainer copies are so 
 exaggerated as not to merit the title of Stainer copies 
 at all. They are caricatures. Barrett's work is, 
 however, by no means bad. His tone is of fairly good 
 quality with a certain amount of breadth in it. His 
 sound holes are quaint looking the lower turn having 
 a long sweep. Varnish a warmish yellow. Edges 
 round ; purfling not particularly good. 
 
 BERGONZI, CARLO, Cremona, 1716 1747. This 
 maker is one of the finest of the Cremonese artists. 
 A member in fact, of the quartet par excellence, Amati> 
 Stradivari, Guarnieri, Bergonzi. It is not known 
 yet when he was born, but he began working 
 on his own account in the year first mentioned, and died 
 in 1747. He was a pupil of Stradivari when the latter 
 was doing his finest work, as seems to be borne out by 
 the grand outline of Carlo's own work, which is akin to 
 the best of Stradivari, and of Nicolas Amati. The 
 sound holes are very pure, and sometimes approach the 
 style of Nicolas Amati, except that they bend slightly 
 outwards at the lower turn. The model is grand, 
 although his violins are sometimes small, being slightly 
 under fourteen inches. There is that approach towards 
 equality between the upper and lower portions of the 
 instrument which gives that magnificent appearance to 
 what is called the " grand " pattern of both Stradivari 
 and Nicolas Amati. His arching is flat, and his varnish 
 of rich quality, and exceedingly fine in colour. In many 
 of his violins it is of a beautiful, rich, transparent brown 
 on reddish orange, and is occasionally rather thickly laid
 
 40 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 on. In some instruments it has crackled all over, not 
 unlike the manner of the famous Vernis Martin on some 
 old French pieces of furniture. His scroll is very fine. 
 There is a marked peculiarity about the ear, or eye, 
 as it is sometimes called. More properly it would be 
 the boss of the volute, or terminal stem, which shows 
 itself on each side sticking out at the last turn. This 
 last turn comes suddenly out, although the immediately 
 previous turn is almost parallel to the vertical axis of' 
 the volute viewed from the back. The tone of his 
 instruments is generally splendidly full, broad, smooth, 
 and magnificently equal. 
 
 BERGONZI, M. A., Cremona, 1720 1760. This maker 
 was a son of Carlo. His work is not equal, by many 
 degrees, to that of his father, but that is not saying a 
 very great deal against him, for his father, as has been 
 said, was one of the greatest of the Cremonese. 
 Michael Angelo Bergonzi's style is, however, heavy, and 
 perhaps many fastidious judges would not appreciate 
 him on that account, but he employed good wood, both 
 in back and front, and plenty of it. His work is solid 
 and massive, and not so artistically finished, but there 
 is no doubt about the quality of his tone being of a high 
 character. His sound holes are after his father's style, 
 but longer of very fair design, but slightly unequal. 
 Purfling not particularly good, but his varnish is of good 
 quality. His outline is not so good as his father's, and 
 his middle bouts are set in much deeper, but with all that 
 there is a sense of strength and individuality about his 
 work which, when combined with the quality of his tone, 
 makes a fine specimen of his something to be cherished.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 4! 
 
 BERGONZI, NICOLAUS, Cremona, 1739 1765. Son of 
 Michael Angelo Bergonzi, made better finished instru- 
 ments than his father, and much after same model, but 
 worse varnish, and as far as I have been able to judge, 
 I do not like them so well. 
 
 BERGONZI, ZOSIMO, Cremona, 1765. Another son of 
 Michael Angelo, made somewhat highly arched instru- 
 ments for a Bergonzi, but having a pretty enough tone. 
 
 BASSOT, JOSEPH, Paris, from about 1788. This is 
 reckoned a good French maker. Anything I have seen 
 ^of his did not strike me as being of very high class, 
 but it was of sound construction and the tone of good 
 quality. Model somewhat high and boxy. Varnish 
 ordinary. 
 
 BERNARDEL, SEBASTIEN PHILLIPS, Paris. Born at 
 Mirecourt in 1802. He learned violin making there and 
 went to Paris, where he got employment from the famous 
 Nicolas Lupot at first, and afterwards from Charles 
 Fran9ois Gand, another famous Parisian maker. He is 
 called in the trade Bernardel pere, and many of his 
 violins are of a class reckoned only inferior to Lupot. 
 Bernardel indeed made instruments very like those of 
 his first employer, as was to be expected. They are 
 highly esteemed in France, but not much appreciated 
 here. He retired from business in 1866, and died on 
 6th August, 1870. Previous to his retirement, his two 
 sons were taken into the business, and the firm became 
 Bernardel and Sons. After his retirement in 1866, the 
 late Eugene Gand became a partner of the two 
 brothers, and the firm was changed to Gand and 
 Bernardel Bros.
 
 42 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 BETTS, JOHN, London. He was born at Stamford 
 Lincolnshire, in 1755, and died in 1823. This maker 
 and dealer has become famous chiefly through two things, 
 the first being his copy of the King Andreas Amati 'Cello 
 before referred to. This copy is certainly a fine pro- 
 duction, which, besides showing paint in what was 
 apparently the primitive abundance, also shows the 
 wood, a very great advantage over the original, which is 
 rather ancient now, and dingy-looking. The second 
 circumstance was that singularly fortunate, and most 
 exceptionally lucky windfall as it might be named in 
 his direction of the now famous " Betts Strad," one of 
 the handsomest of Stradivari violins. Nothing definite 
 appears to be known about the date of this transaction, 
 but it occurred probably between seventy and eighty 
 years ago. Some person sold a violin over the counter 
 to one of the Messrs. Betts, in their shop at the Royal 
 Exchange No. 2 one of the shops, probably, which at 
 present face the front of the Bank of England. The 
 price asked, or agreed upon, for the instrument was 
 twenty shillings, the person selling it, not having, of 
 course, the slightest idea of its value. Mr. Betts, how- 
 ever, knew what it was, and bought it, keeping it beside 
 him for years, and declining very handsome offers of as 
 much as five hundred guineas for it. The story is a 
 striking one, but it is not without its parallel, even in 
 recent times. John and Arthur Betts are said to have 
 made a copy of this Stradivari. These were descendants 
 of the original John, who does not seem to have been a 
 prolific violin maker. This copy has very handsome 
 wood in the back, as it ought to have, in order to match
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 43 
 
 its original, but the sound holes appear rather weak, and 
 the volute of the scroll just a little topheavy. Anything 
 I have seen of the original John Betts was good, solid, 
 square work, without any great display of taste, and 
 with rather bad sound holes. There was an Edward 
 Betts, who did better work as far as concerns appearance. 
 They were both pupils of Richard Duke, but they 
 chiefly employed other people to make for them, and, as 
 far as I can judge, a considerable quantity of rubbish 
 passed through their shop along with a great deal that 
 was good, and much that was splendid, and which will 
 be referred to under the actual makers. 
 
 BOQUAY, J., Paris, 1705 1735. This maker was 
 famous in his day, and many people like him yet. His 
 model is high, and his varnish is not bad, of a reddish 
 brown, tending to yellow. I do not think much of the tone. 
 
 BACHMANN, C. L., Berlin. Born 1716. Died 1800. 
 One of the best German copyists in Amati and Stainer 
 models. He was a professional musician at the 
 Prussian court, a distinguished connoisseur of his time 
 and the inventor of the system of screwing the double 
 bass pegs, which led to the adoption of machine heads. 
 His instruments are soundly made, and covered with a 
 kind of oil varnish. 
 
 BRETON, F. " Brevete de S. A. R. Me La Duchesse 
 D'Angouleme a Mirecourt," so runs the ticket of this 
 maker who seems to have worked in Mirecourt from 
 about 1800 to 1830, or later. His instruments frequently 
 have a light brownish yellow varnish, not unpleasant 
 to look at, though of rather common type, and such as 
 one might expect to see on a good class of trade instru-
 
 44 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 ment. The tone is not without breadth, and is, to a 
 certain degree, sympathetic. The arching is flat, and 
 altogether the work is by no means bad, but is what 
 people think common-looking, no fault at all in a good 
 violin. 
 
 BRIGGS, JAMES W., Leeds. Contemporary. A pupil 
 of William Tarr of Manchester. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 COLLINGWOOD, JOSEPH, London, 1760. A fine old 
 English maker of considerable originality. Fine wood, 
 and pleasing, light yellow varnish. His sound holes are 
 well designed, but very wide Amati-Stainer model, with 
 remarkably good quality of tone. 
 
 CAMILLUS, CAMILLI, Mantua, about 1740. A maker 
 who copied Stradivari to a certain extent, and employed 
 good wood and fairly good varnish. 
 
 CAPPA, JOFFRIDUS, Saluzzo. This was a Piedmontese 
 maker, about whom a good deal has been written without 
 much foundation. Fetis had authoritatively said that he 
 was born in Cremona, and had been a pupil of A. and 
 H. Amati, giving other apparently well ascertained 
 particulars regarding him which very naturally led 
 people to suppose that he had acquired them in some 
 specifically authentic fashion. An Italian connoisseur 
 of much distinction also took some trouble to find out a 
 little about this maker, but failed. Conjecture appears 
 to have been very busy with him and his work. It now 
 seems that he was at work in Saluzzo and in Turin 
 during the first half of the seventeenth century, and this 
 information is derived solely from tickets found in 
 instruments claiming to be by him. Anything that I
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 45 
 
 have seen which I could be persuaded to admit might 
 possibly belong to the period in which he is supposed to 
 have lived, although of fairly good style, showed poor 
 care in the wood, a generally tubby look, and rather 
 tasteless sound holes. Other examples equally claimant 
 for the honour of his parentage showed discrepancies in 
 style, varnish, model, and everything else, which were so 
 palpably absurd, that I think him one of those dummies 
 in regard to whom the fiddle-fancier should be particularly 
 cautious. There are some very fine instruments bearing 
 this name, whether they are by Cappa or not. He had 
 sons who followed the business, but whose work is of 
 little importance. 
 
 CARCASSI, LORENZO and TOMASSO, Florence, 1738 
 1758. I have seen a number of instruments professing to 
 be by these makers. A few of them were fairly good. 
 This is a name which is, unfortunately, largely used to 
 put into any kind of absurd rubbish which it is thought 
 may be got rid of in a sale room. 
 
 CASTAGNERI, GIAN PAOLO. An Italian maker who 
 settled in Paris, and whose violins appear to be remark- 
 ably rare and of mediocre quality to boot. 
 
 CASTAGNERI, ANDREA, Paris, 1735 1741. This maker 
 was a son of above, and made somewhat better instru- 
 ments than his father. The dates given are those found 
 on two of his instruments. 
 
 CASTRO, Venice, 1680-7-1720. Poor work. 
 
 CASTELLO, PAOLO, Genoa, 1750. Poor work. 
 
 CERUTI, GIOVAMBATISTA, Cremona, 1755 1817. This 
 maker is, in Italy, supposed to have been a pupil 
 of Storioni, on what ground it is difficult to guess. He
 
 46 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 succeeded to Storioni's business in 1790, or, at least, 
 removed into the premises previously occupied by 
 Storioni at No. 3, Contrada Coltellai, near the square of 
 Saint Domenic. Perhaps this circumstance may have 
 given rise to the notion, for there is very little in common 
 between Ceruti and Storioni. The instruments of Ceruti 
 are very good, chiefly of the Amati model, but having a 
 tone quite French in style. The varnish is of a soft and 
 elastic character, but not particularly spirited in appear- 
 ance, and not very transparent. It is frequently of a 
 dull, cherry colour, rather scumbly. Guiseppe and 
 Enrico were son and grandson of Giovambatista, and 
 carried on the traditions of the house with credit. 
 Enrico, the last of the Cerutis, died on 2Oth October, 
 1883 his father, Guiseppe, having predeceased him in 
 1860 and thus the direct line of communication which 
 had subsisted between makers of modern times, and the 
 last of the more important Cremonese artistes was 
 severed, as Giovambatista was the depository, through 
 Storioni, of much of the traditionary lore regarding the 
 greatest of the Cremonese School. As the irresponsible 
 talk to which that kind of information gives rise has 
 something to do with the confusion of knowledge 
 regarding the subject, the drying up of such a stream of 
 gossip is not so much to be regretted as the disappearance 
 of the firm of Ceruti itself from the contemporary annals 
 of fiddle lore. 
 
 CHANOT, FRANCIS. Born at Mirecourt, 1788. Died 
 at Rochefort, 1828. He was a naval engineer, and a 
 scientist who distinguished himself greatly in the study 
 of violin acoustics and construction. He invented
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 47 
 
 a new violin which did not succeed permanently, 
 although it made a considerable sensation at the time. 
 He continued to make and sell specimens of it for 
 about seven years from 1817. They differed almost 
 wholly from the classical shape and in their principles 
 of construction, but are now interesting in many ways. 
 Guitar-shaped, they had no protruding margins, no 
 blocks ; back and front were in single pieces, sound 
 holes parallel, bass bar in the centre, and so on. A 
 specimen was tested by a commission of distinguished 
 musicians, and pronounced superior to the best known 
 Stradivaris. 
 
 CHANOT, GEORGE. Brother of preceeding, was born 
 at Mirecourt in 1801. Learnt violin-making there and 
 went to Paris in 1819. Became one of the finest makers 
 of his time, and worked first for his brother, then on 
 the regular fiddle with Clement, a Paris maker. Then 
 in 1821, with Gand for two years. In 1823 he began on 
 his own account, and continued until 1872, when he 
 retired. He was reputed the finest connoisseur in 
 Europe, and his instruments have a very high reputa- 
 tion. He died in January, 1883. His son, George, learnt 
 his business with his father in Paris, and afterwards 
 came to London, where he has been a maker and dealer 
 for upwards of forty years. One of the finest modern 
 copies of Joseph Guarnerius that I have seen as far as 
 outward look and wood goes was made by this latter 
 George, who has also sons (F. and G. A.), worthily 
 carrying on the family name and reputation in London 
 and Manchester. 
 
 COMBLE, AMBROISE DE, Tournay, 1720 1755. This
 
 48 THE F1DDLH FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 maker has undoubtedly high claims to acknowledg- 
 ment. He has the reputation of having been actually 
 at Cremona under Stradivari. His work is of a very 
 high character. The outline of his larger instruments is 
 extremely beautiful, and bears quite recognisable 
 evidence of having been guided by a Stradivari motif, 
 but his sound holes are cut much lower than in Stradivari 
 instruments, which is a curious circumstance in a maker 
 who came so directly under the influence of the great 
 Cremonese. Oddly enough, they do not detract much 
 from the fine feeling of the ensemble. There is not 
 that sense of entire compactness with which a Stradivari 
 'cello inspires one, but that is all. De Comble's scrolls 
 are very beautiful specimens of sculpture. Varnish a 
 fine brownish red, pretty closely resembling Italian. 
 
 COMINS, JOHN, London, about 1800. A very good 
 worker who, it is said, was a pupil of Forster. Made 
 instruments pretty deep in the ribs. Light yellow-brown 
 varnish. Fine wood. 
 
 CONTRERAS, JOSEPH, Madrid, 1745. Very good style 
 and work. Not very many specimens about. 
 
 CROSS, NATHANIEL, London, 1700 1750. I cannot 
 say that I greatly admire this maker's work. Somewhat 
 large and deepsided, his violins have rather tasteless 
 sound holes, very short corners, and common outline. 
 They are covered with a light yellow varnish. He 
 worked in conjunction with Barak Norman. His 
 scrolls are certainly fine. 
 
 DERAZEY, H., Mirecourt. From about 1820. A good 
 copier of J. B. Vuillaume in outward appearance, 
 especially in the figures of the backs of some of his
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKKRS. 49 
 
 violins. The varnish on the back is a little crackly 
 sometimes, more like that of the elder Gand than of 
 Vuillaume. His scrolls are also not unlike those of Gand 
 pere, but not nearly so powerful looking, and not so wide 
 at the bottom. His varnish is a red, slightly inclining to 
 purple. Tone fairly good, but decidedly nasal. 
 
 DUKE, RICHARD, London, 1754 1780. This is a 
 magnificent maker. His outline is very pure Amati or 
 Stainer. The sound holes in the Stainer models are, 
 curiously enough, not particularly fine, but those in 
 Amati copies are better. The latter are cut a little 
 narrower at the top than at the bottom turn, which 
 gives them a slightly quaint look. His scrolls are very 
 fine, and the tone of his instruments is of a most exquisite 
 character. I consider that he is quite entitled to w r alk 
 in line with the Italians of importance in everything 
 except his varnish, and that chiefly excepted with regard 
 to its colour, but not in regard to its pate. It is of a 
 beautiful soft, but dull brown, with little or no life in it. 
 Richard Duke violins are, it hardly need be said to- 
 experienced fanciers, very rare indeed. 
 
 DODD, THOMAS, London, 1786 1823. This was a 
 clever man who did not make violins himself, like so 
 many others, about his time. He employed first-class 
 men to deliver them to him unvarnished. Among these 
 workers were such as Bernard Fendt and John Lott, 
 both men of the highest skill. Dodd varnished the 
 instruments himself. It is a nice oil varnish, but nothing 
 to set the temse on fire. The instruments, such at 
 least as were made by Fendt, are splendid examples of 
 violin making. Dodd professed to be " the only
 
 50 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 possessor of the recipe for preparing the original Cremona 
 varnish." This statement appears on his tickets, and 
 may be quite true, but he certainly never seems to have 
 used the recipe. 
 
 DUIFFOPRUGCAR, CASPAR, Bologna, Paris, Lyons, 
 1510 1540. This is an early lute and viol maker, who, 
 having once got into books about violins, seems destined 
 never to get out of them. Every now and again some 
 person starts the discussion as to whether or not he 
 made violins. The latest fight was in May, 1891, in a 
 Leipsic paper, where a writer took the trouble to review 
 the whole question, because a Mr. F. Niderheitmann, 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, believes that he has discovered three 
 violins by this splendid old viol maker, although every- 
 one to whom he has shown them, and who professes to 
 know anything about the subject, has told him that 
 they are modern French reproductions that is, modern 
 in the sense that they are probably some of J. B. 
 Vuillaume's clever fac-similes as I suppose they 
 should be called. The whole question has been threshed 
 out over again, and the fever of battle has spread 
 to New York, where an esteemed correspondent of my 
 own has taken the trouble to translate the article and 
 reproduce it in the form of a small brochure of seven 
 or eight pages, "Was Caspar Duiffoprugcar really the 
 First Violin Maker ? " I never saw any violins by the 
 great Bolognese. 
 
 EBERLE, J. U., Prague. About 1750 1759. A 
 clever maker of the old style ; fine finish, but thin, poor 
 quality of tone. High model and good quality of 
 varnish, but somewhat dark in colour. All the Eberles
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 5! 
 
 there were several of them appear to have been of 
 a highly artistic turn. Such work of theirs as I have 
 seen was of a refined and decorative style. 
 
 ERNST, FRANK ANTHONY. Born in Bohemia, was a 
 musician, writer and violin maker who did good service 
 to the art in Germany by teaching Jacob Augustus 
 Otto how to make instruments. I have not seen any 
 by either master or pupil. Ernst began business in 
 Gotha about 1778 as a musician at Court, and having 
 a little leisure he turned his attention to making violins 
 and succeeded, as is reported, in producing very 
 good ones. 
 
 FENT, Paris, 1763 1780. This maker has the 
 reputation of being one of the highest class in France 
 of his day. I have never been able to understand why 
 his violins have not ranked above those of any French 
 maker, unless the circumstance that he has been so 
 unfortunate in the matter of worms has told against 
 him, and, perhaps, in addition, the darkening down of 
 his varnish. In all other respects his work is of the 
 finest. His model was Stradivari. He spelt his name 
 " Fent " in his tickets and his calling " lutier." 
 
 FENDT, BERNHARD. This maker was, it is supposed, 
 a nephew of the Paris Fent. He was born at Inns- 
 bruck in 1756 and died in London in 1832. His name 
 is spelt differently from that of his Parisian relative, 
 who was not particularly good at spelling either in his 
 own or in his adopted language, as may be seen by 
 reference to last article. Bernhard learnt violin making 
 with this uncle in Paris, and at the time of the French 
 Revolution came to London, where he found employ- 
 
 E2
 
 52 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 ment with Thomas Dodd already mentioned. His 
 instruments are beautiful specimens of his art, having 
 a tone which is exquisite in quality and may quite 
 truthfully be described as Cremonese in that respect. 
 The varnish which Dodd put on, although not exactly 
 what he professes it to be, is a very fine varnish, and 
 might readily mislead people who have not seen 
 examples of Cremonese. Bernhard Fendt also worked 
 for John Betts. 
 
 FENDT, BERNARD SIMON, London. Born in 1800, 
 died 1851. He was a son of the previous maker. He 
 spells " Bernard," as will be observed, without the 
 letter " h." Like his father, he was a splendid maker, 
 and has produced work which will rank with some of 
 the finest Italian. Indeed, in the prime matter of tone, 
 his earlier instruments are now almost quite in line with 
 the best of the Italians for quality. There is a rich 
 roundness on all the strings which is rarely found in any 
 instruments other than Cremonese. His work is of fine 
 Italian style, having a brilliant orange varnish, spacious 
 margins, full and handsome sides, elegant arching, and 
 very good and neat purfling, while his scrolls are 
 exceedingly fine. Altogether his earlier instruments 
 are splendid productions. He also made a number of 
 excellent double basses and 'cellos, and in 1851 he 
 displayed at the great International Exhibition in 
 London a quartet consisting of violin, viola, violoncello 
 and double bass, which, in the opinion of almost every 
 competent judge in the country, surpassed anything 
 exhibited in that show. The most competent judges 
 did not, however, happen to be the jury on that occa-
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 53 
 
 sion, and although B. S. Fendt got a prize medal, the 
 one which he should have had the grand council medal 
 went to J. B. Vuillaume, of Paris. The jury on the 
 violins in the 1851 Exhibition consisted of Sir H. R. 
 Bishop, Sigismund Thalberg, W. Sterndale Bennett, 
 Hector Berlioz, J. R. Black, Chevalier Neukomm, 
 Cipriani Potter, Dr. Schafthauk, Sir George Smart and 
 Professor Henry Wylde. They were assisted by the 
 Rev. W. Cazalet, James Stewart and William Telford. 
 Only one of these gentlemen could even play the violin 
 when he was a young man, namely, Sir George Smart. 
 The others were general musicians, pianists and organ- 
 ists distinguished, of course, in high degree, but who 
 knew little more about the question of fiddles than the 
 man in the moon. One was a pianoforte maker, another 
 an organ builder, a third a geologist and metallurgist, 
 a fourth a physician, a fifth a clergyman who happened 
 to be superintendent of the Royal Academy, and the 
 rest were professors there, or elsewhere, of the piano 
 and organ. The very same gentlemen, in fact, who 
 awarded prize medals to successful competitors in barrel 
 organs or big drums distributed the honours for the 
 most wonderful instrument in the world, and it is not, 
 therefore, surprising that the object rewarded in this 
 case was, in the words of Sir Henry Bishop, " New 
 modes of making violins in such a manner that they are 
 matured and perfected immediately on the completion 
 of the manufacture, thus avoiding the necessity of 
 keeping them for considerable periods to develop their 
 excellencies." That is the deliberate statement of the 
 chairman of the jury as to the reason why they gave the
 
 54 THE FIUULK FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 Council medal to J. B Vuillaume. A decision like that 
 was quite enough to take away any violin maker's 
 breath for all time, and it is not in the least astonishing 
 that B. S. Fendt died that same year ! Seriously, 
 however, that decision will remain a curious comment 
 on the astonishing ignorance of fiddle matters which 
 prevailed in distinguished musical circles forty or more 
 years ago. I yield to none in my admiration of J. B. 
 Yuillaume's fine violins, and I also know that B. S. 
 Fendt in his later instruments tried somewhat similar 
 ways, but to accept an honour for processes of that 
 kind, argues as much ignorance on Vuillaume's part at 
 that time as the jury themselves displayed, or else an 
 unusual amount of hardihood in the arts of self 
 advertisement. 
 
 The instruments of almost every member of the 
 Fendt family have for years back been steadily advanc- 
 ing in public favour. The beautiful character of the 
 tone which they possess is sufficient to account for this, 
 but apart from tone, there is a style about Bernhard, 
 Bernard Simon and Jacob, which so forcibly recalls the 
 finest efforts of the greater Cremonese, as to make one 
 almost realise, in the latter's absence, what it is to have 
 a fine Cremona violin. The varnish on his later 
 instruments is occasionally a little dull. In his tickets 
 his name is printed " Bernard S. Fendt, Junr." 
 
 FENDT, MARTIN, London. Born 1812. This maker 
 was another son of Bernhard Fendt, and was in the 
 employment of the Betts firm. I have not seen any 
 instruments which were made by him, and it is probable 
 that he was chiefly occupied with repairs.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 55 
 
 FENDT, JACOB, London. Born 1815. Died 1849. 
 Another son of Bernhard Fendt. The whole conception 
 of his instruments is generally higher than the work of 
 other members of his family. His wood is generally 
 very fine and regular, while some of his backs are really, 
 in regard to figure, most beautiful. In his Guarnerius 
 copies, the sound holes are rather exaggerated 
 reproductions of that great maker's style, but in this 
 respect he is in very good company, as the best 
 copyists that ever lived have failed in exactly hitting off 
 the striking peculiarity of Joseph del Jesu's sound holes. 
 I have heard it urged that these great makers, both 
 English and foreign, did not try to " slavishly copy " the 
 individuality of Joseph Guarnerius, but I cannot say that 
 I have great faith in the validity of this kind of reasoning. 
 I believe that they tried to copy him and Stradivari, as 
 well as Nicolas Amati, in the most minute particular, 
 and that they simply failed to do it perfectly. 
 When Vuillaume turned out, under stress of circum- 
 stances, his reproductions of the. old masters, and 
 put in imitations of the old tickets and very 
 clever imitations too we may be absolutely certain 
 that he left nothing undone that he could have 
 done, and so it is with any maker, who has set himself 
 to copy the old masters in that fashion. With the 
 exception of putting in old tickets, discolouring the wood 
 by artificial means, and otherwise imitating the aged 
 appearance barring, perhaps, the artistic breaking up 
 of varnish makers could not do better than " slavishly " 
 copy such productions as the Cremonese masters have 
 left us. Like Vuillaume, Jacob Fendt, in order to live,
 
 56 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 was constrained to turn out the modern antique, and 
 the man's genius is visible in the circumstance that he 
 could do the latter thing, and at the same time turn out 
 a splendid violin. In tone, style, and everything, a good 
 specimen of Jacob Fendt is magnificent. 
 
 FENDT, FRANCIS, London. This was another son of 
 Bernhard, of whom little is known. 
 
 FENDT, WILLIAM, London. This maker was a son of 
 Bernard Simon, and was employed with his father. He 
 did not make many violins, but was at work with his 
 father in the making of double basses. 
 
 FORD, JACOB, London, 1790. A very clever maker, 
 who imitated in a remarkable manner the great favourite 
 of most 1 8th century workers, Jacob Stainer. His scrolls 
 are a little stiff-looking, and in other respects, the model 
 is not really Stainer, but borders very closely on it. 
 For example, Stainer's margins, which few English, or 
 even Continental makers, have copied well, are very 
 faithfully reproduced by Ford. Stainer's margins, 
 though not so large as the Italians, are much less 
 niggardly than the great majority of his imitators would 
 have us believe, and although there is no great credit, 
 perhaps, in the mere reproduction of the design of a 
 fiddle, when we find a man doing this in a faithful 
 manner we have reason to cherish the hope that he may 
 have his head screwed on properly with regard to other 
 things. The sound holes are not Stainer, nor is the 
 arching, and one may well ask, " What is there about 
 the work that is Stainer ? " Just the general look and 
 tone feeling, the finish of the work, which is great, and 
 the choice of wood. Varnish a deepish tinted yellow.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 57 
 
 FORSTER, JOHN, Brampton. Born 1688. Of interest 
 chiefly because it is supposed that he was the father 
 of William Forster, who follows. It is understood that 
 John Forster made one violin. 
 
 FORSTER, WILLIAM, Brampton. Born 1713 4. Died 
 1801. He is chiefly of interest because he was the 
 father of the next Forster. 
 
 FORSTER, WILLIAM, Brampton. Born about 1738. 
 He was a spinningwheel maker, violin maker, and 
 violinist, celebrated throughout the country side in 
 Cumberland for his performance of Scotch reels. He 
 also composed and published reels. He came to London 
 in 1759, and tried spinningwheel making in Commercial 
 Road, East, but not successfully. Then he manu- 
 factured gun stocks, and occasionally a violin for the 
 music shops. By-and-by, after some hardship, he 
 entered the service of a maker in Tower Hill named 
 Beck. There is no trace of this Beck anywhere except 
 in the biography of the Forsters. W T illiam Forster was 
 successful with Beck, and asked an advance of wages, 
 was refused, and left. In 1762 he began business on 
 his own account in Duke's Court, St. Martin's Lane. 
 Success came there in the form of aristocratic patronage, 
 and between last date and 1782, he added music 
 publishing to his business, and at this time used the 
 title page of one of these works as a label. In 1781, he 
 was in St. Martin's Lane, and three years later in the 
 Strand No. 348. Royal patronage now came, and the 
 climax of his success was attained. He negotiated with 
 Haydn for the publication of his works, and among his 
 customers were the famous engraver, Bartolozzi, and the
 
 58 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S 
 
 no less famous litterateur, Peter Pindar (Dr. Walcot). 
 This William Forster (called in the trade " old Forster") 
 died in 1807. That he made instruments of high 
 quality goes without saying. His violoncellos are very 
 good, and much coveted. I confess I do not altogether 
 admire the style of his tenors and violins that is, of 
 course, judging them by the highest standard, and his 
 violoncellos do not always appear to me to be very 
 graceful instruments as far as outline goes, but rather 
 broad at bottom, and narrow at top ; but their tone is 
 decidedly good. His varnish is dull, staid, but of a 
 refined character, if one may employ such expressions 
 with regard to varnish. The colour of much of it is like 
 a reddish brown, not too dark, with an almost entire 
 absence of polish on its surface, but having an air of 
 eminent respectability, like the surface of a well-worn 
 piece of dull grain goatskin leather. His wood is 
 always fine. About 1762 he adopted the Stainer model, 
 and worked on it for ten years, when he turned to 
 Amati (A. and H. and Nicolas). What I have said 
 about his varnish refers to his later work, from about 
 1780, or a year or two before that. In the early work 
 he appears to have stained the wood before varnishing. 
 On these it is dark red with a blackish tinge. He made 
 only four double basses. His commoner violins, etc., 
 had no purfling. Labels, William Forster, Violin 
 Maker, in St. Martin's Lane, London. 
 
 FORSTER, WILLIAM, London. Born 1764. Son of 
 above. He began to make violins early, his first one 
 being entered when he was fifteen. His work is generally 
 highly finished, but is not of equal merit in other respects,
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 59 
 
 and is inferior to that of his father. He only made two 
 or three violins of any worth, and about a dozen common 
 ones. His varnish is same as his father's best. He 
 died in 1824. Added "Junior" to his name in his 
 labels, and " Music Seller to the Prince of Wales and 
 Duke of Cumberland." 
 
 FORSTER, WILLIAM, London. Born 1788. Died 1824. 
 Son of above. Made very few violins. I have not seen 
 any. 
 
 FORSTER, SIMON ANDREW, London. Born 1781. 
 Died 1869. Made few instruments personally, and not 
 of great merit, as far as I can learn. He is best known 
 as the joint author, along with Mr. Sandys, of a " History 
 of the Violin " which contains a deal of valuable 
 information regarding the English School of Makers. 
 He states in this work that he made fifteen violins, four 
 violas, thirty-eight violoncellos, and five double basses, 
 all of the best class, and that he also made other forty 
 instruments, of all classes, of an inferior quality. That 
 would be in all over a hundred instruments. I have 
 only seen two or three claiming to be by him, and they 
 were violins of rather poor quality. But I am not in a 
 position to say that I recognised his work in these. 
 
 FURBER, London. A family of violin makers regarding 
 the early members of which very little is known. They 
 have been chiefly employed making for others. The 
 first was David, of whom nothing appears to be known. 
 His son, Matthew, died in 1790. A subsequent Matthew 
 and a John Furber worked for the Betts' firm, and Mr. 
 Hart states that this John made fine copies of the 
 " Betts' " Stradivari, while that instrument remained
 
 <6o THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 with the firm. There should therefore be some excellent 
 copies of this famous fiddle about, and for which time 
 will have done some service all other things being 
 equal. The last-mentioned Matthew died about 1830, 
 and John sometime after 1841. The present representa- 
 tive of the family is Henry John Furber. 
 
 GABRIELLI. A Florentine family of violin makers 
 from about the beginning of last century. Christoforo, 
 Bartolomeo, Gian-Battista, and Antonio. Gian-Battista 
 is the best known, and has sometimes attractive looking 
 wood in his instruments. Of second and third rate 
 quality, but carefully made. Yellowish varnish, and 
 somewhat tubby model. 
 
 GAGLIANO, ALESSANDRO, Naples. Born about 1640. 
 The biographical details regarding this maker corruscate 
 .around a duel, which he is said to have fought, and 
 which drove him to the manufacture of violins. The 
 story has taken various shapes, the most recent being 
 that from his youngest days he studied music, and 
 amused himself by making mandolines and lutes. That 
 in his time the Kingdom of Naples, being under Spanish 
 Dominion, was affected by an unusual disregard of the 
 value of life. That duelling was constantly practised 
 which is quite correct- and that the inhabitants, in order 
 to be able to defend themselves, or from a love of fighting, 
 learnt and taught their children assiduously the art of 
 fencing, and the general management of lethal weapons. 
 Alexander Gagliano, in this way, acquired consummate 
 skill in the art of duelling while yet he was young, and 
 one evening he had a quarrel with a Neapolitan gentle- 
 man, a member of a family called Mayo. They had no
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 6l 
 
 sooner crossed swords, when Gagliano's opponent 
 received his death wound. The duel occurred in the- 
 little square of New St. Mary's, near the Church of the 
 Franciscan's, which was sacrilege according to the bull 
 of Pope Gregory XIV. The friends of the murdered 
 man were sufficiently powerful with the viceroy of the 
 Kingdom, and Gagliano, alarmed at the possible conse- 
 quences of the deed, sought asylum with the brotherhood, 
 and put himself under their protection. The viceroy 
 one Count Penneranda was vehemently opposed to 
 the practice of duelling, and missed no opportunity of 
 treating offenders with the greatest rigour. The 
 murdered man was, in this case, one of his most 
 intimate friends, and naturally, his resentment was 
 considerably accentuated. The Spanish Government 
 made determined efforts to upset the privileges of the 
 monastical establishments, the inmates of which had 
 more than once, however, shown themselves to 
 be powerful defenders of their rights, and Penneranda 
 had, at last, to retire repulsed. This, of course., 
 increased his anger, and he at length threatened to 
 assault the convent if, within a given date, the culprit 
 were not delivered up to him. In the meantime, the 
 Neapolitan Cardinal, Ascanio Filomorino, had mixed 
 himself up in the affair, and supported the brotherhood 
 in their efforts to keep Gagliano safe by getting him out 
 of the way. He arranged all the means, and by night 
 and accompanied by a well-armed escort, he dispatched 
 him to Mignamillo, in one of his districts, from whence 
 he sent him off to Rome. Gagliano, from this point, 
 directed his steps northwards, and it -is not unlikely that
 
 62 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 his thoughts turned to Cremona. At any rate, he 
 travelled from town to town until he arrived there, and 
 came to know Stradivari, and arranged to enter his 
 shop as a pupil. He worked, it is said, with Stradivari 
 for about thirty years, and, having received intimation 
 of a pardon, returned to his native place at the end of 
 1695. The chief point of interest in this narrative is 
 that it places Gagliano as pupil of Stradivari at a date 
 when that great maker was himself working with Nicolas 
 Amati, or had, at least, just begun business on his own 
 account, namely, in 1664 or 1665. Now the violins of 
 Alessandro Gagliano are of a type totally different from 
 those which Stradivari is supposed to have been working 
 at during the period intervening these two dates. 
 Gagliano's violins are of a flat model, much flatter, and 
 indeed, larger, than anything Stradivari is supposed to 
 have made, until long after his pupil was peacefully 
 settled in his native town. The varnish on his instru- 
 ments is generally of a sickly-looking yellow tint, but is 
 also of reddish brown. His wood is of a fine quality, 
 and his general proportions are also good. The figure 
 shown in his wood is usually of a large kind 
 the sides being of ordinary height, and his purfling and 
 corners careful. The tone of his violins is very good, 
 and of a pure and silvery quality in the upper strings, 
 and fairly round and full in the lower. He died in 
 Naples in 1725. He seldom used labels. 
 
 GAGLIANO, NICOLAS, Naples. Born about 1665, just 
 about the time his father had to flee from Naples. He 
 was rather a finer workman than his father, and had a 
 decorative turn as well, some of his violins being orna-
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 63 
 
 mented round the line of purfling. His instruments are 
 of an altogether different type, more graceful, and softer 
 in outline, and somewhat more highly arched. The 
 varnish is also different, being of a darker yellow, and 
 very transparent. The tone is altogether very beautiful 
 in a fine example. He made a large number of violins, 
 violas, and 'cellos, and into some of them, he, or some- 
 body after him, put Stradivari tickets. His own tickets 
 run " Nicolaus Gagliano filius Alexandri fecit Neap," 
 then date. He died in 1740. 
 
 GAGLIANO, GENNARO, Naples. He was second son of 
 Allessandro. He was probably born about 1696, and 
 was the finest maker of this name. His works are very 
 rare. He seems to have used Stradivari tickets chiefly, 
 and when he did use his own, he never put a date in 
 them. They simply ran " Gennaro Gagliano fecit 
 Neapoli, 17 " the two figures which would have located 
 the instrument in point of time being omitted. He had a 
 fine varnish, and a recipe for varnish in his own hand- 
 writing still remains with the Gagliano family, but it is 
 very likely not for that which he used, as his successors 
 have never been able to reproduce it. He employed 
 beautiful wood, and his style is not unlike that of his 
 father, Alessandro, except that his sound holes are shorter 
 and wider. He died in 1750. 
 
 GAGLIANO, FERDINANDO, Naples. Born 1706. Died 
 1781. This maker was eldest son of Nicolas Gagliano, 
 and grandson of Alessandro. His instruments are in 
 some respects like his father's, but more arched. 
 Indeed the arch is a very long one, and rises somewhat 
 suddenly at the top, continuing at about an equal height
 
 64 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 as far as the notch of the sound holes, where it appears 
 to begin to fall away gradually to the lower margin. 
 The arching of the back is not so pronounced, and is 
 more equally distributed. His outline cannot be called 
 graceful, but rather heavy-looking. The sound holes are 
 well cut and very well designed, long and open. Fine 
 wood and well finished work. Varnish a warmish 
 yellow, of a common-looking character. Scroll not very 
 artistic in design, but well cut. Looking at it from 
 front, volute spreads rapidly out at bottom turn. 
 Altogether very good violins. Tone a little thin, but 
 penetrating. 
 
 GAGLIANO, GuiSEPPEand ANTONIO, Naples. Brothers 
 of Ferdinand, made instruments of no great importance 
 so far as concerns violins, but made fairly good 
 mandolines and guitars. An early ticket of theirs is 
 dated 1707, and Guiseppe died in 1793, while Antonio 
 lived on to the end of that century. 
 
 GAGLIANO, GIOVANNI, Naples. Another brother of 
 Ferdinand. He was rather better as a violin maker 
 than the previous firm, but has left nothing of importance 
 as far as I know. He died in 1806. 
 
 GAGLIANO, RAFFAELE and ANTONIO, Naples. Sons of 
 Giovanni. They worked in partnership, but appear to 
 have made nothing worth remembering. Raffaele died 
 gth December, 1857, and Antonio 27th June, 1860. 
 
 GAGLIANO, VINCENZO, Naples, is the last of this 
 numerous fiddle family. He is not a violin maker, but a 
 maker of strings. His first strings have a high reputa- 
 tion in Italy. As he has neither wife nor children, I 
 suppose the name will die out with him.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 65 
 
 GAND, MICHEL, Versailles. This maker was the first 
 of the famous family of this name. He was born in 
 Mirecourt, and went to Versailles in 1780. His instru- 
 ments are not much appreciated. He had two sons. 
 
 GAND, CHARLES FRANCOIS, Versailles. Born 5th 
 August, 1787. Died loth May, 1845. He first began 
 business in his native place in 1807 and continued there 
 till 1810. He then removed to Paris, where he died. 
 He was taught partly by his father, but chiefly by 
 Lupot of whom he was an acknowledged pupil. He 
 became Lupot's son-in-law and succeeded him in 
 business. The violins of C. F. Gand, or, as he is 
 called in the trade, Gand pere, have a majestic outline. 
 They are distinctly individual. The scroll is a most 
 powerful piece of cutting. Viewed at the back, it has 
 a broad, massive appearance not found in the work of 
 any other at least not to such a pronounced degree. 
 The varnish is a strong red brown, tending to red, on a 
 yellow ground. He was in the habit of leaving patches 
 of yellow near the margins where the hands are 
 supposed to catch a violin in handling it. It is a kind 
 of family mark, which has been modified by his 
 successor slightly, and, of course, imitated by all who 
 wished their instruments to pass as having been made 
 by him. It is generally left on each shoulder and also 
 at the bottom on each side. The tone of his instruments 
 is very fine. 
 
 GAND, GUILLAUME, Paris. Born 22nd July, 1792. 
 Died at Versailles 3ist May, 1858. This maker was a 
 brother of C. F. Gand, and was also a pupil of Lupot, 
 
 after leaving whom he returned to Versailles and 
 F
 
 66 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 became successor to his father. His instruments are 
 well appreciated in France. I have not seen any of 
 them. 
 
 GAND, CHARLES ADOLPHE, Paris. Born nth 
 December, 1812. Died 24th January, 1866. This 
 maker was a son of C. F. Gand and succeeded to his 
 father's business in 1845, and also to the appointment 
 of maker to the King's musicians and to the conserva- 
 toire and later to the Emperor's Chapel. The two 
 first appointments had been continued to the firm 
 since the time of Lupot, to whom they were first 
 granted. C. A. Gand did not make many new 
 instruments. In 1855 he took as partner his brother, 
 Eugene Gand. 
 
 GAND, EUGENE, Paris. Born on 5th June, 1825. 
 Died at Boulogne sur Seine on the 5th February, 1892. 
 This maker the brother above referred to as associated 
 with C. A. Gand has played a somewhat important 
 part in the history of this famous house. While he 
 studied violin making under his father and brother he 
 also studied violin playing under the celebrated 
 Baillot at the Conservatoire, and left it only at the 
 death of that great violinist in 1842. On the death of 
 his brother in 1866, the two brothers Bernardel already 
 referred to became his partners and the firm then 
 became Gand and Bernardel Freres. For a number of 
 years the instruments of this firm had ceased, to be 
 personal works. Their business extended considerably, 
 and could only be done in that fashion, namely, in 
 employing clever workers to do what their fathers 
 were supposed to have carried out with their own
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 67 
 
 hands. Of course all violins were understood to 
 be subjected to the supervision of the masters 
 during their progress. A supervision quite sufficient, 
 no doubt, to ensure that the instruments would 
 sustain the reputation of the concern for style, 
 finish, and tone. One gigantic order which the firm 
 had was for the orchestras in the Trocadero at the 
 International Exhibition of 1878. My recollection of 
 that is sufficiently vivid. This firm alone furnished 
 51 violins, 1 8 altos, 18 'cellos, and 18 double basses. 
 The greater number of these were bought by the 
 Conservatoire. In the violin department of that 
 Exhibition the jury awarded the grand gold medal to the 
 firm. An award of this kind does not always mean 
 much, but instruments of theirs which I have seen are 
 decidedly good violins of exquisite outline, and fine 
 Stradivari model. They are covered with a kind of 
 traditional family red varnish, and have a powerful, 
 ringing tone, which when it settles down will doubtless 
 be highly appreciated. Eugene Gand received a good 
 many decorations. He was an officer of the Legion of 
 Honour, a commander of the order of Isabella the 
 Catholic, a chevalier of the order of Leopold of Belgium, 
 a chevalier of Nircham whatever that may be 
 president of the Association of Artiste Musicians, an 
 officer of the French Academy, violin maker to the 
 Conservatoire, to the Opera, and to the Opera Comique. 
 He was also a good judge of old violins, although his 
 opinions occasionally required confirmation. His 
 recent death will certainly leave a great gap in the 
 ranks of the trade. He was a man of culture and 
 
 F2
 
 68 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 judgment, and had seen almost all the fine violins in the 
 world at least, almost all the fine Stradivari violins. 
 
 GASPARO DA SALO, or, to give him what has now been 
 discovered to be his proper name, Gaspare di Bertolotti, 
 was a violin maker in Brescia who has hitherto had the 
 honour accorded to him of being the inventor or de- 
 signer of the violin in its present form. It now appears 
 that not only was his father, Francesco di Bertolotti, a 
 violin maker before him, but that others such as one 
 Gio. Battista D'Oneda in 1529 were also makers of 
 similar instruments. The origin of these important 
 discoveries is as follows : On the i2th of January, 1890, 
 Professor D. Angelo Berenzi delivered a very interest- 
 ing lecture in the Athenaeum of Brescia on the subject 
 of the ancient Brescian violin makers, and at the 
 conclusion of his lecture he expressed a hope that 
 Brescia might be induced to follow the example of 
 Cremona, and seek to commemorate in some permanent 
 manner the fame of her most distinguished workers in 
 this art industry, namely Gasparo da Salo and G. P. 
 Maggini, and suggested that it might conveniently be 
 done in the form of a memorial stone with their names 
 inscribed upon it. Some of those present advised that 
 if he w r ould make investigations in the State archives, 
 and in those of the municipality and suburban parishes 
 for the purpose of finding out where these two dis- 
 tinguished violin makers lived, or had their shops, it 
 would be all the easier to obtain from the authorities 
 permission to place the stones in the most suitable 
 localities. He at once set about his task, and after the 
 most laborious researches, in a few months laid before
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 69 
 
 the public the results of his investigations. These were 
 published in October, 1890, and consist of a great many 
 valuable facts connected with Maggini, his father, wife, 
 family, house, business, &c., &c., and which will be noted 
 under the maker's name. Professor Berenzi was unques- 
 tionably the pioneer in these investigations. He, and no 
 other, initiated and carried them out cleared the jungle 
 in fact, and made a path through the wood, so that 
 whoever might follow him would have little or nothing 
 to do beyond verifying for themselves the discoveries 
 which he had made, and acquainting themselves with 
 the facts which he had already brought to light. 
 Having accomplished this for Maggini, his friend, 
 Cavalier Livi, who is the keeper of the State Archives 
 in Brescia and had greatly assisted him in his investi- 
 gations, entered the now cleared path on his own 
 account and penetrated farther in search of Gasparo 
 da Salo. His journey was also successful and resulted 
 in the discovery of some very interesting particulars 
 concerning this maker, of whom so little was previously 
 known. Cavalier Livi published these particulars in 
 August, 1891, in the " Nuova Antalogia." They are 
 in substance as follows : Gasparo di Bertolotti known 
 to us hitherto as Gasparo da Salo was the son of 
 Francesco di Santino Bertolotti of Salo, and was born 
 there in 1542. The exact dates cannot be ascertained 
 because two pages 224 and 225 of the register in 
 which the birth entry should have appeared are missing. 
 But subsequent documents prove that he was born in 
 the year mentioned. These are income tax returns for 
 the years 1568 and 1588, in the first of which Caspar
 
 7O THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 declares that he is twenty-six years old, and forty-five 
 in the second. There is no mention of him before 1565, 
 but he then appears to have acquired the title of 
 maestro, and may have had a shop. There is some 
 reason for supposing that Gasparo was a pupil of one 
 Girolamo Virchi, a maker in Brescia, who was sponsor 
 at the baptism of one of Gaspare's children a son 
 named Francesco. In 1568 the rent of his house and 
 shop was about ^"20 per annum, and he had a stock of 
 musical instruments which he valued at close on ^"60. 
 Twenty years after that his stock had increased con- 
 siderably. He says then that he had violins finished 
 and unfinished which he valued at about ^"200. In 
 1599 he bought another house in Brescia in a street 
 called St. Peter the Martyr, and from 1581 to 1607, a 
 few small places situated chiefly in Calvagese near 
 Salo. This maker died in Brescia on the 1/j.th April, 
 1609, and was buried in Santo Joseffo. 
 
 The work of Gasparo da Salo (di Bertolotti) is the 
 work of an artist. His violins are arched rather full, 
 but the contour of the arch is as if the instrument were 
 blown out like a silken bag under certain specified 
 restraints. There is a fine large feeling about his 
 sound holes, which are pretty nearly parallel throughout. 
 That is to say, their width is pretty nearly the same 
 until the stem approaches both top and bottom circles. 
 They are not parallel in the sense of being in line with 
 the long axis of the fiddle. The corners are very short, 
 and the margins rather narrow. His varnish has, in 
 some cases, been a golden red, passing through brown, 
 and in others a beautiful rich brown a toast brown.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. Jl 
 
 His sound holes are remarkably expressive and are seen 
 to great perfection in his violas. In the matter of outline, 
 his instruments are exquisite. The purfling has been 
 double in those violins and violas which I have seen, and 
 the scrolls beautifully cut. In his violins I have observed 
 the grain of the front wood to be as wide almost as in 
 many a 'cello, and the arching to rise from the margins 
 almost equal to the style of Stradivari. In face of 
 these works of this early master, it is quite surprising that 
 the later Amati School should have departed from his 
 type. His instruments are of the greatest possible rarity. 
 
 GEDLER, J. A., Fiissen, 1750 1757. His instruments 
 are certainly original in outline, and are intended to be 
 of Stainer model. The arching is, as usual, much 
 exaggerated, and the groove around the contour of the 
 instrument is very deep. The outline is flattened at top 
 and bottom, and gives a peculiarly square look to the violin, 
 and is accentuated by the upper portion being consider- 
 ably nearer the dimension of the lower part than is usual, 
 The sound holes are rather stiff-looking in consequence 
 of being pretty long, and cut almost quite parallel to the 
 long axis of the fiddle. The upper turns are not exactly 
 circular as the great majority of the imitators of Stainer 
 try to make them nor are the bottom turns either, and 
 although they are fairly well cut, they have not a very 
 graceful appearance. Varnish reddish brown. Tone 
 thin and clear. 
 
 GEDLER, J. B., Fiissen, about 1790 96. Probably a 
 son or other relative of above. Work same in type, but 
 commoner. 
 
 GOFFRILLER, MATTHEUS, Venice, 1700 1740. This
 
 y2 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 maker was a fine workman, especially in his violoncellos. 
 These are decidedly original to a certain extent. The 
 upper portion is a little narrower than is usual, and 
 shorter, which gives to the part between the middle bouts 
 an appearance of being wider. His model in his best 
 'cellos seems to have been A. and H. Amati, only his 
 curves are not so flowing as we find them in instruments 
 by this famous Cremonese firm. The curves of Goffriller's 
 C's are also different, their cutting in being like that of 
 Stradivari in some cases, and the C's themselves look 
 very long an appearance produced by the shortness of 
 the upper portion of the 'cello. The sound holes are 
 quite beautifully cut, and are evidently based on 
 Stradivari instead of A. and H. Amati. The design of 
 the whole is, in fact, a congeries of one or two styles, the 
 result of which is by no means unpleasing. The sound 
 holes, though beautifully designed, as I have said, are a 
 little wider than usual, and have the appearance of being 
 long, also because of the stunted look of the upper portion 
 of the instrument. His varnish is a very transparent and 
 rather deep orange, with fine golden flashes here and there. 
 It is sometimes cracklied all over those parts near the 
 corners and middle sides. They have a very fine tone, 
 and Goffriller rarely put labels in his work. When he did, 
 it ran as follows: "Mattheus Goffriller, faciebat anno ." 
 It is not yet known when he was born, nor when he died. 
 GOFFRILLER, FRANCESCO, Venice. Brother of above and 
 worked for him. The instruments which he made for him - 
 self have very rarely anything in the shape of a ticket. 
 Like his brother's, they are pure in tone and strong. Indeed , 
 great sonority is a distinguishing characteristic in them.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 73 
 
 GILKES, SAMUEL, London. Born 1787. Died 1827. 
 He was born at Morton Pinkney, Northamptonshire, 
 and was taught violin-making by Charles Harris, who 
 was a relative. After leaving Harris, he was employed 
 by Forster. In 1810, he began business on his own 
 account in James Street, Buckingham Gate. The 
 outline of his violins is exceedingly fine, the upper part 
 being beautifully proportioned to the lower, so that there 
 is not that excessive disparity between the two, which 
 is not uncommon, even with very good makers. He 
 copied Amati chiefly, but his Stradivari instruments are 
 really excellent, the sound holes being remarkably well 
 designed, although cut just a little wide. Very hand- 
 some scrolls. Yellowish brown varnish. 
 
 GILKES, WILLIAM, London. Born 1811. Died 1875. 
 A son of above maker, and a more varied worker than 
 his father, but not so good. He chiefly made double 
 basses. These are excellent. 
 
 GOBETTI, FRANCISCUS, Venice, 1690 1720. A so- 
 called pupil of Stradivari, in whose work, so far as I 
 have seen, it is difficult to trace any influence of the 
 great maker. The outline is of the Amati type, but 
 large in style. Short corners, deep middle bouts, and 
 rather highly arched. Tone, however, very good. 
 Scroll cleanly cut, but somewhat monotonous looking, 
 and of same width almost to the first turn. Sound 
 holes much more like Amati or Rugerius than Stradivari, 
 and slightly gaping. Varnish transparent and weak- 
 looking red, but of fine quality. His tickets run 
 " Franciscus Gobetti fecit Venetiis," and date. 
 
 GOSSELIN, Paris. 1814 to about 1830. An amateur
 
 74 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 maker so-called who has considerably surpassed in 
 style and finish, many a professional with a high reputation. 
 His instruments are, undoubtedly, of a high class, and 
 have a superior quality of tone. His choice in wood 
 was original and felicitous, the figure of his backs 
 running in an extremely picturesque manner in the 
 direction of the long axis. The belly wood of exquisite 
 selection, and the varnish a fine red. He may be called 
 a pupil of Kolliker, the famous Parisian maker and 
 restorer towards the end of the eighteenth, and beginning 
 of the nineteenth century. Gosselin's instruments have 
 a splendid outline, and .the design of his sound holes is 
 good and original, based on Stradivari, and a little longer. 
 The finish of the work is of a high class, and his scrolls 
 very handsome. His tickets run " Fait par Gosselin, 
 amateur, Paris, annee ." 
 
 GRAGNANI, ANTONIO, Livorno, 1741 1785. Coarse 
 work, but a sympathetic and sweet tone. Poor quality 
 of varnish, and not particularly fine wood. His initials 
 sometimes branded on the ribs below tail pin. His 
 tickets run " Antonius Gragnani, fecit Liburni anno ." 
 
 GRAGNANI, ONORATO, Livorno. A son of above and 
 inferior work. 
 
 GRANCINO, PAOLO, Milan, 1665 1690. A fine maker in 
 many respects. Supposed to be a pupil of Nicolas Amati, 
 whose style he has followed in most particulars except the 
 scroll. His violoncellos are his best works, and are of high 
 character in the matter of tone. Varnish lightish yellow. 
 
 GRANCINO, GIOVANNI, Milan, 1694 1730. Son of 
 above. A superior maker to his father. Sometimes has 
 very handsome wood in back, unlike the majority of
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 75 
 
 Milanese makers, and his belly wood is often distinguished 
 for being remarkably fine and straight. It is also some- 
 times pretty wide. Light varnish almost colourless. 
 The outline of his instruments is occasionally a little shaky, 
 but the tone is good. Tickets " Giovanni Grancino in 
 contrada largha di Milano al segno della Corona ." 
 
 GRANCINO, GIAMBATTISTA e FRANCESCO, 1710 1750. 
 They are, perhaps, the best of this name. Their violon- 
 cellos and double basses are very good. Roughish work 
 and ordinary wood, but good tone. Transparent yellow 
 spirit varnish. Tickets " Giov. Battista and Francesco,, 
 fra. Grancino in contrada larga di Milano ." 
 
 GUADAGNINI, LORENZO, Piacenza, 1695 1760. This 
 maker worked for a number of years with Stradivari so 
 it is said and returned to Piacenza about 1730. His 
 violins are grand instruments, and, curiously enough, a 
 goodly mimber of them bear Nicolas Amati labels. They 
 are highly finished. Their quality of tone is exceed- 
 ingly fine, though not always equal all over. The fourth 
 string is sometimes a little weak. His varnish is a deep 
 yellowish red, and of very fine quality. Tickets " Lauren- 
 tius Guadganini Pater et alumnus Antonij Stradivari 
 fecit Placentia? anno ." This ticket is probably the 
 foundation for the notion that he worked with Stradivari. 
 At any rate the work is well worthy of such a master.
 
 76 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 GUADAGNINI, GIAMBATTISTA. Son of above. Is said 
 to have been born in Cremona during his father's stay 
 there, and to have also been a pupil of Stradivari. His 
 instruments are valued as highly as his father's, although 
 they are not so powerful. He went to Piacenza after 
 his parent, and worked there a long time, then went to 
 Turin, where he died in 1780. His instruments are 
 covered with a slightly yellowish red varnish, and his 
 tickets run " Joannes Baptista Guadagnini Cremonensis 
 fecit Taurini (or Placentiae) Alumnus Antonij Stradivari.'' 
 
 GUADAGNINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, Milan, from about 
 1695 to 1750. This maker was a brother of Lorenzo 
 Guadagnini, and he is sometimes confounded with his 
 nephew, the preceeding maker. Although he was not 
 always so good a maker as his brother or nephew, 
 he certainly made some magnificent instruments, 
 sometimes of Stradivari type, and sometimes of Amati. 
 Middle bouts pretty deep, fine, equally-balanced outline. 
 Excellent wood, and finely-designed sound holes. 
 Varnish frequently of a very deep orange red. Tickets 
 " Joannes Baptista Guadagnini Placentinus fecit 
 mediolani." His arching is of a rather flat character 
 and his sound holes a little longer than usuaLv.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 77 
 
 GUADAGNINI, GUISEPPE. Son of the preceeding. Was a 
 violin maker in Milan, Como, and Parma, and employed 
 his father's tickets. His instruments have a fairly good 
 tone. 
 
 GUADAGNINI. There were a number of this name, 
 subsequent to above, and settled in Turin. Almost all 
 the Guadagnini violins have good tone. 
 
 GUARNERIUS, ANDREAS, Cremona. The first maker 
 of this celebrated name is supposed to have been born 
 there about 1626. He was married on 3ist December, 
 1652, to Anna Maria Orcelli, and had seven children 
 born to him. He died at Cremona on 7th December, 
 1698. When he was fifteen years old he was working in 
 the shop of Nicolas Amati, and four years afterwards he 
 was one of the witnesses mentioned in the register as 
 being present at the marriage of his master. His 
 instruments are of beautiful workmanship, and of the early 
 Amati model in many cases, and also of the later style of 
 his master. His varnish is of a golden yellow, bright 
 orange, with a brownish tint, and is occasionally of a 
 fine brown. It is sometimes thickly laid on, but is 
 always of the finest quality. 
 
 GUARNERIUS, PIETRO GIOVANNI, Cremona. Eldest 
 son of above. Born i8th February, 1655, and remained 
 at home until about 1680, when he went to Mantua. 
 Three years before this he had married Caterina Sussagni. 
 About 1698, he returned to Cremona, and appears to 
 have remained there until after the death of his father in 
 that year. He went back to Mantua after this event, 
 and lived there a long time, going late in life to Venice, 
 where he died at an advanced age. His violins are very
 
 78 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 beautiful specimens of work, of exquisite tone and style, 
 and covered with lovely varnish. He varied a good 
 deal, however, and there are examples of his which do 
 not command the same unstinted admiration. His 
 sound holes are often lower than usual, and their cutting 
 parallel for a certain distance on each side of notch. 
 They also have the appearance of being placed 'straight 
 with the long axis of the fiddle. His outline also looks 
 somewhat full, and just a little heavier than in his greater 
 contemporaries ; but there are occasions when he sur- 
 passes himself. The tone of his instruments is very fine. 
 The ribs often have very pretty figuration, and his varnish 
 is a beautiful golden amber, occasionally passing to a rich 
 brown. His 'cellos have a superb tone, but are often 
 plainly wooded, and have a slightly reddened brown 
 varnish. He also used spirit varnish of similar colours 
 to his oil varnish. Although his baptismal name was 
 Pietro Giovanni Guarnieri, he always calls himself simply 
 Petrus Guarnerius as under. 
 
 GUARNERIUS, GUISEPPE GIAN BATTiSTA, Cremona. 
 Second son of Andreas was born 25th November, 1666. 
 Died about 1739. He apparently lived with his father 
 all his life, and when his brother Peter was back at home 
 waiting, seemingly, on the death of the old man, Peter
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 79. 
 
 made some fiddles and put his brother's name in them. 
 This maker is called " Joseph son of Andrew " from the 
 inscription found in his tickets. He was the cleverest 
 of that family. He chose very handsome wood which, 
 for figure, has rarely been surpassed. His margins are 
 generally small, and his purfling sometimes close. His 
 varnish is superb golden red. The corners of his in- 
 struments, when perfect, show with what extreme care 
 he finished his work, as they come out quite pronounced 
 and sharp. His sound holes have not the vigour of his 
 greater brethren. His tickets run " Joseph Guarnerius 
 filius Andreae fecit Cremonae sub titulo Sanctae 
 Teresiae ." 
 
 GUARNERIUS, JOSEPH (called del Jesu), Cremona. Born 
 October i6th, 1687. Date of death unknown. This 
 was the greatest of all the artistes called Guarnerius. 
 He was only a very distant relative of the family, his 
 grandfather having been a cousin of Andreas Guarnerius. 
 It is not known where he learnt his business, nor where 
 he carried it on. His tickets date from Cremona, but 
 there is no trace of him there after 1702. The earliest 
 known tickets date from 1725, and the latest about 1745. 
 The story that he died in prison was founded on the 
 circumstance that a person named Giacomo Guarnieri 
 died there in the year 1715. This tradition was indus- 
 triously circulated, and a great many inferior Italian 
 fiddles were called " prison Joseph's " and sold as 
 genuine. All that sort of thing is now exploded. The 
 man was an artiste of the highest class, and never made 
 these inferior fiddles. His instruments are very flat, the 
 arch rising gently from the purfling, one might say. His
 
 8O THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 outline is very perfect and restful. Many of his instru- 
 ments are small, and do not exceed fourteen inches in 
 length, but the peculiarity which will strike most people 
 will be found in the sound holes. These are of an early 
 type, and designed in a most masterly way. At the top 
 the circle has the appearance of a miniature arch of 
 Gothic type. That is to say, the impression made on 
 the mind of an ordinary observer is of that character. 
 They then slope away a little towards the margins and 
 are fairly wide at the middle, the notch being cut at 
 an angle of about forty-five degrees to the longer axis. 
 His margins are large and massive, his edges round and 
 solid. His ribs are about i-| at the top, i x 3 ^ at the 
 corners, and about i| at the tail pin. In a good many 
 of his violins there is a peculiarity which indicates that he 
 possessed at one time a goodly piece of pine. It is a streak 
 of what is called grey wood, and runs down from the top 
 on the left of the fingerboard. I have also seen it on the 
 right of the fingerboard. It can easily be seen through the 
 varnish. This grey strip looks just as if the wood under 
 the varnish at that point were dirty. It is about an 
 inch in the width, sometimes less, and travels in certain 
 instances as far down as the top of the left sound hole. 
 The backs of his fiddles are often of the finest figure, 
 broad, medium, and in a few instances, extremely fine 
 and complex. His tone is grand, round, and sonorous, 
 and if there is a difference between him and Stradivari 
 in that respect it is, perhaps, because there are fewer 
 Josephs than Strads to choose from. His varnish is a 
 golden, and a golden red, in tints of the most entrancing 
 loveliness, and of a quality not surpassed by any other
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 8l 
 
 maker. The middle bouts are generally cut in at the 
 top without any tendency to travel upward, and sweep 
 out towards the lower corner in a beautiful curve which 
 leaves the indention quite shallow by the time the 
 curve is ended. The grain of a Guarnerius belly is 
 usually of a fairly wide guage. He made no violon- 
 cellos that I know of, and I have only heard of one 
 tenor, but never saw it. 
 
 GUERSAN, Louis, Paris, 1735 1766. Many of his 
 instruments are attractive looking. They vary consider- 
 ably in style, but tone rather deficient. He made a 
 number of 'cellos, and employed a varnish which in some 
 cases might be called " golden." There is no doubt he 
 could make very beautiful instruments when he chose 
 to do so. He was a pupil of Claude Pierray. 
 
 HARDIE, MATTHEW, Edinburgh, about 1800 1825. 
 This maker has produced singularly fine copies of 
 Nicolas Amati. I question if he has been surpassed in 
 that respect by any one of our native makers. His 
 wood is of first class quality. His outline is 
 a very accurate reproduction. His sound holes 
 slightly err, where almost every maker who copies N. 
 Amati does err, in being just the least bit knockkneed, 
 but in his case it is so trifling as to be scarcely perceptible. 
 He has caught the general proportions of the N. Amati 
 model with great felicity. His varnish is a yellow not 
 of the finest degree of rather light tint, but not unpleas- 
 ing. The tone of his instruments, when in proper 
 condition, is quite of a high class. 
 
 HARDIE, THOMAS, Edinburgh. Born 1804. Died 1856. 
 
 Son of above. Worked in his father's shop. He has 
 G
 
 82 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 not the same reputation as his father, but I am not in a 
 position to say anything about him. 
 
 HARRIS, CHARLES, London, about 1800 to 1815. This 
 is another splendid native maker, whose work is entitled to 
 rank with that of the best Continental copyists. His out. 
 lines and modelling are beautiful, and the design of his 
 sound holes exceedingly graceful. The cutting of his 
 scrolls is also most satisfactory. The sides of his violins 
 are somewhat low, but in almost all other respects, his 
 conceptions are of the best. His varnish is of fine quality 
 and of a good, yellowish brown. 
 
 HART, JOHN THOMAS, London. Born 1805. Died 
 1874. This is a famous name in fiddle lore. He was 
 articled to Samuel Gilkes previously mentioned, and 
 duly learnt the art of violin making. Just at the time he 
 started business the fever for Italians became accentuated 
 and he turned his attention to the study of the classical 
 instruments. His opportunities were great, and by-and- 
 by he became a judge of violins of quite a European 
 reputation. Some of the finest collections of the time 
 were formed by him, including the celebrated Coding 
 Cabinet, and also that of Plowden. He also supplied a 
 large number of the fine instruments for the Gillott 
 collection the largest ever made by one private 
 individual. 
 
 HART AXD Sox. This became the style of the 
 preceeding firm, when the late Mr. George Hart 
 became a partner of his father. Mr. George Hart 
 also acquired a world-wide reputation as a connoisseur 
 and dealer forming many beautiful collections, and 
 becoming acquainted like his father with almost every
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 83 
 
 known instrument of importance. He was entrusted 
 with the arrangement of the Gillott collection, and the 
 cataloguing of it when it came under the hammer of 
 Messrs. Christie and Manson, and numberless other 
 important commissions with respect to the finest instru- 
 ments in the world were placed in his hands. He is 
 known wherever a fiddle-fancier has his habitat, as the 
 author of what is, perhaps, the most reliable work 
 on the violin that has ever been written, and he is, 
 besides, the author of a work on " The Violin and its 
 Music," which, for interest in that branch of musical 
 literature, can hardly be surpassed. He was born in 
 1839, and died on April 25th, 1891. His son, the present 
 Mr. George Hart, carries on the business under the 
 same style, and the name has become a household word 
 in the vocabulary of fiddle-fanciers. 
 
 HEL, PIERRE-JOSEPH, Lille. This maker was born 
 near Mirecourt in 1842. He learnt violin-making there 
 in thorough fashion, and afterwards went to Paris, where 
 he worked with Sebastien Vuillaume. He also was 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle with Darche, and started on his own 
 account in Lille in 1865. He is a good restorer, and 
 claims to have a means of aging wood without using 
 acid or heat. He is also the inventor of a system 
 of tuning which can be applied to existing violin 
 heads, and which is said to permit the player to tune 
 easily. 
 
 HENRY. A family of violin makers of this name has 
 existed in Paris for about a hundred and fifty years. 
 The work is good in regard to several members of the 
 family, such as Jean-Baptiste, born in Mirecourt, 1757, 
 
 G2
 
 84 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 his son, Jean-Baptiste-Felix, born in Paris, 1793, and 
 died in 1858, and one of his grandsons, Charles, born 
 1803, and died 1859. Eugene Henry, son of the last- 
 mentioned, was born in 1843, and is a good restorer. 
 
 HILL. A family of English violin-makers, which 
 has existed in London for about as long a period as the 
 Henry's existed in Paris. The first of the name appears 
 to have been 
 
 HILL, JOSEPH. A pupil of Peter Wamsley. The 
 only instruments of this maker which I have seen were 
 a tenor and a 'cello. The tenor was in the exhibition of 
 1885, and deserved, in my opinion, high commendation 
 for its finish and the appearance of the varnish. The 
 sound holes might have been more artistically designed, 
 but the style of the instrument, and the brilliancy of its 
 varnish, as it hung in its case, really seemed to be 
 dangerously near the genuine Italian article. 
 
 HILL, LOCKEY, London, about 1720. A violin by this 
 maker was exhibited at the same exhibition, and had, 
 I remember, a very beautiful back. 
 
 HILL, JOSEPH AND SON. 1770. This firm was repre- 
 sented at the same show by a very clever-looking 
 violin, and I have seen a fine 'cello by them of 
 Ruggerius model, with ornamental purfling, and of 
 excellent tone, especially on the two lower strings. 
 
 HILL, LOCKEY. About 1810. There must have been 
 two Lockey Hills, I should think, if the dates in two 
 violins bearing this name are correct, or correctly printed in 
 the catalogue of the exhibition in which they were shown. 
 The 1720 violin was a very clever looking instrument, but 
 the 1810 specimen was quite a little gem, in a plain
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 85 
 
 varnish, and with wood of the most exquisite regularity. 
 The sound holes were almost perfect, the corners charm- 
 ing, and the margins fine and full. Of the subsequent 
 work of this family I know nothing. The present firm is 
 
 HILL AND SONS, W. E. The senior member of this 
 firm is Mr. William Ebsworth Hill, a practical violin 
 maker, and for many years known as a highly competent 
 judge of classical instruments. He is assisted by his 
 sons, William, Arthur, and Alfred Hill, and, in addition 
 to their ordinary business, the firm have brought out 
 several highly interesting monographs on fine violins in 
 which they have embodied the results of the most recent 
 research. 
 
 JACOBS, PEETER, Amsterdam, 1690 1740. This maker 
 copied Nicholas Amati with remarkable fidelity in almost 
 every point. In the choice of his wood even, he sought 
 to reproduce the figure generally associated with the 
 name of the Cremonese master. He is very successful 
 with the outline and arching. His work is, however, 
 easily recognised by the purfling. He always used 
 whalebone for this instead of the black stopping, and 
 where the varnish has been worn off the purfling, a little 
 rubbing will bring up on the whalebone a most glassy 
 surface if one cannot detect the maker in any other way. 
 It glistens in a way unknown in any other case. His 
 instruments are very good. Varnish, a red brown. 
 
 JACOBS, Amsterdam. I do not know anything of this 
 maker, who was perhaps related to the above Peeter. 
 His instruments are reported to be coarse, but of good 
 tone, and having a deep red varnish transparent. 
 
 JACQUOT, CHARLES, Paris. Born at Mirecourt, 1808.
 
 86 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 He was a pupil of Nicolas Aine and Breton, and began 
 to learn his business when quite a child. When he was 
 fifteen years old he went to Nancy, where he worked for 
 the trade in co-operation with a few others. In 1827, he 
 began in Nancy on his own account, and continued 
 there until 1853, wnen ne went to Paris, where he 
 remained until his death in 1880. His workmanship 
 was of a good character. Varnish of a common red 
 on orange type. Tone of the twangy, nasal kind, 
 but instruments soundly made, and of a quality to 
 improve in the course of time. 
 
 JACQUOT, PIERRE CHARLES. Son of preceeding, and 
 born 1828, in Nancy, where he succeeded to his parent's 
 business after the latter went to Paris. His instruments 
 are of a type similar to his father's. 
 
 JEANDEL, PIERRE NAPOLEON. Born at Courcelles sous 
 Vaudmont in 1812, he w r as taught at Mirecourt by 
 Charotte. He went to Rouen in 1835, where he worked 
 for the brother of his Mirecourt master. His employer 
 died in 1836, and Jeandel arid another took the business. 
 These partners ultimately separated, and Jeandel 
 carried on on his own account from 1848 to 1878. 
 Infirmities then obliged him to relinquish active work on 
 any extended scale. He fell into poor circumstances, 
 and the sudden death of his daughter, in whose place he 
 stayed, withdrew his only shelter, and he was admitted 
 to the hospital at Rouen, where he died in 1879, some 
 five months after admission. He made very good 
 violins, and received prize medals from three different 
 exhibition juries. His work is of a type similar to that 
 of the previous maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 87 
 
 JAY,. HENRY, London, 1744 1777. Made a number 
 of instruments for dealers among which are some good 
 'cellos. 
 
 JOHNSON, JOHN, London. About 1750 1758. This 
 maker seems to have confined himself largely to Stainer 
 models, and he does not appear to have been personally 
 a maker. His instruments are frequently large and 
 heavy looking, although of good outline. Very narrow 
 margins, and pitched up from the groove which goes 
 quite round the outline. The edges are flat, or rather 
 elliptical, and the corners mean-looking. Frequently 
 unpurfled, but having painted lines instead. Altogether, 
 work of rather a common type. Varnish, light brown. 
 Tone fairly good. 
 
 KENNEDY. A family of violin makers for a very long 
 time since about 1700. The best known of the name 
 was Thomas, who made a great many instruments of no 
 great value. Dark coloured varnish. 
 
 KERLINO, J., Brescia. A maker of little interest to the 
 modern fiddle-fancier, except from his connection with 
 the early Brescian school. I used to think he was an 
 imaginary character, but in a work published in 1890, 
 entitled " La Musica in Mantova," by A. Bertolotti, and 
 issued by Ricordi of Milan, a reference to him dating in 
 1493 has been found, and appears to prove con- 
 clusively that he was a celebrated maker of viols at 
 that date. 
 
 KIAPOSSE, S., St. Petersburg. 1748 50. This 
 maker's instruments are of the " odd " character. 
 Fairly well made and proportioned, they are of the usual 
 size but perhaps a little thin in the wood. The back
 
 88 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 and front are worked off straight to the margins, and 
 rounded with the sides. That is, the usual violin edges 
 are wanting. The ribs or sides are of considerable 
 thickness. Everything is " rounded " off. The sound 
 holes are not badly designed. The general result is not 
 distasteful in appearance, but a mistake technically. 
 The varnish is of a commonplace character. The tone 
 is of a thin nasal quality. 
 
 KLOTZ, EDGIDIUS, Absam and Mittenwald, 1675. 
 This maker's instruments are very finished performances, 
 both inside and out. When they are in good condition, 
 they are extremely attractive looking, but they are very 
 rarely in condition. 
 
 KLOTZ, GEORGE, Mittenwald. About 1754. Another 
 good maker of this family. His instruments are of larger 
 style, but sound holes not very pretty, and poor varnish. 
 
 KLOTZ, SEBASTIEN, Mittenwald, 1700 1760. Also 
 good when in genuine condition. A large number 
 of Klotz' instruments are not worth carrying away. 
 
 LANDOLFI, C. F., Milan. 1735 1775. This is a fine 
 Italian maker, who made some very good 'cellos of small 
 size. The outline of his violins is good, but the middle 
 bouts are long and deeply cut in, giving a somewhat 
 gaunt look to the instrument, the lower portion of which 
 seems to spread out a deal in consequence, and cause 
 the upper portion to appear smaller than it really is. His 
 sound holes are not badly designed. His varnishes, as 
 well as the details of his instruments, vary a good deal, 
 some are a brilliant red, and others a dark red, 
 while others again tend to a yellowish orange. Much of 
 his work certainly does not look very pretty, but the
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 89 
 
 tone is by no means bad. He has often narrow 
 margins. 
 
 LENZ, J. N., London. 1803 1807. I have little to 
 say in favour of this maker. Anything I have seen of 
 his was of a very tasteless description. Very " scoopy '* 
 and unequal. 
 
 LENZ, JACOB, London. I suppose this maker was a 
 son of the preceeding. His work was of a superior kind, 
 and he was a fine maker of double basses. He made, I 
 believe, only two violins, one of which I have seen. It 
 is a copy of Joseph Guarnerius, arid is, in many ways, a 
 very clever copy, except that the sound holes are far too 
 wide. In other respects of arching and scroll, he has 
 caught the points of Joseph very well. The wood in 
 this instrument is fine. 
 
 LOTT, G. F., London. Born 1800. Died 1868. Was 
 a son of the famous John Lott, mentioned below. He 
 was a clever maker of old fiddles. 
 
 LOTT, JOHN FREDERICK, London. 1775 1853. This 
 was father of the preceeding, and following maker of 
 same name. He was a German, and originally a 
 cabinet maker, whom Bernard Fendt induced to take to 
 fiddle making under Thomas Dodd, already mentioned. 
 All his work is of a high character, especially his double 
 basses, which are really chefs d'ceuvres. 
 
 LOTT, JOHN FREDERICK, London. Son of above, and 
 hero of Charles Reade's Romance, " Jack of All Trades." 
 He certainly was a clever violin maker, and took a long 
 time to get up those imitations, with which, I daresay, 
 a good many people were atone time hoaxed. There is 
 for example, an appearance of a kind of brutal hardihood,
 
 90 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 in the seeming recklessness with which he copied, and, 
 in some cases, travestied, the salient points of Joseph del 
 Jesu, and yet he may have laboured over the instrument 
 for months, getting up those antique fractures, indenta- 
 tions, scratchings, and rubbings, which give an air of 
 genuine age to some of his productions. He was a 
 man of many adventures, which have been duly recorded 
 in Mr. Reade's novels. He died about 1871. 
 
 LUPOT, NICOLAS. The greatest of a French family of 
 violin makers which has flourished for about two 
 centuries. The first was a Jean Lupot in Mirecourt, 
 whose son Laurent was born there in 1696, and became 
 a violin maker also. Travelling about a little, he settled 
 in Orleans, and about 1762, disappears from fiddle history. 
 This son, Fra^ois Lupot, also violin maker, after moving 
 .about in similar fashion, settled temporarily in Orleans, 
 and then in Paris, where he died in 1804. The last 
 mentioned had two sons, the above Nicolas born in 
 Stuttgard in 1758, and Fra^ois born in Orleans in 1774. 
 Nicolas was the great maker of the family, and was 
 trained by his father in Orleans, where he continued to 
 work until he was about forty years of age, and then 
 went to Paris, where he started business in 1794, and 
 died in 1824. The violins of this maker are undoubtedly 
 of the highest character. There is great variety in his 
 style, and many of those hailing from Orleans, one would 
 hardly recognise, if placed side by side with some of those 
 which he made in Paris later on. This is chiefly, but 
 not wholly, seen in his varnish, however, for there is 
 the same masterly, solid style about all his instruments. 
 A great many of his early violins are covered with a dull,
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 9! 
 
 brown varnish, which looks very well when a considerable 
 portion of it has been worn away. His Paris instru- 
 ments are covered with much variety of varnish, from 
 brown, through orange to a red that would almost knock 
 one down. Those covered with the red upon orange are 
 splendid instruments of massive style, and tone clear 
 and pure, and of rocklike firmness. Some of his 
 varnishes have gone very nearly black, and here and 
 there are specimens which have it so thickly laid on, that 
 one might say there is almost as much varnish as wood. 
 Some of his Paris instruments are slightly smaller than 
 those large orange instruments, and these, as indeed all 
 his violins, are finished most exquisitely. Stradivari was 
 his favourite model, but he also copied Guarnerius, and 
 succeeded with the sound holes remarkably well. But 
 the manner in which he has caught the " grand " out- 
 line of Stradivari is quite exceptional. His sides and 
 margins are full, and there is a fine feeling of solidity, 
 even in the handling of his best instruments, which does 
 not escape one's notice when a nice specimen is en- 
 countered. Some of his very fine work is really entrancing 
 in the matter of finish and style. His father, Fra^ois, 
 was also a splendid maker, and the fitting instructor of 
 his son. 
 
 LUPOT, FRANCOIS. The brother of Nicolas, the only 
 other distinguished member of the family, was a bow- 
 maker, and is referred to in the chapter on bows. 
 
 MAGGINI, GIOVANNI PAOLO, Brescia. This distinguished 
 early Italian maker was born in Botticino Sera on the 
 25th August, 1580, and the precise date of his death 
 is not yet known, but in an income tax return of the
 
 92 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 year 1632, his son, Carlo Maggini, is spoken of as 
 " filius quondam Johannis Pauli," son of the late 
 Giovanni Paolo. As already stated in the article, Gasparo 
 da Salo, Professor D. Angelo Berenzi delivered a lecture 
 in Brescia in the month of January, 1890, on distinguished 
 Brescian violin makers, and at its conclusion, it was 
 mooted that a search should be made by him in the 
 Municipal and State archives for the purpose of 
 discovering what could be known about these great 
 early artistes. Professor Berenzi set about his task at 
 once, and, as I have already said, in a few months he 
 was able to publish the results of his researches, namely, 
 in October, 1890. Nothing whatever had been previously 
 known about Maggini, except what was based upon 
 tradition if that can be called knowledge and observa- 
 tion of his work. There was not a scrap of documen- 
 tary evidence known to exist, either regarding him or 
 the other great maker, Gasparo da Salo, of whom he was 
 conjectured to be a pupil. All was guess work, com- 
 bined, of course, with the traditionary gossip to which I 
 have alluded. But the researches of Professor Berenzi, 
 have now set all these matters at rest in the case of 
 Maggini. In a little pamphlet entitled " Di Giovanni 
 Paolo Maggini," and published in Brescia in 1890, he 
 gave to the world his discoveries in a separate form, 
 although they had appeared previously in his first 
 communication to " II Bibliofilo " in October of the 
 same year. This communication related that he had 
 found mention made of Magginis during the first half of 
 the sixteenth century in the returns of Gerola and West 
 Botticino two small places in the vicinity of Brescia
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 93 
 
 and during the second half of the same century in those 
 of West Botticino, and of Brescia. And later, in other 
 returns of Brescia, Bagnolo, and Manerbio. All this 
 means a considerable amount of very patient labour, and 
 when he had thoroughly examined these various 
 sources of information regarding people of the name of 
 Maggini, he fixed on those of Botticino Sera or West 
 Botticino and Brescia as being what concerned his quest. 
 He unearthed from the archives two returns, one dated 
 1568, and the other, 1588. The first relates to the father of 
 G. P. Maggini, and begins " Boticino de Sera. Poliza 
 de mi Zovan q Bertolino di Magini," etc., and gives 
 particulars of the ages of himself, his wife, son, and 
 daughter, and his brother. The second (dated 1588) 
 beginning " Brescia, 300, p Johannis Polizza de mi 
 Giovanni f. q. Ser Bertolino Magini, cittadino et 
 habitante in Bressa," etc., and gives his own age, and 
 that of his wife erroneously apparently and then 
 continues with that of a son, and son's wife, followed 
 by the mention of " Gio Paolo, mio figliolo, d'eta d'anni 7." 
 This is the first official documentary reference found in 
 Brescia having regard to the existence of G. P. Maggini. 
 A later search by the same cultured writer at Botticino 
 Sera revealed an earlier one the baptismal entry. In the 
 Book of Leaseholds, or Rent Book of St. Agatha in 
 Brescia, and among the entries between the years 1500 and 
 1636, Professor Berenzi found that Gian Paolo Maggini 
 bought from Ser Ludovico Serina, the house which 
 stands opposite the Old Mayor's Palace, (or, as we would 
 call it, the Old Mansion House) and that the said 
 " Gio Pavolo Magini, che fa k ceteve" as proprietor of the
 
 94 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 said house began to pay to the parish of St. Agatha 
 about two pounds, sixteen arid sevenpence per annum 
 for the perpetual lease. He then discovered a return 
 dated September loth, 1614, and another dated 1617, 
 which confirmed the purchase of property, and gave 
 particulars of ages, debts, and assets. This begins, 
 " Polizza del estimo di M. Gio Paolo Maggini, maestro 
 di violini in contrada del Palazzo Vecchio del Podesta," 
 and gives his age as thirty-six, his wife's age as twenty- 
 two, and his son, Gio Pietro's, as one year. The return 
 finishes up after giving particulars referred to with the 
 following estimate of his stock in hand at that date. 
 " Item mi ritrovo in mercantia di violini, lignami et 
 cordi di essi violini lire cento pi. ^"100." Item. I 
 have stock in violins,. furnishings, and strings for these 
 violins, ^"43 6s. 8d. If we strike a balance at this 
 time, Maggini was in debt to the extent of ^"24 55. 
 But the next return which Professor Berenzi discovered, 
 tells a very different tale. It is dated 1626 and 
 1627, and begins, " Pollizza del estimo di me 
 Gio Paolo Maggini che fa violini in contrada delle 
 Bombasarie a Santa Agatha," and gives his age as forty- 
 six, that of his wife as thirty-two, that of his daughter 
 Cecilia as five, another daughter, Veronicha, two, and a 
 son, Carlo, six months. During the ten years which 
 elapsed between the dates of these two returns, Maggini 
 could show a balance to his credit of about two thousand, 
 three hundred and ninety-six pounds, and a few shillings. 
 For those days, this was undoubtedly good progress. He 
 had become the owner of property in the country, and it 
 will be observed, he had changed his place of business.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 95 
 
 The next important discovery which Professor Berenzi 
 made, was the marriage entry of January 2oth, 1615, 
 from which we see that Maggini was married to Anna, 
 daughter of Fausto Foresto on that day. Continuing 
 his investigations, Professor Berenzi made out a list of 
 Maggini's children ten with the dates of birth and 
 death, and, further, the approximate date of the violin- 
 maker's death, from the return made by the son Carlo, 
 and already referred to. The Professor's next discovery 
 was the entry recording the date of the widow's death, 
 namely, November 24th, 1651, and he concludes his 
 very interesting article by speculating as to the identity 
 of the maker whom we have hitherto called Pietro Santo 
 Maggini. All these particulars were published in detail 
 in the year 1890, in a periodical published in Brescia, 
 and called " II Bibliofilo." After this very satisfactory 
 search, Professor Berenzi continued his investigations 
 for the purpose of bringing to light, if possible, the place 
 and date of Maggini's birth. After a deal of patient 
 searching in the parishes in the neighbourhood of Brescia, 
 he discovered the entry in the records of the small parish 
 of Botticino Sera (West), and published it in a little 
 pamphlet entitled, " La Patria di Giovanni Paolo 
 Maggini," in 1891. The credit of these discoveries from 
 first to last, and almost verbatim et literatim, belongs to 
 Professor Berenzi, and apparently to no other person 
 whatever, with the exception of Cavalier Livi, whose 
 counsels and assistance he gratefully acknowledges as 
 well as the services of Messrs. A. Coen, and D. L. 
 Corbolani. 
 The instruments by G. P. Maggini which I have seen
 
 96 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 were all of the highest type in finish and style. The 
 most striking peculiarities which they show in contrast 
 to great violins of a later make are their sound holes, 
 their corners, and their arching. The highest point of 
 Maggini's arching is, as far as I have been able to ascer- 
 tain, always as near as possible fifteen thirty-seconds of 
 an inch above the upper plane of the sides that is, above 
 what is called the symmetrical plane. If my readers will 
 suppose that, instead of the upper table, a flat sheet of 
 glass is placed absolutely level on the rims of a fiddle, 
 the lower surface of the glass will represent the symmetri- 
 cal plane, and Magini's arch at its highest point would 
 be the above height from it. This height does not de- 
 crease at once, but is maintained for about two inches 
 and three-eights on the long axis, and on each side of 
 the central point, after which it gradually and steadily 
 decreases to the margins. Doubtless no one who has 
 seen a fine work by Maggini can help wondering why 
 the Amatis or anybody else kept on arching fiddles to 
 such an extent, and for so long a time, after his name 
 and fame were so widely spread as to make people curious 
 to see his work. But so it was, and the reason is not 
 far to seek. It can be found at almost any stage in the 
 history of fiddle-making, and is more closely associated 
 with individuality and opinionativeness than with tech- 
 nical skill. Maggini never seems to have varied in his 
 arching from the time when he was twenty years of age 
 until he laid down his tools, and it would be, beyond 
 question, a serious blunder to disguise from oneself that 
 nowhere can be seen anything grander or more majestic 
 than the lines which are visible in his work. The
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 97 
 
 strength of his broad arching seems to claim for him a 
 place side by side with Stradivari. Another peculiarity 
 is seen in his sound holes, which are intensely Gothic in 
 feeling. They are wide, and inclined at such an angle, 
 that two straight lines, one drawn through the middle of 
 each opening, parallel to, and equi-distant from their 
 edges, would, if produced, intersect each other at the centre 
 of the top edge of the violin. The corners in the upper 
 and lower circles of the sound holes have not the broad 
 terminals of later and Cremonese makers. They are 
 finished square, but narrow, and in many cases, appear 
 almost pointed, but that is more the result of wear, and, 
 perhaps, interference, than design. His varnish is a 
 yellow, having a slightly red 'tint, and is chiefly spirit 
 varnish, but he also used oil varnish of similar colour, 
 and sometimes it is a brownish red. A great many of 
 his backs are slab backs. The outline corners of the 
 middle bouts are very short and stunted, but not on 
 that account ungraceful, while the middle bouts them- 
 selves are rather shallow, and formed by a simple curve, 
 which almost looks like part of a circle, except towards 
 the lower corners, where the curve is slightly elongated. 
 A great number of Maggini's instruments are double 
 purfled, and have also decorations in purfling on the 
 back, some at top and bottom, and some in the centre. 
 These decorations take the form of a conventional 
 trefoil, finishing off the limbs of a St. Andrew's Cross in 
 the centre, and are all done with purfling. The decora- 
 tion varies. Sometimes a lozenge is projected between the 
 limbs of the cross, and sometimes the trefoil gives place 
 to three small squares. Of course these decorations
 
 98 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 have been copied, and reproduced in the imitations more 
 or less accurately. Some of his violins have only a 
 single line of purfling, like ordinary instruments. It is 
 supposed that he never dated his tickets. 
 
 MEDARD, NICOLAS, Nancy and Paris, about 1655. 
 One of the finest of French copyists of Amati so far 
 as appearance goes. Beautiful wood, and fine, rich, 
 golden red varnish. The reproductions by this maker 
 are really as faithful as one could wish. The sound holes 
 are finely imitated, and the choice of wood quite of a 
 high class. There were a number of makers of this 
 name from early in 1600. Toussaint-Medard, Antoine 
 Medard, Fra^ois, and Nicolas. Their instruments are 
 very rare. 
 
 MONTAGNANA, DoMENico, Cremona and Venice. 
 This maker is supposed to have been a fellow pupil or 
 workman in Nicolas Amati's shop, along with Stradivari. 
 There is no doubt about the quality of his work. It stands 
 in line with the finest. The outlines of his violins are 
 almost identical with those of Nicolas Amati's best 
 model, except that at the upper and lower bouts they 
 are slightly fuller, while the inclination of his sound 
 holes is distinctly outward towards the lower corners. 
 The middle bouts are also deeper and longer, and the 
 corners fine and full. The arching is of the Amati type. 
 There are very . few specimens known to exist. His 
 'cellos are really grand, the outline sometimes in 
 contrast to that of his violins appearing to droop some- 
 what from the shoulders, and in other instances, being 
 fuller and finer. There is a certain feeling of parsimoni- 
 ousness in the outline of his bigger instruments, with
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 99 
 
 regard to which the character of the wood may have had 
 something to do. His varnish is magnificent of a 
 beautiful red orange, or deep golden red. His wood is 
 always of the very finest, and his instruments are so 
 scarce, that they are probably unobtainable except at 
 prices for which one could get very good specimens of 
 the greater Cremonese. 
 
 NICOLAS, DIDIER (Aine). The best of a family of 
 Mirecourt violin makers. He was born in Mirecourt, 
 1757, and died there in 1833. His genuine instruments 
 are very good violins by this time. He copied Stradivari. 
 Varnish a fine, lively, yellowish brown, .sometimes 
 slightly red. He has good margins, but rather irregular 
 purfling. Tone very good. This maker was in fashion 
 at one time, and his own violins are fashionable yet for 
 that matter, but one result of his vogue is that a ver)' 
 large number of instruments are branded with his mark, 
 although he had nothing to do with them. His brand, 
 " A la ville de Cremonne D. Nicolas aine " is formed 
 into a triangle, with a small circle having D. N. and a 
 small cross inside, placed in the middle of the triangle. 
 He was succeeded by his son Joseph, who signed his own 
 violins " J. Nicolas fils," and the widow of the latter 
 sold the business, and the right to use the brands to 
 H. Derazy, a Mirecourt maker already mentioned. 
 
 H2
 
 100 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 NORMAN, BARAK, London. 1683 1740. A highly 
 artistic maker of viols, violas, violoncellos, and violins. 
 His work is often of a very refined character, with 
 fruity decorations of a tasteful description. The style 
 of his violins deserves the highest commendation except 
 in the cutting of ^the sound holes, which are very much 
 below'par in the matter of design. But in other respects, 
 the lines on which the instruments are built are exceedingly 
 fine. His varnish is really nowhere by this time in point of 
 colour, but it is of good quality. He was a partner of 
 Nathaniel Cross, already mentioned, at " The Bass Viol- 
 in St. Paul's Church Yard, London." 
 
 OTTO, JACOB AUGUSTUS, Halle and Jena. This maker 
 was a pupil of Ernst, already mentioned, and is chiefly 
 known for his work on the violin. I never saw any of his 
 instruments. He had also four sons, who carried on the 
 business or businesses, which were established by one or 
 two of them in above and other places, but their work is 
 hardly known, apparently, except by their father. 
 
 PANORMO. A family of violin makers, about the 
 earlier members of whom there is a great amount of 
 confusion. Vincent, the first bearer of the cognomen, is 
 supposed to have been a native of Palermo, in Sicily, 
 where he is said to have been born in the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century, and to have gone to Paris about 
 1735, where he attained a splendid reputation. His 
 tickets there date from 1738 to about 1/78, namely forty 
 years, according to one authority, while, according to 
 another, he was only a few years in Paris, and only a 
 few violins are dated from it. He visited Ireland also, 
 it is said, and made instruments there from an old
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. IOI 
 
 billiard table (maple) which he bought. At any rate, 
 he appears to have been a maker working under stress 
 of canvas, and from hand to mouth. He made magni- 
 ficent double basses, some of which, are, however, of 
 very poor wood. But his workmanship is always fine. 
 The appearance of his instruments varies much. Some- 
 times his varnish is a splendid rich amber, almost 
 worthy of Cremona, and at other times, as if he had 
 chosen altogether different materials to make it. The 
 style of his work is splendid ; very full margins one 
 might almost say too full. His favourite model is 
 Stradivari, but he copied Guarnerius and Amati as well. 
 Indeed, he did pretty nearly anything he was asked to 
 do, and, it is quite evident, he changed about a good 
 deal. As I have said, tickets in Paris fiddles are found 
 from 1738 to 1778, and I have seen fiddles having 
 Palermo tickets and London tickets between these 
 dates, and to crown all, it is said that he died in 1813. 
 If all these dates refer to the same Vincent Panormo, he 
 appears to have attained a ripe old age. There were 
 also a number of Panormos after him three sons, 
 Joseph, George Louis, and Edward, the first and second 
 being good violin makers. George Louis also for bows 
 and guitars. The last of the Panormos died a few 
 months ago, at Brighton, in very poor circumstances. 
 
 PARKER, DANIEL, London, 1715 1785. This is one 
 of our fine English makers. His tone is pure and clear, 
 and in his varnish he has caught a great deal of the 
 brightness of the Italians, although he has not caught 
 the pate. It is very rich and pulpy-looking. His violins 
 show very full margins, which is a characteristic of the
 
 IO2 THE FIDDLE FAN'CIER S GUIDE. 
 
 better class of Italians, and his sound holes are cut in a 
 very masterly way. His choice of wood also displays great 
 judgment -and a fine eye for Italian style. In some 
 instances, his varnish is of a dull red, and a great many of 
 his instruments appear to have been made for the music 
 shops, and to have been sold under other names. 
 
 PERRY, THOMAS, Dublin, 1767 1800. This maker has 
 certainly turned out many good violins and some of them 
 merit high praise in every respect. The tone is sweet and 
 clear. Workmanship generally most excellent. Scrolls 
 very fine. Varnish usually almost colourless, but of good 
 quality, and quite transparent. Copied Amati largely, 
 but, like many a good copyist of the same school, the 
 droop in the top part of his outlines shows pretty clearly 
 where his model came from namely from some of the 
 finest German copyists, but not from an original Amati. 
 About 1820 he became a partner with William Wilkinson, 
 and the firm was Perry and Wilkinson for a period of 
 about ten or fifteen years. 
 
 PIERRAY, CLAUDE, Paris, 1714 1730. Well made, 
 but somewhat thin-wooded violins were produced by 
 this maker. Red varnish of fairly good appearance. 
 Tone of rather poor quality. 
 
 PIQUE, F. L., Paris, 1788 1822. A fine maker, whose 
 instruments are of remarkably good style. His favourite 
 model was Stradivari, and he certainly made exceedingly 
 correct copies. Tone very fine. The wood is all excel- 
 lent in such instruments as I have seen. His margins 
 are beautifully full, and his corners and sound holes 
 exceedingly well designed. The varnish, although some- 
 times somewhat " gummy " in appearance, is often of
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 103 
 
 good quality and transparency, and of a colour which 
 may be described as of a nice brown. 
 
 PLANE, WALTER, Glasgow, 1820 1860 or later. A 
 very fair Scotch maker who turned out neat and taste- 
 ful work, and who could, with a model before him, copy 
 an old master with considerable skill, but who never 
 was in a position to be particularly choice about his 
 wood. I have known very good Amati copies by him. 
 Light yellow varnish. 
 
 ROMBOUTS, P., Amsterdam, 1720 1740. I cannot say 
 that I admire this maker's work, although it may be called 
 good in its way. It might be described as "fat and fine," 
 but his purfling is very careless. I have not, however, 
 seen much of his work, but in what I have seen the 
 varnish had a dry resinous look which was not pleasant. 
 
 RAYMAN, JACOB, London. 1620 1650. This maker's 
 large work merits the highest praise. Some of his 
 'cellos for the excellence of the wood and dignified char- 
 acter of the design deserve to be placed in line with the 
 best. I cannot say so much for his violins. They are 
 pretty enough in some respects, but the outline of such 
 as I have seen is very poor, as is also the design of his 
 sound holes. These might, indeed, be called disastrous. 
 The workmanship is good, but had his reputation 
 depended on the appearance of his violins it would never 
 have reached the point to which it attained. Fortu- 
 nately, his big instruments show us, beyond a possibility 
 of error, what he really could do, and raise him to the 
 rank of an artiste in his calling, while some of the wood 
 which he uses in this large work is as fine as anything 
 to be seen.
 
 104 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 ROGERI, GIAMBATTISTA, (commonly called G. B. 
 Rugerius) was a native of Bologna but it is not known 
 when he was born. He was a pupil of, or, at least, a 
 workman with, Nicolas Amati about the same time as 
 Stradivari, and made remarkably fine violins on his own 
 account when he started business. It is not known 
 precisely when he began in Cremona after leaving the 
 service of Amati, but after 1660 he was established in 
 Brescia and continued in business there until after 1730. 
 His instruments are very fine, have the finest wood, and 
 the finest varnish, and it is said that many of the in- 
 struments which we now call Nicolas Amati's were 
 made by him a very likely thing no doubt the same 
 may be said of all the great pupils of Nicolas. G. B's 
 instruments are modelled very much after the style of 
 Amati, of exceedingly fine wood, and highly finished in 
 all but the purfling, which often looks as if carelessly 
 done. The figure of his backs is often quite striking. 
 His margins are full and flat. There is a charming look 
 about his sound holes which it is not very easy to describe. 
 They are of the N. Amati style, but the inner edge looks 
 like a beautiful, clean, straight cut for a considerable 
 distance before it merges into the lower curve, or turns 
 round to the top corner. His varnish is fine and not 
 unlike that of his master. His 'cellos are magnificent 
 instruments, and his varnish on them is not always so 
 transparent, besides leaning to brown. 
 
 ROGERI, PIETRO, GIACOMO. A son of the proceeding 
 whose special excellence lay in tenors, 'cellos, and double 
 basses. His work is said to be very little, if at all, inferior 
 to his father's, but I am not in a position to speak of it.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 105 
 
 RUGIKRI, FRANCESCO, Cremona. This maker was a 
 pupil of Hieronymus Amati and no relative of the above 
 Bolognese family. He was thus of a somewhat earlier 
 school namely that in which Nicholas Amati was him- 
 self trained. His violins are very beautiful, of the A. 
 and H. Amati type, with the pretty, ridgy arch, the 
 beautiful finish, fine varnish, and pure tone. But he 
 did not always make like his master, and gradually 
 crept away from the model until as we get on to 1690, 
 or a little before, we find him leaving it almost entirely 
 becoming flatter in his arching, enlarging his model, 
 and changing and lengthening the design of his sound 
 holes. Then later a year or two back he goes in his 
 violins to the old, beautiful, sweet toned arch. His scrolls 
 have large-headed volutes. His outline is not quite so 
 graceful and complete as that of his master or of his fellow 
 pupil, and his middle bouts are pretty deep and long, 
 but they are exceedingly handsome instruments for all 
 that, and very rare indeed. Many of his backs are cut 
 on the slab. His varnish is of a somewhat dull golden 
 brown. His tickets run, " Francesco Rugier detto il 
 Per in Cremona." 
 
 RUGIER, VINCENZO, Cremona. Son of preceding. 
 He also used the phrase " detto il Per " in his tickets to 
 distinguish his work, presumably, from that of the 
 Rogerius family. So, at least, it is thought. His work 
 is not reckoned so good as his father's, and is called 
 coarse by some, but anything that I have seen was of 
 quite a refined style, and displayed a most excellent 
 judgment in the selection of wood. I have seen wood in 
 his instruments not in the least unworthy of even the
 
 106 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 finest grained examples of the Amati, who was his 
 father's master, and with a varnish for colour and 
 quality not second to the same distinguished makers. 
 
 There were other members of these two families of 
 whose work I do not know anything. One is named 
 Giacinto, and he calls himself in his ticket a son of 
 Francesco, and there is another called Giambattista 
 Ruggeri, who also calls himself " il Per," but whether he 
 was a scion of the Bolognese Rogerius, or of the 
 Cremonese Rugier, is not known. They are both credited 
 with good work, but there has been considerable confu- 
 sion with regard to these two families in consequence of 
 the names having been similarly spelt, and their precise 
 relations to the two have not yet been denned. 
 
 SAUNIER, Paris. About 1770. This maker is chiefly 
 known because he is credited with being the instructor 
 of F. L. Pique. 
 
 SANCTUS, SERAPHIN, Venice, 1710 1748. Santo Sera- 
 fino was an exquisite maker in many ways. The artistic 
 and picturesque functions of the violin maker were un- 
 doubtedly exercised by him to a considerable extent, and 
 anything more lovely so far as regards out ward appearance 
 than some of his work both big and little could scarcely 
 be found. His double basses are most magnificent, but 
 adjectives of that kind are not quite fine enough to de- 
 scribe his other classes. His basses are his best for tone, 
 the smaller instruments not being quite equal in that 
 respect to the hopes their splendid appearance raises. 
 For beautiful wood, finished work, splendid varnish a 
 rich and brilliant golden brown if Santo Serafino does 
 not rival Stradivari, it is difficult to say who does. His
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. IOy 
 
 margins and corners are exquisitely finished the 
 margins, being rather narrow and, altogether, he makes 
 bright and beautiful instruments such as even Stradivari 
 might have been proud of had they only possessed the 
 proper tone. In the latter respect they are considerably 
 behind, but not in any other. His instruments are some- 
 what rare, and his tickets run " Sanctus Seraphin 
 Utinensis fecit Venetijs anno." He was born in Udine, 
 a town of considerable size in the extreme north-east of 
 Italy, and far enough from Cremona where the two 
 famous men lived whose works he made his models. 
 Where he learnt his business is not known. He 
 went from Udine to Venice. " Utinensis " means 
 " Udinese" just as " Cremonensis " means " Cremonese." 
 He copied Amati and Stradivari. 
 
 SILVESTRE, PIERRE, Lyons. Born 1801. Died 1859. 
 This maker was born at Somerwiller. He was taught 
 violin making by Blaise of Mirecourt. He afterwards 
 went to Paris, and worked first for Nicolas Lupot, and 
 afterwards for Gand. He is a splendid maker, using 
 magnificent wood, and very good varnish. His outlines 
 are of surpassing beauty, and the finish of his work 
 beyond reproach. The fluting of his heads is bounded 
 at the bottom by a quaint line which slightly squares off 
 the corners. The corners of the middle bouts are full 
 and perfect, his sound holes most graceful, and the tone 
 of his instruments is of exceedingly fine quality. He 
 had a brother who was taught by the same Mirecourt 
 maker, and who went to Paris also, and entered the 
 service of J. B. Vuillaume. This brother, Hippolyte, 
 and Pierre became partners, and started business in
 
 IO8 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 Lyons in 1829. In 1848 Hippolyte retired, and Pierre 
 continued until his death. When the brothers were 
 together, the tickets ran in Latin, " Petrus et Hippolytus 
 Silvestre fratres, fecerunt Lugdun," and when Pierre 
 was by himself he used his native tongue, " Pierre 
 Silvestre a Lyon." Pierre made a goodly number of 
 violins himself, but they appear to have been picked up 
 rapidly, as they are now somewhat rare. The firm's 
 instruments are not quite so good. 
 
 STAINER, JACOBUS, Absam near Inspruck. This great 
 maker was born on July I4th, 1621, at Hall a short 
 distance from Absam where he settled, and where he 
 died in 1683. He was ^ rst P u * to work with an organ 
 builder in Inspruck named Daniel Herz who appears 
 to have been also an organ player. It is said that 
 Stainer's constitution was not robust enough for this 
 calling although the work is not particularly heavy 
 and that Herz recommended him to try violin making. 
 We are next informed that the parish priest of Absam 
 was instrumental in getting Stainer placed at work in 
 Cremona, and with Nicolas Amati. This incident in 
 Stainer's life is supposed to be an apocryphal interpola- 
 tion, because no particular resemblance to Cremonese has 
 been found by the doubters in what they considered to be his 
 work when theyplaced it along side of that of the Cremonese 
 makers. Those who are not inclined wholly to discredit 
 the story, suggest that it is just possible the doubters 
 never really saw Stainer's finest work, and have come 
 to their conclusions from observations of instruments 
 which were not his at all. This is not an unlikely 
 explanation of the matter, for a fine, genuine Stainer
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN.' MAKERS. log 
 
 violin is almost the rarest thing in riddles. People who 
 talk about Stainers as if they were familiar with them 
 to their finger tips are generally talking about instru- 
 ments which have never had the impress of his tools. I am 
 not now referring to the tubby, or even to the wtubby, 
 violins, which are usually called Stainers all over the 
 country, but to good, well made, and really old, instru- 
 ments of considerable merit sometimes Italian, some- 
 times German, sometimes English, and sometimes 
 French, which responsible people often accept, and speak 
 of, as Stainer's. The pampered instrument, which has 
 been in one family for over a hundred years, is not the 
 only guilty thing in this connection ; and even if it were, 
 its pretensions would be quite lost on a London dealer, 
 and perhaps as completely on a provincial dealer, if 
 he happen to have had a little real experience. But 
 there is another, and much more dangerous candidate 
 for Bavarian honours, wearing the remains of a nice 
 golden-tinted sizing, and a suspicion of cherry-coloured 
 varnish you can almost see the bloom of it hiding away 
 in the shadow of the corners and had the details of 
 Stainer's life only been known to us a little earlier, 
 together with the knowledge that he was a kind of 
 peripatetic wholesale maker, who attended fairs, etc., 
 for the purpose of disposing of his stock, we might have 
 had this instrument handed down to us as the " Market 
 Stainer " a fitting companion to the " Prison Joseph," 
 and the " Early Maggini." Though a finely-finished 
 violin, however, it is generally too delicate about the 
 edges, too narrow in the margins, and having sound 
 holes too much of all sorts. It has little or no resem-
 
 IIO THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 blance to Cremonese work, and just as little to Stainer's, 
 and is, I fancy, the kind of violin which makes people 
 imagine that Stainers are by no means uncommon, and 
 which clearly proves to them the absence of Italian 
 influence in his work. It appears to me that the Italian 
 influence in his work is very evident, and I should not 
 be greatly surprised if the old tradition that he did 
 business in Cremona at one time, had some foundation in 
 fact. It seems a far cry from Absam, but it is really little 
 more than a journey from Liverpool to London would be 
 to us. In those days there was considerable traffic from 
 market to market, and fair to fair, and had he even 
 started on foot on the old road over the Brenner pass, he 
 could have done the whole distance merely as a tourist 
 in three or four days, but in such intervening towns as 
 Schonberg, Sterzing, Brixen, Klausen, Botzen, Neu- 
 markt, Trent, there would be lots of opportunities for 
 such business as he appears to have cultivated. The 
 Albanis were in Botzen even in his own day, and there 
 are traces of a large fiddle trade between the Tyrol and 
 Cremona, of which a maker, such as he was, would not 
 be slow to take advantage, whether he made all the 
 instruments himself or not. Trent half way was 
 one of the busiest and gayest towns in the Tyrol. 
 Roveredo, was another lively, commercial place, and 
 when there, one is within hearing of the heartbeat of the 
 classical fiddle country. Many a bit of fine Tyrol wood 
 has, no doubt, gone down to Brescia and Cremona, and 
 throughout Lombardy, and elsewhere in Italy, over that 
 old post road, across the Brenner. In some such 
 fashion, one might link Absam with Cremona ; but it is
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. Ill 
 
 not a very satisfactory way of dealing with the subject. 
 There is not, however, the slightest doubt that on his 
 finest work, the varnish is of exactly the same character 
 as is found on Cremonese instruments. The violins 
 which were formerly called " Elector " Stainer's, because 
 it was supposed that he made one for each of the German 
 Electors, are magnificent instruments. The story about 
 them is a bit of romantic rubbish, woven into the old 
 biographical accounts of him, and has been exploded 
 for a few years now. But there is no mistake about the 
 violins. They are really grand, about 14^ inches 
 from margin to margin lengthways. Width across the 
 bottom about 8 inches, across the top, about 6. The 
 margins are of good width, and gracefully thrown up a 
 little from the purfling. The edges are circular. The 
 corners are not so pronounced as those of Nicolas Amati, 
 and the purfling is rather wider than usual with Stainer. 
 It is not, however, so very neat as in many an inferior 
 maker, but of an entirely satisfactory character for all 
 that. There is a perceptible groove running round the 
 margins of both back and front. The tops of the sound 
 holes are circular, and so are the lower turns, but larger. 
 The arching is greater on the front than on the back. 
 It starts to fall longitudinally at the same points from upper 
 and lower margins, but as the arch below the sound 
 holes is perceptibly higher than it is above them, the 
 fall at the former point seems more sudden than 
 appears above, where it seems to occupy about a third 
 more of the distance in falling. The tone is of a lovely 
 quality ; full, round, and resonant. He made magni- 
 ficent double basses. He was married on yth October,
 
 112 THE FIDDLK FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 1645, to a Margaretha Holzhammer, and had nine 
 children. He was unfortunate in his business, fell into 
 debt, and died, out of his mind, in 1683. His house is 
 pointed out in Absam, and the bench to which he was 
 bound when he died mad. His label is written. 
 
 STORIONI, Lorenzo, 1751 1798. A Cremonese maker 
 who is generally called the last of the fine school. His 
 instruments cannot be called pretty, but the wood is very 
 fine, and gives a most excellent tone. He employed a 
 spirit varnish which sometimes appears to have actually 
 sunk into the wood. Many of his instruments are of 
 very broad grain in the upper table, and he certainly is 
 not graceful in his outline, as, frequently, his work looks 
 almost shapeless. Many instruments having this broad 
 grain and unattractive appearance are called Storioni 
 work. His model is Joseph Guarnerius. He made 
 some magnificent double basses, and the tickets 
 " Laurentius Storioni fecit Cremonae " are not so often 
 genuine as one could wish. 
 
 STRADIVARI, ANTONIO, Cremona. This maker is, as 
 every one probably knows, the greatest artiste in the 
 matter of violins that has ever lived. The year of his 
 birth is supposed to be 1644, and the place Cremona. 
 The interest which his work has aroused regarding him 
 has been so keen that people, for lack of information 
 directly concerning himself, have taken to hunting up 
 the name in old registers in Cremona for the purpose of 
 finding, presumably, how far back they can trace it. 
 Up to the present the year 1213 is the earliest recorded 
 date concerning an entry of a name bearing a likeness 
 to that of our great fiddle maker. In a practical work
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. IIJ 
 
 like this, lucubration of that kind may be limited 
 to the statement that bearers of the name ot 
 Stradivari have occupied honourable positions in 
 Cremonese history from very early times, but no direct 
 relationship has been traced between Antonio, the 
 violin maker, and these distinguished people. His 
 fame is not much in need of it, having spread 
 far enough and wide enough in all conscience 
 through the merits of his own work. Indeed, those 
 lawyers, doctors, etc., etc., of old times have had their 
 names rescued from oblivion solely because of Antonio- 
 Stradivari, the violin maker, and we may therefore in a 
 brief work like this leave them in peace. Stradivari's- 
 father and mother were Allesandro Stradivari and Anna 
 Moroni, and they had another son, Joseph Julius Caesar,, 
 whose birth in Cremona has been found registered. 
 The entry of Antonio's has not been found. Stradivari 
 was twice married, first to a widow lady, a Signora 
 Capra in 1667, who died in 1698. The lady had a 
 daughter before her marriage with Stradivari, and there 
 were six children born to them. . On the 3rd June, 1680, 
 Stradivari had bought the house in the square of St.. 
 Domenic and it remained in the possession of his heirs 
 for forty years after his death, when it was sold to some 
 persons called Ancina, and in 1801 changed hands, 
 again, this time becoming the property of a Signer 
 Bono. Fifty years after this it was purchased from his 
 heirs by one Vigani, then in 1862 by a draper called 
 d'Orleans. It is at present No. i, Piazza. Roma and is 
 a modest house of three floors looking over the square. 
 The shop floor has two windows at one side and the
 
 114 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 door at the other. The upper floors have, each, three 
 windows. In these unpretending premises the great 
 violin maker resided and worked for nearly fifty-eight 
 years, having on the 24th August, 1699, married his 
 second wife, Antonia Zambelli. Five children were 
 born of this second union, of whom only two followed 
 their father's calling. These were Francesco, born ist 
 July, 1671, and Omobono, born i4th Nov. 1679. The 
 exact date of Stradivari's death is not known, but he 
 was carried out of his house on the igth December, 1737, 
 and laid, not in the family tomb he had prepared for 
 himself, but in one Francesco Vitani's vault in the 
 Chapel of the Rosary Church of St. Domenic. His 
 second wife had preceeded him in death by nine months. 
 Stradivari is supposed to have been a pupil of Nicolas 
 Amati. His name has not been found entered in any 
 return as an inmate of Nicolas Amati's as is the case 
 with Andreas Guarnerius that other pupil of his. But 
 observation of his work reveals the fact that he made 
 violins which bear Amati's name, that is as early as 
 1666, at which date he also began to put in his own 
 name. If we place implicit reliance on the integrity of 
 these tickets -a matter which, by the way, it is im- 
 possible to decide and if we believe that they have 
 remained in the violins in which they were originally 
 placed, we are thrown into the utmost confusion in 
 attempting to trace any gradual development in his 
 work. Since his death, no person has shown himself 
 possessed of any specially authentic data from which 
 could be deduced the theories regarding his various 
 models which have for so long a time prevailed. When
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 115 
 
 probed to the bottom these theories are found to be, 
 very largely, guess-work. It is very reasonable guess- 
 work in a great many cases, but it never is more than 
 that. It is, of course, highly reasonable to suppose that 
 while he was if he was in the employment of Nicolas 
 Amati, he made violins as Nicolas Amati liked them to 
 be made, and that after he left his employer he would 
 probably continue to make them somewhat after the 
 same style, unless, or until, he discovered something 
 better. It is not however a very profitable subject of 
 discussion, and is now largely confined to one or two 
 authorities on the subject, and to those who do not 
 yet know very much about it. What chiefly concerns 
 the fiddle fancier is that Stradivari had several models, 
 but when, during his active working life on his own 
 account, he began, interrupted, renewed, or finally dis- 
 continued, the use of any one of them is more than any 
 person can now tell. 
 
 What is considered to be his earliest style after he 
 ceased working for N. Amati if he ever did work for 
 him is the amatise model. That is, an instrument 
 having, to a certain extent, the long, and somewhat 
 ridgy, but graceful arch, which is characteristic of Amati 
 style. This model he is supposed to have used until 
 about 1690, or a year or so after. Then from 1690 or so 
 until 1700, he is supposed to have made what are called 
 " long " Strads. That is, a model having a total length 
 of about 14^ inches. From about 1700 onwards what 
 is called his " grand " period prevails, in which the 
 length is generally somewhat less, while the widths of the 
 upper and lower portions are slightly greater. These 
 
 I 2
 
 Il6 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 are the general appearances of what are known as his 
 three periods, but whether the instruments were actually 
 made in this succession or not is a matter which cannot 
 now be decided. In some of his so-called early instru- 
 ments, he employed a kind of poplar for the back. There 
 are very few examples of the amatise model in this 
 country, and the " long " pattern is quite as great a 
 rarity. The distance from corner to corner of the 
 middle bouts in the " long " model is about 3^-in. rather 
 under than over and in the " grand " pattern it is 3 in. 
 The sound holes in both " long" and "grand " are the same, 
 and it is very difficult to give any indication in writing of 
 their perfect beauty. The grain of the wood in the upper 
 table of a Stradivari violin is generally of a medium 
 width, but it is frequently very close and regular. I 
 have, now and again, seen it as wide as is found in 
 Joseph del Jesu's violins. Throughout all these styles 
 there is great variety in individual instruments, and 
 solidity of construction, combined with refined finish is 
 characteristic of them all. In the "long" pattern the 
 middle bouts are cut in very sweetly. The top curve of 
 these does not, as in the case of the "grand " pattern, 
 appear to almost rise a little into the upper portion of 
 the violin before it turns down. In the " grand " pattern 
 this gives these bouts somewhat of the appearance of an 
 ellipse of more pronounced character, and as an instance 
 of how Stradivari reverted to what is called a previous 
 style, the middle bouts of the " grand " pattern of, say 
 1716, or thereabout, may be found in instruments of 1690, 
 of distinctly amatise model. The outline of a " grand " 
 pattern is fuller than that of a " long," and gives to the
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 117 
 
 instrument the appearance of having what it really has 
 a greater approach to equality of dimension between 
 the upper and lower portions of the body. The top 
 curve of a " grand " does not droop so quickly from the 
 level of its start at the neck as that of a " long," but, 
 though constantly falling, keeps travelling out a bit, so to 
 speak, nearer the level of its start. The result of this is 
 that fulness already referred to. 
 
 The varnish of Stradivari is of various colours. That 
 of his so-called early work is often of a beautiful *golden 
 brown, golden yellow, and also a kind of cherry brown, 
 The " long " has much the same range of tint in golden 
 brown tinged with red. The " grand," as far as I have 
 seen, has a wider range of colour, from a clear straw 
 tint (almost) through toast brown to golden brown, 
 orange, red orange, and golden red. All these are 
 extremely transparent and beautiful, and soft to the 
 touch like velvet. Such descriptions can, however, only 
 apply in a general sense, for I have seen them in all 
 styles, just as I have seen a highly arched back which 
 might, indeed, almost be called amitise dating from the 
 very heart of the " grand " period, while I have also 
 seen a model of about 1680, repeated line for line more 
 than forty years afterwards so far as tickets are con- 
 cerned. The quality of the varnish is almost always 
 fine. Sometimes it is of a dull, scumbly character, and 
 it is barely possible that the few instruments where I 
 observed it of this appearance, had been treated to some 
 cleansing process which might easily cause the dis- 
 . appearance of the polish. There is also some variety 
 in the pate of the varnish. On many instruments it is
 
 n8 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 thin, soft, and gleaming, on others, thick and luscious, 
 like a flaming ruby gum. On a back which has been 
 treated by Stradivari himself to imitate the picturesque 
 appearance of age, it can be seen vanishing away in 
 thinnest scales at the borders of wear. In one of the 
 earliest instruments I ever saw, the margins were large, 
 and that appears to have been in almost all cases, a sine 
 qua non, but not in all. Fourteen years later, they grew 
 small, while in the immediately proceeding year they 
 were large and magnificent. They are generally of a 
 handsome width, and, when not worn away, there is 
 present a fine sense of solidity, combined with lightness 
 of construction. The scrolls are of the finest and most 
 artistic contour, having broad and full sides for the peg 
 box, and they are usually of the same material apparently 
 as that employed for the back. But the grafting of new 
 necks has given opportunities of changing scrolls in earlier 
 times which are now well past recall in a great many 
 instances. These changes have been made for the 
 purpose, sometimes, of supplying a well preserved scroll 
 to a violin whose head had been either lost, broken, or 
 worn down. A great many of them are worn down on 
 the side of the fourth string because of the habit, not 
 yet extinct, of placing that side of the volute against 
 some firm support while tuning up. In some cases that 
 wear has been so excessive as to tempt makers and 
 owners to have a fresh piece inserted, and the contour 
 in some measure restored. When the wood is well 
 matched, and the work accomplished in an artistic 
 manner, it is quite a right thing to do. Stradivari 
 scrolls vary a little in appearance, early ones having
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. IIQ 
 
 deeper fluting at the back than later work but their 
 dimensions do not vary much. From the bottom of the 
 fluting at the back to the apex of the volute, 
 they measure about four inches. Their width across 
 from boss-edge to boss-edge is about if inches. The 
 " boss " is the protuberant terminal of the volute, 
 which sticks out on each side. It is sometimes called 
 the " ear," and at other times the "eye," and it would 
 be just as rational to call it the " nose," or the " mouth." 
 The width of the widest part of the fluting is about an 
 inch, and that of the narrowest part of the volute at the 
 top is about ^ of an inch. Width of the first curl of the 
 volute, measuring, as it were, right through from boss- 
 edge to boss-edge, and along their tops is about i^g- in. 
 Width of second curl across top, and in same direction, 
 i- in. Depth of sculpture of first curl, at boss, about 
 ^ in. Width of under turn of volute at its junction 
 withpegbox i in. Greatest width ofpegbox, at the nut, 
 f- in., and then diminishes to f in. at top. Width of fluting 
 at back, opposite bosses, f in. Depth of side of pegbox 
 across second peghole from top about i in. Depth from 
 back of second curl at level of boss tops to fluting about 
 i^in., and then diminishing gradually, as it turns round 
 to where it overhangs pegbox at same level to Jin., and 
 further diminishing until lost in the boss on the up cut, 
 the sculpture widening from the front until it is flush 
 with the boss end. In some the cutting is hollow from 
 about J of an inch above the A peghole. The 
 thickness of the pegbox sides is about /^ f an i ncn - 
 These measurements may be of service to the fancier, 
 although, of course, they must not be understood to be
 
 I2O THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 an unvarying standard. Viewed sideways a Stradivari 
 scroll looks very perfect, curling in towards the boss in 
 ever lessening depth until the cutting ends just as it 
 reaches the top. The undercut where the pegbox joins 
 the volute is as highly finished as any other portion, and 
 comes slightly out to meet the under turn in a most 
 graceful manner. The wood is usually very well marked 
 and the whole appearance of very refined, and strong 
 character. Of course in those cases where the splicing 
 of a scroll has been carelessly done, and the pegbox 
 sides, or cheeks, thinned away on the inside to conceal 
 a poor job, the front view of that portion will not 
 harmonise with what is said of their thicknesses, and 
 where the joint has been made too high up, it will 
 often destroy in a distressing manner the beautiful 
 appearance one expects to fine even there. 
 
 STRADIVARI, FRANCESCO, Cremona. Born the ist 
 February, 1671. Died nth May, 1743. This maker was 
 a son of Antonio, and the elder of the only two members 
 of his large family who followed their father's calling. 
 As a maker Francesco did not attain to the level of his 
 father, which is not saying very much in his dispraise, 
 seeing that none of the other great Cremonese makers 
 permanently attained to that level. What I have seen 
 of Francisco's work was heavier in style, but it had 
 exactly the same quality of varnish as is found on his 
 father's instruments. There, however, the resemblance 
 may be said to cease, although that circumstance will 
 not, as the fancier knows, lessen the interest in 
 Francesco's work, for he has qualities which are personal 
 to himself. His margins for instance are relieved in the
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 121 
 
 most beautiful manner like a thickish cord rising up 
 from the marginal groove and his edges are rounded 
 very sweetly. His arching is somewhat after that of 
 his father in the earlier style of the "grand" pattern 
 not so graceful in any point, but having a little of the 
 paternal feeling for all that. The cutting in of his 
 middle bouts betrays the same influence, but they are 
 not so artistic and have the appearence of being deeper 
 and longer which they really are except in regard to 
 the father's model, which is called the "long" pattern. 
 His varnish in what I have seen is of a reddish, 
 golden brown, soft and transparent like his father's, but 
 not so brilliant. His sound holes appear more straightly 
 cut than his father's, and have their terminal wings not 
 so square or broad. They are also placed a little 
 lower. The corners of his middle bouts are also more 
 pointed. His scrolls are slightly different, the volute 
 appearing to be rather long, but not ungraceful, in front, 
 and narrowing steadily towards the top. He made very 
 few instruments, and they are exceedingly rare. His 
 tickets run " Franciscus Stradivarius Cremonensis 
 Filius. Antonii faciebat anno." 
 
 STRADIVARI, OMOBONO, Cremona. Born i4th Novem- 
 ber, 1679. Died gth June, 1742. This maker is the 
 only other son of Antonio who became a violin maker. 
 I am not acquainted with his work. He appears to 
 have been chiefly employed in making repairs. There 
 is a ticket which, it is said, he used, and which runs 
 " Omobonus Stradiuarius figlij Antonij Cremone," etc. 
 I should very much doubt that he ever was such a 
 donkey, or at least, that he used such an inscription
 
 122 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 twice. The clerical patrons of the family were too 
 numerous to permit such a thing, I should say. 
 
 TECCHLER, DAVID, Rome. This was a fine maker, 
 who if we may trust to the accuracy of inscriptions on 
 tickets was born in Salzburg in 1666. Anything that 
 I have seen of his work was of very high character and 
 altogether Italian in style. It is said, however, that he 
 made highly arched instruments when he was in 
 Salzburg, which is very likely. He certainly was in 
 Rome when he was about thirty years old, and his work 
 was Italian in character then. It displays finely and 
 massively moulded corners and margins, and altogether 
 a noble and grand appearance. The wood is of the 
 finest kind and beautifully figured, back and sides. His 
 violoncellos are superb instruments. His varnish is a 
 golden brown of somewhat scumbly appearance. How 
 long he lasted I cannot say. It is generally supposed 
 until about 1742 or 3. It is also said that he worked in 
 Venice and had a quarrel there with the other makers, 
 who threatened him in some way, so that he removed 
 to Rome. I am only acquainted with his Roman 
 work. 
 
 TESTORE, C. G., Milan, 1690 1715. Well finished 
 instruments of Guarnerius model. Brown varnish. 
 
 TESTORE, C. A., Milan, 1720 1745. Eldest son of 
 preceeding. He made very good copies of Guarnerius, 
 Amati, and Stradivari. Good tone. Varnish of a some- 
 what thickish brown pate. He made fine 'cellos and 
 tenors. 
 
 TESTORE, P. A., Milan, 1720 1759. Similar work 
 to preceding. Varnish yellow, and yellowish brown.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 123 
 
 THIBOUT, J. P., Paris. Born at Caen, 1777. Died 
 near Paris, 1856. This was an excellent French maker 
 who started business in Paris in 1807. His workman- 
 ship is very fine, and distinctive in many instances by his 
 corners, where the joinings of the sides are not made in 
 the usual way, but square, through carrying out the 
 corner blocks, and facing apex of these until about an 
 eighth of inch surface appears. His margins are quiet 
 and finished looking, and fall over, so to say, on the 
 sides, not greatly projecting over these. His sound 
 holes have something of the straight inner cut of Rogerius. 
 His arching is flat, and his varnish a red mahogany, 
 with a very slight tinge of brilliant brick red. His 
 scrolls are beautiful, not so deep nor so long as other 
 French or Italian specimens, but of exquisite line and 
 curve in profile. Strong pegbox, and most finished 
 volute. His tone is French, powerful, and good. 
 Altogether his style is restrained, strong, and artistic, 
 and his finish very fine. 
 
 THOMPSON. Name of a number of London violin 
 makers beginning with " Charles and Samuel Thompson 
 in St. Paul's Church Yard, London," as the tickets run. 
 None of the work is very good, that of Charles and 
 Samuel being of poor outline, poor wood, poor, tasteless 
 sound holes. Everything about it, indeed, more or less, 
 mean. Thin tone, and weak, inartistic scroll. Their 
 instruments have generally a pronounced groove round 
 margins both back and front, and the varnish is of a 
 lifeless, maple stain tint. This firm carried on business 
 about 1720 48. Other firms of the name are Jno. 
 Thompson, 1753 9, and thereabout. R. Thompson
 
 124 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 about 1749, Thompson and Son (S. and P.) about 1764. 
 Some of the work of these firms is rather better than the 
 founders', but none of it calls for particular mention so 
 far as I have known it. 
 
 TOBIN, RICHARD, London, 1800 36. This was a 
 fairly good maker, who worked at one time for John 
 Betts. He died in poverty in Shoreditch. His instru- 
 ments are good-looking, and well varnished. He was a 
 pupil of Perry and Wilkinson, Dublin, and he had the 
 reputation of being the finest scroll cutter ever known in 
 this country. His scrolls are certainly very good. 
 
 TODINI, MICHELE, Rome. About 1620 1676. A 
 native of Saluzzo, who used to be credited with the 
 invention of the four-stringed contra basso, a notion 
 some time ago exploded. 
 
 TONONI, FELICE and GUIDO, Bologna. They made 
 very fine violoncellos of exquisite work and considerable 
 power. Their tickets run " Tononi di Bologna fecero 
 1 68 " 
 
 TONONI, GIOVANNI, Bologna. Son of Felice. A 
 better maker than preceding firm. He made large 
 'cellos and tenors, which are very fine, and of Nicolas 
 Amati model. His tickets run " Joannes de Tononi's 
 fecit Bononice in Platea Paviglionis anno 17 " 
 
 TONONI, CARLO, Venice, 1716 1768. Son of pre- 
 ceding. His violins are well shaped instruments, and 
 have a very good quality of varnish. 
 
 URQUHART, THOMAS, London, 1648 1666. This 
 maker is one of the finest of the early English school. 
 His work is that of an artist in all points, from 
 the quaint, pure cutting of the sound holes, to the
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 125. 
 
 beautiful golden varnish, which hardly can be named 
 second to even the best Italian. 
 
 VAILLANT, F., Paris. About 1738. This was a very 
 good maker, who produced some fine instruments on the 
 lines of Nicolas Amati. His outline is very pure, with 
 somewhat long middle bouts. His tickets run " Frangois 
 Vaillant rue de la Juiverie a Paris.' 1 
 
 VUILLAUME, J. B., Paris, 1798 1875. In some 
 respects this distinguished maker is the greatest that 
 France has ever had. In other respects he is not. He 
 certainly had the capacity to be the greatest in all 
 points, had he so chosen, but he did not so choose, with 
 the result that he never gained on Lupot except in one 
 or two points of comparatively slight importance. He 
 was born in Mirecourt on the yth October, 1798, and 
 all his biographers, without exception, state that his 
 father, Claude Vuillaume, was a violin maker there. I 
 have, myself, adopted that statement in making reference 
 to him elsewhere, and even the late highly esteemed 
 Gustave Chouquet, keeper of the museum of the 
 Conservatoire at Paris, has apparently drawn his 
 information from the same source, namely, Antoine 
 Vidal. It has even been recently stated that his grand- 
 father was a violin maker, although he does not appear 
 to have gone quite so far as that himself. In 1874, when 
 M. Vidal was writing his book, he asked Vuillaume to> 
 make some researches in his native town, in order to 
 ascertain the history of his family. What came of these 
 searches will be referred to presently, but long previous 
 to that date, namely, about 1856, when M. F. J. Fetis, 
 Chapel Master to the King of the Belgians, and Director
 
 126 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 of the Brussels Conservatoire, was compiling his mono- 
 graph on Antonio Stradivari, mainly from material 
 supplied to him by Vuillaume, we find incorporated in 
 this work a statement that there was a Jean Vuillaume, 
 who had been employed in the establishment of Stradivari, 
 and who had made good violins from about 1700 to 
 1740. The only known specimen of a violin by this 
 maker appears to have been one which was in the 
 possession of J. B. Vuillaume, and which was seen by M. 
 Vidal, who describes it as a very common piece of work, 
 with painted purfling, narrow edges, and yellow varnish, 
 and in which no connoisseur could find the slightest 
 trace of the magnificent example and tuition of Stradivari. 
 When the researches as above referred to were made, no 
 trace of relationship between the two families could be 
 found. It is not even said that this Jean Vuillaume had 
 been discovered to be a real personage. However that 
 may be, the most remote ancestor of the family then 
 reported was Vuillaume's own father, Claude, who is 
 called a violin maker, and the 'prentice master of his 
 four sons, Jean Baptiste, Nicolas, Nicolas-Francis, and 
 Claude Fra^ois. It does not appear that the informa- 
 tion supplied in this way to M. Vidal was verified by 
 him when he published it in the year following 
 Vuillaume's death, namely, in 1876, and I am beginning 
 to fancy that J. B. Vuillaume, however clever he was as 
 a violin maker and dealer, was a practical joker of a some- 
 what serious turn of mind, or else that those to whom he 
 conveyed such details had failed to comprehend their 
 precise significance. At all events, the biographical 
 account of the family which is at present current from
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 11J 
 
 the pens of the late Gustave Chouquet and Antoine 
 Vidal, and which is adopted by all others with the 
 addition of a grandfather, whom these gentlemen do not 
 mention, is to the effect that Claude Vuillaume, born in 
 Mirecourt in 1771, according to Chouquet, and in 1772, 
 according to Vidal, was a violin maker in that town, and 
 the first known member of the family ; that he trained 
 his four sons in the business, who continued it under his 
 direction ; that he was a maker of trade instruments, 
 etc., etc., and had used as his trade mark, " Au roi 
 David, Paris," branded in the backs. I am now 
 informed that this Claude Vuillaume was not a violin 
 maker at all, but was what we would call the " carrier," 
 between Mirecourt and Nancy. There may be people 
 alive in both places at the present time who will 
 remember the old man quite well he died in 1834 an ^ 
 who could confirm this, I daresay, if it were necessary. 
 Assuming, for the nonce, that he was even a dealer in 
 cheap instruments in Mirecourt, what a strange fancy it 
 was to start a " violin " ancestry in this way ! And if 
 he was not a violin dealer, and had nothing whatever to 
 do with the business, except as the carrier of the goods from 
 one town to the other, what a lurid light the circumstance 
 throws on the eagerness to establish by some means a 
 connection if even only 'a nominal one between an 
 undoubtedly talented personality, and the glorious old 
 shop in Cremona. It is very unpleasant to have one's 
 confidence in the accuracy of biographical detail shaken 
 in this fashion, and although it appears that his brother, 
 Claude Vuillaume, never made any such pretensions and 
 laughed at the idea when the subject was broached in
 
 128 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 his presence, the matter has really a much graver aspect 
 than that of a practical joke. If the late J. B. Vuillaume 
 led Vidal to believe that his father was a violin maker, 
 who himself trained his four sons in the art, and this 
 information has no foundation in fact, the circumstance 
 is sure to cast discredit on anything he ever said. And 
 further, if he, more than a quarter of a century before 
 that, supplied Fetis with the story of the " Jean 
 Vuillaume " violin and its maker's supposed connection 
 with Stradivari, without having any foundation for his 
 statements, then he certainly would be called an untrust- 
 worthy authority, who did not scruple to divert with the 
 most unpardonable audacity, the ordinary channel of 
 musical history in a direction which it would not other- 
 wise have taken in that particular respect, and people in 
 such an event would not be slow to believe that he did 
 this for purposes of self advertisement as a violin maker 
 and dealer. 
 
 Whether his father was a violin maker or not, he him- 
 self was one, and a great one, without any doubt what- 
 ever, and had he not descended to very reprehensible 
 practices in the treatment of the wood, etc., in such a 
 manner as could only aid in deception, he would have 
 occupied even a higher position than he at present holds. 
 In 1818 he went to Paris and began work with Francis 
 Chanot, who was then making his guitar-shaped violins. 
 Remaining there for two years, he next went to an 
 organ-builder named Lete, who kept a fiddle shop as 
 well. In four years' time he became a partner there, 
 and the firm was Lete and Vuillaume. Three years later 
 he separated from Lete and started on his own account.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 129 
 
 In 1826 he had married a lady named Adele Guesnet, 
 through whose acquaintances he came to know Savart. 
 the acousticien. Vuillaume is made to explain that when 
 he began business he tried to sell carefully made new 
 instruments instruments made with all the skill of which 
 he was capable but that he found they sold very cheaply 
 and slowly, and that the rage for old Italian violins had 
 set in. He suited himself to the times, and produced 
 old instruments, placed sham tickets in them, and found 
 his customers. In order to produce a prematurely old 
 tone, he destroyed its capacity for endurance. In order 
 to produce an old appearance he destroyed the wood to 
 a certain extent with acid. He is not the only maker 
 who has done this sort of thing, and his excuse is the 
 same as that of others, namely, "he had to live." All 
 things considered, this excuse does not appear to be, in 
 his case, quite valid. In 1825, when he was only 
 twenty-seven years of age, his ability procured for him a 
 partnership in an old established concern. In 1826, he 
 had married into a good family. In 1827, he had gained 
 a silver medal at an exhibition in Paris at a time when 
 Aldric, Chanot pere, C. F. Gand, and many other high 
 class makers were alive and working. In 1828, he had made 
 over one hundred and thirty violins, exclusive of tenors, 
 'cellos, and double basses, and in that year he started on 
 his own account with an excellent reputation. He was 
 then only twenty-nine, and I certainly cannot see that 
 he had much to complain of, yet in that very year he 
 began making those imitations of old instruments to 
 which I have already referred, and he confessedly made 
 them to satisfy the demand for " old Italians." I put it
 
 13 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 that in view of the progress indicated above, to say that 
 it was with him a question of either " living by imitations 
 or starving by the fabrication of new violins " is simple 
 nonsense, unworthy of a serious historian. The true 
 secret of those clever productions is probably that 
 Vuillaume was in a hurry to make money, and it is 
 admitted that they were the origin of his fortune. 
 These instruments he sold at 12 the violins and the 
 'cellos at 20. He clearly does not appear to me to 
 have laid the foundation of his fortune in a legitimate 
 manner. Many people profess to believe that he did 
 not sell those instruments as genuine old Italian violins. 
 He may not always have so sold them we know al 
 about that nevertheless he does not occupy a higher 
 position in this particular respect than many a man to 
 whom we apply names which sound really quite harsh. 
 It is also said on his behalf that he was no worse than 
 the people who expected old Italians at such prices. I 
 do not think so. He did not confine himself to Strad. 
 and Guarnerius imitations, and in those days, and for 
 long after, 12 was not a small price for outside Italian 
 makers. Had he limited his skill to external imitation 
 only there would have been no ground of complaint, but 
 the colouring of the wood inside and out with acid, has 
 simply made a great many of these instruments almost 
 useless when combined with the thinning away in parts 
 which is also characteristic of them. In 1834 he had 
 another silver medal, and in 1839 and 1844 he had gold 
 medals. These were for Paris exhibits, but in 1851 he 
 sent to the Great Exhibition here two quartets and the 
 great octobasse which he had previously invented and
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 13! 
 
 which gave four notes lower than the ordinary double 
 bass. In this Exhibition he carried away the only 
 grand council medal that was given. But the grounds 
 upon which he got it are so curious, and display so 
 much ignorance on the part of the jury, that the 
 distinction was a very questionable one indeed. 
 Although I have quoted this award already in the article 
 Bernard Simon Fendt (which see), it will be as well to 
 reproduce it here. " New modes of making violins, in 
 such a manner that they are matured and perfected 
 immediately on the completion of the manufacture, thus 
 avoiding the necessity of keeping them for considerable 
 periods to develop their excellencies." It has all the 
 air of a splendid trade advertisement and, no doubt, 
 served as one. Fortunately, Vuillaume also made 
 violins in an absolutely legitimate manner not by any 
 " new mode," but by the old mode. These had all to be 
 developed and perfected in the usual way, namely, by 
 careful playing and the flight of time. These are grand 
 instruments of which any man might well be proud, and 
 they are what place him in the front rank of French 
 makers. His favourite model was Stradivari, but he 
 made copies of all the great makers, almost without 
 exception, and these instruments may one and all be 
 called chefs d'ceuvre in the highest significance of the 
 phrase. If they have a fault it is that the upper table 
 is not always strong enough to resist the pressure where 
 it should be able to do so. In all other respects they 
 are superb. His edges are properly massive and the 
 margins always right with the model he might be 
 copying. Every point of his work is of an artistic 
 
 K2
 
 132 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 character, and he must have been a most indefatigable 
 worker, as he says himself that he made 3000 violins. 
 That does not mean that he personally made all. In 
 his early days he undoubtedly did so, but I imagine 
 that after 1829 or 30 he must have had people constantly 
 working for him besides his own brothers, although 
 every now and then he turned out a violin made entirely 
 by himself, or almost wholly. His early instruments are 
 spirit varnished, generally of a deep, red orange, and 
 later, he used a kind of covering which is neither spirit 
 varnish nor oil varnish, as we understand the terms 
 now-a-days. It is a sort of nondescript production 
 which can hardly be called a varnish at all. At this 
 period the colour becomes a rich red brown, appears 
 exceedingly well, and feels quite elastic. It has the 
 look of a kind of paint. His sound holes in the 
 Stradivari models of early days are very good, but they 
 are not reproductions of Stradivari fs. They are too 
 round in the upper curve, and too wide in the middle. 
 His Guarnerius models are also clever, but the sound 
 holes are exaggerated. The tone, however, of the latter 
 model is powerful and very suitable for orchestral work. 
 With the exception of those doctored violins, his instru- 
 ments are very fine specimens of violin making, and 
 when they are perfect, will be much sought after. He 
 was an inventor of one or two things which have never 
 come into extensive use, and was a large dealer in old 
 violins. He died igth February, 1875. One of his 
 daughters was married to the famous French violinist, 
 Delphin Alard. His brother Nicholas worked with 
 Vuillaume in Paris for about ten years and then returned
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL VIOLIN MAKERS. 133 
 
 to Mirecourt and the making of cheap instruments. 
 Nicolas-Francois, also worked with his brother in 
 Paris until he was about twenty-eight, when he went to 
 Brussels, and started on his own account there, and was 
 a good maker. He died in 1876. Claude Francois, the 
 fourth brother, became an organ builder, and then a 
 fiddle case maker. There was a nephew of J. B. 
 Vuillaume called Sebastien a son of Claude's who 
 began business in Paris but died in the same year as 
 his uncle. He was not a particularly good maker. 
 The name then disappeared from the trade. 
 
 WAMSLEY, PETER, London, 1727 1740. This was 
 a good old English maker, some of whose work is of a 
 fine class. The wood is, however, left far too thin. He 
 made copies of Stainer of a somewhat tubby style. His 
 sound holes are not particularly tasteful, and those 
 instruments which have a kind of dull brown varnish 
 inclining to black are reckoned his best. 
 
 WISE, CHRISTOPHER, London, 1650 56. This 
 maker was undoubtedly an artist in his way, and 
 occasionally indulged in decorative purfling, sometimes 
 all over the back. His ribs or sides are of a good 
 height. He was an East End London artist like some 
 of the best makers of his time and after. His place was 
 in Vine Court, Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate Without, 
 and has only recently been cleared away. 
 
 WIDHALM, L., Nuremberg, 1765 1788. A very good 
 maker, who copied Stainer well, but, as usual, in 
 exaggerated fashion. His instruments are, nevertheless, 
 of fine quality and finish. Brownish red and pale 
 varnish.
 
 134 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 WITHERS, EDWARD, London. This was a capital 
 maker, whose instruments are gradually rising in value. 
 He succeeded W. Davis of Coventry Street, who flourished 
 about the first half of the present century. There are 
 two branches of the firm now existing. Edward Withers, 
 in Wardour Street, and George Withers in Leicester 
 Square.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Scconb Scries of Classical anb flast-Classical 
 Jttakets. 
 
 Many of the following are mere names and dates 
 which have simply been carried on from one treatise 
 to another. Wherever it has been possible, information 
 is given. Where none is found it is to be understood 
 that nothing further than the names, etc., has hitherto 
 been known. 
 
 AACHNER, PHILIP, Mittenwald, about 1772. 
 
 ABSAM, THOMAS, Wakefield, 1810 1849. His tickets 
 are in English " Made by Thomas Absam, Wakefield," 
 and he appears to have been particular enough to put 
 in the date to the very day. 
 
 ABBATI, GIANBATTISTA, Modena, 1775 1793. A 
 fine maker of double basses and other large instruments. 
 He was trained in the establishment of Antonio Casini, 
 another Modenese maker or, at least, followed his 
 style. His model is good, his work careful, capital 
 wood and brown varnish. 
 
 ADAMS, C., Garmouth, Scotland, about 1800. 
 
 ADDISON, WILLIAM, London, 1670. 
 
 ADLER, Paris. A Swiss maker who settled in Paris 
 beginning of present century. 
 
 AGLIO, GUISEPPE DALL, Mantua, 1800 1840. 
 
 ALBANESI, SEBASTIANO, Cremona. About the middle
 
 36 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 of the 1 8th century. Said to be a pupil of Carlo 
 Bergonzi. 
 
 ALBERTI, FERDINANDO, Milan, 17491760. Fairly 
 good work. Light yellow varnish. 
 
 ALDRED, London. An old English viol maker of 
 1 6th or 1 7th century. 
 
 ALDROVANDI, EMILIO, Bologna, 1850 80. 
 
 ALESSANDRO (called the Venetian), i6th century. A 
 violin of this maker's was shown in an exhibition in 
 Turin in 1880. 
 
 ALVANI, Cremona. Said to be an imitator of Joseph 
 Guarnerius. I have never seen any of his instruments. 
 
 ALLEGRETTI, Massimiliano, Soliera, 1870. 
 
 AMELOT, Lorient, 1829. The only reminiscence of 
 this maker appears to be a ticket. 
 
 ANCIAUME, BERNARD. A French maker of whom 
 nothing is left but the name. 
 
 ANDREA, Venice, about 1640. 
 
 AIRAGHI, CESARE, Milan. Modern. 
 
 ANTOGNATI, GIAN-FRANCESO, Brescia, 1533. 
 
 ANTONIO (called the Sicilian). An old viol maker of 
 whose work a specimen exists in the museum of 
 Bologna (Philharmonic). 
 
 ANTONIO (called the Bolognese). Another old viol 
 maker. 
 
 ANTONIAZZI, GREGORIO, Colle (Bergamo), i8th century. 
 
 ANTONY, GIROLAMO, Cremona, about 1751. A fairly 
 good maker. Good arching and model. Good finish 
 and nice yellow varnish. 
 
 ARTMANN, Weimar. :8th century. Amati model. 
 Good work. Golden varnish.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 137 
 
 ASKEY, SAMUEL, London. About 1825 40. 
 
 ASSALONE, GASPARE, Rome, i8th century. Said to 
 be good work. 
 
 AUBRY, NEVEU, Paris. Nephew and successor of 
 Aldric, whose business he took over in 1840. 
 
 BACHELIER, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 BAFFO, GIAN-ANTONIO, Venice. 1630. 
 
 BAGOLETTO, ANTONIO, Padua. 1782. 
 
 BAINES, London. 1780. 
 
 BAJONI, LUIGI, Milan, igth century. 
 
 BAKER, F., London, 1696. An old viol maker, whose 
 instrument bearing above date, at present owned in 
 Paris, is described as possessing a ravishing quality of 
 tone. 
 
 BAKER, JOHN, Oxford, 1648 88. Another old viol 
 maker. 
 
 BALCAINI. An Italian maker about 1760 who copied 
 Amati. 
 
 BALDANTONI, GUISEPPE, Ancona. igth century. 
 
 BALLANTINE, Edinburgh. About 1850. Compara- 
 tively poor work. 
 
 BANDL, JOSEPH, Oiffern. 1765. 
 
 BANTIS, JEAN, Mirecourt. About 1730. Fairly good 
 work. 
 
 BARBANTI-SILVA, FRANCESCO, Correggio, 1850. Violins. 
 Made also a number of double basses. 
 
 BARBE PRE, J. An old French maker of no great 
 merit. He also made 'cellos. 
 
 BARBEY, GUILLAUME, Paris. i8th century. Viol 
 maker. 
 
 BARNES, ROBERT, London. About 1780 1823.
 
 138 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 Became partner in the firm Norris and Barnes, which 
 subsequently became R. and W. Davies and is now 
 Withers. 
 
 BARTON, G., London. About 1810. 
 
 BARBIERI, PIETRO, Mantua, 1864. 
 
 BARBIERI, GUISEPPE, Mantua, 1879. 
 
 BARALDI, ALFONSO, Modena, 1879. Violins. 
 
 BARALDI, GIOVANNI, S. Felice, 1766. 'Cellos. 
 
 BARACCHI, V., S. Martino. igth century. Violins. 
 
 BARBIERI, FRANCESCO, Verona, 1695. After the style 
 of Andreas Guarnerius. 
 
 BASSI, A., Scandiano. igth century. Chiefly a 
 maker of 'cellos. 
 
 BASTOGI, GAETANO, Leghorn. i8th century. Chiefly 
 lutes and guitars. 
 
 BATTANI, ANTONIO, Frassinoro. igth century. 
 Chiefly repairs, but also makes violins. 
 
 BAUD, Versailles, 1796 1810. 
 
 BAUR, CARL ALEXIS, Tours, 1789 1810. This maker 
 tried to abolish the tail pin. 
 
 BAUSCH, C. A. LUDWIG, Leipsic. Born 1815, died 
 1873. Pupil of Fritsche, Dresden. Had also two sons, 
 Ludwig and Otto, who carried on the business. 
 
 BECKMANN, S., Stockholm, 1706. 
 
 BEDLER, NORBERT, Wurtzburg. 1723 50. Chiefly 
 viols. 
 
 BELLON, J. F., Paris, 1832. Invented a new mute. 
 The one for the 'cello was adjusted by a pedal. 
 
 BELCIONI, ANTONIO, Italian, 1663. 
 
 BELLONE, PIERANTONIO, Milan, 1690. Old viol 
 maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 139 
 
 BELLVILLE, Paris, 1828. Violins. Tried new forms 
 unsuccessfully. 
 
 BELVIGLIERI, GREGORIO, Bologna, 1742. Violins very 
 well made. 
 
 BENTE, MATTEO, Brescia, 1570 1600. Lutes and 
 guitars chiefly. 
 
 BENDINI, G. B., Italian, 1668. Violins. 
 
 BENECKE, S., Stockholm, igth century. Violins 
 
 BERATTI, Imola. igth century. Violins. 
 
 BERGE, Toulouse. 1771. Viols. 
 
 BERETTA, FELICE, Como, 1784. Calls himself a pupil 
 of " Joseph Guadagnino." Poor work. Yellow varnish. 
 Wretched w T ood. 
 
 BERTASIO, LUIGI, Piadena. i8th century. 
 
 BERTI, G., Fiumalbo. igth century. 
 
 BERTRAND, N., Paris, 1701 35. Viols. 
 
 BESANCENOL, Dijon, 1776. Violins. 
 
 BESSARD, Louis, Paris, 1753. Dean of the Violin 
 Makers' Guild for that year. 
 
 BEVERIDGE, W., Craigh, Aberdeen. Modern. 
 
 BIANCHI, N., Nice. Modern. Native of Genoa. 
 Formerly in Paris. Chiefly repairs, but also new 
 violins. Died in Nice. 
 
 BINDERNAGEL, Gotha and Weimar. Associated with 
 Otto and Ernst in Gotha. Subsequently with Otto in 
 Weimar. Ordinary workman. 
 
 BITTNER, DAVID. Another modern Viennese restorer. 
 
 BIRMETTI, G. B., Florence. About 1770. Employed 
 fairly good wood and varnish. Stradivari model. 
 
 BIZAN, Brussels, 1749. 
 
 BLAIR, J., Edinburgh, 1820.
 
 140 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 BLAISE, Mirecourt, 1820. 
 
 BLANCHARD, P. F., Lyons. Born at Mirecourt, 1851, 
 where he learnt his calling. Afterwards worked with the 
 Silvestres in Lyons. Began on his own account 1876. 
 Red oil varnish and well made. 
 
 BOCQUAY, Lyons. i6th and iyth century. Not to be 
 confounded with Jacques Boquay, Paris. 
 
 BODIO, G. B., Venice, 1792. 
 
 BOFILL, S., Barcelona. About 1720. Good maker 
 who copied J. Guarnerius. 
 
 BOIVIN, CLAUDE, Paris, 1744 52. A good maker who 
 was Dean of Makers' Guild for the latter year. 
 
 BOLELLI, Bologna, igth century. 
 
 BOLLES, London. An early viol maker. i6th or i7th 
 century (1675). 
 
 BOMBERGHI, LORENZO, Florence. i7th century. 
 
 BONO, G., Venice. i8th century. 
 
 BONORIS, C., Mantua, 1568. School of Dardelli. 
 
 BONVICINI, Phillip, Spilamberto, 1790. Chiefly a 
 repairer. 
 
 BOOM, PIERRE, Brussels, 1758 73. 
 
 BOOTH, WILLIAM, Leeds, 1779 1857. 
 
 BOOTH, W., Junr., Leeds, 1838 1856. 
 
 BORBON, CASPER, Brussels, 1689. Viol maker, and 
 also violin, tenor, and double basses, very early style. 
 Yellow varnish. 
 
 BORELLI, ANDREA, Parma, 1746. Violins, Guadagnini 
 style. 
 
 BORGOGNONI, Senigallia, igth century. An amateur 
 maker of double basses who had some success in Italy. 
 
 BORLON. (See Porlon).
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 14! 
 
 BORTOLOTTI, (or Bertolotti) LUIGI. Careful, modern 
 Milanese style of work. ' Yellow varnish inclining to 
 orange. Time about 1810 or 1820. 
 
 BOTTE, D. I. B., Brescia, 1770. 
 
 Boussu, Eterbeck-les-Bruxelles, 1750 1780. Good 
 work. Amati style. Yellow orange varnish. 
 
 BOUCHER, London, 1764. 
 
 BOULLANGIER, London. Modern. 
 
 BOUMEESTER, JEAN, Amsterdam, 1637. Good maker. 
 Yellow varnish. 
 
 BOURBON, CASPAR, Brussels, 1601 1692. Chiefly 
 repairs. 
 
 BOURBON, PIERRE, Brussels, i7th century. Made a 
 very large number of violins, tenors, and double basses. 
 
 BOURDET, JACQUES, Paris. Another Dean of the 
 Parisian Violin Makers' Guild for 1751. 
 
 BOURDET, SEBASTIEN, Mirecourt. Early i8th century. 
 A good maker. 
 
 BOURGARD, Nancy. A maker after the style of 
 Medard. 
 
 BOURLIER, LAURENT, Mirecourt. Born 1737. Died 1780. 
 
 BRAGLIA, ANTONIO, Modena, i8th century. Violins 
 and bows. 
 
 BRANDIGLIONI, Brescia, i8th century. 
 
 BRANDL, K., Pesth. Modern. 
 
 BRANZO-BARBARO, FRANCESCO, Padua, 1660. 
 
 BRELIN, N., Grum, 1690 1753. 
 
 BRENSIUS, GIROLAMO, Bologna, i6th century. Viol 
 maker. 
 
 BRESA, FRANCESCO, Milan. About 1708. Not particu- 
 larly good work.
 
 142 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 BROSCHI, CARLO, Parma. End of i8th, beginning of 
 igih centuries. (1744.) 
 
 BROWN, JAMES, London. Born 1770. Died 1834. 
 Style of Kennedy. 
 
 BROWN, JAS., London. Son of preceding. Born 1786. 
 Died 1860. Ordinary work. 
 
 BROWNE, JOHN, London. Middle of i8th century. 
 Amati style. Good work, but poor varnish. 
 
 BROWN, A., London, 1855. 
 
 BRUGERE, FRANCOIS, Mirecourt. Born 1822. Died 
 1874. 
 
 BUCHSTADTER, Ratisbon, i8th century. Stainer copies, 
 not particularly fine. 
 
 BUDIANI, G., Brescia, i5th and i6th century. Lutes 
 and viols. 
 
 BUONFIGLINOLI, P. F. di L., Florence, 1653. 
 
 BUSAS, DOMENICO, Venice, 1740. 
 
 BUSSETO, G. M. del, Cremona, 1540 1583. Viols 
 and perhaps violins. 
 
 BUTHOT, Mirecourt. Modern. 
 
 CABROLI, LORENZO, Milan, 1716. 
 
 CABROLY, Toulouse. About 1747. 
 
 CABASSE, Paris. Ordinary class of work. 
 
 CAESTE, GAETANO, Cremona, 1677. 
 
 CAHUSAC, London. About 1788. Common work. 
 Varnish frequently gone almost black. 
 
 CALCAGNO, BERNARDO, Genoa, 1720 1750. A fine 
 maker. Varnish of a reddish amber tint. Model 
 Stradivari. Tickets run, " Bernardus Calcanius fecit 
 Genuse, anno ." 
 
 CALONARDI, MARCO, Cremona. i7th century.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 143 
 
 CALOT. A native of Mirecourt, who worked in 
 Paris for Clement, and in 1830 entered into partnership 
 with Augiere, already mentioned. He was a finished 
 workman. 
 
 CALVAROLA, BARTOLOMMEO, of Torre Baldone 
 (Bergamo), 1753 1767. Of the early Cremonese type, 
 with the Amati style of arching. Medium work. It is 
 said that he also dates from Bologna. Small scrolls. 
 
 CAMILLIO, D., Cremona, 1755. 
 
 CAMPLOY, J., Verona. Modern. 
 
 CAPO, Milan, 1717. His work is marked with a 
 " spread-eagle." 
 
 CAPRARI, FRANCESCO, Rolo, 1846. 
 
 CARCANIUS, Cremona. i6th century. His tickets are 
 printed on parchment. 
 
 CARDI, LUIGI, Verona, igth century. 
 
 CARRE, ANTOINE, Arras. i8th century. An old 
 viol maker. 
 
 CARLO, J., Milan, 1769. 
 
 CARLOMORDI, CARLO, Verona, 1654. 
 
 CARL-!SSEP, Milan, 1800. 
 
 CARON, Versailles, 1777 85. He was a court maker, 
 in the reign of Louis XVI., and was patronised by the 
 ill-starred Marie Antoinette. At least, his tickets lead 
 one to suppose so. Three years after this unfortunate 
 lady's husband succeeded to the throne, Caron was in 
 the Rue Royale, Versailles, and he calls himself 
 " Luthier de la Reine." He held this position until 1785, 
 when he was in the Rue Satory. After this date we 
 hear no more of him. A couple of years later, the pre- 
 revolutionary troubles began, and by-and-by, the court
 
 144 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 of Versailles vanished for a time. Caron was _a good 
 maker. Brown varnish. 
 
 GARTER, JOHN, London, 1789. This maker was one of 
 those whose instruments went into the shop of Betts, and 
 helped to swell the fame of that dealer, but not greatly. 
 
 CARY^ALPHONSE, London. Modern. 
 
 CASINI, ANTONIO, Modena, 1630 1690. A maker of 
 considerable importance, who is celebrated over a large 
 part of Italy for his work. His model is not unlike that 
 of Rugier of Cremona, and his varnish of a somewhat 
 dull, cherry brown. He made a very large number of 
 'cellos and double basses, which are exceedingly popular 
 in Italy, and sought after with some eagerness. His 
 corners are elegant, the sound holes pretty correctly 
 designed, while the tone of his violins is brilliant and 
 sweet generally, and in some very full. His inlay is 
 sometimes a composition which appears to have been 
 put into his commoner work. The quality of the wood 
 varies considerably, but on the whole he is a' good maker. 
 
 CASSANELLI, GIOVANNI, Ciano, 1777. 
 
 CASSINI, ANTONIO, Modena, i8th century. Probably 
 a descendant of the previously mentioned maker of the 
 same name. His tickets are printed, and run, " Antonius 
 Cassinus fecit Mutinae anno." " Muttinae '' or " Mutinae" 
 is the Latin form of " Modena." 
 
 CASTELLANI, PIETRO, Florence. Born about 1760. 
 Died 1820. A good maker of violins and guitars. 
 
 CASTELLANI, LUIGI, Florence. Born 1809. Died 1884. 
 Son of preceding. He was a fine repairer of violins, and a 
 restorer. It is not known that he made any, but he made 
 many firstclass guitars; he was a capital doublebass player.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 145 
 
 CASPANI, GIOVAN-PIETRO, Venice. About 1658. A 
 maker who copied Amati and Andrew Guarnerius. 
 
 CASTENDORFER, MELCHIORRE DI STEFANO, Erfurt. 
 1 5th century. Old viol maker. 
 
 CASTENDORFER, MICHELE DI STEFANO, Erfurt. i5th 
 century. Old viol maker. 
 
 CATENAR, ENRICO, Turin. About 1671. This maker is 
 called a pupil of Cappa. 
 
 CATTENARO, Pavia. About 1639. A maker of basses 
 and viols. 
 
 CATIGNOLI, GUISEPPE, Milan, igth century. 
 
 CAVALORIO, Genoa, 1725. 
 
 CAVALLINI, LUIGI, Arezzo. igth century. Viol makei 
 
 CAVANI, GIOVANNI, Spilamberto. igth century. 
 
 CAUSSIN, Fi, Neuchatel. 1860 81. Violins of 
 Italian style. 
 
 CELLINI, GIOVANNI, Florence. I5th century. This 
 was the father of the illustrious Benvenuto Cellini, whose 
 testimony regarding his parent's skill in the art of 
 making string instruments is of a very conclusive 
 character. He says that his father " had the reputation 
 of making violas of rare beauty and perfection the 
 finest that had ever been seen." Giovanni Cellini died 
 in Florence in 1527 or 1528. He was also a musician of 
 a kind, and in some favour with ecclesiastics in authority. 
 He was born about the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 and it does not appear to me'to be unlikely that he was 
 a professional maker. 
 
 CELONIATO, FRANCESCO, Turin. About 1715 25. 
 
 CELONIATI, GIAN-FRANCESCO, Turin. About 173 r; 
 He is said to have been a good copier of Amati, with
 
 146 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 yellow varnish. In Italy they describe his work as of the 
 school of Cappa. His ticket runs, " Joannes Franciscus 
 Celoniatus fecit Taurini. Anno 1732," this being the 
 only known inscription of this maker. It is not unlikely 
 that he was a son of the preceding. 
 
 CERIN, MARCANTONIO, Venice. A pupil of Bellosio in 
 Venice. This information is derived from a ticket which 
 runs, " Marcus Antonius Cerin alumnus Anselimi Belosij 
 fecit Venetiae anno 1793." 
 
 CERVELLA, GIOVANNI, Italian. i8th century. 
 
 CHALLONER, THOMAS, London. About 1750. High 
 Stainer model. Brownish yellow varnish. 
 
 CHAMPION, RENE, Paris. About 1735. This maker 
 appears to have been a pupil or imitator of Boquay. 
 The work is of that style, and well finished. Varnish of 
 same character as Boquay's. His ticket runs, in one 
 case, " Rene Champion, rue des Bourdonnois, a Paris." 
 
 CHAPPUY, NICOLAS AUGUSTIN, Paris, 1762 94. This 
 maker made some very excellent instruments, but he is 
 also responsible for a number of poor specimens. The 
 initial N. is branded on the button, and nothing else 
 indicates, in many cases, the maker's name. Some 
 tickets which he used bear the inscription, luthier to Her 
 Royal Highness the Duchess of Montpensier in French, 
 of course, namely, "luthier de S. A. R. la duchesse de 
 Montpensier." He employed a yellowish spirit varnish 
 mostly of poor quality. 
 
 CHARDON, JOSEPH, Paris. Modern. This maker is a 
 son-in-law of George Chanot pere of Paris, to whose 
 business he succeeded in 1872. The firm is known as 
 Chardon-Chanot.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 147 
 
 CHAROTTE. A native of Mirecourt, who worked in 
 Rouen from 1830 to 1836. 
 
 CHASTELAIN, MARTIN, Warwick, Flanders, 1580. Vio 
 maker. 
 
 CHERPITEL, NICOLAS EMILE, Paris. Born in Mire- 
 court, 1841. He became a workman with Gand Freres 
 in Paris in 1850, left in 1873, and started on his own 
 account. His tickets run " Nicolas-Emile Cherpitel, in 
 Paris, 13, Faubourg Poissonniere, N.E.C." His first 
 address was in the Rue Saint-Denis. 
 
 CHEVRIER, ANDRE AUGUSTIN, Brussels. Born in 
 Mirecourt, this maker had a good training. His violins 
 have mostly a good outline ; solid, and not unlike 
 Lupot's best style, but heavier. The corners are full, 
 and the sound holes well designed. The scrolls are also 
 good. Indeed, if the tone were equal to the general 
 work they would be excellent instruments. The wood 
 chosen is of fine quality, and nothing seems to be 
 wanting but fine tone. His varnish is a red orange, 
 sometimes webbed all over like Vernis-Martin. 
 
 CHIARELLI, ANDREA, Messina, 1675 99. An old lute 
 player, and improver of the instrument to such an 
 extent as to claim for him a place. 
 
 CHIAVELLATI, DOMENICO, Lonigo, 1796. A viol maker. 
 
 CHIOCCHI, GAETANO, Padua, 1870. A good maker 
 and repairer. 
 
 CHRISTA, JOSEPH PAUL, Munich, 1730 40. A maker 
 of whom nothing appears to be known. 
 
 CHRISTOFORI, BARTOLOMMEO, Cremona or Padua 
 claims him. He was living in the Amati house- 
 hold in Cremona in 1680, and was then thirteen 
 
 L2
 
 148 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 years old. This information is from a parish record,, 
 and is conclusive with regard to the date of his. 
 birth, namely, 1667. In a musical museum in 
 Florence, there is a double bass with the following 
 inscription written on the inside of the back, " Barto- 
 lommeo Cristofori Firenze, 1715," and it is not 
 known whether he ever made any other instru- 
 ments of the violin kind. It seems to me to be in the 
 highest degree probable. This double bass is not a 
 particularly fine instrument. It is generally supposed 
 that this maker invented the piano, and, indeed, this 
 supposition amounts almost to a certainty. A very 
 interesting description of this phase of his career will be: 
 found in Sir George Grove's Dictionary, where the 
 dates are all wrong, or in " Hipkin's History of the: 
 Piano," where the dates are equally wrong, as, indeed, 
 all dating with regard to him prior to 1886 must be, 
 seeing that the above parish record was only published, 
 then. It is said, for instance, that Prince Ferdinand, 
 son of the Grand Duke Cosimo Medici III., visited Padua, 
 in 1687, and induced Cristofori then, or shortly after, 
 to remove from Padua to Florence. If this is correct,. 
 Cristofori must have invented his piano and become: 
 famous throughout Italy when he was a very young man, 
 about .twenty years of age, say, not an impossible thing 
 by any means, but showing that these valuable notices, 
 of him are now in need of revision. It is said that 
 Cristofori died at the advanced age of eighty in 1731. 
 He was really only sixty-four at this period, supposing the: 
 identity to be established. His name used to be spelt 
 Christofori. In Italy it is Cristofori, and there they do*
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 149 
 
 not appear to know anything definite with reference to 
 the date of his death. 
 
 CINTI, GUISEPPE, Bologna, 1856. A maker and 
 restorer, or repairer. 
 
 CIRCAPA, TOMASSO, Naples, 1735. Another of the 
 same of no particular distinction. 
 
 CLARK, London. A mere name. 
 
 CLAUDOT, AUGUSTIN. An old French maker, who 
 stamped or branded his name on the inside of the backs 
 of his violins. The work is of a somewhat common 
 character, with yellow varnish, but has a fairly good 
 outline. He was also a maker of English guitars. 
 
 CLAUDOT, CHARLES. A Mirecourt maker -of an 
 earlier date than the preceeding, but having similar 
 characteristics. 
 
 CLEMENT, Paris, 1815 to 1840. This was a maker 
 who, like our John Betts, made comparatively few 
 violins himself, but employed first class men to do so, 
 such as Georges Chanot pere, Augiere, Calot, etc. 
 
 CLIQUOT, LOUIS-ALEXANDRE, and HENRI. Two 
 brothers not in partnership, but who were successively 
 deans of the Paris Violin Makers' Guild for the years 
 1756 and 1765 respectively. It appears to be their only 
 distinction. 
 
 CLEINMANN, C., Amsterdam, 1671 88. An old viol 
 maker. 
 
 CLUSOLIS, ANTONIO DE, Clausen, 1784. This was a 
 fine double bass maker of the Tyrolese school, who 
 worked in Roveredo. He was probably a native of 
 Clausen, a small town on the Trent, so small, that it 
 consisted of one narrow street in his time, so narrow,
 
 150 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 that people could shake hands across it through their 
 open windows. The wonder is that he ever was able to 
 make a double bass in such circumscribed surroundings, 
 or that, having made one, he ever was able to get it out 
 of the street. Perhaps that was the reason he followed 
 the course of his native stream, through its magnificent 
 scenery down to Roveredo, where he was in the society 
 of a busy, prosperous, commercial people, who, no 
 doubt, largely bought his instruments. His is, at any 
 rate, evidently fine work, of a grand model, and he used 
 the following inscription, " Antonius DeClusolis faciebat 
 Roboreti opus," then follows the number of the work in 
 Roman numerals. Although he is of the Tyrolese 
 schools, his style makes it quite clear that he was 
 acquainted with the work of Stradivari. His inscription 
 is a corroboration of this, if there were no other. 
 Stradivari, as I have elsewhere pointed out, was 
 the first to use the historical tense, "faciebat." Here 
 we have Antonio of Clausen copying Antonio of 
 Cremona, in even this small point. But he copies him 
 in greater as well. 
 
 Cocco, CRISTOFORO, Venice. About 1654. An ^ 
 lute and viol maker. 
 
 COLE, T., London, 1690. 
 
 COLLICHON, MICHEL, Paris, 1693. An old French 
 viol maker. 
 
 COLLIER, SAMUEL, London, 1750. 
 
 COLLIER, THOMAS, London, 1775. 
 
 COLLIN, CLAUDE-NICOLAS, Mirecourt. Died in 1865. 
 The father of the better known maker Collin-Mezin. 
 
 COLLIN-MEZIN, CHARLES JEAN BAPTISTS. Born in
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 15! 
 
 Mirecourt in 1840. Was taught by his father, the 
 preceding maker. He went to Paris in 1868. There 
 appears to be little doubt that he has made a number 
 of instruments of a high character, and which have been 
 examined and reported upon by various artistes very 
 favourably. Those which it has been my good fortune 
 to see and try, were probably not of the same class. 
 They were, however, artistically made instruments of 
 good outline and appearance. 
 
 COMUNI, ANTONIO, Piacenza, 1823. 
 
 CONTURIER. A French common maker. Yellow 
 varnish. 
 
 CONWAY, WILLIAM, London, 1750. 
 
 CORDANO, JACOPO FILIPO, Genoa. A ticket of his 
 runs, "Jacobus Philippus Cordanus fecit Genuae, anno 
 sal, 1774." 
 
 CORNELLI, CARLO, Cremona. His ticket runs, 
 " Carolus Cornelli fecit Cremonse, anno 1702." 
 
 CORSBY, Northampton. About 1780. Made double 
 basses. There was George Corsby in London, a dealer 
 chiefly. 
 
 CORTE, DALLA, Naples, 1881. 
 
 COSTA, Genoa, igth century. 
 
 COSTA, AGOSTINO, Brescia. i7th century. 
 
 COSTA, MARCO DALLA, Treviso, 1660. Imitated the 
 style and varnish of A. and H. Amati. 
 
 COSTA, PIERANTONIO DALLA, Treviso and Venice. 
 He copied Amati also. 
 
 COSTA, PIETRO DALLA, Treviso. This member of 
 the family also copied Amati brothers, using, like the 
 others, an amber coloured varnish of fine quality.
 
 1^2 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 CRAMOND, C., Aberdeen, 1821 34. 
 
 CRASK, GEORGE, Manchester. A prolific maker of 
 copies of the classical schools. His period ranges from 
 about 1826 onwards. He made for the Forsters, Dodd, 
 and dementi, and generally for any firm to whom he 
 could sell. Much of his work is said to be very 
 clever, and in a circular issued by his successor in 
 business, Mr. Crompton, it is stated that he made 
 over 2,000 violins, 250 tenors, 250 'cellos, and 
 20 double basses. It has not been my good fortune 
 to see one of these to my knowledge, although, I 
 have no doubt, I have seen many of them in my 
 ignorance. 
 
 CRISTONI, EUSEBIO, Modena, igth century. 
 
 CROWTHER, JOHN, London, 1760 1810. 
 
 CRUGRASSI, VINCENZO, Florence, 1767. 
 
 CUCHET, GASPARD, Grenoble, 1729. 
 
 CUNAULT, GEORGES, Paris. Born 1856. Learnt his 
 business in Paris and worked for Miremont from 1874 
 to 82, and afterwards for himself. 
 
 CUNY, Paris. iSth century. Common work. 
 Branded inside of back " Cuny a Paris." 
 
 CUTHBERT, London. i7th century. Good wood, 
 flat model, dark varnish. 
 
 CUPPIN, GIOVANNI. An old Italian viol maker, 
 yellow varnish. 
 
 CUYPERS (See Kreuppers). 
 
 DAITLANST. A maker whose habitat, style and date 
 are quite unknown. 
 
 DANIEL, Antwerp. A famous old maker of double 
 basses.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 153 
 
 DARCHE, Aix-la-Chapelle. Copies of the classical 
 masters. 
 
 DARCHE, C. F., Brussels. Modern. 
 
 DARDELLI, FRA' PIETRO, Mantua. This maker was 
 alive in 1493 1497, and a member of the Franciscan 
 Convent, Mantua. The latter date was ascertained from 
 .an instrument of Dardelli's in the possession of a painter 
 named Richard in Lyons, about 1807. It was a highly 
 decorated lute. This instrument seems to have dis- 
 appeared, and all that was known of Dardelli was 
 founded upon it. A few years ago, however, a document 
 dated 1493 was found to contain a reference to a magni- 
 ficent quartet of larger instruments, which excited the 
 utmost enthusiasm in the writer. Some of these large 
 viols, etc., are in public and private museums, and in 
 some cases, they show rather coarse work, which is 
 accounted for by the supposition that just then there 
 was a kind of renaissance in this tribe of musical instru- 
 ments, and a new departure taken to a certain extent. 
 He also made rebecs, lutes, and viols, which are lovely 
 works of art, and decorated in gold, silver, enamel, 
 ivory, and ebony. 
 
 DAVID, Paris. About 1730. Ordinary work. 
 
 DAVIDSON, HAY, Hantly, 1870. 
 
 DAVINI, GIUSTO, Lucca, i9th century. 
 
 DAVIS, RICHARD. A workman with Norris and 
 Barnes, and ultimately became partner with the following. 
 
 DAVIS, WILLIAM, London. The firm then became 
 R. and -W. Davis, Coventry Street, and is now Withers 
 and Co. 
 
 DEARLOVE and FRYER, Leeds. About 1840.
 
 154 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 DEARLOVE, MARK, Leeds, 1828. 
 
 DEARLOVE, MARK, W., Leeds. Modern. 
 
 DE CANUS NUNZIO. An old Italian professor who, in 
 the end of the i8th century, endeavoured to equalise 
 matters between good and bad fiddles by scraping the 
 wood out of the fine ones. In this regard he advertised 
 himself as a kind of public benefactor, and offered his 
 services to any one who wished them. It is as well to 
 add, however, that he was under the impression that he 
 was improving the old ones. How long he had been at 
 large is not known, and, of course, no estimate can be 
 formed of the number of instruments which had passed 
 through his hands, or been scraped by him, but when 
 last heard of, he was a contributor to the Tuscan Gazette, 
 and his latest offer appears in the issue of that newspaper 
 of yth November, 1789, when, fortunately, he was at 
 " an advanced age." 
 
 DECOMBLE, AMBROISE. See " Comble, Ambroise de." 
 
 DECONER, MECHAEL, Venice, i8th century. 
 
 DECONET, ANDREA, Venice, 1785. 
 
 DECONET, MICHELE, Venice, 1769 71. 
 
 DECONET, MICHELE, Padua, 1722 69. 
 
 DECONETI, M., Venice, 1742. 
 
 With regard to these five makers there is really no 
 information. " Michael Deconer fecit Venetiae, An. 
 Dom., 17 ," is the supposed ticket of one, and 
 "_Michele Deconet fecit Venetiis, anno 1754," is the 
 supposed ticket of another, but I have not seen an 
 instrument by any one of them, and I am not acquainted 
 with any person who has. Of course, the tickets may 
 now and again be seen.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 155, 
 
 DECKERT, G. N., Grotbrutenback, iyth century. 
 
 DEFRESNE, PIERRE, Rouen. About 1731 1737. This, 
 maker has recently been included among violin makers, 
 not because any violins of his have been discovered, but 
 because he had a dispute with the members of the 
 Rouen guild of makers. He was a master of the Paris 
 Guild, and had advertised himself as such when he 
 settled in Rouen in 1731. This raised the ire of the 
 local guild, and they prosecuted him. Ultimately the 
 quarrel was arranged by Defresne paying a sum of 
 money to be admitted to the Rouen Society. 
 
 DECANI, EUGENIC, Montagnani, igth century. 
 
 DELANY, JOHN, Dublin, 1808. A maker who used a 
 curious ticket occasionally, " Made by John Delany in 
 order to perpetuate his memory in future ages. Dublin,. 
 1808. Liberty to all the world black and white." 
 
 DELAUNAY, Paris, 1775. A vielle maker. 
 
 DELANNOIX. A Belgian maker in 1760. 
 
 DE LANNOY, H. J., Lille. About 1747. A very good 
 maker, and probably the same as the preceding, whose 
 name may have been so mis-spelled. 
 
 DELEPLANQUE, GERARD, Lille, 1766 70. An artistic 
 maker who employed a reddish tinted amber coloured 
 varnish. 
 
 DELLA CORNA, GIOVAN PAOLO, Brescia, i6th century. 
 A maker mentioned by a writer named Lanfranco, but 
 who is not known to any other. 
 
 DENNIS, JESSIE, London, 1805. 
 
 DEROUX, SEBASTIEN AUGUSTS. Born in Mirecourt, 
 1848. His father was a maker there, and taught his 
 son, who afterwards worked with Silvestre in Lyons for
 
 156 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 three years. He became a soldier at the outbreak of the 
 Franco-German war, returning to his business in 1873, 
 this time with Miremont in Paris, and with whom he 
 remained for eleven years. In 1884 he started on his 
 own account. His ticket runs, " S. A. Deroux, 16, Rue 
 Geoffrey-Marie, Paris " with A. S. D. inscribed over 
 the date. 
 
 DESPONS, ANTOINE, Paris, iyth century. 
 
 DESROUSSEAU, Verdun. 
 
 DEVEREUX, JOHN, Melbourne. Contemporary. This 
 is the only maker in Australia whose name I have seen. 
 He formerly worked for B. S. Fendt. He certainly had 
 a splendid guide. 
 
 DICKESON, JOHN, 1750 80. Born in Stirling. It is 
 not known where he learnt violin making, but his work 
 has many of the fine points of Italian style. He was 
 undoubtedly an artist, and his model was chiefly Amati. 
 His instruments are dated both from Cambridge and 
 London. 
 
 DICKINSON, EDWARD, London, 1750. An ordinary 
 maker on Stainer lines, exaggerated as usual. 
 
 DIEL. The name of a family of violin makers, the 
 different members of which date from about 1690 down 
 to the present day. Nicolas, Martin, Nicolaus, Johann, 
 Jacob. These all spell the name " Diel." Then Nicolaus, 
 Louis, Friedrich, Johann, and Heinrich spell it " Diehl." 
 They severally date from Mayence (Maintz) Prague, 
 Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, and Darmstadt. 
 
 DIETZ, CHRISTIAN, Emmerich, 1801. 
 
 DIETZ, JOHANN CHRISTIAN, Darmstadt, 1805. 
 
 DIEULAFAIT, Paris, 1720. A viol maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 157- 
 
 DINI, GIAMBATTISTA, Lucignano, 1707. A maker of 
 double basses chiefly. 
 
 DIONELLI, GAETANO, Mantua, 1869. 
 
 DITTON, London. About 1700. The " Small Coal 
 Man " a famous musical London personage of last 
 century had an instrument by this maker in his 
 possession. Perhaps the similarity of the two names 
 may account for the conjunction of maker and owner. 
 
 " A fiddle by Ditton, 
 Possessed by Tom Britton, 
 Is something to spend a small muse's small wit on." 
 
 Ditton was also a harp maker. 
 
 DOBRUCKI, MATTIA, Cracow, 1602. 
 
 DODI, GIOVANNI, Modena, igth century. A maker of 
 double basses. 
 
 DOLLENZ, GIOVANNI, Trieste, 1841. 
 
 DOMANSKI, ALBERTO, Warsaw, 1830 1850. 
 
 DOMINCELLI, Brescia, i8th century. 
 
 DOMINICELLI, Ferrara, 1695 1715. Amati models. 
 
 DOMINICHINI, A. E., Bologna, 1708 66. A maker 
 and repairer. 
 
 DONATO, SERAFINO, Venice, 1411. 
 
 DONI, Rocco, Florence, 1600 1660. A Florentine 
 priest, who worked at instrument making, and was the 
 father of the illustrious musical writer, Gian Battista 
 Doni, who died in 1669. Rocco Doni made lutes and 
 violins, and his son, G. B., invented the lira Barberina. 
 
 DOERFFLER, C. F. A German maker about the end 
 of eighteenth century. A good kind of ordinary work. 
 
 DOPFER, NICOLAUS, Maintz. A violin maker who 
 taught Martin Diel, and whose daughter his pupil 
 married.
 
 -158 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 DORANT, W., London. 1814. 
 
 Dosi, PIETRO, Bologna, igth century. 
 
 DRINDA, GIACOMO, Pianzo. i8th century. 
 
 DROULOT, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 DROUOT, Mirecourt. 
 
 DUCHERON, MATHURIN, Paris. A maker in the 
 early part of the i8th century. 
 
 DUIFFOPRUGCAR (or Tieffenbrucher), MAGNUS, Venice. 
 About 1607 12. A lute and viol maker. This name 
 appears in a variety of spellings and hails from various 
 places. There is Dieffenbrucker of Padua, Tieffen- 
 &>runner of Munich, and Tieffenbrucher of Venice. 
 Whether they represent the same establishment one 
 cannot, of course, say. They all made the same class 
 of instruments, and their dates run from about 1559 to 
 about 1612. 
 
 DULFENN, A., Livorno ( Leghorn ) 1699. 
 
 DULIG, M. A Geman maker who copied Stainer 
 fairly well about the middle of last century. 
 
 Du MESNIL, JACQUES, Paris. About 1655. An 
 exceedingly artistic maker of the decorative class. 
 "Cherry-red varnish. 
 
 DUNCAN, Aberdeen, 1762. 
 
 DURAND, Mirecourt. igth century. 
 
 DURFEL, Altenburg. i8th century. A maker of 
 double basses which are highly praised. 
 
 DUVRARD, Paris, 1745. A viol maker. 
 
 EBERSPACHER, BARTOLOMEO, Florence. 1 7th century. 
 
 EBERTI, T. About 1750. 
 
 EDLINGER, T., Prague. About 1715. A fine maker. 
 .His instruments are chiefly on Stainer lines and covered
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 159 
 
 with an exceedingly good amber coloured varnish with 
 a slightly red tinge. 
 
 EDLINGER, JOSEPH JOHANN, Prague. Son of the 
 preceding and a good maker. About 1748. 
 
 EDLINGER, T., Augsburg, i8th century. 
 
 EESBRCECK, JEAN VAN, Antwerp, 1585. An old lute 
 maker. 
 
 EGLINTON, London. About 1800. 
 
 EHLERS, J., Vienna, 1825. 
 
 ESLER, J. J., Maintz, i8th century. A good old viol 
 maker. 
 
 EMILIANI, FRANCESCO DE, Rome. Beginning of 
 1 8th century. Highly arched violins, having a 
 Hght orange varnish. Very fine wood, and good 
 finish. 
 
 ENGLEDER, A., Carlsruhe, igth century. 
 
 ENGLEDER, A., Munich, igth century. 
 
 ENGLEDER, L., Bamberg, igth century. 
 
 ERTL, CARL, Presburg. Fine quality of varnish. 
 
 EVANGELISTI, Florence, i8th century. 
 
 EVANS, RICHARD, London, about 1750. 
 
 EVE, Paris, about 1788. Model somewhat high, 
 deeply grooved around borders, good work, orange 
 spirit varnish. 
 
 FABBRIS, LUIGI, Venice, igth century. 
 
 FACINI, AGOSTINE, Bologna, 1732 42. This maker 
 was a monk of the order of St. John of God in Bologna, 
 and made several violins of good character, with a fine 
 quality of varnish, Stradivari sound holes, and very 
 excellent outline. 
 
 FALAISE, a French maker who copied Amati and
 
 l6o THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 Stradivari, but where or when is not known. Good 
 wood and yellow varnish. 
 
 FALCO, Cremona, i8th century. A so-called pupil 
 and follower of Bergonzi. 
 
 FARINATO, PAOLO, Venice, i8th century. A fairly good 
 maker, who followed the style of Santo Serafmo, in 
 wood and varnish. 
 
 FARON, ACHILLE, Ratisbon, about 1701. 
 
 FAUSTINO, Lucca and Modena, iyth century. 
 
 FEBBRE, Amsterdam, 1762. 
 
 FELDEN, MAGNUS, Vienna, 1556. A viol maker. 
 
 FELDLEN, MAGNUS, Vienna, 1722. I am inclined to 
 think this maker has only had a nominal existence on a 
 ticket fabricated by some one who did not know the 
 precise date of Magnus Felden's activity, and had not 
 caught the exact spelling of the name. Still, it is only 
 an inclination so to think. One can never be quite sure 
 about these names, apart from conclusive documentary 
 evidence. A great many of them are much alike, as in 
 the case of our own nomenclature, and I have, therefore, 
 preferred to leave them in the list without more than the 
 present comment. 
 
 FERATI, PIETRO, Siena. About 1764. Somewhat 
 common work, broad purfiing, and thick, brown varnish.. 
 
 FERET, Paris. About 1708. According to his own 
 account of himself, this maker was a pupil of Medard, 
 and the style of his work bears out the statement. He 
 employed a brown varnish. 
 
 FERGUSON, DONALD, Huntly, igth century. 
 
 FERGUSON AND SON, Edinburgh, igth century. 
 
 FERRARESI, VINCENZO, San Felici, 1869.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. l6l 
 
 FERRARI, AGOSTINO, Budrio, i8th century. 
 
 FERRARI, ALFONSO, Carpi. About 1738. A maker 
 of double basses. 
 
 FERRARI, CARLO, Siena. About 1740. Violins. 
 
 FERRARI, G. B., Modena, igth century. Violins and 
 guitars. 
 . FERRI, PRIMO, Mirandola, 1848 51. 
 
 FEURY, FRANCOIS, Paris, Dean of the Violin Maker's 
 Guild for 1757. 
 
 FEVROT, Lyons. About 1788. 
 
 FEYZEAU, Bordeau, about 1760. The instruments of 
 this maker are well made. The varnish is a sort of 
 weak brown, but the work is very good under it, the 
 sound holes being well designed, and the corners 
 elegant. 
 
 FICHER, GUISEPPE, AND CARLO, Milan. These makers 
 sometimes spell their name " Fiscer," and both spellings 
 are found on tickets, namely, " Guiseppe e Carlo fratelli 
 Ficher fabbricatori di strumenti in Milano vicino alia 
 Balla," and " Guiseppe, Carlo fratelli Fiscer fabbri- 
 catori d'instrumenti in Milano Vicino alia balla." They 
 were German by origin, and it is possible that they may 
 have modified the spelling to suit Italian pronunciation. 
 Their work is well made, with varnish of fine, amber 
 tint, having a light tinge of red. 
 
 FICHT, J. U., Mittenwald, i8th century. 
 
 FICHTL, MARTIN, Vienna, about 1750. A good 
 maker. 
 
 FICHTHOLD, HANS, about 1612. A lute maker. 
 
 FICKER, JOHANN CHRISTIAN, Neukirchen, about 1722. 
 Highly arched violin, somewhat ordinary looking.
 
 l62 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 PICKER, JOHANN GoTLiEB, probably also Neukirchen. 
 About 1789. 
 
 FILANO, DONATO, Naples. About 1782. A general 
 maker of violins, mandolines, and guitars of very refined 
 taste and skill in decorative work. 
 
 FILANO, LUIGI, Naples. About 1859. Similar work, 
 but chiefly guitars. 
 
 FILLE, LA, a French maker of the i8th century, whose 
 scrolls are cut into shapes of animal's heads and human 
 faces. 
 
 FILIPPI, FILIPPO, Rome, igth century. 
 
 FINDLAY, J., Padanaram, igth century. 
 
 FINER, FRATELLI (Finer Brothers), Milan, 1764. 
 
 FIORI, AMILCARE, Casinalbo, igth century. 
 
 FIORI, ANTONIO, Modena, igth century. 
 
 FIORI, GAETANO, Modena, igth century. 
 
 FIORILLO, GEO., Ferrara. About 1780. This maker's 
 instruments are highly arched, and a little after the style 
 of Stainer. His basses are good. 
 
 FIORINI, RAFFAELLO. Born in Pianoro. This maker 
 is somewhat interesting. When a child, a friend of the 
 family named Jadolini, who had a brother a violin 
 maker, used to make little fiddles for the boy. This 
 excited his attention, and he began to make them him- 
 self. As time passed, the interest in the subject 
 increased, and by and by (1867) he went to Bologna, 
 and worked and studied there for some years, and finally 
 opened a shop there. His son is 
 
 FIORINI, GUISEPPE, born in 1867. He showed the 
 same instincts as his father, but the latter gave him a 
 fairly good education first, and then, when the lad was
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 163 
 
 about sixteen, he put him in the shop, and taught him 
 all he knew. They now enjoy a good repute, and gained 
 prizes at the exhibitions of Milan and Turin. 
 
 FIRTH, G., Leeds, 1836. 
 
 FISCHER, J., Landshut, 1722. The solitary relic of 
 this maker appears to be a specimen of the one-stringed 
 instrument called the marine trumpet. It is in the 
 museum of the Society of the Friends of Music in 
 Vienna, and bears above date. 
 
 FISCHER, ZACHARIE, Wurtzburg, 1730 1812. Not 
 so much a violin maker as he was a violin baker, from a 
 mistaken notion that it matured the wood. 
 
 FLETTE, BENOIST, Paris, 1763. Dean of the Paris 
 Guild of Violin Makers for this year. 
 
 FLEURY, BENOIST, Paris, 1755. Dean of the Violin 
 Makers' Guild for this year. There is a bass viol 
 of his of the same year in the museum of the Paris 
 Conservatoire. 
 
 FLORENTIUS, FIORINO, Bologna, 1685 I 7 I 5- 
 
 FLORENUS, GUIDANTUS, Bologna, 1716. 
 
 FLORENUS, ANTONIO, Bologna. 
 
 FLORENUS, GUIDANTUS GIOVANNI, Bologna, 1685 
 1740. 
 
 There is considerable confusion with regard to these 
 four Bolognese makers. The inscriptions on tickets 
 vary in the most distracting, and, at the same time, 
 the most amusing manner. Sometimes it is " Florentus 
 Florinus," " Florentius Fiorino," " Florenus Florentus," 
 " Fiorino Fiorenzo," and so on. The horticultural 
 variations are very suggestive, and although they may all 
 be variants of the same name, it will be as well if I confine 
 
 M2
 
 164 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 myself to the description of one specimen of work. I have 
 no doubt, however, that there were three makers of this 
 name in Bologna. The specimen I refer to is a viola da 
 gamba of beautiful wood and beautiful carving, and 
 shows transparent golden varnish, and the most exquisite 
 workmanship. There may be violins by one or other of 
 these makers. I cannot say that I have seen any at all 
 approaching the style or intelligence of the work visible 
 on the viols bearing the name. 
 
 FONTANELLI, Gio. GUISEPPE, Bologna, 1739 72. A 
 lute maker of exquisite taste in decoration. 
 
 FORADORI, GIOVANNI, Verona, 1855. Violin maker. 
 
 FOURRIER, FRANCIS NICOLAS, Mirecourt, 1784 1816- 
 Violins. 
 
 FRANCK, GHENT, 1800 1830. This maker was a 
 sculptor, and a clever repairer of violins, but made few,, 
 if any, new instruments. 
 
 FRANCOIS, Paris, 1755. A viol maker. 
 
 FRANKLAND, London, 1785. 
 
 FRANZ, JACOB, Havelberg, 1748. 
 
 FREBRUNET, JEAN, Paris. About 1760. Well 
 made instruments. Reddish varnish of fairly good 
 appearance. 
 
 FREDI, FABIO, Todi, 1878. 
 
 FREY, (or Frei), HANS, Nuremberg. About 1450. A 
 lute and viol maker. He was also a splendid performer 
 on the lute, and was married to a daughter of the famous 
 Albrecht Durer. His last will and testament is in San 
 Sebaldo. It is said that he also worked in Bologna. 
 
 FRITZ, HANS, Nuremberg. A mere name. 
 
 FRITSCHE, Leipsic. End of i8th century. A
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 165 
 
 reputedly clever maker, who was a pupil of C. F. Hunger 
 of the same place. 
 
 FRYER, C., London and Leeds. Died about 
 1840. 
 
 Fux, JOHANN JOSEPH, Vienna, lyth century. Maker to 
 the Austrian Court. 
 
 Fux, MATTHIAS, Vienna. A lute maker. 
 
 GAFFINO, JOSEPH, Paris, 1755. An Italian maker 
 settled in Paris. He was dean of the makers' guild in 
 1766, and made instruments after the style of 
 Castagnery. The firm was in existence as late as 1789, 
 but was then carried on by the widow. 
 
 GAILLARD-LAJOUE, Mirecourt. About 1855, in which 
 year he received a medal at Paris exhibition. 
 
 GALBANI, JACOPO, Florence. About 1600. An old 
 viol maker. 
 
 GALBANI, PIERO, Florence, 1640. Son of preceding. 
 
 GALBICELLIS, G. B., Florence, 1757. 
 
 GALBUSERA, CARLO ANTONIO, Milan. About 1832. 
 He was a retired military officer who attempted some 
 improvements as they were then called on the 
 existing shape of the violin. It is said that he had no 
 knowledge of violin construction at all, but started his 
 notion in conversation with some friends, and meeting, 
 probably, with opposition to his views, set about making 
 a fiddle on the lines which he projected. It turned out 
 to be nothing new an instrument with the corners 
 rounded off, and somewhat after the style of the guitare. 
 He thought it was more elegant, stronger and lighter 
 than the Stradivari model, etc. This kind of 
 experiment had been carried out before fifty years
 
 l66 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 before and had been found an idle one so far as 
 concerned any improvement in either shape or tone. 
 Nevertheless, just as in the case of previous experiments 
 and as will likely be the case in many future ones 
 there was a commitee of professors and connoisseurs 
 to pronounce a laudatory judgment on the result of 
 Galbusera's efforts, and the instrument was exhibited in 
 the town hall of Brera. The Milan Academy of Science 
 awarded him a silver medal for the invention, and the 
 Leipsic Musical Gazette published the usual gushing 
 article filled with amazement that it had taken centuries 
 to give this perfect form to the violin. In due time the 
 amazement and the violin subsided, and Galbusera 
 proceeded to construct others of a different model 
 and heavier make, and he appears to have succeeded 
 in improving the quality of tone of his own fiddle 
 which was, without doubt, a highly meritorious "act, as 
 they gave him another medal. I fancy I should have 
 myself condoned an award like that. But Stradivari was 
 still untouched, and perhaps Galbusera's conscience told 
 him so, for in spite of his medals he had in all three 
 he began experiments with chemicals for the purpose of 
 extracting the gummy substance from the wood. 
 Facilis est descensus Averni, and from this point we hear 
 no more of him. He made violas and 'cellos a few 
 on the same system, and, if he made them himself, he 
 was no doubt, a handy man, but perhaps he merely 
 "invented" them as his fellow professionals some- 
 times invent " flying machines " and got other people 
 to make them for him. He died in 1846. 
 GALERZENO, Piedmont, 1790.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 167 
 
 GALLAND, JEAN, Paris, 1744. A dean of the Paris 
 Violin Makers of this year. 
 
 GALLIARD, C., Paris. About 1850. Good style. Red 
 varnish. 
 
 GALTANI, Rocco, Florence. i7th century. 
 
 GALRAM, JOACHIM JOSEF, Lisbon, 1769. 
 
 GANZERLA, LUIGI, San Felice, 1861. Violin maker, 
 
 GARANI, M. A., Bologna, 1685 1715. A good maker. 
 
 GARANI, N., Naples. Also a good maker of a later 
 date. Yellow varnish. Somewhat refined style with 
 light edges, but rather deeply built. 
 
 GASPAN. An early viol maker of whom nothing is 
 known but the name and nationality Italian. 
 
 GATTANANI, Piedmont. Another mere name. 
 
 GATTINARA, ENRICO, Turin, 1670. Violin maker (?)^ 
 
 GATTINARA, FRANCESCO, Turin. About 1704. Early 
 Guarnerius model generally. Well made instruments 
 but too highly arched. Warm brown varnish. 
 
 GAULARD, Troyes. About 1835. 
 
 GAUTROT, Mirecourt. 
 
 GAVINIES, FRANCOIS, Bordeaux. Some time in the 
 early part of the i8th century. He removed to Paris 
 in 1741. He was dean of the Paris Makers' Guild for 
 the year 1762, although he never made other than 
 common instruments. His son became one of the 
 finest of French violinists and is well known among 
 amateurs for his studies for the instrument. 
 
 GAZZOLA, PROSDOCIMO, Crespano. About 1822. A 
 maker of double basses, and a good repairer. 
 
 GEIFFENHAFF, FRANZ, Vienna, 1812. Good work. 
 Copied Stradivari. Branded F.G. on back.
 
 l68 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 GEMUNDER Senr., GEORGE, Astoria, New York. 
 Contempory. Born at Ingelfingen in Wurtemburg in 
 1816. It appears that he learnt violin making early 
 and had a great desire to work in Vuillaume's shop in 
 Paris. After knocking about for a while in Presburg, 
 Vienna, and Munich, he turned his steps towards Paris 
 and, on the way, got employment in Strasburg, but on 
 going to the establishment found the man was a maker 
 of brass instruments. Gemunder had not brass enough 
 for that, and was for a time a little upset, but one day 
 while lying asleep in the English Park, he heard a 
 voice saying to him " Cheer up Sam " or words to that 
 effect and he cheered up. On the third day after this 
 dream he received information from a friend who had 
 written to Vuillaume on Gemiinder's behalf to the 
 effect that he was to go to Paris and see the great 
 maker. This he did, and entered his employment, 
 staying with him for four years, during which time he 
 says he distinguished himself considerably. He then 
 went to America where he has since remained. Some 
 of his copies of the old masters are quite surprising in 
 external appearance, and recall the work of Vuillaume 
 himself at certain times when he imitated every little 
 rift and scratch with such marvellous and questionable 
 fidelity. Gemunder's two brothers were in America 
 before him. 
 
 GEMUNDER, AUGUST and SONS, New York. Contem- 
 pory. Another large establishment of violin makers 
 whose instruments have been highly praised. 
 
 GEMUNDER, GEORGE, Junr. A son of George, Senr. 
 
 GENTILE, MICHELE, Lucca, 1883. Violins.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 169 
 
 GERANS, P., Cremona, 1614. 
 
 GERANIE, Turin. About 1750. 
 
 GERLES, Nuremberg. Old lute makers. i5th and 
 1 6th century. 
 
 GERONI, DOMENICO, Ostia, 1817. 
 
 GERMAIN, JOSEPH Louis, Paris. Born in Mirecourt 
 1822. Learnt business there. Went to Paris 1840, 
 where he worked for Gand pere. At his death went 
 to Vuillaume whom he left in 1850, and returned to the 
 Gands, where he remained until 1862, when he started 
 for himself. He returned to Mirecourt in 1870 and 
 died there same year. It is needless to say that he was 
 a fine maker and that much of his work is to be found 
 in Gand's and Vuillaume's. 
 
 GERMAIN, EMILE. Son of preceding. Born 1853, 
 and sent in 1865 to Mirecourt to learn. He returned 
 to Paris in 1867 to his father. At the death of the 
 latter he became a partner with a M. Dehommais, an 
 arrangement which ceased in 1882. Since this date in 
 business alone. 
 
 GHERARDI, GIACOMO, Bologna, 1677. A maker of 
 double basses of early style. 
 
 GIAMBERIN,! GIOVANNI, Florence. About 1700. 
 Guitars. 
 
 GIAMBERINI, ALESSANDRO, Florence. Son of preced- 
 ing. A maker of violins and guitars. 
 
 GIANNOTTI, ACHILLE, Sarsanza, 1872. A repairer. 
 
 GIANOLLI, ANTONIO, Milan, 1731. 
 
 GIBBS, JAMES, London. A maker who worked for 
 others, such as Gilkes, etc. 
 
 GIBERTINI, ANTONIO, Parma and Genoa, 1830 1845,
 
 170 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 or later. Good maker, who copied Stradivari, and 
 employed a red varnish of fine quality. 
 
 GIBERTONI, GUISEPPE (called Paninino), Modena, 
 igth century. 
 
 GIGLI, JULIUS C^SAR, Rome, 1700 61. 
 
 GILBERT, N. L., Metz. About 1701. Viol maker. 
 
 GILBERT, SIMON, Metz. About 1737. Viol maker. 
 
 GIOFFREDA, B., Turin. About 1860. 
 
 GIORDANE, A., Cremona, 173540. 
 
 GIORGI, NICOLA, Turin, 1745. 
 
 GIRANIANI, Leghorn, 1730. Good maker. Fine 
 yellow varnish, thin. 
 
 GIOVANNETTI, L., Lucca, 1855. Violins. 
 
 GIQUELIER, CRISTOFORO, Paris, 1712. Viol maker. 
 It is said that this maker had his instruments varnished 
 in Japan. 
 
 GIRON, GIROLAMO, Troyes, 1790. Violins. 
 
 GINGLIANI. A 'cello maker of the i7th century. 
 
 GIULIANI, 1660. An old viol maker Amati school. 
 
 GOTTARDI, ANTONIO, Treviso, 1878. 
 
 GOUFFE, Paris. A maker of double basses. 
 
 GRABENSEE, J. T. Diisseldorf. About 1854. 
 
 GRAGNANT, A. A Tyrolese maker. About 1780. 
 
 GRAMULO. Italian, about end of i7th century. This 
 maker's name was first discovered in a novel by Dumas ! 
 It was communicated to Count Valdrighi, who wrote to 
 the late Gustave Chouquet, and asked if he ever heard 
 of him. M. Chouquet set up inquiries, and a friend of 
 his assured him that he had the actual instrument 
 alluded to in the novel ! The great French writer 
 makes his character say that Gramulo was highly
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. IJI 
 
 esteemed by Tartini, and on these circumstances is 
 based the supposition that there was a maker of this 
 name. 
 
 GRAND-GERARD. An ordinary French (Mirecourt) 
 maker, of end of last century. 
 
 GRANDSON fils, Mirecourt. A maker who obtained a 
 medal in 1855. 
 
 GRANZINI, Verona, 1620 25. Viol maker. 
 
 GRAY, J., Fochabers. About 1870. 
 
 GREFFTS, JOHANN, Fussen. About 1622. 
 
 GREGORJ, Bologna, 1793. Violins. 
 
 GREGORIO, ANTONIAZZI, Colle. About 1738. 
 
 GRENADINO, Madrid, i8th century. Violins. 
 
 GRIESSER, MATHIAS, Inspruck. About 1727. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 GRIMM, CARL, Berlin, 1792 1855. This firm 
 originally declined to make more than thirty violins per 
 annum. 
 
 GRIMM, Louis and HELMICH. Same business, later. 
 
 GRIMALDI, CARLO, Messina, 1681. Said to be 
 Cremonese in style. 
 
 GRISERI, FILIPPO, Florence. About 1650. 
 
 GROBITZ, A., Warsaw, i8th century. An imitator of 
 Stainer. 
 
 GROBLIEZ, Cracow, 1609. A maker of 'cellos, it is said. 
 
 GROLL, M., Meran, 1800. 
 
 GROSSET, P. F., Paris. About 1757. This maker is 
 described as a pupil of Claude Pierray, and to be an 
 ordinary workman, using a bad model with very high 
 arching, bad thicknesses, etc., and a common orange 
 spirit varnish. He made 'cellos also.
 
 172 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 GROSSI, GUISEPPE, Bologna. About 1803. 
 
 GRULLI, PIETRO, Cremona. Modern. 
 
 GUARMANDI, FILIPPO, Bologna, 1795. 
 
 GUASANT, F., French. About 1790. 
 
 GUDIS, HIERONIMO, Cremona, 1727. A viol maker of 
 exquisite taste in decorative work. Varnish light golden 
 orange. Beautiful wood. 
 
 GUERRA, GIACOMO, Modena, 1810. Violins, reddish 
 brown varnish. 
 
 GUERRA. A family of this name settled in Cadiz as 
 guitar makers. 
 
 GUGEMOS, Fiissen, i8th century. This maker's name 
 is spelled in several ways, Guggemos, Gugemmos, #nd 
 as I have given it. His work is poor. 
 
 GUGLIELMI, G. B., Cremona, 1747. 
 
 GUIDANTUS, JOANNES FLORENTUS, Bologna. See 
 <{ Florentis Florentus," etc. 
 
 GUIDANTI, GIOVANNI, Bologna. About 1740. I do 
 not know anything about this maker. He appears to 
 have been a maker of viols also, and his violins are said 
 to be very tubby, and inartistic in several points. 
 
 GUSETTO, NICOLA, Florence, i8th century. This 
 maker's instruments are very careful imitations of 
 Stradivari. 
 
 H^ENSEL, JOHANN ANTON, Rochsburg. About 1811. 
 At this date he invented a violin which he said he had 
 invented before, namely, in 1801. He was a musician 
 in the Duke of Schoenburg's band. He wrote an article 
 in the Leipsic Musical Gazette about his violin, but does 
 not appear to have made any more of them. 
 
 HAFF, Augsburg, 17 .
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 173 
 
 HAMBERGER, JOSEPH, Presburg, 1845. 
 
 HAMM, JOHANN GOTTFRIED, Rome, i8th century- 
 His instruments are of the decorated sort. Ivory 
 borders, etc. 
 
 HARBOUR, London, 1785 6. 
 
 HARE, JOHN, London, 1700 20. Neat, artistic work. 
 Somewhat prim-looking sound holes, and fine varnish. 
 
 HARE, JOSEPH, London. About 1720. Similarly 
 good work. 
 
 HARHAM, London, 1765 85. 
 
 HARTON, MICHELE, Padua, 1602. A lute maker. 
 
 HARTMANN, Weimar, i8th century. One of the 
 pupils of Ernst in Gotha. Poor work. 
 
 HASSALWANDER, JOHANN, Munich. About 1855. He 
 made lutes, violins, zithers and guitars. 
 
 H ASSERT, EISENACH, i8th century. Common work. 
 
 HASSERT, RUDOLSTADT, i8th century. Common 
 work. 
 
 HAYDEN, JOHANN, Nuremberg, 1610. A sort of 
 dealer. 
 
 HAYNES, FOUCHER and Co., London.- This business 
 has been in existence for many years, being first 
 established by W. Haynes in the north of London, about 
 the year 1859. They produce high class instruments at 
 exceedingly moderate prices. Their chief model in 
 violins, violas, and 'cellos is Stradivari, but they have 
 also Amati, Guarnerius, and Maggini models as well. I 
 have seen a large number of their instruments, and I 
 can say that they deserved the highest praise in regard 
 to tone, style of work, and finish. 
 
 HAYNES, JACOB, London. About 1752. An old
 
 174 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 English West End maker, who used the Stainer model. 
 One of his instruments was highly prized by the late 
 Samuel Summerhayes, of Taunton. " Jacob Haynes, 
 in Swallow Street, St. James', London, Fecit " is the 
 tenor of his ticket. 
 
 HEAPS, J. K., Leeds, 1855. A maker of 'cellos chiefly. 
 
 HEESOM, E., London. About 1748. Highly arched 
 violins on the usually exaggerated lines, which were 
 supposed to be Stainer's. 
 
 HEIDEGGER, Passau. 
 
 HELD, Beule, near Bonn. Modern. 
 
 HELDAHL, ANDREW, Bergen, 1851. Violins. 
 
 HEL, FERDINAND, Vienna. Modern. 
 
 HELMER, C., Prague, 1740 51. Good instruments. 
 Varnish a brownish colour, of a warm tint. He was a 
 pupil of Eberle. 
 
 HELMER, CARL, Prague. About 1773. Son of pre- 
 ceding. He also made lutes and mandolines. 
 
 HELMER, CARL, Prague. Later. Son of preceding. 
 
 HEMSCH, JEAN HENRI, Paris, 1747. Dean of the 
 Violin Maker's Guild for this year. 
 
 HEMSCH, GUILLAUME, Paris, 1761. Dean of the 
 Violin Makers' Guild for this year. 
 
 HENDERSON, D., Aberdeen. Modern. Very poor 
 work. Common spirit varnish of a cold character, like 
 an ordinary maple stain. 
 
 HENOC, JEAN, Paris, 1773. Dean of the Paris Violin 
 Makers' Guild for this year. He also made zithers. 
 
 HESEN, GIACOMO, Venice. About 1506. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 HESKETH, T. E., Manchester. Contemporary. A
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 175 
 
 pupil of Chanot of Manchester. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 HETEL, G., Rome. About 1763. Lutes and guitars. 
 
 HENRY EUGENE, Paris, 1855. Violins. 
 
 HILDEBRAND, M., Hamburg, 1765 1800. Violins, 
 violas, 'cellos, and double basses. 
 
 HILDEBRANDT, M. C., Hamburg, 1800. A repairer. 
 
 HILTZ, Paul, Nuremberg, 1656. A viol maker. 
 
 HIRCUTT, London. About 1600. 
 
 HOCHA, GASPARO DALL', Ferrara, 1568. A repairer. 
 
 HOCHBRUCKER, Donawerth. About 1699. Besides 
 making some good violins he invented the pedals for 
 harps. 
 
 HOCHBRUCKER, Donawerth, 1732 70. He was a 
 nephew of the preceding, was a violin maker and also 
 continued to improve the harp in the direction initiated 
 by his uncle. 
 
 HOFFMANN, MARTIN, Leipsic, 1680 1725. A lute 
 and viol maker who has become famous not only for his 
 own special work, but also because he was the first to 
 make the viola pomposa suggested by John Sebastian Bach. 
 This was a five-stringed 'cello tuned to C, G, D, A, E. 
 It did not succeed, although Bach wrote music for it. 
 
 HOFFMANN, JOHAN CHRISTIAN, Leipsic. Son of 
 preceding. A lute maker. 
 
 HOFFMANN, IGNAZIO, Wulfelsdorf. About 1748. A 
 violin, lute, and harp maker. 
 
 HOFFMANN, MARTIN, Leipsic. Another lute and viol 
 maker, probably some relative, about same date as 
 previously mentioned Martin. 
 
 HOFMANS, MATHYS, Antwerp, 1720 50. This
 
 176 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 maker was very clever in imitating the Cremonese 
 varnish. His instruments are also very well made, and 
 covered sometimes with a fine golden varnish, and 
 at other times with a dark red very transparent. 
 The tone of such violins of his as I have seen, 
 does not, however, come altogether up to one's 
 expectations. 
 
 HOHNE, Dresden. Modern. 
 
 HOLLOWAY, J., London, 1794. 
 
 HOMOLKA, F., Kuttenburg. Modern. 
 
 HORIL, GIACOMO, Rome. About 1742. 
 
 HORENSTAINER, ANDREW. 
 HORENSTAINER, JOSEPH "| 
 
 HORENSTAINER, MATTHIAS ] 1730 to present time. 
 
 HORENSTAINER, MARTIN j 
 
 This is a trade firm in Mitten wald, Bavaria. For more 
 than 150 years, there has been a representative, 
 apparently, in existence. The instruments are in many 
 cases fairly good. 
 
 HOSBORN, TH. ALF., London. About 1629. An old 
 viol maker, a specimen of whose work was in the Paris 
 Exhibition of 1878. 
 
 HUBER, JOHANN GEORGE, Vienna, 1767. Viol maker. 
 
 HULINSKI, Prague, 1760. Good maker. Warm 
 brown varnish. 
 
 HULLER, Aucust, Shosneck, 1775. 
 
 HUME, RICHARD, Edinburgh, 1535. The earliest 
 known viol maker in Great Britain. 
 
 HUMEL, CHRISTIAN, Nuremberg, 1709. 
 
 HUNGER, C. F., Leipsic. Born in Dresden 1718. 
 Died in Leipsic 1787. A fine maker. He was a pupil
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 177 
 
 of Jauch of Dresden and a worthy one of a worthy 
 master. His instruments are Italian in style. 
 
 INSTRUMENT!, MARCO, DAGLI, Ferrara, 1541. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 INDELAMI, MATTEO. A lute maker. Unknown either 
 when or where. 
 
 JACOBI, Meissen. i8th century. Violins. 
 
 JACOBZ, HEINDRIK, Antwerp, 1693 1 74- 
 
 JANCK, JOHANN, 1735. An old viol maker. 
 
 JASPERS, JAHN, Antwerp, 1568. A lute maker. 
 
 JAIS, ANTON, Botzen. About 1760. 
 
 JAIS, JOHANN, Botzen. About 1776. 
 
 JAUCH, Dresden. i8th century. A fine maker 
 in the Italian style. 
 
 JAUCH, JOHANN, Gratz, 1740. A lute maker. 
 
 JORI, LEANDER, Sesso. About' 1819. 
 
 JORIO, VINCENZO, Naples, igth century. 
 
 JOSEPH, J., Vienna, 1764. 
 
 JULIANO, FRANCESCO, Rome. i8th century about 
 the beginning of it. 
 
 JULLIEN, Louis, ANTOINE, 1812 60. This was the 
 great bandmaster, who, although not a violin maker, 
 was one of those who invent fiddles. His idea was a 
 violin tuned a fourth above the usual pitch. It never 
 came to anything. It was to be the same size as the 
 ordinary violin, which, probably, made it difficult to 
 invent the strings. 
 
 KAISER, MARTIN, Venice. About 1609. A lute maker, 
 
 KAMBL, JOHANN ANDREW, Munich, 1635 40. 
 
 KANIGOWSKI, Warsaw. About 1841. Besides being 
 a violin maker, he also made bows. 
 
 N
 
 178 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 KARB, Konigsberg. A viol maker. 
 
 KEMBTER, Dibnigen, 1725. Violins of highly arched 
 model. 
 
 KESSEL, ANTON, Breitenfeld. Contemporary. Violins. 
 
 KIRCHHOFF, A. W., Lopenaja, 1855. Violin maker. 
 
 KIRSCHSCHLAG. A Tyrolese maker. About 1780. 
 
 KITTEL, St. Petersburg, igth century. A fine repairer, 
 and also an exquisite bow maker. 
 
 KLEIN, A., Rouen. Modern. This establishment is 
 under the management of M. Antoine Rubach of 
 Mirecourt. 
 
 KLEINMANN, CORNELIUS, Amsterdam, 1671. Violin 
 maker. 
 
 KLOSS, E., Bernstadt, 1855. Violin maker. 
 
 KNITTLE, JOSEPH, Mittenwald, 1791. 
 
 KNITTING, P., Mittenwald, 1760. 
 
 KNOOP, W., Meiningen. Modern. 
 
 KOHL, JOHANN, Munich. About 1599. A lute maker 
 to the Bavarian court. 
 
 K<EUPPERS, JOHANN. The Hague, 1760 80. Has the 
 reputation of being the finest of the Dutch. Thick 
 varnish, but well made violins. 
 
 KOLB, HANS, Ingolstadt, 1666. A viol maker. 
 
 KOLDITZ, JACOB, Ruhmburg. Died 1796. The work 
 of this maker is highly appreciated in Germany. 
 
 KOLDITZ, MATHIAS JOHANN, Munich. 
 
 KOLLIKER, H., Paris, 1789 1820. A repairer of 
 great ability. 
 
 KRAMER, H., Vienna. About 1717. A viol maker. 
 
 KRINER, J., Mittenwald, 1786 91. 
 
 KUGLER, MAX, Munich. A violin maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 179 
 
 KUNTZEL, Berlin. Modern. 
 
 LAFLEUR and Sox, London. Contemporary. 
 
 LAGETTO, LUIGI, Paris. About 1753. 
 
 LAINE, Paris. About 1773. 
 
 LAMBERT, JEAN NICOLAS, Paris, 1745. Dean of the 
 Paris Violin Makers' Guild for this year. The business 
 was carried on for a considerable time by his widow for 
 about half a century after above date. Lambert made 
 also viols, one of which is in the museum of the Paris 
 Conservatoire. He branded his name on the side of 
 this instrument, and used a ticket in his violins which 
 runs,"]. N. Lambert, rue Michel-le-Comte Paris," 
 surrounded with arabesque decoration, supported by a 
 violin and lute. 
 
 LAMBERT, Nancy. About 1750. 
 
 LAMBERT, J. A., Berlin. About 1760. 
 
 LAMBIN, Ghent, 1800 30. Violin maker and repairer. 
 
 LAMY, J. THIBOUVILLE, Mirecourt and London. 
 Contemporary. 
 
 LANCELLOTTI, OTTAVIO, Barigazio. Modern. A 
 maker of double basses. 
 
 LANCILLOTTO, JACOPINO, Modena, 1507 51. One of 
 the oldest known of makers and dealers in viols and 
 other musical instruments. 
 
 LANDI, PIETRO, Siena, 1774. Violins. 
 
 LANZA, ANTONIO MARIA, Brescia, 1650 1715. He 
 was a contemporary of Stradivari, but copied Maggini, 
 and other Brescian makers in what has been called a 
 " slavish " manner. His instruments have not a good 
 tone. He also made viols. 
 
 LAPAIX, Lille. Modern. Violin maker and medallist. 
 
 N2
 
 l8o THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 LAPREVOTTE, Paris, 1825 1850. He was an ordinary 
 Mirecourt maker, and subsequently in Paris. Died 
 in 1856. 
 
 LARNE, P. M., Paris, 1767. Dean of the Makers' 
 Guild for this year. 
 
 LASKA, JOSEPH, Ruhmburg. Born 1738. Died 1805. 
 He worked with Kolditz in Prague, but chiefly made 
 mandolines and viols. 
 
 LAURENTIUS DETTO PAPIENSIS, Pavia. This was a 
 distinguished old maker of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries. He was a maker of all sorts, but his 
 lutes and viols were highly-decorated musical instru- 
 ments. He was patronised by Isabella D'Este, and 
 carried on some correspondence with her in regard to 
 different instruments, between the years 1496 1515. 
 
 LAVAZZA, ANTONIO MARIA, Milan, 1695 1708. 
 
 LAVAZZA SANTINO, Milan, 1718. 
 
 LEB, Presburg, i8th century. 
 
 LEBLANC, Paris. About 1772. 
 
 LECLERC, Paris, i8th century (1771). He was 
 chiefly a repairer. 
 
 LECOMPTE, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 LEDUC, PIERRE, Paris. One of the most ancient 
 Parisian makers. About 1646. 
 
 LE DHUY. About 1806. A French maker of the 
 bowed lyre. 
 
 LEFEBVRE, Amsterdam, 1720 40. His model was 
 Amati. 
 
 LEFEBVRE, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 LEI, DOMENICO, Formigine. About 1848. This was 
 an amateur repairer of some skill.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. l8l 
 
 LE JEUNE, FRANCOIS, Paris, 1764. Dean of the 
 Makers' Guild for this year. There is a viol by him in 
 the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire, and the name 
 was in the trade until 1870, I believe, when it became 
 extinct. 
 
 LEMME, Brunswick, i8th century. A maker, or 
 dealer, who invented things for the riddle. Among these 
 was an improvement in working the upper table or belly, 
 which does not appear to have been of any use. He 
 also invented a mute. I know nothing about either. 
 
 LEMBOCK, G., Vienna, About 1873. He was a 
 repairer. 
 
 L'EMPEREUR, JEAN BAPTISTS. Dean of the Makers' 
 Guild for 1750. 
 
 LE LIEVRE, Paris, about 1754. Made fairly good 
 instruments. Yellowish orange varnish. 
 
 LEONI, FERDINANDO, Parma, 1816. 
 
 LEPER, DOMINILO, Rome, igth century. 
 
 LE PILEUR, PIERO, Paris. About 1754. 
 
 LESCLOP, FRANCOIS HENRI, Paris, 1746. Dean of the 
 Paris Makers' Guild for this year. 
 
 LESSELLIER, Paris, 1640 60. A lute maker of whom 
 Gustave Chouquet has a good word to say. 
 
 LEVIEN-MORDAUNT, Paris, 1825. 
 
 LEWIS, EDWARD, London. About 1700. Good work 
 good wood and varnish. 
 
 LIEBICH, JOHAN, Breslau, i8th century. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 LIEBICH, ERNEST, Breslau, 1796 1862. Violins, 
 harps, and guitars. 
 
 LIEBICH, GEOFFREY, Breslau, i8th century. Violins.
 
 l82 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 LIGHT, EDWARD, London. About 1798. A lute and 
 harp maker. 
 
 LIGNAMARO, PIETRO, Mantua (San Martino). Died 
 1569. Lutes and zithers. 
 
 LIGNOLI, ANDREA, Florence. About 1681. Violins. 
 
 LIEDOLF, GUISEPPE FERDINANDO, Vienna, i8th 
 century. 
 
 LINAROLO, VENTURA, Venice, 1514 20. An old lute 
 and viol maker. 
 
 LIPP, MITTENWALD. About 1761. Violins. 
 
 LIPPETA, J. G., Neukirchen, 1771. 
 
 LIVORNO, VINCENZO DA, Leghorn, 1861. Violins. 
 
 LOCICERO, LUCIANO, Naples. About 1830. Chiefly 
 guitars. 
 
 LOLIO, GIAMBATTISTA, Voltezza, i8th century. 
 Violins. 
 
 LOLY, . JACOPO, Naples. About 1727. Ordinary 
 maker. Light yellow varnish. 
 
 LORENZI, G. B. DE, Vicenza. About 1878. Violins, 
 and also organs. 
 
 LORENZINI, GASPARO, Piacenza, i8th century. 
 Violins. 
 
 LOUVET, JEAN, Paris. Dean of the Makers' Guild for 
 1759. One of his viols is in the Paris Conservatoire 
 Museum. 
 
 LOUVET, PIERRE, Paris. Dean of the Makers' Guild 
 for 1742. One of his viols is also in the Paris Con- 
 servatoire Museum. 
 
 LOVERI, Naples. Modern. 
 
 LUCARINI (or Lucatini), Faenza. About 1803. A 
 repairer.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 183 
 
 LUDGE, GERONIMO PIETRO DE, Conegliano, 1709. A 
 repairer. This maker is also called " Ludici." He was 
 an amateur, it is supposed, from the ticket he used, a 
 manuscript one. It runs, " Hieronymus Petrus de 
 Ludice animi causa fasciebat Conegliani, A.D." The 
 inscription does not in any way justify such a conclusion. 
 
 LUGLONI, GUIESPPE, Venice. About 1777. An 
 imitator of the Cremonese style. 
 
 LUPO, PETER, Antwerp. About 1559. Violins. 
 
 LUPPI, GIOVANNI, Mantua, igth century. 
 
 MACINTOSH, Dublin. Said to be a pupil of Thomas 
 Perry, Dublin. Macintosh published a work on the 
 construction of the violin, and of this book it seems 
 impossible to obtain a copy. It was issued some- 
 where about the year 1837. Macintosh is supposed to 
 have died between that date and 1840. 
 
 McGEORGE, Edinburgh. About 1800. 
 
 MAFFEOTTO, GUISEPPE, Roveredo, i8th century. 
 
 MAFFEI, LORENZO. An Italian repairer about end of 
 1 8th century. 
 
 MAGNO, FERRARA. A lute maker, middle of i6th 
 century. 
 
 MAIER, A. F., Salzburg. 1746 50. 
 
 MALAGOLI, FULGENZIO, Modena, 1856. 
 
 MALDONNER, Fussen. About 1650. A maker of 
 double basses. 
 
 MALLER, LAUX (or Luca), Bologna, 1415 1475. A 
 famous old German maker of lutes. 
 
 MALLER, SIGISMUND, Bologna and Venice, 1460 
 1526. Another lute maker, also of German origin 
 judging, of course, only by the name.
 
 184 THE FIDDLE FANCIER ? S GUIDE. 
 
 MANN (or Man), Hans, Naples, i8th century. 
 
 MANDOTI, GUISEPPE, Piacenza, 1713. Violins. 
 
 MANNI, PIETRO, Modena. About 1827. Guitars, 
 etc. 
 
 MANSIELL, L., Nuremburg. About 1728. 
 
 MANSIEDL, L., Wurzburg. About 1724. 
 
 MANTEGAZZA, CARLO, Milan, i8th century. 
 
 MANTEGAZZA, FRANCESCO, Milan, 1760. 
 
 MANTEGAZZA, PIETRO and GIOVANNI, Milan, 1737 
 800. This family of violin makers and repairers were 
 distinguished in their day chiefly, however, as repairers 
 and restorers. There is a quartet of instruments by the 
 brothers P. and G., which appear to be the only speci- 
 mens of new instruments known to one or two writers, 
 and the varnish on them is black. They, however, used 
 all kinds of varnish, and when they did make fiddles they 
 copied Amati, Stradivari, and Guarnerius indeed, all 
 sorts even Stainer arching was not rejected. They 
 were so famous in their day that all sorts of rubbishy, 
 dirty fiddles have got ticketed accordingly. 
 
 MANTOVANI, Parma, 1850 83. A violin repairer. 
 
 MARATTI, Verona. About 1700. 
 
 MARCELLI (or MARCELLO), GIOVANNI, Cremona, about 
 1696. A maker of double basses. Large pattern and 
 of powerful tone. A decorative maker who used inlay 
 and carving. Inlay on sides sometimes. 
 
 MARCHETTI, ENRICO, Turin, igth century. Violins 
 
 MARCHI, GIANNANTONIO, Bologna. About 1806. 
 Violins. Highly arched. Beautiful wood. Varnish of 
 a golden orange. 
 
 MARCO, ANTONIO, Venice. About 1700.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 185 
 
 MARCONCINI, GAETANO, Ferrara. i8th century. 
 
 MARCONCINI, GUISEPPE, Ferrara. i8th century. 
 
 MARCONCINI, LUIGI, Ferrara and Bologna. It is 
 said that this maker was a pupil of Omobono Stradivari. 
 Gaetono and Guiseppe were his sons, and Guiseppe is 
 reported to have been a pupil of Storioni. The 
 instruments of the latter have a fair reputation but I 
 am not in a position to speak of any of them. 
 
 MARCONI, ANTONIO, Conegliano. About 1878. 
 
 MARCUS, JOHANNES, Busseto, 1540 80. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 MARIA, GIUESPPE DE, Naples. About 1779. Chiefly 
 .a maker of mandolines, etc. 
 
 MARIANI, ANTONIO, Pesaro, 1570 1646. School of 
 Maggini. 
 
 MARINO, BERNARDINO, Rome, 1805. Violins. 
 
 MARIS, Ferenzuola. Violins. 
 
 MARQUIS, DE LAIR, Mirecourt. A igth century 
 maker of comparatively small interest. He made very 
 big riddles, and out of proportion. His sound holes are 
 not so bad in the matter of design, but they are poorly 
 cut and far apart. His margins are usually large, but 
 vulgar. Edges round. Ribs good height and figure. 
 Scroll tasteless. Varnish of a brown colour with a 
 slight dull orange greenish tint about it here and there. 
 " Marquis de Lair d'Oiseau " branded across the back 
 just under the button. 
 
 MARSHALL, JOHN, London, 1750 60. A good maker 
 who used the Stainer model, and also made flatter 
 instruments. He inscribed on one of his tickets " Good 
 Beef id. A pound But trades all very Bad." He seems
 
 l86 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 to have been an observer of the times with a fancy for 
 big, big B's. 
 
 MARTANI, ANTONIO, Reggio-Emil, 1804 66. A 
 violin repairer. 
 
 MARTIN, London, 1790 4. 
 
 MARTINELLI (detto il Gobbo called the hunchback), 
 Modena, igth century. A maker of double basses. 
 
 MARTINEZ, ALONZO. A Spanish violin maker. 
 
 MARTINO. An Italian maker chiefly of 'cellos. 
 
 MASENCER, GIOVANNI DE, Brussels. Violins and 
 pochettes. 
 
 MAST, JEAN LAURENT, Paris. i8th century. A 
 fairly good maker. Thick, dark spirit varnish. " J. 
 L. Mast, Paris" branded at the top of the back and 
 in the inside where the ticket is generally seen. 
 
 MAST FILS, Toulouse. Son of above. Worked with 
 Nicolas aine at Mirecourt and subsequently went to 
 Toulouse. Branded his violins " Mast fils Toulouse 
 (date) " in the same places. His instruments are rather 
 highly arched, and have an orange and a red orange 
 varnish. They are fairly good violins. 
 
 MAUCOTEL, CHARLES ADOLPHE. Born in Mirecourt 
 in 1820 where he learnt violin making. He went to 
 Vuillaume in 1839, and five years afterwards began 
 business on his own account. He committed suicide in 
 1858. He was a fine maker, and turned out some high 
 class instruments of all sizes except double basses. 
 
 MAUCOTEL, CHARLES. Born in Mirecourt in 1807. He 
 also learnt in Mirecourt and went to C. F. Gand in 
 Paris, 1834. Ten years afterwards he came to London 
 and was employed by R. and W. Davis of Coventry
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 187 
 
 Street (now Withers). In a few years he started for 
 himself and continued in Rupert Street till he went back 
 to France in 1860. His instruments are also good and 
 have a fine style about them I do not know whether 
 he was related to the previous maker or not. It is said 
 that he was a brother and I suppose that is correct. 
 He was the first employer of Mr. George Chanot, the 
 elder (of London). 
 
 MANSSEIL, LEONARD, Nuremberg. About 1745. A 
 good maker of Stainer copies. Light yellow varnish. 
 
 MAYERHOFF, ANDREW FERDINAND, Salzburg, 1740 6. 
 
 MAYR, ADAM, Munich. i8th century. A viol maker. 
 
 MAYR, ANDREW FERDINAND, Salzburg, 1726 77. A 
 violoncello maker. He was maker to the court in 
 Salzburg. 
 
 MAYSON, WALTER, H. Contempory. Violins, violas 
 and basses. His better class instruments are excellent. 
 
 MEARES, RICHARD, London. About 1677. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 MEIBERI, FRANCESCO, Livorno. About 1750. 
 
 MELEGARI, ENRICO CLODOVEO, Turin, 1860. Violins. 
 
 MELEGARI, PIETRO, Turin. About same date as 
 previous maker of same name. 
 
 METELLI, LUIGI, Ferrara. igth century. A pupil of 
 Marconcini, and, consequently, of a good school by 
 descent and according to report. 
 
 MELLINI, GIOVANNI, Guastalla. About 1768. 
 
 MELONI, ANTONIO, Milan, 1694. 
 
 MENICHETTI, LUIGI, Faenza. About 1851. This 
 maker was an inventor of a new kind of violin. It was 
 a combination of wood and metal and was thought to be
 
 l88 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 suitable for military bands. The belly was of brass, 
 and the tone, although of an abominably diverse 
 character on the different strings, had a certain amount 
 of strength. It was exhibited in 1851 at Bologna, but 
 I don't think it has ever been heard of since. 
 
 MENNEGAND, CHARLES. Born at Nancy in 1822. 
 Like so many other fine makers, he was taught his art 
 in Mirecourt, and in 1840 went to Paris. There he 
 worked for Rambaux for five years, and became a first- 
 class repairer of old instruments. He was a year with 
 Maucotel, and then went to Amsterdam. In five years 
 he returned to Paris, and died in 1885. He made good 
 instruments, but his chief distinction was gained in the 
 repair of old ones. 
 
 MENNESSON, EMILE, Rheims. About 1878. This 
 maker started a business in a kind of trade instrument 
 which he called the Guarini violin. I suppose it was a 
 trade mark. He made violins, tenors, 'cellos, and 
 double basses. They have a red, transparent varnish. 
 
 MENSIDLER, JOHANN, Nuremberg, 1550. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 MERIGHI, ANTONIO, Milan, 1800. 
 
 MERIOTTE, Lyons. About 1755. A fairly good 
 maker. Up to 1770, his tickets are written " Meriotte, 
 .luthier, sur le pont, pres le change, a Lyon," but after 
 that date the inscription is Latinised and printed. His 
 instruments are, at the same time, of improved quality. 
 
 MERLIN, JOSEPH, London. About 1780. His instru- 
 .ments are highly built. 
 
 MEROSI, GUISEPPE, Firenzuola. About 1846. 
 
 METHFESSEL, GUSTAVE, Berne. About 1883.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 189 
 
 METTE, FATHER, Rouen, 1855. 
 
 MEZADRI, ALESSANDRO, Ferrara, 1690 1720. A 
 maker of some little merit, but poor Amati model. 
 
 MEZADRI, FRANCESCO, Milan, 1700 1720. A fairly 
 good maker. Nice golden varnish with a reddish tinge, 
 transparent and thin. 
 
 MICHAUD, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 MICHELOT, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 MICHIELS, GILLES, Brussels, 1779. 
 
 MILANI, FRANCESCO, Milan, 1742. This maker was a 
 pupil of Lorenzo Guadagnini, and an accurate imitator 
 of Stradivari. 
 
 MIER, London. About 1786. 
 
 MILLE. A maker at Aix in the Bouches du Rhone in 
 the 1 8th century. Violins. 
 
 MILLER, London, 1750. 
 
 MINELLI, GIOVANNI, Bologna. About 1808 9. 
 Violins. 
 
 MINOZZI, MATTEO, Bologna, i8th century. 
 
 MIQUEL, EMILE, Mirecourt. Contemporary. 
 
 MIREMOXT, CLAUDE AUGUSTIN. Born at Mirecourt 
 in 1827. He learnt under his father Sebastien, who 
 was a maker in Mirecourt, and afterwards worked for 
 three years with C. N. Collin-Mezin. Miremont went 
 to Paris in 1844, and was first with Joseph Rene Lafleur, 
 who was a .bow maker, chiefly. Miremont soon left him 
 and engaged with Bernardel Pere, with whom he 
 remained until 1852. He then went to New York for 
 ten years, and returned to Paris in 1861. He retired 
 from business in 1884, and died in 1887. He was a fine 
 maker, and received several medals.
 
 igO THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 MIRANCOURT, JOSEPH, Verdun. About 1749. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 MOITESSIER, Louis. About 1781. Made some good 
 violins. One was a very curious instrument, having a 
 belly of maple the same as the back. It is described as 
 being well made, and of good tone. 
 
 MOERS, JEAN HENRI, Paris, 1771. Dean for this 
 year of the Paris Violin Makers' Guild. 
 
 MOHR, P., Hamburg. About 1650. A viol maker. 
 
 MOLDONNER, Fiissen, 1756 98. 
 
 MOLINARI, ANTONIO, Venice, 1672 1703. 
 
 MOLINARI, GUISEPPE, Venice. He made various 
 stringed instruments, such as mandolines, etc. He also 
 made violins. There are two of the former in the 
 museum of the Paris Conservatoire, and bearing dates 
 1 762 and 1763. 
 
 MOLLENHAVER, London. About 1881. This is an 
 inventor, who proposed to make violins, violas, 'cellos, 
 and double basses with two bellies, one under the other, 
 dividing the interior of the instrument into two compart- 
 ments. He claimed for his suggestion that it would 
 largely increase the volume and roundness 'of the tone of 
 the violin tribe, without altering its quality. The 
 principles of the invention are explained in Musical 
 Opinion of ist November, 1881. 
 
 MOLZA, NICOLA, Modena, 1620. A repairer. 
 
 MONCHI, P. de, Lyons, 1633. A viol maker. 
 
 MONGENOT, Rouen. About 1763. 
 
 MONTADE, GREGORIO, Cremona, 1720 35. A maker 
 vvho copied Stradivari. 
 
 MONTALDI, GREGORIO, Cremona. About 1730. This
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. IQI 
 
 maker is said to have used the same model as the 
 preceding, to have lived in the same place at the same 
 time, and he has the same Christian name. On the 
 whole, it may be reasonably supposed that there has 
 been some error in reading his surname. But a conclusion 
 of that kind, for the reasons already stated, should only 
 be of a tentative character. We have Smith, Smyth, 
 and Smythe ; Brown, Broun, and Browne. These 
 might all be called John, they might all be anywhere in 
 this country at the same time, and any two of each 
 group might be drapers or grocers. 
 
 MONTANI, GREGORIO, Cremona, i8th century. This 
 name may also be another " variant " of " Montade "- 
 but then again, as Uncle Remus would say, it mightn't. 
 In the meantime, they are merely names. 
 
 MONTICHIARO, ZANETTO, Brescia, 1533. A lute and 
 viol maker. 
 
 MONTRON, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 MONTURRI, GUISEPPE, Piumazzo. About 1840. 
 Violins. 
 
 MONZINO, ANTONIO, Milan, igth century. Violins 
 and violas. 
 
 MORELLO, MORGLATO, Mantua, 1540. Lutes and 
 viols. 
 
 MORELLA-ODANI. GUISEPPE, Naples, 1738. Made 
 good violins, having a very dark-coloured varnish. 
 
 MORETTI, ANTONIO, Milan. About 1/30. Chiefly 
 mandolines. 
 
 MORI-COSTA, FELICE, Parma. About 1812. Violins. 
 
 MORONA, ANTONIO, Isola. About 1731. 
 
 MORRISON, J., London, 1780 1823.
 
 IQ2 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 MOUDOIT. A maker of viols in the i6th century. 
 He is said to have reduced the number of the strings. 
 
 MUCCHI, ANTONIO (called Bastia), Modena, 1800. 
 Died 1883. He was a magnificent restorer of old 
 violins. He was a pupil of a Modenese maker named 
 Soliani, and his instruments have something of the style 
 of Guadagnini. Varnish golden amber. 
 
 MURDOCH, A., Aberdeen. Modern. 
 
 MUSAN, DOMENICO, Venice, 1756. A maker of double 
 basses. 
 
 MUZZARELLI, OSPITALETTO, 1880. Violins. 
 
 NADERMANN, JEAN HENRI, Paris, 1774. Dean of the 
 Paris Violin Makers' Guild for this year. He was not a 
 violin maker, but one of a family of harp makers. 
 
 NADOTTI, GUISEPPE, Piacenza. About 1767. 
 Violins. 
 
 NALDI, ANTONIO, Florence. About 1550. He was a 
 musician, and is said to have invented the theorbo. 
 
 NAMY, Paris, 1772 1806. A famous repairer regard- 
 ing whose talent in this direction the Abbe Sibire went 
 into raptures, stating that he could tell at a glance when- 
 ever he saw a violin repaired by Namy, just as he could 
 tell at a glance whenever he saw a Cremona violin. 
 This is a specimen of connoisseurship " unconditioned" 
 as philosophers would say, and now-a-days is charac- 
 teristic only of those whose self-confidence has 
 surmounted the level of their experience. Had the Abbe 
 just qualified his statement with " sometimes," " often," 
 " very frequently," or even " nearly always," one would 
 have had less inclination to discount his enthusiasm. 
 
 NAYLOR, ISAAC, Leeds, 1778 92.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. IQ3 
 
 NELLA, RAFFAELLO, Brescia. About 1740. A fine 
 maker who practised the art of decorating his instru- 
 ments with inlay after the manner of Maggini and the 
 earlier Brescian school. On the backs and round the 
 sides of his instruments he used the legend, " Viva fui in 
 sylvis : sum dura occisa securi : dum vixi, tacqui, 
 mortua, dulce cano." Duiffoprugcar had used it before 
 him. 
 
 NEUNER, LUIGI, Berlin, igth century. 
 
 NEUNER, MATHIAS, Mittenwald. About 1817. 
 
 Like Hornstaner, the name of Neunev occurs frequently 
 in Bavarian work and the members of the two families 
 have been in one firm. 
 
 NEWSIEDLER, GIOVANNI, Nuremberg. Died 1563. 
 Lutes and viols. 
 
 NEWTON, ISAAC, London, 1775 1825. 
 
 NEZOT, Paris. About 1735. There is a six stringed 
 viol by this maker in the museum of the Paris 
 Conservatoire. 
 
 NIGETTI, FRANCESCO, Florence. About 1645. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 NIGGEL, SIMPERTIUS, Fiissen, 1672 1755. He made 
 violins on the Stainer model, and employed a dark 
 coloured varnish. Instruments of a flat model are also- 
 noted as having been seen with N. S. branded inside. 
 
 NORBORN, JOHN, London. About 1723. 
 
 NORRIS, JOHN. Born 1739. Died 1818. Trained in 
 the Wamsley school, having been a pupil of Thomas 
 Smith. The firm became Norris and Barnes. 
 
 NOVELLO, MARGANTONIO, Venice. iSth century. 
 
 NOVELLO, VALENTINO, Venice. iSth century,
 
 IQ4 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 NOVERCI, COSIMO, Florence. About 1662. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 NOVERSI, COSIMO, Florence. lyth century. Looks 
 very like the same name as preceding written down 
 from a foreign pronunciation. 
 
 OBBO, MARCO, Naples. About 1712. A dealer some- 
 what after the style of Dodd and others, who had the 
 instruments made for him and placed his own manu- 
 script tickets inside. Ordinary work. 
 
 OBICI, BARTOLOMEO, Verona. About 1684. 
 
 OBICI, PROSPERO, Marano. igth century. A repairer. 
 
 ODOARDI, GUISEPPE, Ascoli. Died 1695. He was 
 only twenty-eight years old when he died. He was a 
 young man of considerable genius, and is said to have 
 made upwards of two hundred instruments of exceed- 
 ingly great merit, into which subsequent dealers have 
 put Cremonese and Brescian tickets. A writer named 
 Galeazzi says that he rivalled the finer Cremonese makers. 
 
 OHBERG, JOHANN, Stockholm. About 1773. A good 
 maker. Chiefly yellow varnish. 
 
 OLIVERI, FELICE, Turin, 1883. Violins. 
 
 OLIVOLA, FRANCESCO DE, Rome (Sarzana), 1667. 
 Violins. 
 
 ONGARO, IGNAZIO, Venice, 1783. Violins. 
 
 ORLANDELLI, PAOLO, Codogna. i7th century. A 
 dealer of the same type as Obbo, 
 
 ORZERO, TOMMASSO, Turin, igth century. Violins. 
 
 OSTLER, ANDREW, Breslau. About 1730. A viol 
 maker. Yellow orange varnish. Common work. 
 
 OTT, JOHANN, Nuremberg. About 1463. A lute 
 maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 195 
 
 OTTO, JACOB, AUGUSTUS. Born at Gotha, 1762. 
 Died in 1830. He was a pupil of Ernst, and wrote the 
 work which is popularly known in this country under 
 the title of " Otto on the Violin." It is, to this day, very 
 useful. I have never seen any of his own work, nor that 
 of his numerous sons, who were settled in various parts 
 of the continent. George August, in Jena. Christian, 
 in Halle. Heinrich, in Berlin. Carl, in Mecklenburg. 
 C. U. V., in Stockholm. Ludwig, son of George 
 August, in Cologne. Louis, son of Carl, in Diisseldorf. 
 Hermann, son of Ludwig, in St. Petersburg. Thus five 
 sons and three grandsons all went into the fiddle 
 business, and judiciously chose to settle in different 
 towns. Some of them are now dead. 
 
 OUMIR, KHOSRO, Punjab, India. About the end of 
 1 5th century. 
 
 OUVRARD, JEAN, Paris, 1743. Dean for this year of 
 Violin Makers' Guild. Style of Pierray. 
 
 PACHERELE, MICHEL, Paris. About 1779- An 
 ordinary maker, orange varnish, style of Louis Guersan. 
 Name branded at the top of back. 
 
 PACHERELE, PIERRE. Born at Mirecourt 1803. 
 Died at Nice 1871. He was first at Nice in 1830. 
 He also worked at Genoa and Turin. At the latter 
 place with Pressenda. In 1839, he returned to 
 Nice and settled there. He was a good maker, 
 and a fine repairer, but employed a thick-looking 
 style of varnish. 
 
 PACQUET, Marseilles. About 1785. He was born in 
 Aix, and was, besides a violin maker, an inventor of a 
 
 harp guitar. 
 02
 
 196 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 PADEWET, J., Carlsruhe, 1855. Violins, guitars, etc. 
 
 PADEWET, CARLO, Munich, 1855. Violins, Stradivari 
 pattern. 
 
 PAGANI, J. B., Cremona, 1747. A fairly good maker. 
 
 PAGANI, PIETRO, San Martino, 1836. 
 
 PAGANINI, LUIGI, Faenza, igth century. 
 
 PAGANONI, ANTONIO, Venice, 1712 50. 
 
 PALATE, LIEGE, i8th century. A fair maker who 
 copied the Italian style. 
 
 PALLOTTA, PIETRO, Perugia, 1821. Violins. 
 
 PALMA, P., Lucca, i8th century. 
 
 PALTRINIERI, GIOVANNI. An Italian maker of 'cellos, 
 about the year 1840. 
 
 PAMPHILON,' EDWARD, London, i7th century. Very 
 high model, but magnificent varnish. 
 
 PANDOLFI, ANTONIO, Venice. About 1719. 
 
 PANSANI, ANTONIO, ROME, 1735. 
 
 PANZA, ANTONIO, Finale-Emilia, 1873. Violins. 
 
 PAQUOTTE FRERES, Paris. A firm of violin makers 
 founded in 1830. 
 
 PARDI, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 PARDINI, BASTIANO, Florence. 
 
 PARLT, MICHAEL ANDREW, Vienna. About 1764. 
 A viol maker. 
 
 PARTH, A. N., I Vienna, i8th century. 
 
 PASCIUTI, FERDINANDO, Bologna, 1882. A maker and 
 repairer. 
 
 PASENALI, GIACOMO. An Italian maker of mandolines 
 chiefly, i8th century. 
 
 PASTA, Venice. About 1661. 
 
 PASTA, DOMENICO, Brescia. About 1718.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 197 
 
 PASTA, GAETANO, Brescia, 1700 1730. High model. 
 Good instruments, and nice looking varnish. 
 
 PATZELT, J. F., Vienna. Modern. 
 
 PAZZINI, GIOVANNI, GAETANO, Florence, 1640 60. 
 This maker, in one of his tickets, calls himself a pupil of 
 Maggini. 
 
 PEARCE, G., London, 1834 5^- 
 
 PEARCE, J., London, i8th century. 
 
 PEARCE, J. and T., London. About 1780. 
 
 PECCENINI, ALESSANDRO, Bologna. About 1595. A 
 lute maker. 
 
 PEDRAZZI, FRA PIETRO, Bologna. About 1784. 
 Another maker among the ranks of the Dominican 
 fraternity. 
 
 PEDRINELLI, ANTONIO, Crespano. Born 1781. Died 
 1854. This maker was originally a carpenter and 
 undertaker. He was almost wholly deaf, and took to 
 copying violins of the fine makers, such as Maggini, 
 Stradivarius, and Guarnerius. He was successful in 
 selling them in Russia. He made the backs of very old 
 beech from fragments of oars, the remains of the old oars 
 used in the Venetian galleys. These, it is said, he 
 procured, by means of some patron's influence, from the 
 Venetian arsenal. To some firms he sold his instru- 
 ments in the white, and he made all sorts, violins, tenors, 
 'cellos, and double basses. In 1854, ne exhibited some 
 specimens of his work at the Industrial Exhibition in 
 Venice, and had a medal awarded to him, but he was 
 then dying, and never knew of his success. 
 
 PELIGNINO, ZANETTO, Brescia, 1547 50. An old 
 viol maker.
 
 198 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 PEMBERTON, EDWARD, London. About 1660. 
 
 PERON, Paris, 1755 88. A court maker, namely, to 
 the Duchess of Orleans. He appears to have made 
 few violins, and to have been chiefly engaged in 
 fabricating other kinds of string instruments, such as 
 zithers, etc. 
 
 PETRONI, ANTONIO, Rome, igth century. 
 
 PETZ, Fiissen. About 1770. 
 
 PEZARD, Brescia, 1560 80. A follower of Maggini. 
 
 PFUB, Hamburg. Modern. 
 
 PFRETYSCHNER, Neukircken. Common work. 
 
 PFRETZSCHNER, J. G., Cremona. 1750 94. Common 
 work. 
 
 PIANASSI, DOMENICO, Ginglia, 1770 80. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 PIANE, DELLE, Genoa, 1800. Violins. 
 
 PICCAITI, IPPOLITO, Persiceto, 1850 56. Violins and 
 double basses. 
 
 PICCINETTI, GIOVANNI, 1677. An Italian viol maker. 
 
 PICHOL, Paris. 
 
 PICINO, Padua, 1712. 
 
 PICTE, NATALE, Paris, 1760 1810. Violins and 
 double basses. 
 
 PIERI, Costantino, 1865. An Italian repairer. 
 
 PIERRET, Paris, 1 6th and I7th centuries. 
 
 PIERROT, Lyons. 
 
 PIETE, N., Paris, 1760 80. 
 
 PIETRI, PIETRO, Venice, 1690. 
 
 PIETRO, ALBERTO, Rome. About 1581. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 PILLEMENTI, F., Paris. About 1760. His name is
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 199 
 
 branded on the inside. Not particularly good work. 
 He made tenors and 'cellos also. 
 
 PILOSIO, FRANCESCO, Gorizia. i8th century. About 
 1748. 
 
 PINGRIER, Paris, 1882. A maker and repairer. 
 
 PINI, BARTOLOMEO, Florence. About 1664. A maker 
 and dealer. 
 
 PINI, LUIGI, Florence, igth century. A repairer. 
 
 PIROT, CLAUDE, Paris, 180313. A maker who 
 employed a thick brown varnish having a red tint. His 
 instruments are fairly good. Arching somewhat high, 
 but otherwise well designed. 
 
 PITET, Paris. About 1675. A maker of the decora- 
 tive sort who inscribed on the sides of the instruments 
 his name, etc. 
 
 PIVA, GIOVANNI, Modena. igth century. Violins, 
 violas, 'cellos, and basses. 
 
 PIVA, GIOVANNI, Piacenza. About 1883. Possibly 
 the same maker as the preceding. 
 
 PIZZORNO, DAVIDE, Genoa, 1770. Violins and basses. 
 
 PLACH, FRANCESCO, Schcenbach, 1781. Violins. 
 
 PLACHT, Vienna. About 1873. Instruments of a 
 trade character. 
 
 PLANI, AGOSTINO DE, Genoa. About 1778. Ordinary 
 kind of instrument. 
 
 PLATNER, MICHELE, Rome. About 1747. A maker 
 whose instruments resemble those of Tecchler. 
 
 PLUMEREL, Paris. About 1740. A maker of basses. 
 Not particularly good work. Orange varnish. 
 
 POGGI, FRANCESCO, Florence, 1634. Various kinds of 
 instruments.
 
 2OO THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 POLI, GIOVANNI, Milan, 1850 82. Violins. Tenors 
 and 'cellos. 
 
 POLIS, LUCA DE, Cremona, 1751. Instruments in the 
 style of Andreas Amati. 
 
 POLLASTRI, ANTONIO, Modena, 1765. A viol maker. 
 
 POLLASTRI, GUISEPPE, Modena, 1783. Viols and 
 guitars. 
 
 POLLASHA (or Pollusca), ANTONIO, Rome, 1751. 
 Violins and 'cellos. 
 
 PONS, CESARE, Grenoble, 1750 60. An old hurdy- 
 gurdy maker. 
 
 PONS, Paris, 1827 51. Chiefly a guitar maker. 
 
 PONTIGGIO, V., Como, 1853. Violins, tenors, and 
 basses. 
 
 POPELLA. An Italian 'cello maker of the i7th 
 century. 
 
 PORLON, PETER, Antwerp, 1647. There is in existence 
 a bass by this maker, bearing above date. 
 
 POSCH, ANTHONY, Vienna. About 1753. Violins, 
 etc. Highly arched, common fiddles, with very dark 
 varnish. 
 
 POSSEN, LAUX, Schevengau. About 1564. A maker 
 of lutes and viols. 
 
 POSTACCHINI, ANDREA, Fermo. About 1824. Violin 
 of a somewhat ordinary character, of flat arching, and 
 reddish-brown varnish. 
 
 POSTIGLIONE, VINCENZO, Naples, 1881. Violins, etc. 
 
 POWELL, R., London, 1785. 
 
 POWELL, THOMAS, London, 1793. 
 
 POZZINI, GAETANO, Brescia, 1671 90. Instruments 
 in the style of Maggini.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 2OI 
 
 POZZINI, GASPARO, Brescia, 1691 99. A maker of 
 the same school. 
 
 PREDIGER, Anspach, 1694 9^ Violins and tenors. 
 
 PRESTON, JOHN, York. About 1791. 
 
 PRESSENDA, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO, Turin. This 
 maker was one of the finest of the post-classical period. 
 He was born on the 6th January, 1777, in Lequio- 
 Berria, a small village in the neighbourhood of Alba in 
 Piedmont. His father was a local violinist of some skill. 
 Young Pressenda as a child, played the violin, and 
 frequently astonished those who heard him. He 
 apparently, however, liked the idea of making violins 
 better than playing them, for when he was barely ten 
 years old, he determined to learn the art of constructing 
 them in the famous city of Cremona. It was rather a 
 long tramp for a lad of his years, but he took his fiddle 
 with him and played for a living from place to place, 
 until he entered within the renowned walls. At this 
 time, all the the great ones he had heard of had passed 
 over to the majority except the last and least, Storioni. 
 He got employment with him, and so pleased that fag 
 end of the Cremonese school that the boy at the 
 termination of his engagement returned home with two 
 fine violin moulds which his master gave him as a mark' 
 ,of his satisfaction. He played his way back, as he had 
 forward, and remained at home until he was thirty-seven 
 years old. In 1814 he went to Alba, and began fiddle 
 making there without great results. In 1817 he went to 
 Carmagnola, and was not more successful. At last he 
 thought of Turin, and went there in 1820. He was now 
 forty-three, but he triumphed. Four years later, the
 
 2O2 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 great violinist, Polledro, settled in Turin, and recognised 
 the excellence of Pressenda's work. This recognition, 
 not being a mere advertisement, was the making of him, 
 and from that time his instruments have surely though 
 slowly risen in the estimation of fiddle-fanciers, and 
 now deservedly occupy a high place in the esteem of 
 really good judges. He died in Turin on the 4th 
 December, 1854. 
 
 The style of his work is large and massive, and 
 possesses a vigour not unlike that which charactises 
 much of Lupot's later and best efforts. In Pressenda's 
 later specimens, the figure of his backs is often of an 
 unusually bold marking, whether the backs are two 
 pieced or whole. This trait is indeed so prominent that 
 many people imagine he never used any other kind of 
 wood, quite a mistake, of course. His arch is broad, 
 long, and flat, can hardly, indeed, be called an arch, but 
 his sides are fine and full. His varnish is a good 
 quality of spirit colour from darkish mahogany to a 
 light amber brown. The tone of his violins is generally 
 very . fine, having much of the clear and firm timbre 
 which distinguishes many of Lupot's best efforts. 
 
 PREVOT, Paris. About 1788. 
 
 PUPPATI, FRANCESCO, Udine, 1883. 
 
 PUPUNAT, M., Lausanne, 1855. Violins and bows. 
 Another member of a religious confraternity who has 
 devoted- himself to fiddle making for some reason. 
 
 PYNE, GEORGE, London. Contemporary. A clever 
 maker who has done some good work. 
 
 QUERCI, VINCENZO, Florence, 1634. A maker of and 
 dealer in violins and various musical instruments.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 203. 
 
 QUINOT, JACQUES, Paris. About 1670. There is in 
 existence a pochette by this maker, and it is of a 
 decorative character. Orange varnish. His name is 
 branded on the back of it. 
 
 RACCERIS, Mantua. About 1670. 
 
 RAILICH, GIOVANNI, Padua. 
 
 RAMBAUX, CLAUDE VICTOR. Born at Darney in 1806, 
 his parents removed to Mirecourt, where, like .so many 
 fine makers before and after him, he was taught his art. 
 He was fourteen years old when he was apprenticed to 
 Moitessier, and afterwards worked for him as journeyman. 
 In 1824 he went to Thibout, at Caen, and in 1827 to 
 Gand pere in Paris. By this time he had attained 
 unrivalled fame as a restorer and repairer. He was 
 eleven years with Gand, and then began for himsel 
 opposite the Conservatoire. He retired to Mirecourt in 
 1857, where he still employed himself at his favourite 
 pursuit until he died in 1871. 
 
 RAMFTLER, FRANCESCO, Munich, 1882. Modern. 
 
 RANTA, PIETRO, Brescia, 1733. 
 
 RAOUL, J. M., Paris, igth century. 
 
 RAPHAEL, Brescia. About 1840. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 RASTELLI, Genoa, igth century. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 RASURA, VINCENZO, Lugo. About 1785. 
 
 RAU, J. F., Nuremberg. Modern. 
 
 RAUCH, HANS VON SCHRATT. An old German viol 
 maker. 
 
 RAUCH, JOHANN, Breslau, i6th and i7th centuries. 
 
 RAUCH, JACOB, Manheim. About 1747. High modeL
 
 204 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 RAUCH, Wurzburg. This maker was a brother of 
 the preceding, and made instruments of similar type. 
 
 RAUCH, SEBASTIEN, Lietmente, Bohemia, 1742 1763. 
 Work somewhat coarse. Model, the highly built style. 
 
 RAUT, GIOVANNI, Rennes, 1790. Violins after the 
 style of Guarnerius del Jesu. 
 
 RAUTMANN, Brunswick. Modern. 
 
 RAVENNA, G. B., Lavagna, igth century. Violins, 
 violas, and basses. 
 
 RAVILIO, G. B., Ferrara, i5th century. A maker of 
 various string instruments. 
 
 RAENZO, C., Barcelona, i7th century. 
 
 RAZZOLI, FELICE, Villa Minozzo, igth century. A 
 repairer. 
 
 REALI, COSIMO, Parma, 1667. A maker of pochettes. 
 
 RECHARDINI, GIOVANNI, Venice, 1605. Violins, 
 violas, basses. 
 
 REGGIANI, FRANCESCO, San Martino. About 1836. 
 A maker of violins and guitars. 
 
 REICHEL, JOHANN GOTTFRIED, Absam. About the end 
 of the 1 7th century. He was a pupil of Stainer, accord- 
 ing to his own account, but the arching of his instru- 
 ments is, like that of a great many imitators of this 
 master, absurdly high. 
 
 REICHEL, JOHANN CONRAD. About 1779. A kind of 
 trade maker in Neukirchen. 
 
 REICHERS, AUGUST, Berlin. Contemporary. A pupil 
 of Bausch of Leipsic, it is said. He is chiefly a repairer 
 of considerable reputation from a German point of view. 
 
 REINA, GIACOMO. About 1708. An Italian maker of 
 "cellos.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 205 
 
 REMI, or REMY, Cremona, i8th century. It has been 
 said there was a maker of this name in Cremona, who 
 made ordinary violins so far as concerns quality. He 
 branded his name on them, and carved heads of 
 monsters, etc., on the scrolls. Dark coloured varnish. 
 I have not seen any. Another maker of this name was 
 in London about fifty years ago, who doctored the wood 
 of his instruments. He came from Paris. In Paris 
 there were established 
 
 REMY, NICOLAS, Paris. About 1760. He made 
 violins, violas, and basses after the style of the earlier 
 French makers, such as Louis Guersan. 
 
 REMY, JEAN, MATHURIN, Paris. Born 1770. Died 
 1854. Son of preceding. Somewhat of the same kind 
 of work. 
 
 REMY, JULES, Paris. Born 1813. This maker was 
 in business until recently, and was a son of Jean 
 Mathurin Remy. 
 
 RENAUDIN, LEOPOLD, 1788 95. A maker of double 
 basses which are sought after in France. He made 
 himself busy in the excesses of the French Revolution, 
 and was one of those political splutterers who, 
 untrained in the art of agitation, blunder into 
 murder, and then whimper when they are them- 
 selves condemned to death. That is the most charit- 
 able view of his character, but if history is accurate 
 in its details, he was one of those sanguinary creatures 
 whose birth in the ranks of the human specie 
 appears to be quite inexplicable. He was beheaded 
 in 1795. 
 
 RENAUDIN, Ghent, 1781. A repairer.
 
 206 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 RENAULT, NICOLAS, Nancy. About the end of the 
 1 6th century. Said to have been a pupil of Twersus. 
 
 RENAULT, JACQUES, Paris. First half of lyth century. 
 
 RENAULT, S. B., Paris. There is a curious instrument, 
 a kind of lyre, by this maker in the Paris Conservatoire, 
 but nothing more is known of him. 
 
 RENAULT and CHATELAIN, Paris, i8th century. This 
 firm state in their tickets that they " make, sell, hire, 
 buy, and repair all kinds of musical instruments." 
 
 REYNAUD, ANDREAS, Tarascon. About 1766. 
 
 REQUENO, Y., VIVEZ VINCENZO, Calatrato. About 
 1743. Violin repairers. 
 
 RICEVATI, AURELIO, Florence. About 1650. 
 
 RICHARD, ROBERT, Paris, 1756. Dean of the Paris 
 Violin Makers' Guild for this year. 
 
 RICOLAZI, LUDOVICO, Cremona. About 1729. 
 
 RICOZALI, LUDOVICO, Cremona. About 1729. 
 
 These makers, one might almost be certain, are one 
 and the same. They made violins. 
 
 RIESS, Bamberg, 1740 60. A very good imitator of 
 Stainer. The name is sometimes spelt " Ries." 
 
 RIGHI, ANTONIO, Modena, 1817. A maker of double 
 basses. He was a painter also. His fiddle work is not 
 of a high character. 
 
 RINALDI, CELESTE, Modena, igth century. Violins, 
 violas, and basses. 
 
 RINALDI, GIOFFREDO, Turin. Contemporary. Chiefly 
 a dealer. 
 
 RISUENO.TOMMASO, Madrid. About 1783. Got their 
 new instruments made, probably, in Mirecourt. 
 
 RITTIG, CRISTOFORO, Genoa, 1692. A maker of 'cellos.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 2OJ 
 
 RIVOLTA, GIACOPO, Milan, 1800 22. A fairly good 
 maker, who was one of that class of egotists who keep 
 us in a constant condition of pleasant excitement by 
 threatening to revive the 'glorious epoch of Stradivari, 
 either by rediscovering the varnish or reproducing the 
 magnificent tone. Rivolta's work is not very refined, 
 but his tone is good. 
 
 RIZZOTTI, NICOLA, Novellara, igth century. Violins, 
 violas, and 'cellos. 
 
 ROCCA, JOSEPH ANTONIO. About 1840 1865. 
 Violins, violas, and basses. He was a pupil of Pressenda, 
 and a maker of undoubted ability. 
 
 ROCCA, ENRICO, Genoa, igth century. Chiefly 
 mandolines. 
 
 RODIANI, GIOVITA, Brescia, i6th century. This is the 
 maker whose name is usually given as " Javietta 
 Budiani." The error has probably arisen through 
 partial illegibility in the ticket of some rare specimen of 
 his work. His work is in the style of Gaspare da Salo 
 and Maggini, having golden amber-coloured varnish, 
 finely tinted with red. His tickets are 
 
 " GIOUITA RODIANI in Brescia.'" 
 
 RODDLI, LUIGI, Nancy, 1511. An early viol maker, 
 who was patronised by the then Duke of Lorraine. 
 
 ROISMANN, JOHANN, Breslau, 1630 80. A fancy 
 fiddle maker. Porcelain fiddles, and such like. 
 
 ROL, Paris, 1753. A violin maker. 
 
 ROLINI, GIAMBATTISTA, Pesaro, 1471. A very ancient 
 maker, it is said, of violins ! 
 
 ROMANO, PIETRO, Pavia, i8th century. 
 
 ROMANINI, ANTONIO, Cremona, i8th century.
 
 208 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 ROMARIM, ANTONIO, Cremona, i8th century. 
 
 These two appear to be one and the same. A ticket 
 of the latter runs, " Antonio Romarini fecit Cremonae 
 anno 17 ." 
 
 RONCHINI, RAFFAELLO, Fano, igth century. A maker 
 of violins and bows. 
 
 ROOK, JOSEPH, Carlisle. About 1777. 
 
 ROPIQUET, Paris. About 1815. This maker was a 
 player in the opera band, and made several violins. 
 An amateur, in fact. 
 
 ROSIERO, Rocco, Cremona. About 1700. Violins, 
 violas, and 'cellos. 
 
 ROSMANN, JOHANN, Breslau. 1 7th century. 
 
 Ross, JOHN, London, 1562 1598. A viol maker. 
 
 Ross, JOHN, London. About 1596. A son of pre- 
 ceding. Also a viol maker. The name is occasionally 
 spelt Rosse. 
 
 ROSSELLI, GIAMBATTISTA, Sassuolo. i8th century. 
 Violins and violas. 
 
 Rossi, ENRICO, Pavia, 1883. Violins. 
 
 Rossi, FERDINANDO, Modena. igth century. A 
 repairer. 
 
 Rossi, GAETANO, Milan, igth century. A maker of 
 double basses. 
 
 Rossi, GIOVANNI, Perugia, 1820. Violins. 
 
 ROTA, GIOVANNI. Cremona, 1705. Violins, violas and 
 basses. 
 
 ROTH, JOHANN, Darmstadt. About 1675. A German 
 maker. 
 
 ROTH, CHRISTIAN, Augsburg. About 1675. 
 
 ROTTA, CARLO. Lecco. An Italian maker violins.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 2O9 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, ALBERT, Brussels. Died 1764. 
 Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, FRANCESCO, Brussels. About 1771. 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, G. G., Brussels. Born 1672. Died 1756. 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, G. A., Brussels, 1758 73. 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, G. A., Brussels. Born 1705. Died 
 1783. Son of G. G. 
 
 ROTTEMBOURG, G. A. G., Brussels. Born 1642. 
 Died 1720. 
 
 ROTTEMBROUCK, Brussels, 1700 25. 
 
 Several of the members of the Rottembourg family 
 seem to have copied the Amati model. Some of 
 instruments have a warm brown varnish. 
 
 ROVELLI. An Italian maker about 1744. 
 
 ROVETTO, Bergamo, 1840 70. 
 
 ROZE, Orleans. About 1757. A fairly good maker. 
 Yellowish varnish. Wide sound holes and solid looking 
 scroll. 
 
 ROZET, Paris. About 1691. A court maker of the 
 period. 
 
 RUB, AUGUSTO DA, Viterbo, 1771. Violins. 
 
 RUBATI, Milan. About 1700. A maker of porcelain 
 fiddles. 
 
 RUBINI, Bologna, igth century. Chiefly guitars. 
 
 RUBRECHT, Vienna, igth century. A repairer. 
 
 RUDET, P., Warsaw, igth century. Violins, violas. 
 
 RUELLE, PIERRE, Paris. Dean of the Paris Violin. 
 Makers' Guild for this year. 
 
 RUF, HALL, 1780 1877. A maker chiefly interesting 
 for the labour and care with which he collected informa- 
 tion regarding Jacob Stainer.
 
 210 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 RUFFINO. An Italian maker of pochettes or kits. 
 
 RUPPERT, ERFURT, i8th century. A maker of 
 violins, violas and 'cellos. He neither purfled his 
 instruments, nor put corner blocks in them. They are 
 all of flat model, and have a dark brown, amber varnish, 
 according to Otto. 
 
 SACCHNI, SABATINO, Pesaro, 1686. A violin maker 
 who copied Maggini, but was also familiar with the 
 Cremonese models of that time, and who succeeded in 
 combining the two styles by giving to the back some- 
 thing of the Amati arching while he retained elsewhere 
 many points of Maggini's habit. One of his known 
 specimens is of small size. 
 
 SACQUIN, Paris, 1830 60. A fine maker, who has 
 produced some excellent double basses, as well as good 
 violins and violas. 
 
 SAINPRA, JACQUES, Berlin, ijth century. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 SAINT-PAUL, PIERRE, Paris. About 1741. An 
 ordinary maker of violins, violas, and basses. Poor, 
 dull, yellow varnish. 
 
 SAINT-PAUL, ANTOINE, Paris. Dean of the Violin 
 Makers' Guild for the year 1768. He succeeded Louis 
 Guersan, and employed an orange varnish. 
 
 SAINT-CECILE DES THERMES, Paris. About 1855. A 
 maker of 'cellos. 
 
 SAJOT, Paris. About 1734. 
 
 SALZAR, Paris. A mere name. 
 
 SALLE, Paris, 1825 1850. A very fine repairer, and a 
 great authority on old instruments, even among Paris 
 dealers.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 211 
 
 SALOMON, JEAN BAPTISTE DESHAYES, Paris. Dean 
 of the Paris V.M. Guild in the year 1760. He made 
 some fine-looking basses. Tone not so fine. Hard 
 varnish. He died before 1772. 
 
 SALOMON, Rheims. About 1747. A maker of the 
 school or style of Louis Guersan. Yellow varnish, and 
 plenty of wood, but poor workmanship. 
 
 SALOMON, B., Paris, i6th and i7th century. Violins 
 and basses after the style of Boquay. 
 
 SALTINARI, GIACOMO, Marano, igth century. A 
 repairer. 
 
 SALVADORI, GUISEPPE, Pistoia, 1861. Violins. 
 
 SANONI, G. B., Verona. i8th century. 
 
 SANTAGIULIANA, GIACINTO, Vicenza. About 1770. 
 
 SANTE, PISARO, 1670. Violins, violas, and basses. 
 
 SANTE, GUISEPPE, Rome, 1775. Violins. 
 
 SANTI, GUISEPPE, Rome, 1778. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 SANTO, GIOVANNI, Naples, 1730. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 SANZO, SANTINO, Milan, i8th century. Violins. 
 
 SARACINI, DOMENICO, Florence, 1655. Violins, violas, 
 and basses. 
 
 SARDI, Venice, 1649. Violins and violas. 
 
 SASSI, ALESSIO. About 1784. An Italian 'cello 
 maker. 
 
 SAUNIER, Paris. A French provincial maker who 
 started in Paris about 1770. His violins are fairly well 
 appreciated in France, and he is said to have been the 
 instructor of F. L. Pique. 
 
 SAUNIER, Bordeaux. About 1754. 
 
 P2
 
 212 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 SAVANI, GUISEPPE, Carpi. About 1809. A maker of 
 double basses. 
 
 SAVITZKY, Vienna, i8th century. 
 
 SAWICKI, Vienna. About 1830. 
 
 SCARAMPELLA, GUISEPPE, Florence, igth century. 
 Born in Brescia in 1838. His father was a carpenter, 
 and also made violins, but after learning the elements of 
 his business in Brescia, Guiseppe went to Paris, where 
 at that time a countryman of his, Nicolo Bianchi, was 
 famous as a judge and repairer. Scarampella soon 
 made himself expert under Bianchi's guidance, and 
 returned to Italy, where in 1866 he started on his own 
 account in Florence. There he has been entrusted with 
 work of very considerable importance, not only from 
 private amateurs, but also from the Florentine Royal 
 Musical Institute, for whom he restored the famous 
 viola and violoncello made by Stradavari in 1690 for the 
 Grand Duke Ferdinand, son of Cosmo III., of Medici. 
 In 1884 he was appointed Conservator of their Museum 
 an office which, I believe, he still holds. 
 
 SCH.ENDL, ANTON, Mittenwald. About 1753. 
 
 SCHEINLEIN, JOSEPH MICHEL, Langenfeld. Born 
 
 SCHEINLEIN, MATHIAS FRIEDERICH, Langenfeld, 
 1710 71. This maker was also a musician. His instru- 
 ments are well made, but of a high model, and too thin 
 in the wood. Dark coloured varnish. The preceding. 
 Joseph Michel was his son. 
 
 SCHELL, SEBASTIAN, Nuremberg. About 1727. A 
 lute maker. One of his instruments is in the Conser- 
 vatoire Museum at Paris.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 213 
 
 SCHENFELDER (or ScHCENFELDER), JoHANN ADAM, 
 
 Neukirchen. About 1743. 
 
 SCHLICK, Leipsic. 
 
 SCHLEGET, ELIA, Altemburg, 1730. Violins and 
 other string instruments, such as harps and lutes. 
 
 SCHMIDT, Cassel, 1800 1825. Not a particularly 
 fine maker. Stradivari model. 
 
 SCHMIDT, CARLO, Coeten, i8th century. Invented a 
 keyed violin. 
 
 SCHMIDT, C. F., Vienna, 1873. Violins, violas and 
 basses. 
 
 SCHNCECK, Brussels, 1700 30. Violins, violas and 
 'cellos. Amati model. 
 
 SCHONGER, FRANZ, Erfurt, i8th century. His instru- 
 ments are of large size, and good looking, but of poor 
 tone. 
 
 SCHONGER, GEORG, Erfurt. He was a son of pre- 
 ceding maker, and a fine repairer, chiefly. 
 
 SCHORN, JOHANN, Inspruck. About 1680 99. Violins 
 and viols. His violins are tubby. Good varnish. Also 
 at Salzburg. 
 
 SCHORN, JOHANN PAUL, Salzburg, 1699 1716. Violins 
 and viols. He was patronized by the Court. 
 
 SCHLOSSER, HERMANN, Ehrlbach. Contemporary. 
 Violins, violas, basses. 
 
 SCHOTT, MARTIN, Prague, i8th century. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 SCHOTT, MAYENCE. About 1780. Various instru- 
 ments. Chiefly a dealer. 
 
 SCHROT, JACOB, Inspruck, 1838. A repairer. 
 
 SCHULZ, PETER, Ratisbon, 1855. Violins and guitars.
 
 214 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 SCHUSTER, MICHEL, Markneukirchen. About 1873. 
 
 SCHWARTZ, BERNARD, Strasbourg. Died 1822. 
 
 SCHWARTZ, GEORGE FREDERICK, Strasbourg. Born 
 1785. Died 1849. Son of preceding. 
 
 SCHWARTZ, THEOPHILE GUILLAUME, Strasbourg. Born 
 1787. Died 1861. Also a son of Bernard Schwarz, 
 who trained his two sons, and they succeeded to the 
 business under the style of " Freres Schwartz." George 
 Frederick made bows, his brother Theophile violins, etc. 
 The first violin of this firm is dated 1824, and down to 
 1852 they turned out 80 violins and 30 'cellos. In that 
 year succeeded to the business 
 
 SCHWARTZ, THEOPHILE GUILLAUME. Born 1821. Son 
 of the previous Theophile Guillaume. 
 
 SCHEWITZER, Pesth. About 1800. Violins and 
 violas. Good work, flat model. 
 
 SCOTTO, Verona, 1511. Viols and violins. He was 
 also a musician a lute player. 
 
 SECCO, DEL, Venice, igth century. Violins, violas 
 and basses. 
 
 SEGIZO, GIROLAMO MARIA, Modena. Died 1553. 
 Violins, violas, basses, viols and lutes. 
 
 SELLAS, MATTED, Venice. About 1639. Chiefly 
 mandolines and guitars. 
 
 SENI, FRANCESCO, Florence, 1634. Violins and violas. 
 
 SENTA, FABRIZIO, Turin, iSth century. Basses. 
 
 SERAFIN, GEORGIO, Venice. About 1747. Violins 
 violas and basses. Probably some relative of Sante 
 Serafin (Sanctus Seraphin) already mentioned. 
 
 SERESATI, D., Naples, i8th century. Violins, violas 
 and basses.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 215 
 
 SGARBI, GUISEPPE, Finale Emilie, 1841 75. Violins, 
 violas and basses. 
 
 SHAW, J., London, 1656 98. Viols and violins. 
 
 SICILIANO, ANTONIO, Venice, 1600. Varnish of a dark- 
 red, very thickly coated. The terminal squares in the 
 sound holes very small. The tops smaller than the 
 lower ones, the main stem having no notches. 
 
 SIGNORINI, SERAFINO, Florence, 1877. A repairer. 
 
 SIMON, Paris. About 1788. Violins and basses. 
 
 SIMON, Salzburg, 1731. Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 SIMONIN, CHARLES. Born at Mirecourt, he was sent 
 to Paris and apprenticed to J. B. Vuillaume, and gradu- 
 ated with him a high-class workman. He returned to 
 Mirecourt for a time, and moved to Geneva in 1841, and 
 eight years afterwards to Toulouse. He has gained 
 several medals. 
 
 SIMPSON, JOHN, London, 1785 90. A city maker at 
 the back of the Royal Exchange. 
 
 SIMPSON, J. and J., London. Later. 
 
 SIRJEAN, Paris, 1818. Violins, violas, and basses. 
 
 SIROTTI, NICOLA, Spilamberto, igth century. A 
 repairer. 
 
 SITT, A., Prague. Modern. 
 
 SLAGH-MEULEN, VANDER, Antwerp. About 1672. 
 An old maker of good traditions. Varnish dull brown. 
 Decorative sort of work. A curious specimen of his 
 'cellos was in the 1878 Paris exhibition. The head was 
 open at the back, and the volute terminated in a 
 carved head with a crown. One singular feature was 
 seen on the inside of back, namely, purfling and gilding. 
 
 SMITH, HENRY, London, 1629 33. A viol maker.
 
 2l6 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 SMITH, THOMAS, London, 1756 99. A pupil of 
 Peter Wamsley. Chiefly 'cellos. 
 
 SMITH, W., London, 1770 86. 
 
 SNEIDER, GUISEPPE, Pavia. About 1703. Violins, 
 violas and basses. Amati arching. 
 
 SNCECK, EGIDIUS, Brussels, 1731. Copied Amati. 
 
 SNCECK, HENRI AUGUSTE, Brussels, 1672. Same 
 kind of work as preceding. 
 
 SNUECK, MARK, Brussels, i8th century. A repairer. 
 
 SOCCHI, VINCENZO, Bologna, 1661. Pochettes. 
 There is one of this date in the Paris Conservatoire 
 Museum. 
 
 SOCOL, Pio, Genoa, igth century. Violins, violas, 
 'cellos. 
 
 SOCQUET, Paris, i6th century. A maker of very 
 common violins. 
 
 SOLIANI, ANGELO, Modena, 1752 1810. A fine maker, 
 whose instruments have an exquisite silvery tone and 
 considerable power. A golden, amber-coloured varnish. 
 
 SOMER, NICOLAS, Paris, 1749. Dean of the Maker's 
 Guild for this year. 
 
 SONCINI, LUIGI, San Martino, 1831. Violins. 
 
 SARSANA, SPIRITO, Cuneo, 1714 34. 
 
 SOUZA, Gio GUISEPPE DE, Lisbon. i7th century. 
 
 SOVERINI, Bologna, 1883. Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 STANGUELLINI, C., Modena, 1883. A repairer. 
 
 SPEILER. A Tyrolese maker. 
 
 STATELMANN, D., Vienna, 1730 50. Copied Stainer 
 excellently. Varnish yellowish. 
 
 STATELMANN, J. J., Vienna. About 1759. Also a 
 fine copier of Stainer.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 21J 
 
 STAUTINGER, M. W., Wurzburg, 1671. A viol 
 maker. 
 
 STAUBE, Berlin, 1775. A repairer. 
 
 STECHER, CARL, 1880. Violins and basses. 
 
 STEFFANINI, CARLO, Mantua. Chiefly mandolines. 
 1 8th century (1790). 
 
 STEININGER, FRANCOIS, Paris, 1827. A good maker 
 of 'cellos. 
 
 STEPHANNIS, Cremona, 1507. Violins, violas and 
 basses. 
 
 STERNINGRE, JACOB, Mayence, 1705. A repairer. 
 
 STIRRAT, Edinburgh. About 1815. 
 
 STATWOLF. A German maker of double basses. 
 
 STAUFFER, Vienna. i8th century. 
 
 STOFF, FRANCESCO, Fiissen, 1750 98. Violins, 
 violas and basses. 
 
 STOSS, F., Fiissen, 1750 98. These two names 
 Stoss and Stoff appear to represent the same person. 
 
 STOSS, Prague. i8th century. 
 
 STOSS, BERNARD and MARTIN, Vienna. End of last 
 and beginning of the present century. Good model. 
 Not the high tubby models of so many German makers. 
 The work is also good. 
 
 STRAUB, J.. Neustadt. About 1745. 
 
 STRAUSS, MICHELE, Venice, 1680. Pochettes. 
 
 STRAUT, MICHELE, Venice, 1686. Violins and violas. 
 
 STREGNER, MAGNO, Venice, i7th century. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 STROBL, JOHANN, Hallein, i8th century. 
 
 STRONG, JOHN, Somerset, i7th century. A viol 
 maker.
 
 2l8 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 STRUAD, GASPER, Prague. About 1789. Viol maker. 
 Also made 'cellos. 
 
 STURDZA, Vienna, 1873. Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 STURGE, H., Bristol and Huddersfield. 1811 53. 
 
 SULOT, NICOLAS, Dijon, 1829 39. A violin maker 
 who took out patents for original notions with regard to 
 violins and basses. One of these was for a second belly 
 in the interior of the violin and which was put in com- 
 munication with the upper belly for the purpose of 
 reinforcing the tone. This notion, propounded in 1839, 
 seems to be almost the same as that proposed by 
 Mollenhaver some fifty years later. Sulot called his 
 instrument a " violon a double echo." The patent 
 is dated 5th May, 1839, and, fifty years hence, it may 
 again be resuscitated, with a few additions or alterations 
 in detail, and with probably similar success. 
 
 SUOVER, GIOVANNI, Florence, 1637. A lute maker. 
 
 TACHINARDI, Cremona, 1689. A maker who copied 
 the Amati style. 
 
 TADOLINI, GUISEPPE, Modena, igth century. Origin- 
 ally of Bologna. Settled in Modena as a repairer of 
 old and a maker of new instruments and bows. 
 
 TANEGIA, CARLANTONIO, Milan, i8th century. A 
 ticket of his runs, " Carolus Antonius Tanegia fecit in 
 via Lata Mediolani anni 1730." 
 
 TANINGARDO, GEORGIO, Rome. About 1735. 
 
 TANTINO, SESTO, Modena, 1461 90. A maker to the 
 Court of Ferrara. 
 
 TARDIEU, TARASCON, i8th century. An old French 
 writer, Laborde, stated that the bearer of this name 
 invented the violoncello. He was an ecclesiastic, and
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 219 
 
 his brother was a chapel master, but as the 'cello was 
 known in Italy a hundred and fifty years before Father 
 Tardieu's day, this little romance has not had very 
 extended belief. He is still, however, in some quarters, 
 supposed to have been a maker of 'cellos, and I cannot 
 well exclude his name. 
 
 TARR, Manchester. About 1855. 
 
 TARTAGLIA, FRANCESCO, Stroppiana, 1883. Violins. 
 
 TASSINI, BARTOLOMEO, Venice, 1750 54. A some- 
 what common maker. His tickets run, " Opus 
 Bartholomaei Tassini Veneti." 
 
 TAYLOR, London, 1780 1820. Made very good 
 violins, but they are not very numerous. 
 
 TEODITTI, GIOVANNI, Rome, i7th century. Violins, 
 violas and basses. 
 
 TERAPATINI, Sant Agata Lugo, 1879. A maker of 
 'cellos. 
 
 TERMANINI, GUISEPPE, Modena, 1755. Violins. 
 
 TESLAR, GIOVANNI, Ancona, 1622. A viol maker. 
 
 TESTATOR, IL VECCHIO, Milan, i5th and i6th 
 centuries. This is the maker who, in the irresponsible 
 days of fiddle history, had assigned to him the credit of 
 inventing the violin. The notion is, at present, quite 
 discarded, nothing whatever being known regarding this 
 ancient. 
 
 THERESS, C., London. About 1850. 
 
 THIBOUVILLE-LAMY, London, Paris, and Mirecourt. 
 Contemporary. 
 
 THIERRIOT, PRUDENT, Paris, 1772. Dean of the 
 Paris Makers' Guild for this year. 
 
 THIN, M. and G., Vienna, i8th century.
 
 22O THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 THIPHANON, Paris. About 1780 88. Tickets 
 " Tiphanon, rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre, a Paris." 
 
 THIR, JOHANN GEORGE, Vienna. About 1791. 
 Chiefly mandolines. 
 
 THOMASSIN, Paris. From about 1825 1845. Previous 
 to 1825, he worked with Clement. He was a good 
 maker. 
 
 THOROWGOOD, H., London, i8th century. 
 
 THUMHARDT, Munich, i8th century. 
 
 THUMHARDT, Strasburg, i8th century. 
 
 TIELKE, JOACHIM, Hamburg, 1539 1686. In the 
 way of decorated instruments of the antique class, this 
 maker may, perhaps, be justifiably called a peerless 
 artist in his particular style. The business was carried 
 on for nearly a century and a half, and any one who has 
 seen the beautiful Kensington lute by this maker will 
 not fail to realise the great interest which his work 
 arouses in the bosoms of antiquaries and lovers of 
 artistic bric-a-brac. 
 
 TILLEY, T., London. About 1774. 
 
 TIRLER, CARLO, Bologna, i8th century. A decorative 
 maker, chiefly of guitars. His " ticket " sometimes took 
 the form of inlay, and would then run as follows, 
 " Carlo Tirler, Leutar in Bologna fece." 
 
 TIVOLI, AUGUSTO, Trieste, 1873 83. Violins. 
 
 TOLBECQUE, AUGUSTE. Born at Paris 1830. Son of 
 a clever Belgian musician, he became a 'cellist of 
 considerable distinction. He began to make instruments 
 under the guidance of Claude Victor Rambaux, whose 
 shop opposite the Conservatiore used to be frequented 
 by numbers of intelligent amateurs and professionals.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 221 
 
 Tolbecque had taken first prize at the Conservatoire 
 for 'cello playing, and one can realize how eminently 
 qualified he was in that direction, to begin with. After 
 he made some new instruments he turned his attention 
 to the reproduction of old ones, and became extremely 
 clever at it. His ticket, in manuscript, runs " Ate. 
 Tolbecque fils fecit, Parigi, anno." He also made 
 organs, and acquired considerable fame by reconstructing 
 perfectly WinkeFs Componium, referred to by Fetis. 
 This instrument had been purchased by an amateur of 
 some little mechanical skill, and in his efforts to repair 
 it he occupied himself for twenty-five years to no 
 purpose. At the end of that time he had pretty nearly 
 destroyed its identity, for there was hardly a single piece 
 that did not defy recognition. After his death the case 
 was bought by one, and the mechanism by another 
 organ builder. The latter sold the mechanism to 
 Tolbecque, who, in eighteen months, completely 
 restored the instrument which took its previous owner 
 a quarter of a century to almost ruin. It is now in the 
 collection at the Brussels Conservatoire. Tolbecque's 
 violin work is not often seen. 
 
 TOMASI, CARLO GASPARE, Modena, i7th century. A 
 viol maker chiefly. Fine varnish. 
 
 TOPPANI, ANGELO DE, Rome. About 1740. Highly 
 arched instruments with a golden yellow varnish. Style 
 of Tecchler. 
 
 TORELLI, Verona, 1625. Violas and 'cellos. 
 
 TORRANUS, Turin, 1700. Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 TORRESAN, ANTONIO, Crespano. Born 1802. Died 
 1872. Instruments of a common type.
 
 222 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 TORRING, London. 
 
 TORTOBELLO, Rome, 1680. Violins, violas and 
 basses. 
 
 TOULY, JEAN, Nancy. About 1747. 
 
 TRAPANI, RAFFAELE, Naples. Beginning of igth 
 century. Made instruments of a large size, and of 
 rather curious style, the top and bottom portions of the 
 sound holes not being cut through. Thick reddish 
 brown varnish. Model flat, and coarse purfling. 
 
 TREVILLOT, CLAUDE, Mirecourt. About 1698. An 
 old violin maker. 
 
 TRINELLI, GIOVANNI, Villalunga, i8th and igth 
 centuries. Viols and 'cellos. 
 
 TROIANI, FRANCESCO, Rome, igth century. Violins, 
 violas and basses. 
 
 TRUNCO, Cremona, 1660. 
 
 TRUSK, S. J. About 1734. 
 
 TURNER, WILLIAM, London. About 1650. A very 
 fine viol maker who had his place of business in Gravel 
 Lane, E.G. An instrument by this maker is described 
 as superb. It is in the collection of A. Gautier of Nice. 
 The ticket of this highly creditable representative of 
 English work runs as follows, " William Turner, at 
 ye hand and crown in gravelle lane neere aldgate, 
 London, 1650." There was another Turner who 
 stamped his name under the button of his violins 
 and who was of a much later date. His work is in no 
 way to be compared Avith that of William Turner of 
 "gravelle lane." 
 
 TYWERSUS, Mirecourt, i6th century. This was a 
 court maker in Lorraine, some of whose Princes are
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 223 
 
 said to have been his patrons. That tradition appears 
 to be all that remains of him. 
 
 UDENE, NATALE DA, Udine. Violins, violas, and 
 basses. 
 
 UGAR, CRESCENZIO, Rome, 1790. A viol maker. 
 
 UGAR, PIETRO, AREZZO. About 1802. A repairer. 
 
 ULRICH-FICHTLE, JOHANN, Mittenwald, i8th century. 
 Violins and basses. 
 
 UNGARINI, ANTONIO, Fabriano, 1762. A viol maker. 
 
 UNVERDORBEN, MARX, Venice, 1415. An old lute 
 maker. 
 
 VAILLOT. A French maker of i7th century. 
 
 VALENTINE, W., London. Died about 1877. An 
 excellent maker of double basses. 
 
 VALENZANO, Naples. A violin maker. 
 
 VALDASTRI, Modena. About 1805. Pochettes. 
 
 VALLER, Marseilles, 1683. 
 
 VANDELLI, GIOVANNI, Fiorano Modena. Born 1796. 
 Died 1839. Violins and basses. 
 
 VANDERLIST, Paris, i8th century. This maker was 
 apparently an excellent workman, judging by a copy of 
 the Guadagnini School which he made. He marked 
 his instruments under the button by branding his name, 
 and placing inside a ticket, " Vanderlist, Luthier, rue 
 des Vieux Augustins, pres de 1'egout de la rue Mont- 
 martre, Paris." 
 
 VANVAELBECK, Louis, Valbeke, 1294 1312. A maker 
 of rebecs and viols. This maker is within measurable 
 distance of being the oldest known. He is supposed to 
 have been the inventor of the mechanism for organ 
 pedals.
 
 224 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 VAROTTI, GIOVANNI, Bologna, 1813. Violins and 
 basses. 
 
 VAUCHEL, Damm. Modern. 
 
 VANTRIM. A French maker of double basses of the 
 igth century. 
 
 VECCHI, ORAZIO, Modena, igth century. A maker of 
 small-sized double basses. 
 
 VENERE, UNDELIO, Padua. About 1534. A lute 
 maker. 
 
 VENTURA, ANIBALE, Viadana, i8th century. Violins. 
 
 VENZI, ANDREA, Florence, 1636. Violins and basses. 
 
 VERBEECK, GISBERT, Amsterdam, 1671. Violins. 
 
 VERINI, SERAFINO, Arceto. Born 1799. Died 1868. 
 A sort of amateur maker of 'cellos and double basses, 
 not much above the common class of work. He 
 ultimately became a bee farmer. He was a bee fancier 
 all his life. 
 
 VERLE, FRANCESCO, Padua, i7th century. Violins. 
 
 VERMESCH, BEAUMONT SUR OISE. About 1781. 
 This maker was called, and called himself, le pere 
 Vermesch. He was an ecclesiastical amateur fiddle 
 maker, and not very skilled. 
 
 VERON, PIERRE ANDRE, Paris, i8th century. A maker 
 of the times of Boquay. 
 
 VERONESI, CAMILLO, Bologna, igth century. Violins. 
 
 VERREBRUGEN, THEODORE, Antwerp, 1641. A maker 
 of double basses. 
 
 VETTER, JOHANN CHRISTOPHER, Strasburg, 1744. A 
 maker of 'cellos and other basses. 
 
 VETTRINI, Brescia. 
 
 VIARD, NICOLAS, Versailles. About 1760.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 225 
 
 VIBRECHT, GISBERT, Amsterdam, 1700 10. This 
 may be the same maker as " Verbeeck." 
 
 VIGONI, A., Pavia, igth century. Violins. 
 
 VILLAUME and GIRON, Troyes. Beginning of i8th 
 century. Work fairly good. 
 
 ViMERCATf, PIETRO, Brescia. About 1660. 
 
 VIMERCATI, GASPARO, Milan. A maker of mandolines, 
 probably also violins. Ticket runs, " Gaspare Vimercati 
 nella contrada della Dogana di Milano." 
 
 VINACCIA, Naples, 1736 to igth century. A family of 
 four in succession. Antonio, Mariano, Pasqualino, and 
 a son of the latter. All chiefly lutes and guitars. 
 
 VINCENZI, LUIGI, Carpi. Born 1765. Died 1881. 
 Violins and double basses. Well made instruments. 
 Varnish of a light amber colour. Tickets " Aloysius 
 Vincenzi Carpensis." 
 
 VINZER, GREGORY FERDINAND, Augusta. About 1737. 
 Violins, violas and basses. 
 
 VIR, HIERONIMO DI, Brescia. 
 
 VIVOLI, GIOVANNI, Florence. About 1642. Violins. 
 
 VOBOAM, Paris, 1682 1693. A famous luthier but 
 chiefly decorative. In the museum of the Paris Conser- 
 vatoire, there is a beautiful guitar by him made of 
 tortoiseshell. 
 
 VOEL, E., Maintz. About 1840. A fine maker. 
 Good Stradivari model and varnish. 
 
 VOGEL, WOLFGANG, Nuremberg. Died 1650. 
 
 VOGLER, J. G., Wurtzburg, 1750. 
 
 VOLPE, MARCO, Spilamberto. Died 1839. He made 
 viols, violins and double basses. 
 
 VOIGT, MARTIN, Hamburg. About 1726. Viols and 
 Q
 
 226 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 lutes. Same beautiful class of work as that of the 
 Tielke firm. 
 
 WACHFER, ANTHONY, Fiissen. About 1772. Violins. 
 
 WAFELE, CONRAD, Mittenwald, 17th-century. 
 
 WAGNER, 'C. S., Medingen, 1786 1800. Violins, 
 violas, bass.es, etc. 
 
 WAGNER, BENEDICT, Estwangen. About 1769. .He 
 calls himself in his tickets a court maker. His instru- 
 ments are very highly arched and of common work. 
 
 WAGNER, J., Constance. About 1773. 
 
 WALDANER, Fiissen, i8th century. 
 
 WALKER, A., Aberdeenshire. Modern. 
 
 WALTHER, JEAN BAPTIST, The Hague, 1727. Violins. 
 
 WEAVER, S., London, i8th century. 
 
 WEBER, Prague-, i8th century. 
 
 WEIGERT, J. B., Linz. About 1721. A small viol 
 by this maker is in the collection of the Musical Society, 
 Vienna. 
 
 WEISS, JACOB, Salzburg. About 1733. 
 
 WEISZ, JACOB, Salzburg. About 1733 1777. 
 
 These two are evidently the same. A ticket with 
 above date, 1733, runs, "Jacob Weisz, lauthen und 
 Geigenmacher in Salzburgh." 
 
 WETTENGEL, G. A., Neukirchen. About 1828. He 
 is a maker who published a book about repairing and 
 making, but his own instruments are not much, if at all, 
 known. 
 
 WENGER, G. F., Salzburg, 1761. Violins. 
 
 WERNER, Frankfort, 1855. Chiefly a lute maker. 
 
 WEY, H., Besancon. igth century. An amateur 
 violin maker.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 227 
 
 WYEMANN, CORNELIUS, Amsterdam. lyth and i8th 
 century. 
 
 WIGHT-MAN, London, 1761. 
 
 WILDE, JOHN, St. Petersburg. i8th century. This 
 maker distinguished himself by making an iron 
 fiddle. 
 
 WILLE-MS, Antwerp, 1730 60. A violin maker who 
 followed- the Italian school. 
 
 WILLER, Prague. i8th century. 
 
 WOLDEMAR, MICHEL. Born in Orleans in 1750. 
 Died at Clermont-Ferrand 1816. He invented a violin 
 with five strings, or, at any rate, suggested the notion 
 which was never, probably, carried into practice. It 
 was the reverse of Jullien's five stringed fiddle, being 
 intended to have a C string (below G), instead of one 
 above E, as was Jullien's idea. Woldemar was a 
 violinist. 
 
 WOLTERS, J. N., Paris. About 1749. A decorative 
 viol maker. 
 
 WOOD, G. F., London. Contemporary. A decidedly 
 careful maker, who has caught, very felicitously, many 
 of the characteristics of the finer kinds of modern 
 French work. 
 
 WORNFE, GEORGE, Mittenwald, 1786. Violins. 
 WORNUM, London, 1794. 
 WRIGHT, DANIEL, London, 1743. 
 YOUNG, J., Aberdeen. Modern. 
 
 YOUNGE, JOHN, London. About 1728. This maker 
 
 was famous in his day. He had a son who was a 
 
 violinist, and both have been made, in a sense, immortal 
 
 by the English composer, Purcell, who has put them 
 
 Q2
 
 228 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 into one of his catches. It is quoted by Mr. Hart in 
 his valuable work on the violin. 
 
 ZABEL, GEOFFRY, Tausermunde, 1792 1803. 
 Violins, etc. 
 
 ZACH, Vienna. Contemporary. A very clever maker 
 and restorer. 
 
 ZANABON. An Italian maker. 
 
 ZANFI, GIACOMO, Modena. Born 1756 1822. A 
 maker of considerable merit. He made violins, tenors 
 and basses, and generally employed a clear yellow 
 varnish. He was one of those handy men who manage 
 to combine one or two separate professions. For 
 example Zanfi was a government servant, and he was a 
 music teacher. His instruments are in the style of 
 Casini another Modenese already mentioned and how 
 he succeeded in teaching music, making double basses, 
 'cellos, violas and violins, while, at the same time not 
 neglecting his official duties, it is hardly worth while 
 now to enquire. One ticket runs "Jacobus Zanfi, 
 musics professor fecit Mutinoe, 1809." 
 
 ZANI, FRANCESCO, Reggio-Emilio,i765. Violins. 
 ZANOLI, GIACOMO, Verona, 1730. Viols and 'cellos. 
 ZANOLI, GUISEPPE, Verona, 1730. Violas and 'cellos. 
 These two are probably the same. 
 ZANOLI, GIAMBATTISTA, Padua, 1740. 
 ZANOTTI, ANTONIO, Lodi and Mantua. About 1727. 
 ZANOTTI, GUISEPPE, Piacenza, i8th century. 
 ZANTI, ALESSANDRO, Mantua. About 1765 70. An 
 imitator of P. Guarnerius. 
 
 ZANURE, PIETRO, Brescia, 1509. A viol by this maker, 
 and exhibited in London in 1872, bore this date.
 
 CLASSICAL AND POST-CLASSICAL MAKERS. 229 
 
 ZEITTER, FR., Brunswick, 1835. This maker if he 
 was a maker combined pianos with violins. 
 
 ZENATTO, PIETRO, Treviso. About 1634. A ticket 
 bears this date. 
 
 ZINBELMANN, FiLiPPO, Florence, 1661. A viol maker. 
 
 ZOLFANELLI, GuiSEPPE, Florence, 1690 97. 
 
 ZWERGER, ANTHONY, Mittenwald, 1750 60. A 
 fairly good maker. Varnish of a cold, weak-looking 
 brown, but in other respects, nice violins of their type.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 lioliit 
 
 VIOLIN bow making has come to be such a delicate 
 kind of work that it is now quite a special 
 industry. Ever since the days of the Tourtes the 
 importance of a fine bow has been increasingly recog- 
 nized, until, in the present day the better Tourtes are 
 quite beyond the reach of ordinary players. The two 
 finest Tourtes in the world are now in America, and 
 cost, together, about a hundred and forty pounds. That 
 may seem a somewhat bold and startling statement to 
 make, but it is quite correct. One of these two bows I 
 have been acquainted with for a considerable time, 
 having frequently played with it, and I confess I 
 experienced a slight feeling of regret when it was sent 
 across the Atlantic. It was not that I grudged it to our 
 kinsmen, but I had become familiar with the lovely thing 
 in its exquisite furniture of Oriental pearls, sapphire, 
 and all the rest of it in the shape of jewellery. These 
 were merely tasteful bagatelles, having, of course, their 
 decorative value, but the stick was so superb a specimen 
 of Tourte's skill and judgment, and was in such 
 splendid condition, that I felt I should probably never 
 see it, or its like again, unless I happened to be visiting 
 the States, and had an opportunity of seeing it there. 
 When once our American friends get hold of these
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 231 
 
 perfect things, they usually keep them steadily. The 
 other grand Tourte stick was made for Larochefoucauld, 
 and is also in America. There are many very fine ones 
 in this country, and on the Continent, and their prices, 
 according to style and condition, run as high as forty 
 pounds. Under twenty pounds they are not worth 
 having. A great deal of nonsense is written about 
 Tourte and Lupot sticks, in regard to which the 
 connoisseur amateur should be on his guard. It comes 
 chiefly from the pens of those who have not seen any 
 Tourtes, and are not acquainted with their current 
 value, their information being drawn from published 
 sources, ten, fifteen, twenty, and perhaps fifty years old. 
 One result of this writing is, that when an amateur 
 finds he is offered a genuine Tourte at ten or twelve 
 pounds, it does not strike him that there is anything 
 abnormally low in the figure, and he expects to have a 
 first-class stick for the money. Two or three years ago 
 a very good Tourte might have been had for twenty- 
 five pounds, but not now. It will be a very ordinary 
 stick indeed which that money will, at present, buy, and 
 in a year or two more they will be almost, as our 
 neighbours say, introuvable. 
 
 The other good makers will be referred to in their 
 places, but I would like to say here that although the 
 difference between a fine Tourte and the finest of modern 
 bows is quite measurable, it is not a difference which 
 need alarm any but the very highest class of artistes. 
 Even among them there are individuals who manage to 
 exist without a Tourte, and many who, by preference, 
 play with a modern bow. Fiddle fanciers, and bow"
 
 232 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 fanciers, should do their best to keep level-headed, and 
 not allow themselves to be driven from the exercise of 
 their own judgments. If they are not in a position to 
 form' a decision, let them go to one who knows. Some- 
 times a fashion is set by a leading player quite uninten- 
 tionally on his part. He may have dropped some 
 remark, either in public or private, which is immediately 
 seized, and made the basis of almost a revolution. He 
 may be trying together two Tourtes one a round stick, 
 the other an octagon. He prefers the round, as it 
 happens. Immediately all the owners of Tourtes within 
 the circle of his influence seek to exchange their 
 octagons for rounds. Then is the opportunity for the 
 bargain hunter, and a beginning of the season of regrets. 
 It so happens that a fashion has set in for the round 
 stick, but the lovely Tourte to which I have already 
 referred is an octagon. Almost all modern bows are 
 round, they are much more easily made, and a fine 
 round stick can be got for much less money than an 
 octagon, but the latter, when well worked, is a delightful 
 bow to use. Finally, let me say that unless you can get 
 a good example of the older makers, leave them for the 
 cabinets of collectors that is, if your object is a bow 
 to play with. 
 
 ADAMS, JEAN, Mirecourt, i8th century. 
 
 ADAM, JEAN DOMINQUE. Born Mirecourt 1795. Died 
 1864. Son of preceding. His father taught him his 
 business. A great many of his bows are very ordinary, 
 but those marked with his name, Adam, are sometimes 
 good, and his octagon sticks are the best. 
 
 BAROUX, Paris. About 1830. A fairly good maker.
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 233 
 
 BAUSCH and SON, Leipsic or Dessau. About 1840. 
 Fairly good bows. They are highly esteemed in 
 Germany. 
 
 BRAGLIA, ANTONIO, Modena. About 1800. 
 
 DODD, E., Sheffield and London, 1705 1810. Not 
 many of this maker of great importance. 
 
 DODD, JAMES, London. About 1864. I do not know 
 these bows. 
 
 DODD, JOHN, Kew. Born 1752. Died 1839. This 
 was the greatest of English bow makers. He passed 
 his life in struggles, and died in Richmond Workhouse. 
 Dr. Selle, of Richmond, was very kind to him many a 
 time, and so was Mr. Richard Platt, of that place. 
 
 A perfect " John Dodd " bow is an exquisite piece of 
 work, but of proper length, and in good condition, they 
 are by no means common. The great majority of them 
 are either worn out at the nut, or otherwise destroyed. 
 People seem to have experimented with not a few of 
 them by thinning down the stick. I suppose their 
 originally graceful proportions had awakened in some 
 persons what they recognized as their artistic sense, and 
 they proceeded to make them still more slender. Of 
 course these are quite destroyed, and not worth buying 
 at all, except as all that remains of the " English " 
 Tourte. They are generally quite dark in colour, and 
 have his name "DODD" stamped on the stick, and also 
 on the side of the nut. All the good sticks, however, 
 or many of them, have been re-mounted in various ways, 
 so that the name may only be seen on the stick. They 
 are usually slender, and very light. Many of them are 
 short, and that is a decided disadvantage.
 
 234 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 DODD, THOMAS, London, 1786 1823. He was a bow 
 maker only in the sense in which he was a violin maker. 
 He employed other people to make for him. 
 
 EURY, Paris. About 1820. A very fine maker. Some 
 of his bows are exceptional in quality. He stamped his 
 name under the whipping, or thread covering above the 
 nut but not always. 
 
 FONCLOUSE, JOSEPH, Paris. Born 1800. Died 1865. 
 He learned bowmaking with Pajeot in Mirecourt, and 
 afterwards went to Paris, where he was employed by J. 
 B. Vuillaume. He afterwards started for himself, and 
 usually marked his name on his bows. He was a fine 
 maker. 
 
 GAND and BERNARDEL, Paris. . Contemporary. This 
 firm stamp their name on their bows, which are of fine 
 quality. 
 
 HARMAND, Mirecourt, 1830 40. 
 
 HENRY, Mirecourt. Born 1812. After learning in his 
 native town, and working there for some time, he went to 
 Paris when he was twenty-five years of age. He was 
 employed first by Chanot, then by Peccate, and latterly 
 was partner with Simon. The last arrangement endured 
 from 1848 to '51. He then commenced to work alone, 
 and died in 1870. He was also a fine workman, and 
 sometimes marked his bows " Henry, Paris." 
 
 KITTEL, St. Petersburg, igth century. This maker's 
 bows are about as nearly equal to Tourte's as those of 
 any maker that has lived since his day. There are not 
 many of them to be found here. 
 
 KNOPF, HEINRICH, Berlin, 1882. 
 
 KNOPF, LUDWIG, Berlin, 1882.
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 235 
 
 LAFLEUR, JACQUES. Born at Nancy 1760. Died in 
 Paris 1832. This maker's bows have the reputation on 
 the continent of being quite equal to Tourtes, which 
 may be quite justified in some cases. 
 
 LAFLEUR, JOSEPH RENE, Paris. Born 1812. Died 
 1874. Son of preceding, and a very good maker. 
 
 LAMY, ALFRED JOSEPH. Born at Mirecourt 1850. 
 He learnt when very young between thirteen and 
 fourteen and worked with the firm of Gautrot at 
 Chateau-Fleurry. In 1877 he went to Paris to F. N. 
 Voirin, and remained with him for eight years. Voirin 
 then died, and Lamy started on his own account. He 
 is also a good maker. 
 
 LUPOT, FRANCOIS. Born at Orleans in 1774. Died 
 in Paris 1837. This maker, in his finest efforts, stands 
 next to Francois Tourte. He was the brother of the 
 famous Nicolas Lupot, but did not make anything but 
 bows. He made a great improvement in the mechanism 
 of the nut, being the inventor of the metal groove 
 which is cemented to the ebony where it slides over the 
 slot in the stick. This prevents the wear of the ebony. 
 There is considerable diversity in the quality of Lupot's 
 bows, some being very fine indeed, while others are 
 quite ordinary. A great many of them are stamped 
 " Lupot," but whether he did that himself or not I 
 cannot say. I am inclined to think it has been done for 
 him by dealers afterwards. It is by no means an easy 
 matter to make absolutely sure in every case when a 
 bow is by Lupot. It is sometimes much easier to tell a 
 Tourte. At any rate, whenever there is any doubt 
 about the quality of the stick, as a stick, it is safe to
 
 236 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 reject it. They are generally strong, dark coloured 
 sticks, and not quite so light as Tourtes, but I have seen 
 them in grey wood also. 
 
 MAIRE, NICOLAS. Born in Mirecourt. A pupil of 
 Jacques Lafleur, afterwards went to Paris. 
 
 MIQUEL, EMILE, Mirecourt. Contemporary. 
 
 PAJEOT. Mirecourt, 1830 40. This maker taught 
 Joseph Fonclouse, who became one of Vuillaume's best 
 men. 
 
 PANORMO, GEORGE Louis, London. Modern. Made 
 some very good bows, more especially double bass sticks. 
 
 PECCATE, DOMINIQUE. Born at Mirecourt 1810. Son 
 of a barber, he forsook his father's calling for that of 
 fiddle and bow making. In the latter he became expert, 
 and in 1826 J. B. Vuillaume heard of him as a clever 
 apprentice on the look out for a master. Vuillaume 
 employed him and he soon justified his choice. He 
 remained there eleven years, and then took over the 
 business of Fra^ois Lupot who had just died. In 1847 
 he went back to Mirecourt, but continued his connection. 
 He died in 1874. He was a splendid maker. 
 
 PECCATE, JEUNE, Paris. A brother of Dominique. 
 He also worked for Vuillaume. He died about 1856. 
 His work is finely finished and the wood good, but the 
 sticks are heavy, and lack balance. 
 
 PELLEGRI, Parma, igth century. 
 
 PERSOIT, Paris, 1823 41. One of those skilled 
 workmen whom J. B. Vuillaume succeeded in securing. 
 Those which he made for the great luthier were of course 
 marked Vuillaume, but those he sold for himself were 
 marked P. R. S.
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 237 
 
 PUPINAT, PADRE, Lausanne, 1855, 
 
 RAKOWSCH, A., Paris, 1834. 
 
 RONCHINI, RAFAELLO, Fano, igth century. 
 
 SCHWARTZ, GEORGE FRIEDRICH, Strasburg. Born 
 1785. Died 1849. A good maker. Marked his work 
 " Schwartz, Strasbourg." 
 
 SIMON. Born at Mirecourt, 1808. Went to Dominique 
 Peccate in Paris for a short time in 1838, then to 
 Vuillaume for seven years. In 1845, he began for 
 himself, and two years later succeeded to Peccate's Paris 
 shop, and entered into partnership with Henry for three 
 years. In 1851, he was again alone. I know little of this 
 maker's work, having only seen one or two specimens. 
 These were fairly good sticks. 
 
 SIRJEAN, Paris. About 1818. 
 
 TADOLINI, IGNAZIO, Modena, igth century. He made 
 violin and violoncello bows, and originally hailed from 
 Bologna. He and his brother Guiseppe were established 
 in Modena as instrument makers, the latter being as 
 well a distinguished double bass and 'cello player at 
 the Modenese Court. Ignatius, the bow maker, was 
 born in 1797, and died in 1873. 
 
 TOURNATORIS, Paris, i8th century. Died 1813. 
 
 TOURTE, SAVERE (called " Tourte-l'aine," the elder) 
 Paris. 
 
 TOURTE, FRANCOIS (called " Tourte jeune," the 
 younger), Paris. Born 1747. Died 1835. 
 
 The latter of these two artistes is universally recog- 
 nised as the finest bow maker that ever lived. I think 
 this must be admitted. One or two of his own com- 
 patriots, and according to report, such a maker as
 
 238 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 Kittel, of St. Petersburg, run him now and again very 
 close indeed, while John Dodd of Kew, in the matters 
 of slender elegance, and lightness of stick, occasionally 
 actually surpasses him. But elegant slenderness and 
 lightness are not the only things wanted in a bow, they 
 are not even the chief things,. When I was quite a lad 
 a very artistic cabinet maker whom I knew, wishing to 
 do me a service, offered to improve my own bow, which, 
 he pointed out. was not elegantly finished. I consented 
 with pleasure, and when I had it returned, it certainly 
 was elegant and light beyond conception. It was like 
 a feather in my hand, but it was also like a feather on 
 my strings, and besides, its back was gone, as flexible 
 almost as the top of a fishing rod. Thinness and lightness 
 are only tolerable when they are accompanied by strength 
 and balance. Strength, elasticity and balance are really 
 the main points in a bow. The strength of a stick is 
 determined by the regular manner in which, and the limit 
 to which, its tapering is produced. Of course, the wood 
 must be of proper quality to begin with, but there should 
 be no weak place, none unduly weak, in the whole length. 
 In some bows of ordinary make, the strength in the back 
 is obtained by keeping a certain thickness after a time, 
 well on towards the end, and then suddenly dropping 
 thin to finish with. A stick like that will be strong 
 enough probably, and will not yield where its maker 
 knew it would be tested, but it will not be a properly 
 balanced bow. A certain addition is made to the 
 strength of the stick by the catnbre, that is, the bending 
 backwards. If this cambre is properly done, the line of 
 pall will almost coincide with a symetrical axis. That
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 239 
 
 is, of course, an exaggeration, but it may indicate how 
 the cambre aids the strength of a stick. The balance of a 
 stick is that equipoise which is secured by the regular 
 gradations in its thinning, so that when the player 
 holds it lightly by the thicker end in his hand, 
 there does not so to speak appear to be quite 
 sufficient weight at the thin end to cause it to 
 fall. That is a rough way of trying a bow so far 
 as concerns balance, but its success will largely depend 
 on the player's sense of weight. One way of testing the 
 strength and cambre of a bow is to screw it up a turn or 
 two until the hair is straightened out, and is just free of 
 the stick. Then press the thumb on the hair at the. 
 nut as far down as it will go, watching in the mean- 
 time the movement of the stick from beyond the middle 
 to the end. If it loses the curve very much, or goes out 
 to either side, it is not likely to be a good bow. This, 
 however, is a pretty severe test, and any stick will 
 yield to it if the hair is sufficiently tightened. Another 
 way is to screw the hair up until the stick has lost its 
 backward curve, and watch if it gives to either side. 
 This is the fairer way to judge an ordinary bow. The 
 best bows will, however, all stand the former test. 
 Besides the ordinary backward curve, a maker who 
 knows his business gives a little side as well. That is, 
 he slightly cambres the stick to the left, looking from the 
 nut outwards, so as to resist the tendancy to the right, 
 which proper bowing always gives. In examining 
 finely tempered bows, this should be remembered, 
 otherwise a very knowing person might fancy a stick 
 was just a little off the straight. The next point is
 
 340 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 elasticity. Too much of that is a nuisance, and makes 
 a very good bow in other respects, powerless. But 
 there must be some, and the quality of the wood is 
 responsible for it. It is not the flexibility of a piece of 
 cane which is required, but the firm, yet responsive elas- 
 ticity, which, to a certain extent, guarantees a pure and 
 even tone. All these points were splendidly illustrated by 
 Francis Tourte, and, in some slight degree, by his 
 brother. I have never seen a bow by Tourte pere, and 
 I am beginning to think there was no such person 
 employed in this business. The name was first 
 published by Fetis I suppose, on the authority of 
 Vuillaume but I do not know of any other source from 
 whence the information comes. The bows of Tourte 
 aine have rather quaint-looking, small heads, not unlike 
 the profile of the bell of a trumpet, but having the top 
 line of the head a little shorter than the under line. The 
 head of a Fra^ois Tourte has a much fuller outline of 
 the same kind, but infinitely more graceful and artistic. 
 Some of the finest Tourtes are of a lightish coloured 
 wood called grey Pernambuco, which is very rich 
 looking. The majority are darker. 
 
 The Tourtes never marked any of their sticks, but in 
 two instances, Frangois Tourte is said to have glued into 
 the slot a very diminutive little ticket containing an 
 inscription to the effect that he made the article. From 
 one of these inscriptions the date of his birth has been 
 deduced. It runs, " Get archet a ete fait par Tourte en 
 1824, age de soixante-dix-sept-ans." (This bow was 
 made by Tourte in 1824, aged seventy-seven years). 
 F. Tourte invented the ferrule for keeping the hair flat,
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 24! 
 
 and applied the tortoiseshell slip to the nut for keeping it 
 concealed at that part. 
 
 TUBES, London. A well known family of bow 
 makers, much of whose work is of excellent 
 quality. 
 
 VIGNERON, A., Paris. Contempory. A fine maker. 
 
 VOIRIN, NICOLAS FRANCOIS, Paris. Born at Mire- 
 court 1833. Died in Paris 1885. He was taught his 
 business in his native town, and afterwards went to 
 Vuillaume in 1855, where he remained for fifteen years, 
 during which time he made probably the great majority 
 of the finest bows which bear Vuillaume's name. In 
 Vuillaume's show case in the Paris Exhibition of 1867, 
 Voirin's name appeared as a workman in bows, and he 
 received honourable mention on that occasion. Three 
 years afterwards he started on his own account. 
 Almost all his work is of a very high character, and 
 deserves all the praise it has got. Some of his 
 sticks both violin and 'cello are really quite beautiful 
 works of art, technically and decoratively, and, of 
 course, there are a flood of sticks in the market, bearing 
 the stamp " N. F. Voirin a Paris," and which have all 
 been made since his death. His own heads are strong 
 and beautifully finished. 
 
 He was stricken down by apoplexy on the 4th June, 
 1885, while he was carrying a bow home to an amateur. 
 The occurrence happened as he was passing along the 
 Faubourg Montmartre, and the bystanders seeing " N. 
 F. Voirin. Bouloi 3 " on the paper case in which the 
 bow was, concluded to take him there. So he was 
 carried home dying to his wife. He did not rally from
 
 242 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 the stroke and died the same evening between nine and 
 ten. His widow carried on the business. 
 
 VUILLAUME, J. B., Paris. If this distinguished crafts- 
 man was not himself a bow maker except in the sense 
 that he could make, and may have made a few, in his 
 day he certainly was instrumental in keeping before 
 others the grand qualities of Fra^ois Tourte. This was 
 a great service. He knew Tourte well, and, on his own 
 admission, frequently watched him at his work. During 
 all his business career, however, he never was without 
 one or more competent bow makers in his employment, 
 and it will be safe to say that almost every one of those 
 beautiful sticks for which in his time he was famous, 
 was made by one or other of the clever bow hands 
 already referred to. From the earliest date of his own 
 period, when he was a kind of managing man to Lete, 
 down to the time of his death he was always well 
 supplied in that respect. Persoit, Fonclouse, Peccate, 
 Simon and Voirin, themselves cover the whole time. 
 He invented a steel tubular bow which he induced some 
 artistes to employ, and he also invented the fixed nut 
 which was to secure that a player will also always have 
 the same length of hair to use. It was a curious over- 
 sight to suppose that because the nut changes position 
 in tightening or relaxing, the length of hair available 
 was, in consequence, variable. Its chief advantage 
 was that the hand could always hold the bow in 
 exactly the same place. However, both of these 
 inventions were discontinued. Vuillaume stamped his 
 name on all the bows which he sold as his own make, 
 and, of course, there are thousands of bows so stamped
 
 VIOLIN BOW MAKERS. 243 
 
 at present, which are not genuine. He was not par- 
 ticularly well liked among the " trade " in Paris, but 
 almost all his workmen remained with him for many 
 years, which is fairly good evidence that he was a 
 considerate employer/ 
 
 R2
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AS the face of the heavens on a clear night seems 
 crowded with stars, so the vista of musical 
 history appears filled with the more or less lustrous 
 presences of individual artistes whose combined radiance 
 lights up the past for those who have a deep interest' in 
 the record of their achievements. They are quite as 
 numerous as the fixed stars, but, like them, not all of 
 equal magnitude. I shall include in these brief bio- 
 graphical notices the more important of the performers 
 known from early times, and it will be more interesting 
 to do this in chronological order than it would be to do 
 it alphabetically. 
 
 There were, no doubt, performers on the violin who 
 played pieces " all by themselves " long before the time 
 of the publication of the first known solo for the instru- 
 ment, but nothing definite can be said about them as 
 yet, and I will therefore begin with the author of that 
 remarkable " piece." 
 
 BIAGIO MARINI. 
 
 This artiste was born in Brescia about the end of the 
 sixteenth century. Date information of that kind is 
 provokingly vague, but nothing more precise with regard 
 to him can be given. It might have been in any year 
 between 1560 and 1600, and there may come a time 
 when, if more definite information is'not available, some
 
 VIOLINISTS. 245 
 
 irresponsible writer will feel disposed to say he was 
 born in 1580. That time has not yet arrived, and we 
 only know one or two incidents of his career, and that 
 he died in 1660 at Padua. He was chapel master first 
 in Brescia, then in Vincenza, and subsequently seems to 
 have had some kind of appointment either in Venice or 
 the neighbourhood. He was a distinguished violinist, 
 without doubt, and issued three separate musical 
 publications which are at present known. Other two 
 he appears to have printed and published, but they are 
 n6t known. The violin solo alluded to is called La 
 Romanesca, and is quite an attractive and original piece 
 of music which is still played at odd moments. Marini 
 enjoyed court favour, visited Germany, and was made 
 a Knight. 
 
 GIAMBATTISTA FONTANA. 
 
 This player seems to have been also a native of 
 Brescia, although that is not an ascertained fact. He 
 was the inventor or, is at least, the earliest known 
 writer of the violin sonata form. He appears to have 
 died in Padua, and his works were collected and 
 published for the first time in 1641. He is described 
 by contemporary eulogium as a distinguished player and 
 composer. 
 
 TOMASO-ANTONIO VITALI. 
 
 This distinguished player was, according to report, 
 born in Bologna in the middle of the seventeenth 
 century. He certainly was alive and active on the igth 
 October, 1685, for on that date he signed a petition to 
 his patron, begging him to send someone to overhaul
 
 246 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 two swindlers who had sold him a " Franceco Rugerius " 
 violin, as a " Nicolas Amati." " Other times," as the 
 French say, but the same ways. The beautiful 
 Chaconne which has made Vitali's name famous, is still 
 often played. He was patonised by the Court of 
 Modena. 
 
 HEINRICH, J. F., VON BIBER. 
 
 I suppose this great artiste should be called a 
 Bohemian. At any rate, he was born on the Bohemian 
 frontier, Wartenburg, somewhere between 1638 and 
 1650. It has not been found possible to specify the 
 time of his birth within closer limits. He was a famous 
 player in his day, a favourite composer, and one who 
 had his share in modelling the sonata. The date of 
 his death has not been ascertained with certainty. 
 Fetis gives it as in 1698, which is wrong, a document 
 bearing Biber's signature, and of date 1704, having 
 been discovered. Another positive statement makes 
 his death occur in 1710, but no authentic record of it, or 
 other specific indication has been seen. He was much 
 favoured by several courts, having been ennobled by 
 Leopold I. at Vienna, treated with distinction by two 
 Dukes of Bavaria, and appointed by the Bishop of 
 Salzburg to an important office. He travelled through 
 Italy, France, and Germany, arousing great enthusiasm 
 wherever he went. He published two or three sets of 
 violin music. First, a set of six sonatas, second, a set 
 of twelve, third, a set of pieces with seven real parts, 
 called Harmonica Artificiosa, and tw r o other works in 
 Salzburg. His music, some of it, is decidedly of a
 
 VIOLINISTS. 247 
 
 most refined character, and of a very advanced type 
 for his day. 
 
 GIOVANNI BATTISTA LULLI. 
 
 This distinguished violinist was born in Florence 
 about 1633. His parentage is not clear, but he was 
 taught the guitar by an old Franciscan. When he 
 was very young quite a child a member of the French 
 royal family who happened to be travelling in Italy 
 heard him play, and as he had a commission from his 
 sister, Mile, de Montpensier, to get her a page boy from 
 Italy, he selected this gifted lad and took him to France. 
 Lulli's youthful soul had not been assigned a very suit- 
 able shrine for the antechamber of a princess and when 
 she saw him a little imp twelve years old she 
 relegated him to the kitchen. Lulli's love of music was 
 not, however, to be extinguished by the noise of pots 
 and pans or quenched by a flood of dripping, so he 
 bought a cheap fiddle and by-and-by was the delight 
 of the kitchen, and indeed, of the whole livery. One 
 day while he was playing, he was overheard by a 
 person of some importance, who communicated with 
 his mistress, and the result was that she procured a 
 teacher for him under whose instruction he made 
 amazing progress. The age was not a delicate one, 
 and he was silly enough to be misled into the perform- 
 ance of a coarse jest which brought about his dismissal. 
 After some little trouble he was admitted to the King's 
 band, and considerably astonished them there, pleased 
 the King, and was promoted to the leadership of a 
 junior band which very speedily surpassed the senior
 
 24^ THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 one. From this point his fame is derived from his 
 operas and ballets, etc., etc., and the violinist merges 
 in the composer. He entirely reformed, and considerably 
 advanced the character of French music and holds 
 a highly honoured place in the roll of her great 
 composers. He died in the greatest favour with Louis 
 XIV., who had covered him with honours and rewards. 
 He was made director of the King's music, was made a 
 noble, one of the King's secretaries, etc. His death 
 was caused by an accident. After the recovery of the 
 King from an illness Lully composed a Te Deum and was 
 conducting it when he smashed his toe with the cane he 
 used in directing his orchestra. An abscess formed and 
 in spite of varied treatment he succumbed a few months 
 afterwards, viz., 22nd March, 1687. 
 
 GIOVANNI BATTISTA BASSANI. 
 
 This player was born in Padua about 1657, and was 
 chapel master of the Cathedral in Bologna. He was 
 not only a violin virtuoso, but he was also a highly 
 appreciated composer and orchestral conductor of his 
 day. He went to Ferrara about 1685 and became chapel 
 master there, while he had other distinctions of a more 
 honorary character conferred upon him. He is known 
 chiefly in violin literature as the supposed teacher of 
 Corelli. It is merely a statement which has passed 
 current without having any particular verification. He 
 was four years younger than Corelli. He died in 1716 
 at Ferrara.
 
 CORELLI.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 249 
 
 ARCANGELO CORELLI. 
 
 This great player was born at Fusignano on i6th 
 February, 1653. His father's name was also Arcangelo 
 Corelli and his mother was Santa Raffini who died 
 just before her child saw the light. He was not intended 
 for the musical profession and was sent to Faenza to 
 school. While there, however, he acquired the rudi- 
 ments of music and kept up the study at Lugo, and 
 subsequently at Bologna, 'where he practised the violin 
 in regular fashion for four years. This is probably the 
 circumstance which has given rise to the ancient 
 suggestion that Corelli was a pupil of Bassani. The 
 suggestion is, I think, an absurd one. In 1680 Corelli 
 was seen at the Court of the Duke of Bavaria as a 
 famous performer who had been travelling about Ger- 
 many. In 1 68 1 there is a vague reference to him as 
 being in Rome, and in 1683 his first work was published 
 there, and in 1685, n ^ s second. In 1686 he was playing 
 the violin in the Opera band, and was chosen that year 
 to lead the orchestra at the fete given to Lord 
 Castlemain in Rome by Christina, ex-Queen of Sweden. 
 Here Cardinal Ottoboni saw him and took to him. 
 From this time Corelli played at the Cardinal's Monday 
 concerts, and looked after the music. Here it was 
 where the famous interview between Corelli and Handel 
 took place, when the latter rudely caught the fiddle out 
 of the Italian's hand in order to show him how to play 
 something of Handel's own which happened to be on 
 the desks. I have no great faith in the accuracy of the 
 tale, which is, I imagine, one of those growths on the 
 free of history caused by the puncture of some
 
 250 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 biographical insect. Corelli's fourth work was published 
 in 1694, and his fifth in 1700. People flocked to these 
 concerts in Rome from all parts of the civilised world, 
 and it must have been a dreadful experience to the 
 great player when, a few years later, he visited Naples 
 and found Scarlatti's orchestra so perfect that he 
 probably felt as if he were little more than a ripieno in 
 it, instead of a great solo player. It must, however, be 
 borne in mind that these stories of his failure in Naples 
 are entirely on the authority of Geminiani, who was 
 himself a pupil of Correlli's and became leader of this 
 very Neapolitan orchestra, but was dismissed from the 
 post because he could not keep correct time, and that 
 not long previous to the period when he says Corelli 
 failed. There is a great deal of confusion about these 
 stories, and when they are put together they involve 
 such improbabilities as to render them almost incredible. 
 This visit to Naples appears to have been made a few 
 years before his death, for, when he returned to Rome, 
 a young violinist named Josefo Valentino had become 
 the popular favourite so it is said and that the 
 circumstance so weighed on Corelli's sensitive nature 
 as to seriously affect his health. This last conjecture 
 for it is nothing more rests on as slight a foundation as 
 the previous stories. Among the traits of personal 
 character which have been noted are mentioned 
 "sweetness of disposition," " parsimoniousness of habits" 
 a quite exceptionally curious combination of qualities, 
 not, of course, absolutely paradoxical or impossible, 
 but, at the least, distinctly interesting. His dress was 
 plain and unassuming, and his ways were simple. On
 
 VIOLINISTS. 251 
 
 this circumstance, combined with Handel's remark that 
 Corelli liked to see pictures without paying for them 
 a merely passing epigrammatic touch probably seems 
 to be raised the theory of parsimoniousness. These 
 conjectures appear to be more like penny-a-liner 
 reminiscences than anything approaching the dignity of 
 historical facts. He was the greatest and most 
 honoured musician of his day, and lived a simple life, 
 apparently in the midst of considerable pomp. He 
 composed and published some of the most noble and 
 beautiful music for violin and orchestra that is in 
 existence, and he died full of honours on the i8th of 
 January, 1713. There is a monument to him in the 
 Pantheon in the form of a marble statue, bearing the 
 following inscription, "Corelli princeps Musicorum "- 
 " Corelli first (greatest) of Musicians." The portrait of 
 him is from a good print in my possession. 
 
 FRANCESCO GEMINIANI. 
 
 This very clever violinist was born at Lucca about 
 1680. He was reckoned to be the best of all Corelli's 
 pupils, but he had the advantage of previously passing 
 through very good hands. He began his musical 
 studies with Alessandro Scarlatti, and was taught the 
 violin by a very able man, C. A. Lunati, whose bodily 
 deformity interfered with his success as a public per- 
 former. After this preliminary training, Geminiani 
 went to Corelli, where he developed fine tone and style. 
 He first went to Naples, where Scarlatti had, at this 
 period, gone for the second time, and who gave him the 
 appointment of leader in the orchestra there.
 
 252 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 Geminiani's nature as a player was so uncontrollable 
 that he could not keep time himself, and was, therefore, 
 useless as a leader. This would be between 1709 and 
 1714, when Geminiani came to England. Here he met 
 with the greatest success professionally, and published 
 all his works, besides editing some of his master's. In 
 addition, he published various theoretical books on 
 music and musical style, as well as a work on memory. 
 He made plenty of money, but spent it as rapidly as he 
 made it and more rapidly sometimes in buying 
 pictures, etc. His nature was a restless one he could 
 not keep time but he was, according to all contemporary 
 testimony, a glorious player. His great work from a 
 violinist's point of view is his " Art of Playing on the 
 Violin." He moved about a little, and went to Paris 
 in 1750, remaining there for about five years. Coming 
 back, he resumed his career with similar success, and 
 visited Ireland in 1761. His pupil, Dubourg, was then 
 master of the King's band in Dublin. He and the old 
 man were very fond of each other, and a curious 
 accident happened to the latter during this visit. He 
 was not without his enemies, and a conspiracy seems to 
 have been got up to rob him of the manuscript of a 
 Treatise on Music which he had been working on for 
 many years. Such a heartless piece of blackguardism 
 against a man of eighty-two years appears hardly 
 credible. But Dubourg's son duly authenticates the 
 story. A domestic servant was recommended to him by 
 the thieves, who were among his so-called friends and 
 acquaintances, and she stole the manuscript from his 
 bedroom, and handed it over to his enemies, who, pre-
 
 VIOLINISTS. 253 
 
 sumably, destroyed it, as it was never afterwards seen. 
 This cut the old man up terribly, broke his spirit, and 
 he died the same year, namely, on the ijth September, 
 1762. 
 
 PIETRO LOCATELLI. 
 
 This great violinist was born in Bergamo in 1693. 
 He was also a pupil of Corelli, and distinguished himself 
 in a manner which, as appears to us, should have 
 astonished his master. But the truth is, people have 
 judged Corelli's technique far too exclusively by the 
 standard of his published music. It may all be 
 described as of the most dignified and excellent 
 character, but, at the same time, of comparatively great 
 simplicity. It gives no indication whatever of his 
 technique. He turned out far too many masters of the 
 highest character to justify us in supposing that he knew 
 no more than he published. Locatelli established him 
 self in Amsterdam, and published his famous works 
 called " The Labyrinth," and " The New Art of 
 Modulation," which set Paganini to compose his 
 celebrated "Twenty-Four Studies." He also published 
 various other things, among them being one called 
 " Harmonic Contrasts," which establishes his reputa- 
 tion as a musical scholar. He remained in Amsterdam 
 till his death in 1764. 
 
 ANTONIO VIVALDI. 
 
 A distinguished performer, born in Venice about 1660. 
 His father was a musician in the Chapel of St. Mark. 
 Antonio travelled about a little, and went into the
 
 254 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 service of the Court of Hesse-Darmstadt, but returned 
 to Venice in 1713, where he died in 1743. He was a 
 voluminous composer for his instrument, and also ot 
 vocal and other instrumental music. He is the putative 
 author of the well-known " Cuckoo Solo," and was 
 called in Venice the " red priest." 
 
 FRANCESCO MARIA VERACINI. 
 
 This artiste was born in Florence about 1685. He 
 was a pupil of Antonio Veracini, his uncle. He did not 
 play in public until he was about thirty years old. In 
 1714 he played in Venice, and at once took his position 
 as a virtuoso. In the same year he came to London, 
 and led the Italian Opera Band here. In 1716 he went 
 back to Venice, where he was engaged by the Elector of 
 Saxony for his chapel in Dresden. Here he remained 
 for five years, when, in August, 1722, he, in a moment of 
 mental aberration, threw himself from his bedroom 
 window, and was lamed for life. When he recovered 
 he left Dresden, and went to Count de Kinsky in 
 Prague. There he stayed for some years, returning to 
 London about 1736. For ten years he remained here, 
 composing operas and playing, and in 1747 retired to a 
 small property he had at Pisa, where he died in 1750. 
 He is credited with being the possessor of two violins, 
 one or both of which were said to be by Jacob Stainer, 
 and that he. lost these in a storm while crossing from 
 here to the Continent. 
 
 GUISEPPE TARTINI. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be difficult to select a violinist 
 whose memory is entitled to greater respect than that
 
 GUISE FPE TARTINI.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 255 
 
 of Tartini. As a musician and virtuoso combined, I 
 doubt if anyone has surpassed him. He is a colossus 
 of refinement and grace, as Corelli was one of strength 
 and simplicity. He was born at Pirano in Istria on the 
 8th April, 1692. He received the elements of a good 
 education in the College of the Padri Delle Scuole. He 
 may, in fact, be said to have been very well educated, 
 as matters of that kind went in those days. About 
 the beginning of 1709, he was sent to Padua to study 
 law. In the monastic schools in Pirano he had been 
 taught, along with other things, music and the violin, 
 and although, while in Padua, he took to fencing very 
 seriously, with, apparently, a little swashbucklering 
 thrown in he still kept up his violin playing. It has 
 not been hinted, in any source of information with 
 which I am acquainted, that Tartini ever heard Corelli 
 play, and there has not even been a suggestion of such 
 a thing. But it is not a very unlikely circumstance. 
 We have very little information as to Corelli's travels in 
 the early part of his career, but we know that he was in 
 Germany, in Bavaria, in fact, and as the most direct 
 and cheapest route to that district was through the 
 north of Italy, and over the Brenner pass, it would 
 almost appear certain that he took the chief towns of 
 Northern Italy on the way. Padua would, in such a 
 case, be directly in his route. The only weighty 
 objection to this would be that when Corelli was seen 
 in Bavaria, Tartini was not born. But during the 
 years 1701 and 1710 we have exceedingly little informa- 
 tion regarding Corelli's movements. We know he was 
 absent from Rome, and that by the time he got back, he
 
 256 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 had, we are told, fallen somewhat out of public favour. 
 That leaves plenty of time for an artistic tour or two in 
 Italy, and also in Germany, and if he were anywhere 
 near Padua, we may be pretty certain Tartini went to 
 hear him. In 1708 or 1769, Tartini was there, and four 
 years after that date he was a magnificent violinist. It 
 is a curious coincidence that in the very year Corelli 
 died, 1713, Tartini had his celebrated Dream that the 
 Devil came to his bedside aad played to him the 
 " Trillo del Diavolo." This famous and most beautiful 
 piece of music is familiar, no doubt, to all violinists, and 
 if not, it should be. He was then twenty-one, and earning 
 his bread by music and fencing. About this time he 
 secretly married the daughter of Cardinal Cornaro, 
 which created a great uproar, and placed him in consider- 
 able danger. He fled disguised as a pilgrim, and 
 after wandering towards Rome, found refuge in a 
 religious establishment in Assisi. He remained con- 
 cealed here for a short time, and carried on his musical 
 studies with the help of an organist in the fraternity 
 named Boemo, and astonished the neighbourhood by his 
 violin playing in the services. He was one day recog- 
 nised here by an old acquaintance, who told him that 
 matters were mending in his favour, and by-and-by 
 he became reconciled to his distinguished relative by 
 marriage, and returned to Padua. How long he was 
 absent in this way from his home is uncertain. It is 
 sometimes definitely stated as two years, but com- 
 parison of dates do not support this conclusion. 
 Shortly after this, he and his wife went to Venice, 
 where the lady had relatives, and while there he
 
 VIOLINISTS. 257 
 
 met Veracini, and heard him play. This is generally 
 supposed to be about 1714, I presume because Veracini 
 was playing in Venice in that year. But I think that 
 date is wrong. It seems to have been forgotten that 
 Veracini was also playing in Venice in 1716, after his 
 return to Italy from London, and I think it more likely 
 to be the date of this meeting, as the former date crowds 
 a great deal of incident into the life of Tartini during a 
 very brief period of time. When he heard the great 
 Florentine player, who was only seven years his senior, he 
 determined to renew his studies, and for this purpose, 
 retired to Ancona. He there made that famous 
 discovery of his which has been called the Tartini tones, 
 a phenomenon which has puzzled the most celebrated 
 acousticians for a hundred and fifty years. Only as 
 recently as 1862 was the cause of them found out by 
 Professor Helmholz. Tartini's splendid ear enabled him 
 to tabulate them all correctly, with the exception of one 
 or two, which he fixed an octave higher than they really 
 are. The discovery was of the following nature. When 
 any two notes were played together, he detected a third 
 sound in the harmony which no one has left any record of 
 having discovered before. He found this phenomenon 
 constant, and made exhaustive studies of it, trying 
 to make it the basis of a system of harmony which he 
 published in 1754, entitled a " Treatise on Music accord- 
 ing to the True Science of Harmony." Any player who 
 is not already acquainted with it may test the thing for 
 himself. These Tartini tones are best heard when the 
 player takes truly stopped major thirds and sixths, but 
 they are present when any two notes are played, whether
 
 258 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 concordant or discordant. They are not so clearly 
 discriminated when one note is stopped, and the other 
 an open string note. Tartini had indicated the pitch of 
 a great many of them, and that was, of course, a valuable 
 lead to a scientific investigator, who knew that all 
 musical sounds had fixed vibration numbers. Still, 
 Professor Helmholz has the credit of having settled 
 the matter. He found that the third sound was due to 
 the difference between the vibration numbers of the two 
 notes played. The reader who may not be acquainted 
 with this side of musical study will understand when it 
 is explained that every musical sound is the result of a 
 fixed number of beats on the air, from some body. In 
 the case of the fiddle these beats are produced by the 
 friction of the bow on the string in the first place. The 
 string throbs and communicates this throbbing to the 
 bridge, which transmits it to the upper table or belly. 
 From that it passes by way of sound post and ribs to 
 the back, and the whole fiddle throbs on the air inside, 
 and so the original weak sound of the string is reinforced 
 and strengthened until it comes out through the sound 
 holes of the loudness which we hear. All the throbbing 
 is at the same rate so long as one note is played. Each 
 note has its own rate of throbbing. Let us take any two 
 notes, such as treble C, and the major third above it, E. 
 To make the pitch of treble C, 512 throbs in a second 
 are required, and to make the pitch of E above that, 
 640 throbs in a second are required. Now when these 
 two notes are truly played together, a third sound is 
 heard along with the other two notes. It is the same, 
 in this case, as the C, but two octaves lower. Helmholz
 
 VIOLINISTS. 259 
 
 discovered that this low C was produced by 128 throbs, 
 and the difference between 512 and 640 is 128. 
 Throughout the whole scale of musical sounds whenever 
 two notes are played together they seem to generate a 
 third sound, very weak, of course, but which is always 
 that which the difference of the vibration numbers 
 would naturally produce. From this circumstance these 
 tones are now called by scientists the " difference tones," 
 but they have always hitherto been known as the 
 " Tartini tones." They are sometimes called harmonics, 
 but that is not correct. A harmonic is generated by one 
 string, while these third sounds are generated by the 
 simultaneous vibrations of two strings. 
 
 When Tartini was twenty-nine he became director of 
 an orchestra in Padua, and when he was thirty-one he 
 went to Prague, and remained there for over three 
 years. He made a great impression among people of 
 distinction, and considerable pressure was tried in order 
 to keep him with them, but he was in bad health, and 
 was dreadfully troubled by family worries in connection 
 with his brother and his children. He stayed with a 
 friend named Antonio Vandini, a 'cellist, while on this 
 visit to Prague, and returned with him to Padua in 1726. 
 He soon began to recover health, but the family troubles 
 continued to worry him for many years. He was a man 
 of great patience, and very high character, and bore 
 himself throughout them all, during a period of over 
 twenty years, in the most exemplary fashion. His first 
 work was published in Amsterdam in 1734, and another 
 in Rome in 1745. These published works are not 
 numerous, but he left a great many in manuscript. His 
 
 S2
 
 26O THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 theoretical works comprise the already mentioned 
 " Treatise on Music," a pamphlet replying to some 
 strictures on it he published in Venice in 1767. In the 
 same year " A Dissertation on the Principles of Har- 
 mony " saw the light in Padua, and a " Treatise on 
 Musical Embellishments" was issued in Paris in 1782. 
 The famous letter of instructions on violin playing has 
 been frequently printed, and besides this he left a 
 manuscript treatise which has never been printed. It 
 was called " Practical Lessons on the Violin." This 
 great master of the violin died on the 26th February, 
 1770, after a period of great suffering. He never was a 
 robust man. His eager face, full of nervous apprecia- 
 tion of his surroundings, shows a very highly strung 
 nature, and he appears to have lived a self-sacrificing 
 life. When he died it may be said that Padua went 
 into mourning. He was buried in the Church of St. 
 Catherine, where an imposing funeral service was per- 
 formed, and it has been said that his demise was 
 considered in the light of a public calamity. 
 
 Although his fame had spread all over Europe, and, 
 indeed, to all parts of the civilized world, he does not 
 appear to have left Italy after his professional journey to 
 Prague, where he managed the music for the coronation 
 of the Emperor, Charles VI. He was pressed to go to 
 Germany and France, and Lords Walpole and Middlesex 
 did their best to get him over here, but failed. He wrote 
 a very nice letter regarding a proposed visit to London, 
 and in it referred in complimentary terms to the judg- 
 ment of English musicians and scientists in regard to 
 his discovery of the third sound. His most famous
 
 VIOLINISTS. 26l 
 
 pupils were Pugnani, Nardini, Pagin, Ferrari, and 
 Lahoussaye. 
 
 GIAMBATTISTA SOMIS. 
 
 This master was born in Piedmont in 1676,. He was, 
 quite evidently from contemporary testimony, a player 
 of broad and fine style, but the chief interest attaching 
 to him lies in the circumstance that he has always been 
 considered one of the finest pupils of Corelli, and known 
 to have been the teacher, or one of the teachers, of 
 Pugnani, thus forming a link in the direct chain which 
 binds our finest modern players to the earlier grand 
 Italian Schools. I confess I am not quite satisfied that 
 he was a pupil of Corelli. He was, undoubtedly, a 
 great admirer of the latter, and, in the days of his youth, 
 included Rome in his travels, the object of which was to 
 hear the best executants and composers of his time. 
 But I have not found in the course of my reading any 
 definite information in regard to his connection with 
 Corelli, while his visit to Venice on the other hand 
 resulted in an acquaintance with Vivaldi, which appears 
 to have had a most lasting effect on his style.' He, in 
 fact, took Vivaldi as his model, and carried along with 
 him to Turin, where he settled, the traditions of the 
 great Venetian performer. 
 
 The King of Sardinia appointed him to the post of 
 director of the music in the Chapel Royal, as also of the 
 Court music, and he enjoyed an extended reputation 
 throughout Italy. In the spring of 1733, he went to 
 Paris, and performed there at the " Concerts Spirituels," 
 where his success was of a marked character for the
 
 262 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 purity of his tone, and the brilliancy of his technique. 
 He died in Turin in 1763, leaving the traditions of his 
 school in the hands of Pugnani, who is, perhaps, the 
 most important of his pupils, seeing that he combined in 
 his own style the results of the tuition received not only 
 from Somis, but also, according to report, from Tartini. 
 Somis had a brother named Lorenzo, who was also a 
 violinist, and, to some extent, imitated the style of 
 Corelli. G. B. Somis published in Paris, six sets of 
 sonatas for the violin and bass. 
 
 GAETANO PUGNANI. 
 
 This magnificent player who, it is generally supposed, 
 had the advantage as explained in the previous article, 
 of tuition both from Somis and Tartini, was born either 
 in the Canavese in 1727, or in Turin, in 1728. Both 
 dates are given. He succeeded Somis as principal 
 violinist at the King of Sardinia's Court, and as 
 director of the music. He was also a great operatic 
 conductor, and succeeded in a marvellous way in bring- 
 ing the various elements in such representations into the 
 most complete harmony. He visited Paris in 1754 ; 
 had a great success, and made the European tour. He 
 also came to London more than once, and on one 
 occasion stayed for a year or two. He had, of course, 
 resigned his appointment in Turin to enable him to make 
 these lengthened absences, but when in 1770 he left 
 London for good, and returned to Turin, he was at 
 once reappointed music director. The story about his 
 tuition from Tartini is a curious one, and wears such a
 
 VIOLINISTS. 263 
 
 pleasantly simple look that it may be worth recounting. 
 When Pugnani was in Paris he heard much about 
 Tartini, and, determining to see him, went to Padua, 
 and called on his distinguished countryman, by whom 
 he was asked to play something. When Pugnani had 
 got over a few bars, Tartini caught him by the arm I 
 suppose the bow arm and said, " Too loud, my friend, 
 too loud." When Pugnani tried again, Tartini 
 repeated the interruption at the same point, and said : 
 " Too soft, my friend, too soft." Thereupon Pugnani 
 desired Tartini to take him as a pupil. This patheti- 
 cally concise description of the manner in which one 
 famous and accomplished performer listens to another 
 distinguished artiste's playing only suggests to my mind 
 one comment, which might reasonably be addressed to 
 the author of the story : " Too thick, my friend, too 
 thick." 
 
 It is related of Pugnani that he snubbed Voltaire 
 about his verses on one occasion when that brilliant 
 genius is said to have shown a little under-breeding by 
 talking loudly during one of the former's violin solos. 
 One or two trifling, gossipy anecdotes of this kind, if 
 true, indicate that the great Piedmontese violinist was of 
 a slightly irritable and impressionable nature. He was 
 a prolific composer of secular, as well as sacred music, 
 and those of his violin pieces which have been published 
 display a fine sense of melody. He had a violin school 
 in Turin, and trained a number of fine players, among 
 whom was Viotti. The circumstance that Pugnani 
 was the teacher of this father of modern violin playing 
 is alone sufficient to stamp him as an artiste of the
 
 264 THE 1IDULE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 highest grade. He died in Turin in 1803 an old man. 
 His works include four grand operas, two or three 
 comic operas, and ballets, and cantatas, some nine 
 concertos for the violin, and a lot of sonatas, duets, 
 trios, quartets, quintets, symphonies, etc. Very few 
 have been published. 
 
 FELICE GIARDINI. 
 
 This was another distinguished pupil of G. B. Somis 
 of Turin. He was born there in 1716, but was sent to 
 Milan while quite a child to learn music and was one 
 of the choir boys in the Cathedral there. He received 
 instruction in singing from Paladini, but having shown 
 a decided inclination for the violin, his father sent him 
 back to Turin and placed him with Somis, with whom 
 he remained for a number of years. Giardini's first 
 attempt on his own account was in Rome, where he was 
 not successful, and repaired without delay to Naples. 
 There he was more fortunate and got employment in 
 the orchestra of the theatre. He was a somewhat florid 
 performer who was in the habit of adding decorations of 
 his own to the music of the composer, and that not only 
 in leading parts but also in ordinary accompaniments. 
 The public were not accustomed to this, but they took 
 to it, and used to applaud him. How he would have 
 relished this sort of thing done to his own music by any 
 other man, we do not know, but we learn what Jomelli 
 thought of it. One evening when Giardini was playing 
 in the orchestra while an opera of Jomelli's was on, that 
 composer sat down beside him. He had, very likely,
 
 VIOLINISTS. 265. 
 
 either heard, or heard of, Giardini's style of doing 
 things. At any rate, when, as usual the latter began 
 to decorate his part in the approved manner, Jomelli 
 suddenly gave him a smack in the face with his open 
 hand, which brought the florid embellishments to 
 an end. Giardini was very young, and it is to his 
 credit that the rude lesson appears to have been 
 learnt even in a story book. 
 
 When he was twenty-eight years old he appeared in 
 London and stayed there for a year or two. In 1748 
 he went to Paris and became very popular. In eighteen 
 months he returned to London and had increased 
 success in every way. He was a favourite in Court 
 circles and made large sums of money both by teaching 
 and playing. In an evil hour in 1756, he undertook 
 Italian opera and in a very short time lost every penny 
 he had made. In 1763 he began again teaching and 
 giving concerts, but, in a year or two the tide of fortune 
 turned, and another violinist divided with him the 
 public favour. He left this country in 1784, and 
 returned to Naples as poor as he had come. Sir 
 William Hamilton was of service to him there and he 
 spent a few years in the place of his earlier triumphs. 
 He then went to Russia and died in Moscow in 1796. 
 He composed a good deal, and almost all his work was 
 published in London. He composed the operetta 
 " Love in a Village " and one or two grand operas, the 
 oratorio of " Ruth," and a number of Italian songs, 
 duets, catches, etc., and a good deal of violin music in 
 the shape of solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, and 
 also several concertos.
 
 266 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 GIOVANNI BATTISTA VIOTTI. 
 
 This player was by far the greatest performer of his 
 day, and many a day previous to his appearance. He, 
 Tartini, and Corelli, share the highest honours of 
 virtuosity awarded down to Viotti's time and the last 
 named is very justly called, as already noted, the father 
 of modern violin playing. He was born in Fontanetto 
 in Piedmont in 1753. His father was in a comfortable 
 position in life, and being a good amateur musician 
 gave his son some elementary instruction in music. 
 He had his first cheap fiddle when he was eight years 
 old and when he was eleven he had a year's tuition in 
 music from a guitar player, who was an excellent 
 musician and also played the violin. For two years 
 after this he had no personal supervision but studied 
 from books. In 1766, he was noticed by an ecclesi- 
 astic who afterwards became Archbishop of Turin, and 
 who had him sent there for tuition. In several tests 
 to which young Viotti was submitted the lad acquitted 
 himself in quite an amazing manner, and showed himself 
 possessed of a musical memory which was absolutely 
 astounding. He was at once placed under Pugnani as 
 soon as that artiste opened his famous school, which was 
 shortly after Viotti's arrival in Turin. Altogether the 
 cost of Viotti's education was about /"iooo, and this 
 was borne by the Prince of Cisterna in the most 
 munificent and kindly manner. So for as concerns 
 patronage and encouragement I do not know that any 
 other violinist has had the opportunities with which 
 Viotti was favoured in his youth. He bore himself 
 throughout in a manner which has done honour to his
 
 c. n. VIOTTI.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 267 
 
 profession. When his studies under Pugnani were 
 drawing to a close that master personally introduced 
 him to all the musical centres of Europe, finally parting 
 company in Paris where they arrived in 1782. Viotti 
 had, in the French capital, an overwhelming reception 
 on his first appearance, and he was soon taken up by 
 the court. But his popularity in France continued 
 only for about two years. For some unexplained 
 reason he was very coldly received by a small audience 
 at one of the Concerts Spirituels, while at the very next 
 of the same series an inferior performer had quite an 
 ovation. This was towards the end of 1783. Whether 
 Viotti read between the lines or not one cannot say but 
 the circumstance galled him so much that he resolved 
 never to play publicly in Paris again, and only once> 
 twenty years afterwards, did he do so. He continued 
 to play at Court, however, and in private circles. In 
 this year (1783) he paid a hurried visit to his native 
 place, and bought some property there, returning to 
 Paris in the following year, where he enjoyed honours 
 and emoluments having been appointed to the post, 
 among other offices, of musical director of the Italian 
 Opera until the period of the French Revolution, 
 when (1792) he came to London in an almost ruined con- 
 dition pecuniarily. In this country he at once succeeded 
 professionally, but the government fancied he had better 
 not remain goodness only knows why. Probably 
 some panic-notion that it would be as well not to give 
 unnecessary offence to the revolutionary party. At any- 
 rate he went to the neighbourhood of Hamburg and 
 remained there until 1794, when he was at liberty to
 
 l68 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 return to London. He made his home here and is 
 supposed to be one of the founders of the Philharmonic 
 Society. He revisited Paris twice. Once in 1802, and 
 again in 1819, when he stayed two years directing the 
 opera. He came back to London in 1822. He had 
 started a wine business in London which was not very 
 profitable, and this, and his want of success in the opera 
 management, appears to have greatly depressed him. 
 His brother died at this time and the intelligence of his 
 demise weighed him down still farther. He died in 
 London on the loth March, 1824. Viotti's works are 
 too well known to require special mention. They 
 consist of concertos, sonatas, duets, trios, quartets, 
 symphonies, etc., almost all of which are still played. 
 
 PIERRE MARIE FRANCOIS DE SALES BAILLOT. 
 
 This distinguished French violinist was born at Passy 
 in 1771. He began to play the violin when he was 
 about seven years old. His family had moved about a 
 little and, when the lad's father died, they were in 
 Corsica. The Governor offered to have Pierre educated 
 along with his own children, and he was sent with them 
 to Rome, where he was placed with a violinist named 
 Pollani, who had been a pupil of Nardini. He returned 
 to Corsica in 1785, and then relinquished the violin as a 
 profession for that of secretary to the Governor. In this 
 office he remained until 1791, when he went to Paris. 
 The revolution was just about to burst, but they still 
 had the play and Baillot got employment as second 
 violin in the Theatre Feydeau, where he became 
 acquainted with Rode. He remained in this orchestra
 
 VIOLINISTS. 269 
 
 only for a few months, until he obtained an appointment 
 at the Treasury. He was at the Treasury for ten years, 
 and laid aside the fiddle except as an amateur. That 
 does not, however, mean that he relinquished practice. 
 He merely did not play professionally. After that period 
 he went into the army and served for nearly two years, 
 but returned to Paris in 1795. From the last named 
 date until he died in 1842, he was exclusively devoted to 
 his instrument, became professor in the newly-founded 
 Conservatoire and added one more name to the illus- 
 trious roll of French violinists. But it is a mistake to 
 say that he was a pupil of Viotti's. That he never was. 
 Viotti was driven out of Paris a ruined man just as 
 Baillot entered it. Baillot published a quantity of music 
 for the violin, besides being one of the joint authors of 
 the fine violin school which is known under the name of 
 " Rode, Baillot and Kreutzer." 
 
 JAMES PETER JOSEPH RODE. 
 
 This artiste was the most distinguished of the splendid 
 band of performers who owed their training to G. B. 
 Viotti. He was born in the Rue du Loup, Bordeaux, 
 on the 1 6th February, 1774, died at Damazan on the 
 26th November, 1830, and was buried at Bordeaux. 
 He played the violin as a boy in his father's shop, and 
 used to be heard and admired by the neighbours and 
 passers by. His first teacher was A. J. Fauvel, who 
 was himself a pupil of Gervais. When Rode was 
 twelve years old he was known in Bordeaux as a young 
 virtuoso, and as he had been with Fauvel for six years 
 it will be seen that he began young. He went with his
 
 27O THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 teacher to Paris when he was fourteen, and had an 
 introduction to Viotti, who was so struck with the boy's 
 ability that he received him as a pupil. In three years 
 time (1790) he made his first appearance with his 
 master's sixth concerto and gained a distinct success. 
 He then entered the band in the Theatre Feydeau, and 
 was soon promoted from the sixth desk in the first to the 
 second desk in the second violins. In the same year 
 (1791) Baillot joined the second violins and these two 
 became fast friends. Next year he met Kreutzer, and 
 the three joined to produce the famous violin school 
 referred to in the notice of Baillot. From 1793 to 1797, 
 there is a large amount of confusion in the biographical 
 accounts of this artiste. Some say he became a soldier, 
 or rather, played the clarionet in a regimental band at 
 Angers. Others that he sailed for Hamburg, but was 
 driven towards the English coast, and took the people of 
 this country by storm. We catch sight of him again in 
 Paris in 1797, where he entered the opera as solo violin, 
 and the Conservatoire as professor. Two years later he 
 went to Spain and was splendidly received there. In 
 1803 he made a progress towards Russia, where he 
 arrived in 1804 and remained until 1808, when he 
 reappears in Paris. He was still a young man only 
 thirty-four but he now began to fail, and from this 
 point onwards, his career was rather a downward one. 
 He started a new tour in 1811, and married a wealthy 
 lady in Berlin a widow named Madame Galliari. He 
 stayed there for some years but did not play much in 
 public. About 1820 he returned to Bordeaux and 
 -worked at his compositions. Eight years afterwards he
 
 VIOLINISTS. 271 
 
 thought he would like to play again in Paris, but the 
 reception which he had when he did it so thoroughly 
 broke his spirit, that he went back to Bordeaux really a 
 dying man. His wife took him to a country seat she 
 had bought at Damazan, but he lingered on in the same 
 condition till the i3th November, when a stroke of 
 paralysis brought the end of this melodious soul near, 
 and, as already stated, he died on the 26th of the same 
 month. Every violinist knows " Rode's Air in G," his 
 " Martial Air in A," his Concertos and Caprices the 
 last named being really indispensible to every player. 
 He composed altogether between forty and fifty pieces 
 for violin and voice, in addition to his share in the 
 famous Conservatoire " School " already mentioned. 
 
 RODOLPHE KREUTZER. 
 
 The third member of the famous trio who made up 
 the magnificent violin school for the then recently 
 founded Conservatoire, this artiste claims, and receives, 
 a high place among the ranks of great violin players. 
 He was born in Versailles in 1766. His father was a 
 musician in the king's chapel there, and so was young 
 Rodolphe's teacher, Anton Stamitz, the second son of 
 the founder of the Mannheim School. Kreutzer began 
 early, for it is said that he played a Concerto of his own 
 composition when he was thirteen. He had, of course, 
 almost lived in an atmosphere of music, but so have 
 other distinguished composers, such as Haydn, Mozart, 
 Beethoven, and I think the statement that Kreutzer's 
 musical nature was so gifted that he composed by 
 instinct, and without having received a single lesson in
 
 272 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 harmony is one which need hardly be pressed. He is 
 sufficiently famous without its aid. When he was 
 sixteen his father died, and Marie Antoinette, who 
 had taken an interest in him, had him promoted to 
 the desk of first violin, vacant through his father's 
 decease. In 1782, he heard Viotti in Paris, and then 
 set himself to developing his own talent until he became 
 one of the greatest exponents of the fiddle fingerboard of 
 his day. In 1790 he was admitted as first violin in the 
 opera, and he began then to compose dramatic music. 
 He travelled Germany and Italy a short time, and then 
 returned to Paris. The Conservatoire had just been 
 founded during the revolution, and he was appointed 
 professor. He held a great many appointments in his 
 time, and " whatsoever King did reign," he was there. 
 Solo violin at the opera, member of the music in the 
 First Consul's Chapel, solo violin of the Emperor's 
 private band, Chapel Master to Louis Philippe, and 
 Conductor at the opera. Throughout all these changes, 
 ranging from 1792, when he was in Louis XVI. 's band, 
 till 1827, he was professor at the Conservatoire. In the 
 last named year he ceded the chair to his brother 
 Auguste, another fine performer. 
 
 He had to relinquish public performing through an 
 accident to his left shoulder, sustained by a fall from 
 his carriage, or rather, his carriage was upset, and he 
 was thrown out. The dislocation was never properly 
 adjusted, and his health greatly deteriorated in conse- 
 quence. He had several strokes of apoplexy, and died 
 at Geneva in June, 1831. Every violin player, it may 
 again be said, is familiar with " Kreutzer's Studies,"
 
 VIOLINISTS. 273 
 
 an absolutely colossal work, without which it would be 
 difficult to imagine how violin classes could now-a-days 
 get on, although we all know that they got on very well 
 indeed for perhaps a century and a half before they were 
 written. Still, such is the force of habit, if they dis- 
 appeared from our curriculum, it would be like dropping 
 a book from the canon of scripture. 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPPE LAFONT. 
 
 This great representative of an earlier French school 
 was born in Paris in 1781. His mother was a good 
 player, and she gave him his early lessons. His 
 mother's brother was Isidore Berthaume, quite a 
 distinguished performer of the pre-revolution school, and 
 he afterwards took the child in hand, and by the time 
 Lafont was eleven years of age, he was playing solos at 
 concerts in Germany his uncle was settled in Olden- 
 burg. Somewhat later Lafont became a pupil of Rode, 
 and afterwards travelled over all the continent, receiving 
 the most enthusiastic plaudits everywhere. He challenged 
 Paganini to a contest, and although the latter considered 
 it extremely injudicious for two public performers to 
 engage in such a warfare, and he was quite right, the 
 affair came off, and Paganini is reported to have 
 courteously admitted that Lafont " probably excelled 
 him in tone." In 1808, Lafont was at St. Petersburg, 
 and remained there for six years, occupying the post of 
 first solo violin player to the Emperor. On his return 
 to France, he was appointed first violin of the 
 King's' private band, and filled other appointments. 
 After 1815, Lafont went on the Continent again, and also
 
 274 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 tni veiled about France. In the year 1839, an accident, 
 similar to Kreutzer's befell him, but with more 
 immediately fatal results. He was on tour with the 
 pianist Herz, and was sitting outside the diligence, when 
 it was overturned between Bagneres de Bigorre and 
 Tarbes. Lafont was killed on the spot. 
 
 NICOLO PAGANINI. 
 
 There can be very little doubt as to the position 
 which this wonderful man occupied in his day, and 
 there need be as little doubt regarding the place he 
 holds in the ranks of violinists down to the present. 
 An easy first he still remains as a violin player. The 
 most striking testimony to his matchless skill is the 
 almost unimpeachable unanimity of judgment in his 
 favour displayed by the artistes in his own profession. 
 And what astounded them, subdued them, and, in one or 
 two cases one might almost say, appalled them, was not 
 his manual dexterity that was chiefly what astonished 
 his general public, and was wonderful enough, appar- 
 ently, in all conscience but that seemingly superhuman 
 power of intense expression which drew the majority of 
 artistes to his shrine, and those who were without envy 
 to speak freely to his feet. We can surely in some 
 measure realise what it must have been to hear him 
 when we find men of all nationalities uniting in rapturous 
 plaudits of this man's genius. It was the daily practice 
 of these men to use, in their profession, the highest 
 possible means, within their capacity, of emotional 
 expression in their music, and when, as I have said, we 
 find them almost unanimous in looking on Paganini as
 
 NICOLO PAGANINI.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 275 
 
 the " despair of their art " to use an expression which 
 is not particularly happy, but, judging from its frequent 
 employment, seems intelligible enough we may well 
 risk still placing him at the head of all violinists. 
 
 He was born in Genoa on the i8th February, 1784. 
 His father Antonio Paganini was a musician of some 
 skill, and taught him the guitar, an instrument on 
 which our hero became a magnificent performer. It is, 
 indeed, reported by those who heard him, that his 
 ability was as distinguished on that instrument as it 
 was on the violin. His mother's maiden name was 
 Teresa Bocciardi. She was also a musician, and she 
 must have held the art in very high esteem indeed, 
 when she felt that the wish nearest her heart was that 
 her son should become the greatest violinist in the 
 world. It was undoubtedly a curious dream which 
 Paganini used to say she had. An angel appeared to 
 her people would now say a spirit and desired her to 
 name her dearest wish and she named it as above. His 
 first instruments were the mandoline and, probably, the 
 guitar, but soon he took up the violin under the 
 instruction of a player named Servetto. When he really 
 commenced to play the violin is not known, but it is said 
 that he was about five when he began the mandoline. 
 He must have made great progress, because about this 
 time Kreutzer was in Genoa, and Paganini was brought 
 in to play to him, and the child actually played some of 
 Kreutzer's difficult music, as " difficult " was then 
 understood, at sight. It is recorded that the great 
 French player was " amazed," and from that day the 
 fame of little Nicolo increased so rapidly, that by the 
 
 T2
 
 276 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 time when he was seven years old, he was quite famous. 
 It would be impossible to embody in a brief notice 
 like this anything approaching to detail in recounting 
 his career. His success was so marvellous, and the 
 exhibition of his exceptional powers on his instrument so 
 entrancing and inexplicable that people who cannot live 
 happily unless they are in a position to explain every- 
 thing in a natural or a supernatural way, people to whom 
 a confession of ignorance is a shameful humiliation, and 
 the expression of wonder an utter impossibility the more 
 ignorant portion, in short, of his public began to cast 
 about for reasons which might appease their hunger and 
 thirst after explanations. The devil was, of course, the 
 inevitable resource of these people they never dreamt 
 of falling back on the mother's angel. Perhaps they did 
 not know the story of the dream one may almost say 
 certainly not. Still, it never struck them to try the angel. 
 The man himself was, apparently, now and again a little 
 reckless in his way of living, and, of course, angels never 
 trouble themselves about people of that sort. All 
 history, religious and profane, had made that quite clear. 
 They therefore fixed on the devil, and saw him at 
 Paganini's elbow, and they saw his cloven hoof also. 
 His Satanic majesty must be a sublime idiot after all to 
 walk about all these centuries with cloven hoofs. But, 
 seriously, stories of this kind were circulated about 
 wherever he went. By-and-by, they found out that he 
 had murdered his sweetheart, had been imprisoned for 
 many years, and, during his imprisonment, had done 
 nothing but practise the violin, etc., etc. We can look 
 at all this now as extraordinary foolery, but these horrible
 
 VIOLINISTS. 277 
 
 stories followed this man to every town, and upset the 
 comfort of his life. On one occasion, he appealed to the 
 Italian Ambassador when he was in Vienna, and that 
 gentleman published a declaration in the newspapers to 
 the effect that he had known Paganini as a respectable 
 man for twenty years. This quieted the ridiculous tales 
 in that city for a time, but wherever he went they were 
 revived. Even in enlightened Paris he was made the 
 subject of all kinds of lampoons, and virulent attacks, 
 having not a shadow of truth about them. When in 
 London if he ventured to walk, people followed him in 
 the street, ran in front, and stared at him, while others 
 had the temerity to touch him, handle his clothes, etc., 
 I suppose, in order to ascertain if he really was flesh 
 and blood. The man's life must have been made a 
 complete misery to him. He had been before the 
 public since he was fourteen, constantly giving concerts, 
 and he had held, at sixteen, the post of leader and 
 director of music at the Court of Lucca, and yet there 
 were actually people at that time who asserted and 
 promulgated publicly the story about murdering his 
 sweetheart or his rival, and that he had been eight years 
 in prison for it. They did not stop to calculate that 
 this made him a murderer at the advanced age of six 
 years, with a sweetheart and a rival to operate on. We 
 laugh at the absurd stories. They were not laughing 
 matters to Paganini. They worried the man to a degree 
 of which we have no conception. They caused people 
 in these days to shun him who might have had his 
 life brightened by their society. Even during his 
 latest visit to Paris, he had to get Fetis to draw
 
 278 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 up a declaration embodying the truth about the 
 malevolence of these tales which were revived 
 against him at that time, not only concerning the 
 murder and imprisonment, but all sorts of horrible 
 crimes which were imputed to him. I do not in the 
 least wonder that the man became soured in nature. 
 The mother of his son was, apparently, a violent 
 tempered woman who moved about the household, 
 threatening to smash his fiddles, and so on. Altogether, to 
 put it mildly,he seems to have had his fair share of troubles. 
 His affection for his son was of a deep and tender kind. 
 He was always thinking about him when absent, sending 
 his love to him, begging the friends to whom he was 
 writing to be sure and give the messages, emphasising 
 them every other sentence, and beseeching them to let 
 him know about his Achilles his son's name. In his 
 lodgings he used to have sham fights with him, when the 
 little chap, with his wooden sword, would drive his long ? 
 lean parent up against the bedstead, and threaten him 
 with the direst consequences unless he consented to die, 
 which he always had to do. Paganini tried to teach him 
 the violin, but he did not take to it. This greatest of 
 all violinists died at Nice on ayth May, 1840. 
 
 CAMILLO SIVORI. 
 
 This artiste is the only known pupil of Paganini. He 
 was born on 6th June, 1817, in Genoa, and is still alive. 
 Paganini's art of teaching was a peculiar one. When 
 Sivori went for his lesson it consisted often of a good 
 deal of scolding and interruptions, ending by Paganini 
 playing the exercise, or whatever it was, and telling
 
 DR. LOUIS SPOHR.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 279 
 
 Sivori not to come back until he could do it in the same 
 style. Since 1836, Sivori has travelled a great deal in 
 Europe, and America in 1846 to 1848. He was highly 
 appreciated in this country and is at present living in 
 Genoa. 
 
 LOUIS SPOHR. 
 
 This great violin master and musician occupies a very 
 high place if not. indeed the very highest among 
 German artistes. It may be pointed out, by the way, 
 that he never calls himself " Ludwig " but always 
 " Louis, " in his Autobiography, as has been indicated by 
 the author of the article in Grove's Dictionary. I may 
 add to this, from documents in my own possession, 
 that he also signed his name "Louis" and not 
 " Ludwig," not only in his correspondence, but also if 
 he had to sign a piece of his own music. Sometimes 
 he also signed in what may seem a rather imposing 
 manner " Dr. Louis Spohr." He was born at 
 Brunswick, in 1784. When he was two years old, his 
 father, who was a doctor, moved to the small town of 
 Seesen, and Spohr spent there the early years of his 
 childhood. Both his father and mother were musicians 
 of some culture, and when he was five they bought him 
 a little violin on which he found out the notes for 
 himself and played over, to his mother's piano accom- 
 paniment, the music they were in the habit of singing 
 or playing. The rector of the place, whose name was 
 Riemen Schneider, gave him his first lessons. They 
 were necessarily of an amateur kind, and so were those 
 of his second instructor, but he was a more advanced
 
 2&O THE FIDDLE FAN'CIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 player named Dufour. At the latter's instance young 
 Spohr was sent to Brunswick to the grammar school 
 there and at the same time began the serious study of 
 the violin under a player named Kunisch, who was in 
 the Duke of Brunswick's band. He was also taught 
 counterpoint by Hartung, an organist, and never 
 received any other instruction in musical composition. He 
 had further instruction in violin playing from the leader 
 of the band, Mancourt, and when he was fourteen, or 
 rather younger, he played a concerto of his own at a 
 school concert. He then tried a tour and went to 
 Hamburg, but could not get up a concert. Returned to 
 Brunswick sorely depressed and without money, or very 
 little. He wrote to the Duke asking for mea.ns to con- 
 tinue his studies. The Duke heard, and gave him an 
 appointment in his band, and by-and-by arranged for 
 him to receive further violin instruction from Franz 
 Eck. They were to travel together, and in 1802 meant to 
 go to Russia but made a prolonged wait at Hamburg 
 and Strelitz. By-and-by they arrived in St. Petersburg, 
 and after remaining through the winter there Spohr 
 returned to Brunswick the following summer, where he 
 heard Pierre Rode play. This made a great impression 
 on Spohr. He then gave a concert himself and started 
 to go to Paris, but had his Guarnerius stolen from him, 
 and had to return to Brunswick in order to arrange for 
 another instrument. He next went to several German 
 towns and in 1805 became leader of the Duke of 
 Gotha's band. In the following year he married 
 Dorette Scheidler, a harp-player, and began to write 
 arge instrumental and other works. Between 1805 and
 
 VIOLINISTS. 28l 
 
 1813 he toured through Germany, accompanied by his 
 wife, and in the last named year accepted the appoint- 
 ment of conductor at the Theatre-an-der-Wien, Vienna. 
 In 1815 or 1816, the two went to Italy on a concert tour 
 with great success and returned to Germany in the follow- 
 ing year. In 1818 he was conductor of the opera at 
 Frankfort where he produced his Faust. In 1820 the 
 Philharmonic Society invited him to London, and he 
 paid his first visit to this country. From that date his 
 career was one continuous triumph till a few years 
 before his death. He was immensely pleased with the 
 Philharmonic, admitting that he had never heard such 
 splendid performances. He frequently came here after 
 he accepted the life appointment of music director at 
 Cassel in 1822. The last time he was over was in 
 1853, and shortly after that his health began to give 
 way. He lost his wife in 1834 anc ^ married again in 
 1836. In 1857 he broke his arm, and had to give up the 
 violin, and his last public appearance of importance was 
 in 1858, when he conducted the jubilee celebration at the 
 Prague Conservatoire. He died in Cassel on October 
 i6th, 1859. These facts are almost wholly taken from 
 his Autobiography, which is one of the most interesting 
 musical works of a personal character published during 
 the present century. 
 
 CHARLES AUGUST DE BERIOT. 
 
 This artiste is, perhaps, the best known representa- 
 tive of the Belgian school of the past. He was born 
 in Louvain in 1802, and although he attended the 
 Conservatoire in Paris for a few months under the
 
 282 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 guidance of Baillot, he really derived no assistance in the 
 development of his powers from that school. Before he 
 went to Paris in 1821, he was an artiste of the highest 
 class, and when he consulted Viotti on reaching the 
 French Capital, the latter strongly advised him to follow 
 his own bent, seeing he had nothing to learn which he 
 could not teach himself. He was a magnificent per- 
 former for brilliancy and delicacy of touch, with a fine, 
 melodic sense. The latter quality is strongly marked in 
 much of his music, and especially in his " Airs Varies." 
 He is one of those examples of the developing power of 
 individual genius, of which we have instances in Paganini, 
 Ole Bull, and one or two others, for although, like them, 
 he received instructions from a resident teacher, a violinist 
 in Louvain named Tiby, he was not burdened with the 
 traditions of any school, although his style is classical 
 enough for all that. He met with successes wherever 
 he played, and, beginning with Paris, he travelled all 
 over Europe except Russia. His first appearance in 
 this country was in 1826, and he was very often here 
 after that. He married the celebrated singer, Madame 
 Malibran, but I am sorry I am not in a position to say 
 when with any sense of exactitude. The event occurred 
 before I was born, and I have not yet had an opportunity 
 of examining into the matter at first hand, so I give a 
 selection of the various dates given by various authorities. 
 One important biograpical work gives the date as 1830. 
 Another says 1832. One of the finest and most authorita- 
 tive works in existence, and which is also the most recent, 
 states that they were married in 1835, and in another place 
 of the same work that the date was 1836. If it is any
 
 OLE BULL.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 283 
 
 satisfaction to the reader, I may say that I lean to the 
 opinion that they were married on the 26th March, 1836. 
 She died in Manchester a few days less than six months 
 after that date, and De Beriot went off at once to 
 Brussels to look after the property. But they had 
 known each other for some years, and had given many 
 concerts together. After his wife's death, De Beriot 
 remained in Brussels for four years, and his first 
 appearance afterwards was in Germany. He was 
 appointed chief of the violin school at the Brussels 
 Conservatoire in 1843, and remained in the chair for 
 nine years. He became blind in 1852, and retired. He 
 died at his native place in 1870. One important 
 publication gives the year of his birth as 1770. This is 
 an error. His music, as every violinist knows, has been, 
 and is yet, very popular. Some of his melodies are 
 exceedingly beautiful. He also wrote a great many 
 duets, some books of studies, seven concertos, and a 
 " school." 
 
 OLE BORNEMANN BULL. 
 
 This great Norse magican was born in Bergen on 
 February 5th, 1810. His father and mother were 
 musical, but an " Uncle Jens " used to have quartets on 
 Tuesday evenings, and to these Ole Bull could probably 
 have traced his earliest musical longings. Even as a 
 baby he would be found under the table or sofa listening 
 to the quartets of Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven. His 
 uncle, who played the 'cello, would put him inside the 
 case and play to him, while he bribed him with sweet- 
 meats not to move. This was when he was about three
 
 284 THK MDDLK FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 years old. When he was five, his uncle bought him a 
 violin, and his widow relates that when the child played 
 his first tune on it he felt as if he had ascended to the 
 clouds. All young children are delighted when they 
 accomplish something which they see done by their elders, 
 but the after career of this magnificent man places 
 beyond a doubt that the joy he felt was more than the 
 ordinary glee of childish satisfaction. The whole life of 
 Ole Bull was a poem, and one of the most elevating 
 kind. He had the highest possible appreciation of the 
 power of executive art, and he employed that power in 
 the noblest manner. His first teacher was a Dane a 
 Mr. Paulsen but the little fellow really played the violin 
 tolerably well almost from the first moment he handled 
 it, although he had to stand at his mother's knee while 
 she screwed the pegs for him his baby fingers not 
 being strong enough for the duty. This Mr. Paulsen 
 probably exhausted his own knowledge in the teaching 
 of Ole, for on one of the Tuesday evenings when 
 Paulsen should have led the quartet, he was so drunk 
 as to be useless. Ole's uncle called out to him, " Come 
 my boy, do your best and you shall have a stick of 
 candy." Ole Bull at this time was eight years old. He 
 took up his violin, and, to the amazement of all, played 
 through a quartet of Pleyel's which he had frequently 
 heard, and played all the movements accurately. After 
 this Paulsen's lessons were given more regularly, but he 
 soon suddenly left Bergen, and the boy had no regular 
 instruction from the time he was nine until he reached 
 the age of twelve. Then a Swedish player named 
 Lundholm took up his abode in the town, and Ole was
 
 VIOLINISTS. 285 
 
 sent to him. When he was fourteen his grandmother 
 got him, at his earnest .request, Paganini's Studies, and 
 he actually mastered these in a very short time, and 
 nonplussed his teacher. By-and-by he was sent to the 
 University at Christiania to study for the church and 
 was duly plucked and little wonder, seeing that he 
 played the violin all night previous to the day of his 
 examination, and as far on as seven in the morning, 
 while his " exam." came on at nine ! The professor 
 remarked to him, " It is the best thing that could have 
 happened to you,'' and had him appointed Director of 
 the Philharmonic and Dramatic Societies of Christiania. 
 From this point his artistic career may be said to begin, 
 and it was, with two notably exceptional periods, a 
 triumphal progress through the whole civilised universe. 
 The first exception was on the occasion of his^isit to 
 Paris in 1831. He had gone there to take his place in 
 the world of art, having in his pocket thejproceeds of 
 some concerts he had given just before leaving Norway. 
 He met with no encouragement, could not even get heard 
 and to crown all, an old rascal who stayed in the same 
 hotel in which he lodged, robbed him of all his money 
 and belongings, leaving him nothing but an old suit of 
 clothes. Absolute want stared him in the face, but he 
 happened to meet an accquaintance who introduced him 
 to his own landlady, and became security for him to the 
 extent of sixty francs per month until^he couhThear from 
 his friends in Norway. This is the time when that 
 singular stroke of luck befell him at play, and which is 
 so often referred to in a vague and inaccurate manner. 
 The circumstances are as follow : His landlady and his
 
 286 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDH. 
 
 friend were beginning to look askance at him when, one 
 morning, a stranger of somewhat odd appearance was 
 at the breakfast table, and Ole Bull's friend remarked 
 that he was a detective. The former replied that he 
 suspected as much, and these comments being overheard, 
 the visitor became very angry, but on Ole Bull responding 
 in a quiet, gentlemanly manner, his mood changed, and 
 he presently began to take an interest in the Norwegian. 
 He appeared to divine Ole Bull's position, and requested 
 him to go with him to a small public house in the 
 vicinity, as he had something to tell him. When they 
 arrived there the stranger said to Bull, " I know you are 
 in want. Follow my advice. You must try your luck 
 at play." "But I have no money." ''You must get 
 five francs ; then go to-night, between ten and eleven 
 o'clock, not earlier, to Frascati's, in the Boulevard 
 Montmartre. Mount the stairs, ring the bell, and give 
 your hat boldly to the liveried servant in attendance ; 
 enter the hall, go straight to the table, put your five 
 francs on the red, and let them remain there." Ole Bull 
 did as he was told, exactly, and when he found himself 
 at the table in putting his money on the red he did it 
 awkwardly, and it rolled over to the black and was lost. 
 He almost lost consciousness, but at the next coup he 
 heard the cry, " Play, Gentlemen," and he called out, 
 cinque francs but his Norwegian accent made it sound 
 like cent francs, and a hundred francs were passed over to 
 him. He placed these on the red and won, again, and 
 won, and again, and again, until eight hundred francs 
 were lying beside him. Suddenly a small diamond- 
 decorated hand slid over the table and covered his pile.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 287 
 
 He seized it, and there was a scream and an uproar. 
 Immediately a clear and commanding voice said, 
 " Madame, leave this gold alone," and, to Ole Bull, 
 " Take your money, Sir, if you please." When the 
 violinist turned to look at the speaker, he found him to 
 be his friend of the morning, and afterward learned that 
 he was Vidocq, the chief of the police. The other 
 exceptional period of his life was when he found himself 
 utterly ruined, after paying the price of an American 
 estate on which to settle a Norwegian colony, and having 
 to restore the land to the rightful owner the company 
 from whom he bought it having no title whatever. He 
 was a man of marvellous energy, or he could never have 
 recovered from that shock, but he started again 
 with his violin and bow, and righted himself completely. 
 Another interesting episode in this artiste's career is 
 his meeting with his first wife. The cholera was raging 
 in Paris shortly after the time of the Vidocq incident, 
 and a house to which he removed was invaded by it. 
 He could find no employment, and night after night he 
 used to wander about the street in positive want for 
 his eight hundred francs, after paying his debts, did not 
 last very long. One day, while roaming through the 
 streets, he saw a little ticket in the window of a house 
 in the rue des Martyrs, " Furnished rooms to let." He 
 ascended the stairs, and when he rang the bell and the 
 door was opened, a young lady cried, " Look at him, 
 Grandmama." Grandmama put on her glasses, looked 
 at him, and the tears welled up in her eyes. He was 
 the picture of a son she had just lost, and was told to 
 come back next day. It was high time. He had
 
 288 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 stopped opposite that house because he felt as if he could 
 go no farther from sheer exhaustion, and he was no 
 sooner in it than he was attacked by brain fever. 
 When consciousness returned, the old lady was sitting 
 by his bedside nursing him as if she had been his own 
 mother, and the young lady was Alexandrine Felicie 
 Villeminot, his future wife. 
 
 Sometimes his irrepressible sense of humour proved 
 an impediment in his path. Shortly after his recovery 
 from fever he applied for an appointment in the Opera 
 Comigue band. Competitors for the place were tested 
 in playing at sight, and when he went forward to the 
 desk the music placed for him was so extraordinarily 
 simple, that on the spur of the moment he asked at 
 which end he was to begin. The examiner did not see 
 the fun of it, but, without replying, rejected him without 
 a hearing. He had another very laughable experience 
 with fiddle varnish. A gentleman named Lacour had 
 made the discovery like so many others that by the 
 use of his particular varnish an ordinary fiddle could 
 be made equal to a Cremonese instrument. Ole Bull 
 was then a little over twenty-one, and a good old chest- 
 nut like this was quite a novelty to him, so he arranged 
 with Lacour to play on a fiddle varnished by his pro- 
 cess. It was to be at a Soiree given by the Duke of 
 Riario, the Italian minister at Paris, and was a splendid 
 opportunity for the young man, so, armed with the 
 precious instrument, he determined to make it, if 
 possible, the turning point in his career. The heat of 
 the apartment, filled with a brilliant company, was so 
 intense that the varnish on the fiddle began to smell in
 
 VIOLINISTS. 289 
 
 a most offensive degree. Assafoetida entered largely 
 into the composition of the varnish, and it was com- 
 paratively new. At first it merely annoyed him slightly, 
 but as he played on and the heat of his chin and neck 
 worked up the varnish at the tail piece, the smell was 
 dreadful just under his nose, and when he realised that 
 the horrible odour must be permeating the room in his 
 immediate neighbourhood, he became quite excited. 
 The warmth of the contact between fiddle and chin 
 increased, the heat of the room increased, and the 
 odour seemed to treble in pungency. He was a 
 player who could turn his head round a good bit, 
 but he could not remove the fiddle, and the agony 
 became almost unendurable. Furiously he played on, 
 the hideous odour growing worse and worse, until he 
 quite expected to be saluted with smiles and laughter 
 amid a general stampede from his vicinity. When he 
 had finished, the smiles were his, but they were smiles 
 of congratulation from all sides, no one seemingly 
 having observed what was so painfully near his own 
 olfactories. It was an awful experience, however, which 
 probably made him duly cautious in similar circumstances 
 for the whole term of his natural life. From this time 
 onward his evil fortune passed away and almost every 
 important town in the civilised world had a visit from 
 him, and many of them more than one. 
 
 His first appearance in this country was on May 2ist, 
 1836, a feat which he succeeded in achieving after the 
 most extraordinary, tricky intrigue against him on the 
 part of that curiously envious violinist, Nicolas Mori. 
 After this, his successes were of an altogether exceptional
 
 290 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 character, and for about eighteen months, he almost 
 wore himself out giving concerts. The Duke of Devon- 
 shire had him down at Chatsworth for rest and quiet, 
 and forbade him to play, but on one occasion he played 
 there till midnight, with results which caused the Duke 
 to make the prohibition absolute, and take means to see 
 that it was enforced. In this year he was married in Paris 
 to the young lady whose grandmother had been so kind 
 to him, and they returned to London. Shortly after, 
 he arranged for a tour in the United States, and subse- 
 quently passed many years of his life in America, where 
 he evolved that scheme fdr Norwegian settlers, which 
 ended so disastrously, but so honourably. All the 
 circumstances of his life are delightfully told by his 
 widow in her memoir of her distinguished husband, and 
 the above details are taken from that work. When I 
 was a young man, I had the honour to receive some 
 slight personal directions in violin playing from him, 
 and I have a very vivid recollection of the extreme 
 kindness of his manner, and the dignity of his bearing. 
 He was an exceedingly tall, and exceptionally handsome 
 man. He was a very enthusiastic student of old violins, 
 and was fond of carrying out, and seeing carried 
 out, experiments in the direction tending to reveal the 
 supposed mysteries of their manufacture. He possessed, 
 at different times, many fine instruments, and the one 
 which he called his " Gasparo da Salo," has become 
 quite famous. He is, I fancy, the only violinist who 
 ever played a solo on the top of the pyramid of Cheops, 
 a curious feat which he accomplished on his sixty-sixth 
 birthday, completely enthralling the Bedouins about
 
 VIOLINISTS. 291 
 
 him until he had finished, when they sprang to their feet 
 on the summit of the old world structure, as if suddenly 
 charged with electricity, and shouted the name of 
 "Allah! Allah!" 
 
 In the month of July, 1880, Ole Bull was taken ill in 
 Liverpool after landing from his last trip from America. 
 \Yhen the symptoms grew violent, he insisted on sailing 
 to his home in the island of Lysoe, where he had built him- 
 self a beautiful house. Dr. Moore, of Liverpool, accom- 
 panied him and attended him to the last. When the 
 melancholy home coming was ended, and the great man 
 was laid in his music room overlooking the waters of the 
 Bjorne Fjord, after a short period of fitful hopes and 
 fears, there he died, regretted by the whole world of 
 music-loving people high and low. 
 
 He is buried in the centre of the old Bergen Cemetery, 
 and the finest of all tributes paid to his memory was 
 when after all the funeral orations had been delivered, 
 and the wreaths put on his grave, and the regular 
 mourners had departed, poor peasants from all parts of 
 the country around Bergen slipped up to the grave, and 
 in hundreds, placed their green boughs, ferns, and 
 flowers on the last resting place of their great friend. 
 
 WILLIAM BERNHARD MOLIQUE. 
 
 This master was born in Nuremberg in 1802. He 
 had his first tuition from his father, who filled some 
 civic post as musician. King Maximilian I. of Bavaria, 
 noticed young Molique's talent, and had him sent to 
 Munich to be trained by Pietro Rovelli. Two years 
 later, Molique accepted a position in the Court Chapel 
 
 V2
 
 THE FIDDLE FANCIERS GUIDE. 
 
 in Vienna, and a year after that Rovelli died, and the 
 young violinist was recalled to Munich to fill Rovelli's 
 place. Spohr is understood to have given him some 
 suggestions both in regard to violin playing and 
 composition. Molique made his first tour in 1822. In 
 1826, he went to an important appointment in Stuttgart, 
 and from there he made annual tours throughout Europe 
 during his vacation, and until 1849, when he almost per- 
 manently settled here in London. He remained twenty 
 years in this country, and wrote concertos, quartets, trios, 
 and grand sonatas. Some of his melodies are extremely 
 pathetic, and of an exceedingly refined character. He 
 tried Paris in 1836, but did not please the taste there. 
 In 1 86 1 he was appointed professor of composition at 
 the Royal Academy of Music, and retired five years 
 later. He went back to Germany, and died at Cann- 
 stadt on loth May, 1869. He was a distinguished 
 orchestral conductor. 
 
 HEINRICH WILHELM ERNST. 
 
 This exceptionally fine German master was born at 
 Briin in 1814. He was trained at the Vienna Conserva- 
 toire under Joseph Boehm, who was, himself, a pupil 
 of Rode's, and a player of great eminence. It is said 
 that Ernst also had instruction from Mayseder, another 
 German master of distinction. He was, besides, a 
 close student of Paganini, who probably influenced 
 his style largely. Ernst was touring when he was 
 sixteen, and two years later he went to Paris, and 
 remained there for six years. He never appears to 
 have enjoyed robust health, even when travelling,
 
 HENRY VIEUXTEMPS.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 
 
 293 
 
 which he did for about sixteen years, visiting all the 
 chief towns in Europe. His first appearance in this 
 country was in 1844, but he ultimately resided perma- 
 nently in London. In the course of time he had to 
 relinquish violin playing altogether in consequence of the 
 nervous trouble to which he eventually succumbed at 
 Nice on 8th October, 1865. No one who has heard him 
 play his exquisite " Elegie," will readily forget the 
 remarkably beautiful character of tone which he 
 succeeded in drawing from his fine " Stradavari." In 
 addition to above " Elegie " he is author of a number of 
 high class works for the instrument some of them 
 being exceptionally difficult. 
 
 HENRI VIEUXTEMPS. 
 
 This great Belgian player was born at Verviers in 
 1820. He displayed a very early liking for the violin, 
 and his father, through the kindness of an amateur 
 friend, had him placed with a local teacher, and his 
 progress was so rapid that when he was six years old 
 he played one of Rode's concertos in public. Then the 
 touring began. In Brussels, De Beriot heard him, and 
 took him in charge for a few months, ultimately exhibit- 
 ing him in Paris successfully. The boy returned home, 
 but with no doubt as to his future career. In 1833, he 
 started with his father on his first professional tour on 
 his own account, and for forty years after that date, the 
 whole civilised world became familiar with his splendid 
 ability. His first visit to this country was in 1834, and 
 seven years later he came again, a young man of twenty- 
 one. He had a magnificent tone and style, and received
 
 294 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 a very flattering reception. He visited America once 
 or twice, where the same enthusiasm perhaps greater 
 greeted him. He settled in Russia for six years, but 
 resumed his journeyings over the face of the earth, and 
 continued them until he settled down in Brussels in 
 1871, to fill the place of De Beriot at the Conservatoire. 
 A few years afterwards a stroke of paralysis disabled 
 the whole of his left side, and ended his violin playing. 
 The terrible nature of the deprivation could only be 
 realised by the artiste himself. He bore it, however, 
 very nobly, and was able to, compose for his instrument 
 afterwards. He died in Algiers in 1881, and has left a 
 large number of compositions of various kinds, among 
 them being six concertos. 
 
 EDOUARD REMENYI. 
 
 This artiste is one of that distinguished band of 
 Hungarian violinists which has emanated from the 
 Vienna Conservatoire. He was born in 1830, and was 
 for three years under Boehm. Soon after he left the 
 Conservatoire, he joined the insurrection and had to 
 change his domicile. He went to America, where he 
 resumed his art, and in 1853 returned to Europe. In 
 1854 he came to London, and in 1860 went home 
 to Hungary. In 1865 he was in Paris, and in 1877 
 in London again, and, since then, he has been 
 in America, all over Europe and, indeed, in most 
 parts of the world. In 1891 he visited once more the 
 British metropolis, but he was not heard in public. In 
 my opinion, he is an artiste of the highest grade, 
 who should be more frequently en evidence than he has
 
 VIOLINISTS. 295 
 
 been during the last twenty years. Apart from his 
 splendid technique, I cannot recall the name of any 
 player who has with greater delicacy, grace, and feeling, 
 interpreted the national airs of whatever country he 
 might fix on for purposes of musical exposition. When 
 he came here in 1854, ne was made "solo violinist to 
 the Queen," and when he returned to Hungary in 1860, 
 he received an appointment of equal importance at the 
 Austrian Court. 
 
 JOSEPH JOACHIM. 
 
 This artiste is almost universally acknowledged to be 
 the first of living violinists, and it appears to be certain 
 that when Time once more lets his curtain descend on a 
 great violin epoch, the doctor's name will be found in 
 line with those of Corelli, Tartini, Viotti, Paganini, and 
 Ole Bull. He was born at Kitse, in Hungary, on June 
 28th, 1831, and began to play the violin at five years of 
 age. His first instructor was the leader of the Pesth 
 Orchestra, and when he was ten, he was sent to the 
 Conservatoire at Vienna, where Joseph Boehm had still 
 charge of the violin classes. Two years later he went to 
 Leipsic, to Ferdinand David, where Mendelssohn, who 
 was head of the Conservatoire, took special interest in 
 him. He had, before this, played in public, though not, 
 perhaps, under such distinguished auspices for, on the 
 occasion of his first appearance in Leipsic, Mendelssohn 
 himself accompanied him on the piano. From that 
 period his career has been one of uninterrupted success 
 and ever increasing distinction. The first occasion on 
 which he played in this country was when Mendelssohn
 
 296 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 came to conduct the Philharmonic season in 1844, when 
 he appeared at a concert at Drury Lane, and again on 
 May 27th, at the Philharmonic. He was then only 
 thirteen years of age, but already a master, and for more 
 than fifty years, season after season, he has maintained 
 his high position. It must be the wish of every true 
 lover of art that Dr. Joachim may long remain with us. 
 He has received a large number of decorations from the 
 various fountains of earthly honour, and he would be a 
 very pretty sight indeed if he wore them all. The most 
 appreciative mark of affection and esteem which he ever 
 had, may not be the beautiful Stradivari violin pre- 
 sented to him on his Jubilee, by friends and admirers in 
 this country, but it will not come very far behind it. 
 
 LUDWIG STRAUSS. 
 
 This fine performer is another pupil of Boehm's. He 
 was born at Pressburg in 1835, and early distinguished 
 himself, becoming a colleague of Mayseder's in concerted 
 music. He has occupied several high posts on the 
 Continent, and has gone through the usual touring 
 curriculum with Signer Piatti, and other important 
 players. He first came here in 1860, and then per- 
 manently in 1864, and is a solo player of great distinction. 
 
 JOHN TIPLADY CARRODUS. 
 
 This great English violinist was born at Keighley in 
 1836. He started very early, and was a public 
 performer before he was twelve years old. At that age 
 he came to London to study under Molique, who was 
 here at the time, and he accompanied that artiste to
 
 JOHN TIPLADY CARRODUS 
 (President of the College of Violinists).
 
 VIOLINISTS. 297 
 
 Stuttgart, where he remained until he was about eighteen. 
 He then returned, and filled an appointment in Glasgow. 
 Soon after this, he attracted the attention of Sir Michael 
 Costa, whose judgment recognised in the young 
 violinist those qualities which ultimately brought him to 
 the very front. Costa invited him to join the Royal Italian 
 Opera, and soon after he passed to " Her Majesty's " 
 as leader, and finally, back to the R.I.O. in the same 
 distinguished capacity. His master, Molique, was a 
 magnificent leader, and his mantle has fallen on Mr. 
 Carrodus, who, at present, leads the most important 
 orchestras in this country. He has published a number 
 of original compositions for the violin and piano, as well 
 as educational works for his instrument, and as a solo 
 player, he is immensely popular. 
 
 LADY HALLE (nee NERUDA). 
 
 This lady is one of the most distinguished players 
 of the age. She was a very little girl indeed when she 
 first appeared here at a Philharmonic Concert, but the 
 magnificently incisive tone which now responds to the 
 stroke of her bow, is not surpassed by that of any 
 performer who visits these shores. For nearly twenty- 
 five years there has been no more popular artiste in this 
 country. She was a pupil of Jansa, before he came to 
 London, but the art of violin playing runs in her blood. 
 For nearly two hundred years the members of her 
 family have been violinists, and, if there is anything in 
 the influence of heredity, one need hardly be surprised 
 that her splendid style and technique should make many
 
 298 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 a fine male performer quail. A few years ago, she was 
 married to Sir Charles Halle, the distinguished conductor 
 and pianist. 
 
 * . MARTIN MELITON SARASATE. 
 
 This favourite violinist was born in Pampeluna, in 
 Navarre, on loth March, 1844. ^ e * s sometimes called 
 Pablo de Sarasate, and is said to have been born in 
 Saragossa, in 1846. Why there should be such 
 diversity of information regarding a great modern artiste 
 such as he is, may be explained as follows. In 1879 a 
 writer named Hans Hoffman published a farce in which 
 the hero, a certain famous violinist called Nicotini, is 
 tormented .by two silly women who are his passionate 
 admirers, and who get themselves and others into trouble 
 by their stupid conduct. Nicotini is desirous of travelling 
 incognito, but these curious dames find him out to be 
 Sarasate, and the name of the farce is " Pablo de 
 Sarasate." I suppose the distinguished man has, in this 
 way, come to be baptised in this name. I also fancy 
 that Saragossa has been given as his birthplace through 
 some phonetic confusion between its name, and the first 
 sounds of " Sarasate." It is not very far from Pampeluna, 
 certainly, but it is in the province of Aragon, and a man 
 cannot be born, in an earthly sense, in two places. The 
 discrepancy in the dates I do not attempt to explain. 
 
 Senor Sarasate was quite young when he was taken 
 to Paris, and entered the Conservatoire in 1856, but 
 previous to that he had appeared at public concerts in 
 Spain, it is said as early as 1851, and had received 
 substantial tokens of approval from very exalted quarters,
 
 MARTIN MEL1TON SARASATE, 
 Known as PABLO SARASATE.
 
 VIOLINISTS. 299 
 
 one of these tokens being in the form of a violin worth 
 ,"1,000. There is probably some exaggeration in this 
 statement. Forty years ago there were no violins valued 
 at such a sum, at least none which could be alienated 
 from their surroundings. But it is a clear enough indica- 
 tion of the esteem in which this wonderful violinist was 
 held at even that early age, and there can be little doubt 
 that the instrument will be worth that sum now, and 
 probably more. Delphin Alard, the then head of the 
 violin classes in the Conservatoire, and himself a 
 virtuoso of the very highest rank, recognised the genius 
 of his pupil, and young Sarasate gained the first prize 
 in two subjects, violin and solfeggio, in 1857. Two 
 years later he had another success in the harmony class, 
 but did not then follow it up. He was preparing for 
 those great triumphs which he had not long to wait for. 
 In Paris, all over France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, 
 Scandinavia, Russia, Italy, India, America, and last, 
 though, probably, not least in his estimation, in this 
 country, the rapturous enthusiasm which his graceful, 
 accurate, sympathetic, and altogether superb style of 
 playing has aroused has rarely, if ever, been surpassed. 
 His first visit to London was in 1874, an( ^ n ^ s second in 
 1877. He came again in the following year. Recently 
 he has not missed a season, to the great delight of music- 
 loving people, and devotees of-his instrument. Theamount 
 of work which he will go through on one platform, and 
 without a note before him, is something astounding, and 
 might well fill one with a sense of deep humiliation at the 
 cruel exactions which his greedy audiences sometimes 
 make upon him. But with unfailing courtesy, he always
 
 300 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 " comes up smiling," and destroys their chances of 
 learning to be considerate by playing some lovely thing 
 which simply enlarges their appetites. 
 
 EMILE SAURET. 
 
 This artiste, who at present directs the violin classes 
 at the Royal Academy of Music, won his spurs in this 
 country nearly a quarter of a century ago. He was 
 born in 1852 in Dun le Roi, and received his earliest 
 musical tuition at home. Shortly afterwards he was 
 sent to the Paris Conservatoire, and later to that of 
 Brussels, and became a conspicuous representative of 
 of the French and Belgian Schools. His first visit to 
 this country was in 1866. In the three years following 
 he toured through France and Italy. From 1870 to 
 1874 h e was i n America. In 1877 he returned to 
 Europe and is now the distinguished successor to the 
 late Professor Sainton.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ses anb fiass payers. 
 
 THE origin of the violoncello and the double bass 
 must be sought in the same direction as that of 
 the violin, but there is no specific date at which it can 
 be said that either of them sprang into existence any 
 more than a similar statement can be made in regard to 
 the smallest of the tribe. There is plenty of more or 
 less ingenious speculation on the point, and some par- 
 ticularly dogmatic conclusions, which, however, owe 
 their apparent finality entirely to the peculiarly positive 
 individualism of the writers. The double bass or, as it 
 is called in Italy the contrabasso, is supposed to represent 
 the Violone, which probably existed there as early as the 
 fifteenth century, and the 'cello is merely a smaller bass. 
 Their names will be better understood if it is explained 
 that viola was the generic term for all the members of 
 the tribe. Violone means a " large viol," and violoncello 
 (for violonecello] means a " lesser large viol " and the 
 names of the most celebrated makers of them from 
 Gasparo da Salo (Bertolottis) onward to Panormo will 
 be found in the two lists already given. 
 
 There is no trace of either of these instruments 
 having been used for solo purposes until long after the 
 violin, but that is no proof that they were not so 
 employed. It merely suggests that the interest which 
 the basses evoked was of a character too evanescent to
 
 3O2 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 justify recording the achievements of their exponents. 
 One of the earliest performers on the 'cello was 
 
 JACOPO BASSEVI. 
 
 This play6r was born in Italy in 1682. He was 
 first heard of in England in 1728, when he became a 
 member of the Drury Lane band in that year. He 
 was known by the name of Cervetto, a nickname which 
 signifies a " little stag." He .afterwards became 
 manager of the Theatre and made a handsome fortune 
 for those days. He died in 1783, leaving his money 
 about ^"20,000 to his son James, who was also a 'cello 
 player, but who retired after his father's death. 
 
 ANTONIO VANDINI. 
 
 This player was held in high esteem by the famous 
 violinist Tartini, and the two travelled about a little 
 together. Hardly anything is known of Vandini apart 
 from his connection with Tartini. They were in Prague 
 together and both were in the orchestra of St. Anthony 
 of Padua. Vandini was alive in 1770, and was then an 
 old man. 
 
 GIORGIO ANTONIOTTI. 
 
 This 'cellist was born in the vicinity of Milan in 1692, 
 and lived for a time in Holland, where he published 
 some music. He was also in London for many years 
 and died in Milan in 1776. 
 
 FRANCISCELLO. 
 
 A great player of whom nothing is certainly known. 
 No music of his has been discovered, and no trace of
 
 BASSES AND BASS PLAYERS. 303 
 
 his birth or death is accessible. The only references to 
 him are three or four in number, but these are by such 
 eminent musicians, and are generally couched in such 
 enthusiastic terms that one must conclude that he 
 was a violoncello player par excellence. Quantz, the great 
 flute player, heard him in Naples in 1725. Benda, a 
 German violinist, heard him in Vienna in 1730, and 
 speaks of him as a marvel. One or two other references 
 complete the sources of information, and they yield little 
 but praise. 
 
 JOHN CROSDILL 
 
 Was a very distinguished 'cello player, and was born 
 in London in 1751. He was musically educated at 
 Westminster in the choir, but became a professional 
 'cellist, appearing at Gloucester for some years as 
 principal bass at the festivals. He was also appointed 
 to the leading desk at the Concert of Ancient Music, 
 when that institution was started in 1776. In addition 
 he held an appointment in the Chapel Royal, and was 
 a member of the King's Band, as well as chamber 
 musician to Queen Charlotte, and 'cello tutor to George 
 IV. He married a wealthy lady in 1788, and retired 
 from ordinary professional work, but continued to hold 
 his official appointments until his death which occurred 
 in Yorkshire, in 1825. He was a member of the Royal 
 Society of Musicians, and left them 1,000. 
 
 LUIGI BOCCHERINI. 
 
 This Italian master was born at Lucca in 1740. He 
 was a magnificent performer on the 'cello, although he
 
 304 THE FIDDLE FANCIER S GUIDE. 
 
 is, probably, better known as a composer. He went to 
 Paris in 1768, but there were two or three very dis- 
 tinguished players in the French metropolis at that time, 
 and his performances, on that account, were not so 
 highly appreciated. He ultimately settled in Madrid, 
 where he died in 1805. 
 
 J. BAPTISTE-AIME JOSEPH JANSON. 
 
 This artiste was born at Valenciennes in 1742. His 
 first appearance in Paris was made when he was about 
 fourteen. He then travelled a good deal, and when the 
 Paris Conservatoire was established, he was appointed 
 professor of the 'cello. He died in Paris in 1803. He 
 is said to have given lessons to John Crosdill, when the 
 latter was in Paris, which appears to be a mistake. 
 
 JEAN PIERRE DUPORT. 
 
 A great 'cellist, who was born at Paris in 1741, and 
 died in Berlin in 1818. His first appearance was made 
 at the Concert Spirituel when he was twenty years old. 
 He came to this country in 1769, and in 1771, went to 
 Spain. In 1773 he went to Berlin, where he remained 
 the recipient of various court favours and appointments. 
 
 JEAN LOUIS DUPORT. 
 
 A brother of the preceding, was born in Paris in 1749. 
 His brother had the chief duty of training him, and soon 
 made him a splendid player. He made his first appear- 
 ance in 1768. He went to Berlin, to his brother, after 
 the revolution, and there he was treated with similar 
 appreciation. Returning to Paris in 1806, he astonished
 
 BASSES AND BASS PLAYERS. 305 
 
 his audience by the purity and vigour of his style, and 
 maintained his supremacy until within a year or so of 
 his death, which occurred in 1819. 
 
 BERNHARD ROMBERG. 
 
 This great artiste was born at Dinklage, in Germany, 
 in 1767. He was one of a family of most talented 
 musicians, nearly all of whom played different instru- 
 ments. Bernhard's first important appearance was at the 
 Concert Spirituel in Paris, when he was eighteen, and 
 from that date gradually acquired the distinction of being 
 the head of the German School of 'cellists, if not the 
 leading player in the world of his day. He travelled all 
 over the European Continent, making short engage- 
 ments here and there, and this country seems to have 
 been the only one in which he did not play. He was 
 one of the professors in the Conservatoire at Paris for a 
 short time, and died at Hamburg in 1841. 
 
 JUSTUS JOHANN FRIEDRICH DOTZAUER. 
 
 This famous 'cellist was the son of a Protestant 
 clergyman at Hossselrieth, near Hildburghausen, and 
 was born in 1783. He began the study of the instru- 
 ment early, and was put under Kriegek at Meiningen in 
 1799. He was with him for a year, and was then 
 appointed a musician at the Court of the Duke of 
 Coburg, a place he held for four years. In 1805, he 
 went to Leipsic, and in 1811 to Dresden, to the Chapel 
 Royal there, a connection which he retained until his 
 death. He is author of a splendid " School " for the 
 'cello, and a number of other works, 
 w
 
 306 THfc FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 ROBERT LINDLEY. 
 
 A distinguished native player, was born at Rotherham 
 in 1776. His father taught him the violin and the 
 'cello, and when he was about sixteen, he became a 
 pupil of James " Cervetto," son of the previously named 
 Jacopo Bassevi. When Lindley was eighteen he was 
 principal 'cellist at the opera, and, until 1851, when he 
 retired, no one succeeded in unseating him from the 
 various distinguished positions which he occupied. He 
 was a beautiful player in every sense of the word. He 
 died in 1855. 
 
 ALFREDO PIATTI. 
 
 This great Italian artiste is now, and has been, for 
 nearly half a century, the acknowledged King of 
 'cellists. He was born in Bergamo, in 1822, and was 
 trained by his grand uncle Zanetti, and, on his death, 
 at the Milan Conservatoire under Merighi. He made 
 his first public appearance when he was fifteen, and, 
 seven years afterwards, came to this country. He is 
 one of those artistes whom Mendelssohn loved, and is a 
 truly golden link connecting us with that great musical 
 epoch. Year after year, since 1844, the London musical 
 public have been charmed by the functioning of those 
 splendid qualities which have placed him in almost 
 solitary greatness among his confreres, and during that 
 time of active work with the fingerboard he has contrived 
 to form, besides, a well-nigh perfect school of playing 
 through the media of published pieces, both original 
 and transcribed.
 
 BASSES AND BASS PLAYERS. 307 
 
 EDWARD HOWELL, 
 
 A son of the famous double bass player, is one of our 
 fine native artistes. He was selected as principal 'cello 
 at the Royal Italian Opera, and his popularity on the 
 concert platform is familiar to all lovers of chamber 
 music. The exquisite sweetness and purity of his tone 
 once heard is not easily forgotten. 
 
 DOMINICO DRAGONETTI. 
 
 Almost everyone has heard of this great contra-bassist, 
 who may be called the first to acquire a European 
 reputation for his performance on the large bass. 
 He was born in Venice in 1755, and was, like almost all 
 the great artistes on any instrument, early distinguished 
 for the musical ability which he displayed. He first of all 
 played the guitar and violin, and when he took to the 
 double bass. His teacher, Berini, had speedily to 
 relinquish the attempt to teach him anything, and also 
 relinquished the place which he occupied in the orchestra 
 of St. Mark, in order that Dragonetti might be in it. 
 He was then eighteen, and played on his big fiddle as if 
 it were a 'cello, a tenor, or even a small violin, and no 
 difficulties of that day were difficulties to him. A story 
 is current that in his very early days he used to accom- 
 pany the famous singer, Brigitta Banti, when she sang 
 in the streets and cafes of Venice. It seems to lack 
 confirmation. He came to London in 1794, and made his 
 first appearance at the King's Theatre. His success 
 was instantaneous, and it does not appear that he went 
 back to Italy, except when on tour. In the same year 
 Robert Lindley had been appointed principle 'cellist,. 
 
 W2
 
 308 THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE. 
 
 and Dragonetti and he remained in the orchestra for 
 over half a century, playing at the same desk. When 
 he was ninety years old he led the basses at the 
 Beethoven festival at Bonn. This was in 1845, and 
 eight months afterwards, he died at his home in Leicester 
 Square (1846). He is buried in St. Mary, Moorfields. 
 
 GUIESEPPI ANDREOLI. 
 
 A famous double bass player who was born in 1757 in 
 Milan and became professor at the Conservatoire there. 
 There is not much known regarding him. He was in 
 the orchestra of the great Milan opera house, La Scala, 
 and died in 1832. 
 
 JAMES HOWELL. 
 
 This fine double bass player was born at Plymouth. 
 He was a precocious musician, singing in public when 
 he was ten years old. He was also a versatile genius, 
 as he played the clarionet and the piano besides the 
 double bass, but the last named was the instrument on 
 which he excelled. He became its professor at the 
 Royal Academy of Music, where he had been a pupil 
 since the time he came to London (1824), and after 
 Dragonetti died in 1846, Howell became the most im- 
 portant of the double bass players in this country. 
 
 After Dragonetti perhaps quite on a level with him 
 the world has honoured 
 
 GIOVANNI BOTTESINI. 
 
 He was born at Crema in Lombardy in 1823. His 
 first instrument was the violin, but when he was 
 thirteen years old he went to Milan, and studied the
 
 BASSES AND BASS PLAYERS. 309 
 
 double bass in the Conservatoire there. His master 
 was Louis Rossi, another great player of whom little is 
 known. Bottesini was seventeen when he began his 
 musical tours throughout Italy. These lasted about 
 six years, when he went to Havanna as leader of the 
 theatre there, and shortly after became musical director/ 
 He was five years in Havanna, and during that time 
 composed his opera " Cristoval Colon " (Christopher 
 Columbus). He also visited the United States when 
 occasion offered, and made a great name. He came 
 back to Europe in 1851, and returned to the States with 
 Jullien in 1853. A year later he went to Mexico, and 
 then returned to Europe. He made a great sensation 
 in this country, and was called the " Paganini " of 
 double bass players. During a stay in Paris of two 
 years he produced his " Siege of Florence," and started 
 once more on his travels through France, Belgium, 
 England, Holland, and Germany, and finished up with 
 Italy in 1859. Another opera, " II Diavolo della Notte," 
 there saw the light, and from that date until his recent 
 lamented decease (1890) he was constantly before the 
 public, composing operas, playing solos, or founding 
 societies. No one who has heard him will readily forget 
 the amazing beauty of his tone, the wonderful violin 
 like rapidity of his execution, or the exquisite sweetness 
 of his music. He was, all over the world, enthusiasti- 
 cally admired, whether as head of the opera at Cairo, or 
 producing his " Ali Baba " in London, but I think I 
 shall never forget one bright afternoon, when the great 
 artiste came before what should have been an overflow- 
 ing house of his own countrymen. The veteran was
 
 3IO THK FIDDLE FAN'CIKR S GL'IDH. 
 
 nearing his three-score and ten, and he played as 
 divinely as ever I heard him play. He and the 
 artistes who rallied round him made the few who were 
 present immensely happy, and those who were absent, 
 and might have been there, have one delightful memory 
 the less.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 JAS. M. FLEMING, 
 
 The Author of this Book, and Well-known Violin Expert, 
 writes thus at page 122 in "OLD VIOLINS AND THEIR 
 MAKERS.'' " It is much wiser to purchase a soundly-constructed 
 instrument of modern manufacture, which may be had from many 
 good and respectable makers, than to seek after a genuine Old 
 Master at the risk of losing much money and helping to keep up 
 their present ridiculous prices." And see his remarks at page 173 
 in this work, " THE FIDDLE FANCIER'S GUIDE." 
 
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 Violinist, and may be entirely relied upon. The most important are : 
 
 THE CARRODUS VIOLINS, 
 THE FOUCHER VIOLINS, 
 THE SCHLOSSER VIOLINS. 
 
 Full particulars of these most beautiful instruments will be 
 sent on application. 
 
 On January i3th, 1881, MR. FLEMING wrote us as follows : 
 
 DEAR SIRS, I am very much pleased with the " Carrodus " Violin you 
 vere good enough to show me. I consider it to be quite a remarkable instrument 
 or the money. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 J. M. FLEMING. 
 Author of " Old Violins and their Makers," and 
 
 " The Fiddle Fancier's Guide." 
 
 This judgment of MR. FLEMING has baen fully endorsed by 
 ublic opinion, and no modern Violins stand so high in the estima- 
 ;i.on of Violinists.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 VIOLIN MUSIC. 
 
 PROFESSORS, AMATEURS, and the TRADE will find a most 
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 "EDITION CHANOT," 
 
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 Two Hundred New Original Pieces for Violin and Piano in the "First 
 Position." Each No. Separate. 
 
 PAPINI'S VIOLIN SCHOOL 
 
 (Dedicated by special permission to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh) 
 
 Is the most modern and complete work for the Violin. The 
 NINTH and Enlarged Edition contains over 
 
 TWO HUNDRED FULL-SIZED ENGRAVED PLATES. 
 
 In Four Parts, each part 43. net, complete IDS. 6cl. net. 
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 CATALOGUE POST FREE ON APPLICATION. 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 So named by permission of J. T. CARRODUS, ESQ., 
 the Eminent Violinist 
 
 The attention of Connoisseurs, 
 Professors, Amateurs, and the 
 Music Trade is called to these 
 Very BEAUTIFUL VIOLINS, 
 which have received the appro- 
 bation of some of the greatest 
 VIRTUOSI and EXPERTS, 
 including 
 
 SENOR PABLO SARASATE 
 J. T. CARRODUS, ESQ. 
 
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 JAS. M. FLEMING, ESQ. 
 
 Author of " Fiddle Fancier's Guide." 
 
 J. BROADHOUSE, ESQ. 
 
 Editor of " The Musical Standard" Author 
 
 of " The- Student's Helmholtz" " How 
 
 to make a Violin," etc., etc. 
 
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 Price JSS 8s. 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 To all Students of Violin Literature, all Public Librarians, 
 and all Booksellers and Agents. 
 
 For the purpose of completing my library of Violin Literature, 
 I am anxious to acquire the books named below. I shall be happy 
 to give the Full Market Value for any of them, and, possessing a 
 large collection of duplicates I can give in exchange for them 
 almost any work on the violin that is named in my " Bibliography 
 of the Violin." 
 
 EDWARD HERON ALLEN. 
 c/o Griffith Farran & Co., Newbery House, 
 
 Charing Cross Road., London, W.C. 
 
 Baligmann, P. " Notis sans portee d'un Violoncelliste. Nice,i88o. 
 
 Statuts ordonnances, lettres de creation de la communaute des maistres faiseurs 
 
 d'instruments de Musique. Paris, 1741. 
 Statuts et reglements des maitres de danse et joueurs d'instruments tant hauts 
 
 que has. Paris, 1752. 
 Riflessioni d'un professore di violino sopfa un discorso morale e politico intorno 
 
 il teatro. Piacenza, 1781, iamo. 
 The Division Violin : containing a Choice Collection of Divisions for the Treble 
 
 Violin to a Ground-Bass. London, 1687. Playford. 
 
 Baillot, P. F. M. de S. Notice sur J. B. Viotti. Paris, Hoquet, 1825. 8vo. 
 Barnard, C. Camilla, a Tale of a Violin ; Boston, U.S.A., 1874. 12010. 
 Antolini, F. Osservazzioni su due Violini esposti nelle sale dell' I. R. Palazzo 
 
 di Brera, etc. Milan, Perola, 1832. 
 Brijon, E. R. Reflexions sur la musique et la vraie maniere de 1'executer surle 
 
 violon. Paris, 1763. 4to. 
 Gueroult, A. Baillot. Paris, N.D. 
 
 Gehring, F. Zur Geschichte der Violine. Leipzic, 1877. 8vo. 
 Giehne, H. Zur Erinnerung an Ludwig Spohr. Karlsruhe, 1869. 
 Leoni di Pienza, A. R. Elogio di Pietro Nardini. Firenze, 1793. 8vo. 
 Miel, M. Notice Historique sur J. B. Viotti. Paris, Everat, 1827. 
 Mackintosh. Remarks on the Construction of, and Materials employed in the 
 
 Manufacture of, Violins. Dublin, 1837. 
 Pancaldi, C. Elogio a Felice Radicati, maestro di Musica. Bologna, 1829. 
 
 Nobili. 4to. 
 Muzzi, S. Al modesto Tumulo di Guiseppe Manetti. Bologna, 1858. 
 
 Monti. 8vo. 
 Polko, E. Nicolo Paganini ; dal Tedesco per L. Ravasini. Milan, 1876. 
 
 Treves. 12010. 
 Otto, J. A. Ueber den Bau und die Erhaltung der Geige und aller Bogenin- 
 
 strumente. Halle und Leipzig, 1817. 
 Paine, J. A Treatise on the Violin, &c. London, N.D. 
 Purdy, G. A Few Words on the Violin. London, 1858. 8vo. 
 Tagliapetra, G. Guiseppe Tartini-Cantica. Trieste, 1853. Weis. i2mo. 
 Taglini, C. Lettere scientifiche sopra varii dilettevoli argomenti di Fisica. 
 
 Florence, 1747. 
 
 Tartini, G. Lettera alia signora Maddalena Lombardini. London, 1771. 
 Tartini, G. Letter to Signora Lombardini, etc. London, R. Bremticr, 1779.! 
 
 Second edition. 
 
 Sibire, I'Abbe. La Chelonomie, ou le parfait Luthier. Paris, Millet, 1806. 
 Simpson, C. Chelys, the Division Viol. First edition. London, H. Brome, 
 
 1665. Folio. 
 Terrasson, A. Dissertation Historique sur la Vielle. Paris, 1741. s ) \^~-
 
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