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ANTONIO STRADIVARI.
PRINTED BY E. SHORE AND CO.,
3, GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, LONDON, E.C.
[Illustration: HORACE PETHERICK.]
_"THE STRAD" LIBRARY, No. VIII._
ANTONIO STRADIVARI,
BY
HORACE PETHERICK.
_Of the Music Jury, International Inventions Exhibition,
South Kensington, 1885; International Exhibition,
Edinburgh, 1890; Expert in Law Courts, 1891;
Vice-President of the Cremona Society._
COPYRIGHT.
London:
"THE STRAD" OFFICE, 3. GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, E.C.
E. DONAJOWSKI, 26, CASTLE STREET, BERNERS STREET, W.
D. R. DUNCAN, 186, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1900
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Date and Place of Birth of Antonio Stradivari--His Instructor
in the Art of Violin Making--Peculiarity of His Early
Work, Nothing Striking, but Slowly Progressive--Which
of the Designs of His Master He was Most Impressed
by, and His Own Modifications for Improvement--His
Departure from the House of His Master Free to Carry
Out His Own Inclinations 1
CHAPTER II.
Details of Further Improvements upon His New Designs--Modification
of the Soundholes--The Amati Varnish and
Stradivari's--His Secrecy of Method in Working--His
Knowledge of What was Wanted and Efforts at Advance
in Tone Quality 8
CHAPTER III.
The Date of the True Stradivarian Individuality--Alterations
in Design--Proportions Settled for Good--The Exceptions--The
"Long Strad"--The "Inlaid Strads"--An
Acknowledged Master of His Art--Black Edging--The
Arching and Channelling--The Brescians, the Amatis and
Stradivari 13
CHAPTER IV.
Lesser Known Patterns of Stradivari--The Treatment of the
Scroll by Him--The Individuality and Maturing of the
Style--The Purfling 19
CHAPTER V.
Stradivari's Great Success--His So-called "Grand Epoch"--His
Patrons--His Violins Reputed for Tone when Quite
New and Sought After--The Help He Received--His
Assistants and Pupils--Parts of the Work Requiring His
Individual Touch--The Members of His Family who may
have Assisted Him--Stradivari's Varnish--His Imitators 22
CHAPTER VI.
Some Modifications in Stradivari's Works--Variation in Finish
of Details--The Interior of His Violins--The Blocks and
Linings--The Bar--Thicknesses of the Tables--Heads or
Scrolls of His Different Periods 42
CHAPTER VII.
Stradivari's Tone and System--Those of His Pupils and
Assistants--Qualities of Tone Produced in Different
Localities 56
CHAPTER VIII.
The Reputed Golden Period of Stradivari Late in Life--His
Later Modifications of Design--Signs of Old Age Appearing--The
Help He Received 70
CHAPTER IX.
Evidences in Stradivari's Work of Old Age--His Death and
Burial--Work Left by Him--The Advance in Value of His
Work Since His Decease 79
LIST OF PLATES.
PORTRAIT OF HORACE PETHERICK _Frontispiece_.
PORTRAIT OF ANTONIO STRADIVARI _To face page_ 1
THE HOUSE OF STRADIVARI " " 4
STRADIVARI'S WORKSHOP " " 6
PATTERNS OF VIOLINS _page_ 6
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOUNDHOLES _To face page_ 48
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCROLLS, FIG. _a._ " " 50
" " " FIG. _b._ " " 52
" " " FIG. _c._ " " 54
" " " FIG. _d._ " " 56
CHURCH OF ST. DOMENICO, CREMONA " " 80
PREFACE.
It was in the month of April, 1898, when THE STRAD monthly magazine had
completed its eighth year of issue, that the Editor Suggested that then
might be an appropriate time for giving a biographical sketch of the
great Cremonese master in serial form, expressed in a manner interesting
and instructive as possible. With this view I took up the subject with
some enthusiasm and proposed to work upon lines which I believed to be
bound by truth. All references to peculiarities in connection with
Stradivari's designs, construction and purposes should be the result of
my own personal observation during many years of experience as
connoisseur and expert. In formulating my results of study of a great
number--possibly the majority--of the instruments of the master
extant--I have abstained as far as possible from using technical terms
not readily comprehended by a reader coming newly to the subject, and I
trust all persons reading through the matter now collected, added to,
and presented in book form, will find their time not mis-spent at least
when they arrive at the conclusion.
HORACE PETHERICK.
Croydon.
INTRODUCTION.
It was during the second half of the sixteenth century that the violin,
with its well recognised combined excellences of artistic form and
musical sonority, was started on its way in the world to supply a want
and prove its fitness as a leading instrument at once and for future
times. So happily was this effected, so complete and mature was it in
conception, that the advancing intellect of three centuries has proved
incompetent to insert any fresh and permanent addition to its original
simple arrangement. Precisely as it came from the hands of an artistic
and inventive genius in the city of Brescia so we have it now, unchanged
in its essential details of construction, although having its natural
qualities made more evident after undergoing the modern adjustment with
regard to accessories of detail, or regulation as it is termed. This has
been effected by simply enlarging some parts for the purpose of allowing
more freedom and convenience in the execution of more modern music, its
elaboration of rhythm, besides the extended range of notes in the higher
positions of the register, necessitating this. As might have been
expected in connection with the then still living Renaissance period, on
the violin making its appearance it was soon taken in hand by men of
superlative talent, who stamped it with their own individuality in which
was a marvellous perception of artistic quality. All that was to be
done by means of proportion, form and colour, not setting aside the
essentials of refined sonority, were combined, each aiding in the grand
total and producing that known and so much sought after at the present
day--a beautiful Italian violin. For about a century or more many
Italian liutaros were busily engaged in sending forth under competition
works which are now by the cognoscenti treated as unrivalled excellence
of quality, classical, and the outcome of genius. Each worker being
anxious to maintain the standard of excellence, or take a step forward
in the practice of their art, the culminating point seems to have been
reached when the artist under consideration in the following pages was
executing his masterpieces in Cremona.
[Illustration: ANTONIO STRADIVARI.]
ANTONIO STRADIVARI.
CHAPTER I.
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH OF ANTONIO STRADIVARI--HIS INSTRUCTOR IN THE
ART OF VIOLIN MAKING--PECULIARITY OF HIS EARLY WORK, NOTHING
STRIKING, BUT SLOWLY PROGRESSIVE--WHICH OF THE DESIGNS OF HIS MASTER
HE WAS MOST IMPRESSED BY, AND HIS OWN MODIFICATIONS FOR
IMPROVEMENT--HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE HOUSE OF HIS MASTER, FREE TO
CARRY OUT HIS OWN INCLINATIONS.
The year 1614, although not particularly noticeable at the time for its
portentous events, was destined to be one of considerable interest to
those who are enthusiastic lovers of the delightful quality of sound
emitted by a certain section--and that only--of a class of stringed
instruments which have made the city of Cremona famous throughout the
civilised world. For in that city and in that year was born a male
child, whose surname was eventually to eclipse by its own refulgence the
renown of the city itself. Its paternal name was Stradivari, people
trouble themselves very little about the prefix Antonio, common enough
in Italy, and which was the Christian name given him by his parents. Of
these we can only say, that as might be supposed, they were of a
respectable portion of the middle class socially considered and from
which have sprung all over the world--with few exceptions--the greatest
luminaries of the whole firmament of intellect.
Of his private life during manhood we know very little, of his boyhood
nothing. But we may fairly and truly draw our conclusions that as the
time arrived when he was supposed fit for training to fight life's
battle, he had already exhibited talent indicative of fitness for that
artistic branch of industry in which he was hereafter to be the
world-wide acknowledged head.
That his special abilities were thoroughly recognised by his parents
receives much emphasis from the fact of his being offered to, and
received as pupil by, Nicolas Amati, greatest of that great family of
stringed instrument makers. Young Antonio was thus placed in the most
favourable situation possible for the fructifying and development of his
own particular talents. That portion of his life which was spent with
the great master of line in violin facture, will, probably, in its
details always remain a blank to us: but there is a lightning like flash
thrown out by the fact of old Nicolas Amati bequeathing his collection
of tools, patterns, etc., to Antonio Stradivari, and, be it noticed, not
to his own son, then over thirty years of age. That the future master of
his craft had been a steady and beloved pupil of his great teacher,
there is no room for doubt; indeed, steadiness, fixity of purpose and
honest intention, are manifested in his work during the whole of his
career. The earliest of his handiwork has become known to us while he
was with Nicolas Amati. In this he exhibits extreme delicacy of
handling, and seemingly, in the confidence of his master, certain little
modifications in the design of the sound holes were permitted, or
perhaps passed as improvements, but there is nothing eccentric or
extravagant introduced, a gentle addition, or a trifle less here and
there, being the way in which he ever cautiously worked out his idea of
improvement, and this latter seems to have been the moving spirit during
his whole life.
At no time do we meet with sudden departures, or what are sometimes
termed flashes of genius--the onward progress of his style of design
and its execution was as unimpassioned as his life was uneventful. When
we examine the earliest known work of his hand--it may be observed on
some of the late violins of his master--there is plainly perceptible the
efforts at excelling where at all possible; and if, as is extremely
probable--his master was sometimes desirous that the purfling should be
somewhat bolder than was to the taste of his refined pupil, this was
inserted with a delicacy and precision beyond what had been before
deemed the acme of finish.
His departure from the house of Nicolas Amati had to be taken some day
in the ordinary course of events, and he would then act alone in
competition among the growing swarms of makers who were now busy as bees
in most parts of Italy. The start is generally reckoned to have occurred
between the years 1664 and 1666, it may have been in 1665, when he had
reached his twenty-first year.
That old Nicolas Amati was right in his estimate that young Antonio
Stradivari's natural abilities augured well for his success
as a liutaro, was now to be proven. With the best possible
recommendation--that of being trained by the most distinguished maker of
the city--he carried others no less necessary for the long course of
thought and labour that he was about to enter upon. These were, an
earnest desire for improvement in all his undertakings, natural,
indigenous ability for tasteful design and its mechanical execution and
the power of steady concentration of the faculties, backed up withal by
a sound, physical constitution in which "nerves of iron" must have been
a conspicuous element.
To those who at the time may have been looking forward with some
speculation as to what young Stradivari would put forth now that his
course was free and untrammelled before him, there was probably some
disappointment at finding no signs of striking originality, no spasmodic
struggles of genius to assert itself by throwing aside those
individualities, general and detailed, which were so well marked in the
work of his great teacher, and which as pupil he had been studiously
and conscientiously carrying out. On the contrary, his efforts seem to
have been rather to draw the mantle thrown by his master closer around
him than to dispense with any part of its protective power. Thus we see
in his works of this period which have remained to us, very little more
than replicas of those of his master in which he for some years perhaps
had taken no inconsiderable part. But in doing this, the intention and
power of selection guided by sound judgment at once asserted itself. He
did not take that pattern known to us moderns by the name of "grand,"
and which term was in all likelihood quite unthought of by either
himself or his master. Who invented it is a question that may be left
complacently to the bookworm of the future.
[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF ANTONIO STRADIVARI.]
There is really nothing in the so-called "grand" pattern of Nicolas
Amati that seems to agree happily with that title, it is, on the other
hand, one in which the love of dainty elegance of contour has been
allowed almost unrestricted play by its author, and to an extent
undreamt of before. He perceived, however, that there was a limit, a
step further, and disaster would be certain; Nicolas was sufficiently
wide awake not to take it, but left it for his hosts of imitators, many
of whom, not gifted with the same perspicuity, "rushed in where angels
fear to tread," their just reward being laughter and derision. The
attainment of elegance at the expense of strength and stability was not
at all in agreement with Stradivari's artistic tastes, and we
accordingly have no evidence of his having touched the so-called "Grand
Amati;" that which he did take up with was less complex in the
subdivision of its curves, and a more simple looking thing altogether.
To him it may have seemed to have more of the true characteristic
quality always accompanying the grand in art, that of simplicity. It was
this pattern, and this only, so far as our information goes--that
Stradivari took as the basis on which any future developments should be
grounded. He worked upon it for some time seemingly to his own
contentment and probably the satisfaction of his patrons, these being
sufficiently numerous and influential to enable him ere many years had
passed to think of purchasing a house.[A] This he accomplished in the
year 1680, when he was thirty-six years of age. Now be it noted
Stradivari had been working on the simplest of Amati patterns for
fourteen years, and during that time from his steady industry the number
of violins, besides other instruments of the family, which left his
atelier must have been very large. The similarity in type and regularity
of excellence in finished workmanship was almost enough to have
impressed the connoisseurs of the day that there was no originality or
speculation in the maker, but it was just about this time that the
independency of thought began to manifest itself; it was almost as if
the acquisition of the freehold property had stimulated the
self-reliance which had no doubt always been present, but which was now
to show itself more clearly in his art. He had been in practise long and
successfully enough to give a right claim to mastership. The veteran
Nicolas Amati, who was now over eighty years of age, had probably been
doing little or nothing for some time, and so his pupil, with all his
admiration for the retiring chief, felt at full liberty to do really as
he liked.
[Illustration: STRADIVARI'S WORKSHOP.]
[Our illustration of Stradivari's atelier is from a painting by
Rinaldi, the sketch for which was made on the premises. The church
of St. Domenico, Cremona, was demolished some twenty years since and
our illustration is from a photo taken just before the event. The
Chapel of the Rosary, being the place where Antonio Stradivari was
interred, is the one below and to the right of the tower and lighter
in colour than the others.]
[Illustration: No. 1. Grand Nicolas Amati. No. 2. Nicolas Amati pattern
of Stradivari. No. 3. First independent pattern of Stradivari.]
The step he took, insignificant enough to the casual observer now, must
have been equally so then, but proved one of the most important ever
taken in this branch of art, considering the restraints necessarily
encompassing any efforts at original design. This is perhaps the more
evident when the main features of the Amati designs and others of the
time are analysed. It will be seen that the upper and lower thirds of
the design have much in common with each other, and that the middle or
waist partakes also of the same characteristics, the whole being a
series of full rounded curves, varied as required, to harmonise and
flow with ease and grace to the squared corners. The slightest possible
narrowing or decrease in the size of the upper of the waist curve and a
corresponding enlargement of the lower part, served in the hands of
Stradivari to impart a different aspect to the whole pattern. The waist,
now less pinched in at the middle, looked longer without being really
so. The parts above the upper corners and those below the lower ones
were modified, the large curves becoming a little flatter just before
blending with the smaller ones. From these alterations, each one
trifling in itself, there resulted what may be called the first or
earliest Stradivari pattern; in it were the germs of all the succeeding
ones that contributed more and more to the fame of their designer as
they appeared. The natural caution or indisposition to throw aside one
pattern before a fair trial of the newest had proved acceptable to his
numerous patrons, was possibly the cause of Stradivari's running the
older designs alongside the newest creations of his fancy. Thus we find
that mixed with the innovations are what he might have called his old
Amati pattern, probably off the same moulds that he had used when first
starting in business on his own account, or even before.