* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Cremonas_ (Vol. vii., p. 501.).--A discriminative account of the violins
and basses by the great Italian makers, showing, in every ascertainable
instance, the date of manufacture, and thereby forming to some extent a
chronological catalogue, as it were, of the works of each master, would be,
indeed, a curious and interesting achievement. Such a task, involving much
consultation of books and examination of instruments, calls for sounder
eye-sight and larger opportunities than are possessed by me; but I shall
rejoice if the desire expressed by your correspondent H. C. K. shall be
found to have stirred up some competent investigator. Time and accident are
gradually attaching, to the fine instruments in question, a kind of
_sibylline_ intensity of value; and the inquiry, if omitted now, may become
impossible hereafter. Let us not fear, however, that those "cunning'st
patterns of excelling art," the Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri fiddles,
will eventually perish without worthy issue, and "die, and leave the world
no copy." Provision to the contrary, it seems, has already been made;
Monsieur Vuillaume "has ta'en order for't," that is to say, _if_ his
instruments, which at present look very like faithful fac-similes of the
renowned classic prototypes, shall verify the confident predictions of
their admirers, by continuing to stand the test of time.
My authority for 1664 as the date of birth of Antonio Stradivari, is a
living Belgian writer, Monsieur Fetis, who has not stated from whence {583}
he has adopted it. I find that the Paris _Biographie Universelle_ gives no
fixed date, but only a conjectural one, _about_ 1670, so that 1664 _may_
possibly be right.