CHAPTER XV

VIOLIN DEALERS, COLLECTORS, AND AMATEURS

I Have come to the conclusion, “after long years,” that there are

three things about which your averagely honest man has no conscience

whatever--the first is a horse, the second is an umbrella, and the

last, but not least, is a fiddle.

He will buy from some needy ignoramus a fiddle worth £100 for a £5

note, if he can. He will sell a fiddle which cost him £5 for £100,

if he can. Truly, the _caveat emptor_ of the ancient Romans covers a

multitude of sins.

On the other hand, the extreme ignorance of many persons who have

violins to sell offers singular temptations to dealers, who are a

class of people constitutionally on the make.

In bygone days, people who did not play the violin used to be

criminally careless about the instruments that happened to be in

their possession. Cremonas might lie for years in damp attics, or

hung up in disused cupboards on rusty nails, or away in the dust of

ages on the top of old beds and cabinets. Even if the fiddle was

ultimately stolen--borrowed and not returned--it was thought hardly

worth a serious inquiry; it “was all to pieces” or “only an old

fiddle”; and, indeed, I have before now seen such with the belly off

converted into serviceable dustpans.

Credulity has succeeded to ignorance, and now any one who has any

sort of shabby-looking fiddle fancies he has got a rare Cremona!

He will advertise it unblushingly in the halfpenny papers, bring it

gravely to supposed judges, and make a favour of even showing it to a

dealer.

Nothing will shake the confidence of these simple folk in their

spurious wares; they will bring out a common brown German _dated_

Maggini, and you point out that Maggini never dated his instruments;

they suppose you to be envious. Or they show you a Stainer rashly

dated fifty years after that maker’s death (such an one was lately

brought to me), with a label so recent that you wonder at the

brazen fraud. As to the good and tolerably deceptive French copies

of Strad, their name is legion, and for a moment a person fairly

conversant with fiddles may be deceived by such a subtle and withal

honest copyist as Lupôt, but to the eye of the experienced dealer

the varnish is quite enough. The varnish that chips off instead of

rubbing away, thus leaving the raw wood more exposed than permeated,

is not Cremona varnish.

Of course as to the new labels in modern type I have nothing to say.

No one but a complete fool in fiddles could be taken in by them.

Still, when all gross cases are put aside, there is an excusable

margin left for honest error, especially when personal interest is on

the side of error.

I have very little doubt that my old friend, the late Mr Cox, well

known as an acute picture dealer, really believed in a certain violin

which he called the Red Knight. He bought it at the great sale of

Gillott’s fiddles as a rare Joseph Guarnerius.

I would never tell the old man to his face that his Joseph was a very

plausible red Landolpho copy of Joseph, and I was even weak enough

to allow it to lie on the table of the Royal Institution side by

side with the “Dolphin,” Enthoven’s Maggini, the Emperor of Russia’s

Strad, a genuine Nicolas, a Joseph and a Jacob Stainer; in short, the

Red Knight lay by favour for one evening in company with some twenty

gems of worldwide reputation.

In the course of my lecture, to please my old friend, I took up the

Red Knight, remarking, “Here is a fine violin _labelled_ Joseph

Guarnerius, once the property of Mr Gillott, now owned by Mr Cox.” I

said no more.

A few weeks afterwards the Red Knight was sold for £300, partly on

the strength of my having vouched for it at the Royal Institution.

Meanwhile the Jupiter of judges, William Ebsworth Hill, had been

consulted by the purchaser, who, on finding that he had only got hold

of a Landolpho, wanted his money back.

I think they would have gone to law if they could have counted on me

as a witness; but when I was threatened with a subpœna, I replied,

“I would certainly go into the box, but should have utterly to deny

that I had vouched for the genuineness of the Red Knight or expressed

any opinion whatever about it except that it was ‘a good fiddle

_labelled_ Guarnerius,’ worth perhaps £60 but not £300.”

The upshot was that I was not subpœnaed. Mr Cox refunded the money

and the buyer restored the fiddle.

No one doubts but what Mr Gillott, of steel-pen celebrity, did

obtain, chiefly through Charles Reade of “Never Too Late to Mend”

fame, a great many very fine fiddles, but I am afraid that Mr C.

Reade was also responsible for some comparative rubbish like the

Red Knight. Certainly I find a very dubious Strad tenor (one of

Gillott’s) labelled 140 in the South Kensington collection. As to

this particular collector’s specimen, if I grant him his belly and

his sound-holes, it is about all that I can do--for Strad never threw

that scroll nor touched with plane or chisel that back and ribs.

I brought home from Australia a so-called Peter Guarnerius--really an

excellent violin--but it was no more a Guarnerius than a Strad, and

was sold far under its value as a Camillo Camilli, which it probably

was. But what will you? After all, a fiddle at any given time is

worth what it will fetch.

The most impudent fraud or the most blatant delusion which has ever

come under my notice was the so-called Maggini exhibited by Mr J. W.

Joyce (110, South Kensington Exhibition, 1872).

It was made by Bernhardt Fendt, and I gave in the _Pall Mall Gazette_

of the period its history and the names of its chief owners; but it

was not removed, neither was the Amati tenor (No. 147), labelled and

hung as Maggini, ever re-labelled, nor was a Klotz fiddle which bore

a Stainer label ever corrected.

The only fraud I succeeded in dislodging was a spurious

Bergonzi--also sent up by Mr J. W. Joyce--which after my attack on

the South Kensington collection of 1872 disappeared.

The poor thing, no worse than the Bernhardt Fendt which brazened it

out like a false claimant, was merely made a scapegoat of.

These be among the humours of your loan collections!

But we must be indulgent. Some mistakes are sure to be made, but it

is only fair to remember that the fiddle world is vastly indebted to

these grand fiddle exhibitions all the same. The exhibition of 1885

at South Kensington was not one whit less important than the 1872

show.

The 1885 specimens were more discreetly selected than those of 1872.

They had the advantage of being largely controlled by Mr Hill.

Besides the usual supply of leading Italian makers, the English

school was remarkably well represented. There was found a capital

Ford, a maker who has not received due credit for his excellent work.

A good Duke and Walmsley, and a yellow fiddle by Tobin, a man quite

noticeable for the cut of his scrolls, which are always full of

character.

There was an interesting John Lott, richly varnished. A romantic

interest must always attach itself to this fine maker on account of

his early Bohemian life, recorded by Charles Reade in a memoir called

“Jack of All Trades.”

Charles Reade, who knew Lott intimately, tells us how at one time he

travelled through Europe with a menagerie and became famous as the

keeper of a most clever but vicious elephant called Djek, who, after

killing ever so many men, had to be demolished herself with a cannon,

and was then cut up for elephant steaks to feed the town.

It was only after the loss of Djek that John Lott came again to

London and took up the fiddle trade, which he had learned in boyhood.

Joseph Hill, Lockey Hill, and Banks, were also well seen at South

Kensington in 1885. There was also a matchless Urquhart, very

venerable--Anno 1666--the date of the great fire of London, which

happily spared it!

The Stradivarius case contained Mr Hill’s interesting 1732 Strad (now

Ysaÿe’s violin), which, although made so late in his life, was signed

by the old man, who after 1730, as a rule, had left off signing his

instruments.

A truly serio-comic chapter might be written on the huge prices given

for frauds. A friend of mine gave £200 forty years ago for a supposed

Strad (which was only a Lupôt) at a time when £40 was a long price

for the clever Frenchman.

A violin professor I know sold a very poor Strad the other day, but

made a very good thing out of it. When the lady showed it me, I took

a liberal view, and said that £300 would have been a long price. Her

countenance fell.

“Good gracious! I gave £600!”

“Keep it long enough, and _anything_ by Strad will fetch that; but

probably not,” I added, “in your lifetime or mine.” This was some

years ago.

On the other hand, bargains in Strads and Josephs, Bergonzis and

Stainers, are still no doubt to be got, but only about as often as

bargains in Raphaels, Rubens, Rembrandts, or Tintorets; but amateurs

of pictures and fiddles are mostly wrecked on school-pictures and

school-fiddles, often getting fair money’s worth, but _not_ what they

_pay for_.

Betts purchased one of the finest Stradivari in the world for 20s.

When John Lott opened it in Vuillaume’s presence, he found the

original bass-bar. The bar--so Charles Reade tells us--was low and

short, and quite incapable of bearing the strain of concert pitch,

and John Lott replaced it with one stronger. The Betts Strad was sold

to George Hart for 800 guineas--a heavy price fifty years ago.

Mr John Hart, father of George Hart, picked up a violoncello in

Oxford Street for a sovereign or two. The timbre caught his ear as he

passed three street-musicians--violin, cornet, and ’cello.

Lindley, the great player, came into his shop and bought a fine

Forster ’cello for a round sum. This was the Oxford Street ’cello.

The destiny of violins has ever been one full of ups and downs, and,

like human beings, they have been literally kidnapped, as in the case

of Spohr’s, which was lifted from behind his travelling carriage;

shipwrecked, like the Peter and Paul, _vide_ page 96; murdered by

those Vandals who patch stray bits of slaughtered Cremonas into

modern fabrics, and sold for slaves, as in last century, to be

scraped in dim churches or ancient orchestras, until found out to be

royalties in disguise by the Chanôts and Vuillaumes of the nineteenth

century.

One would suppose that the stealing of a first-class instrument would

be next to impossible. Hardly a fiddle of mark now exists which is

not known to one or other of the great dealers in Paris, London, or

Berlin; and whenever it changes hands, it is likely to come before

them again for inspection and verification. Yet some of the famous

Spanish Court Strads have vanished no one knows where, and another

famous Strad from the Plowden Collection, whilst in possession of one

of our diplomats at St Petersburg, disappeared, and has never since

been traced.

Many years ago I left a Vuillaume, labelled Albani, in a railway

carriage when I got out to take refreshment. I was not gone five

minutes, but in that five minutes my Vuillaume had gone.

After the death of a well-known nobleman, a certain so-called Strad

in an elaborate case, with finely-mounted bows, was submitted to

Mr Hill for inspection. It was nothing but a common German fiddle;

but Mr Hill told me he had no doubt that the original occupant

of the noble case had been stolen. Probably many such thefts have

been committed by dishonest servants. Nothing could be easier

than to substitute one fiddle for another in houses--and they are

legion--where people do not know one fiddle from another, and where

fiddles lie unused and unvisited in lofts and cupboards, I might

almost say from generation to generation. No soloist who travels

should fail to insure his treasure. Sarasate had a heavy insurance on

his violin when he went to America.

But worse than theft is mutilation. The chances are that what is

stolen, unless it be stolen deliberately to cut up, will some

day reappear intact; but the chances are small that a mutilated

instrument will ever collect its _disjecta membra_.

Still, as in the case of Tarisio’s Spanish bass, that too is

possible, just as the recovery of the Hercules Farnese statue, before

alluded to, was possible.

A well-known amateur whose Strad had been taken to pieces for repair

and the pieces wrapped in bits of paper, on unfolding the fragments

found the head missing. The loss seemed irreparable, but a day or

two afterwards an old apple-woman picked it up in the gutter, and

happened to take it to the very fiddle-shop charged with the repair

of the Strad. That Strad head was worth just 2s.--to the old woman!

Nothing is easier than the perpetration of a fraud by a clever

copyist if he chooses to attempt it. Incredible as it may appear,

Paganini was shown by Vuillaume two fiddles, one of which was his own

and the other a counterfeit, and was quite unable at the moment to

decide which was which.

Chanôt’s copy of the Carlino or Kerlino 1454 viol, No. 14, South

Kensington 1872 Exhibition, completely deceived me until I had the

opportunity of handling both instruments at leisure.

These frauds extend to bows. The Tourte and Dodd bows in existence

that know not Dodd or Tourte are legion.

I should recommend my readers never to leave a valuable bow in their

case when they send their violins for repair.

I lost a good Dodd myself in that way. Fine bows are not safe even

in the orchestra anteroom; they get “changed.” It seems so simple to

some people, when a bow, a crush-hat, or an umbrella happens to be

lying about, to mistake it for their own and leave theirs behind,

especially if it is inferior in quality to the one they chance to

catch up by mistake! As luck will have it, ’tis seldom a worse one

that gets caught up!

A friend of mine happened to leave a fine Tourte bow in his case,

and then he sent his fiddle for repairs to a smart dealer who shall

be nameless here. When the case returned, it had a bow in it, but it

was a copy, and a very good copy, of a Tourte. In this instance the

dealer restored the original under pressure.

In everything connected with a fiddle and a bow I say, Beware!

Beware! Further, let me say to amateurs, not one in a thousand

of you, even with practice and opportunity, is fit to judge of a

violin; you may easily know what _suits_ you, and that no doubt for

practical purposes is the essential. You can hardly know what is

_genuine_.

Over and above culture and wide observation and experience, a certain

instinct is required, and few are they that have it. Why, my friend,

if William Ebsworth Hill, from whose judgment there was no appeal,

got “his eye out” when only for a few weeks he left off looking at

fiddles, or distrusted his own judgment on certain days, as to my

knowledge was the case--for he was at once the most diffident and

absolute of men--what chance have you? Why, none at all!

I will go further than this, and declare that half the violinists now

before the public are no more judges of a _genuine_ fiddle than my

cook. A man may be a judge without being able to play, and a man may

play divinely and not be a judge. At the same time Charles Reade’s

opinion would have been even more valuable than it was had he played

himself. He never would have written those foolish paragraphs about

modern-made fiddles sounding as well as old Cremonas had he played

himself. It is all the difference between a man who looks at another

man on horseback and one who has got to ride the horse himself; the

first may not see much difference in two horses, but the second soon

finds it out!

Playing the fiddle won’t make you a judge, but you will be a better

judge if you can play the fiddle. I remember showing Remenyi a very

fine copy of Strad which had deceived many. He walked up and down my

room playing upon it with delight, and pronounced it a genuine Strad

beyond a question. It was a Lupôt for all that.

As for your ordinary amateur, he will judge by an old-looking label,

being unaware that forgers keep old battered counterfeit type in

stock, or he will note the place of the little buttons which fasten

the inner blocks, supposing that each maker had his favourite

position for these buttons from which he never deviated. Others will

prate about Strad’s wasp sting purfle running counter to the angle

of his corners, or declare that one maker never made his back in two

pieces, whilst another never made it otherwise.

But there is one mark occasionally found in old Italian violins which

I do not remember to have seen forged or imitated, or indeed even so

much as alluded to by any writer.

If the amateur happens to have an instrument with a little round

hole in the back of his fiddle a few inches below the nut, filled up

skilfully so as to be almost imperceptible, he may be quite sure he

has got an old violin, probably one of the oldest, as the practice

of falling suddenly on the knees and letting the violin hang, in

processions in which the singers went before and the minstrels

followed after, has long been abandoned.

That little hole, so cunningly plugged, shows the place where a

slight chain connected the instrument to a button-screw or hook, so

that at the elevation of the Host, the minstrel might suddenly fall

on his knees without the fear of dropping his fiddle. I have an old

Andrew Guarnerius so plugged, and the violinist Oury first pointed

this out to me and explained the reason of the plugged hole!

Scores have sent me descriptions of their fiddles, and expected me

to pronounce on the genuineness of them, or are sure that they own

a real Strad or Amati, because theirs (in their opinion) exactly

corresponds to my description of Strad or Amati in “Music and

Morals.” All this shows that the outside public have not the faintest

inkling of true violin lore.

Oliver Wendell Holmes felt this when he wrote to me in 1885.

He had himself written very charmingly on the violin, and the passage

is quoted with approval even by so redoubtable a critic as Mr George

Hart in his admirable book “The Violin” (1887).

Oliver Wendell Holmes had the acuteness to see that all _mere_

picturesque writing was valueless from a technical point of view, and

he thus expresses himself to me in a letter dated December 5, 1885:--

“I never knew until I read what you say of the instrument what

profanation I had been guilty of to touch one, much more to write

about it!” and he was kind enough to add: “You have given a life

to the fiddle such as nothing but its own music ever gave it

before!”--words which, coming so spontaneously from the author of the

“Autocrat of the Breakfast-table,” I think I may be allowed to quote

with pardonable pleasure.

There is a point interesting alike to collectors, amateurs, dealers,

and players, which I feel somewhat strongly about in view of much

recent, and, as it seems to me, ignorantly conducted controversy.

It is whether, as far as tone and sensibility are concerned, the

best modern fiddles are not quite as good as the best old ones. We

hear repeatedly stories of Strads and Josephs being played side by

side with modern fiddles, whilst the best judges have failed to

detect the superiority of the old over the new. This test is most

unsatisfactory. The ear is as easily confused as the palate. It is

currently reported that if you taste alternately port wine, cream,

and sherry, you will not, after a few sips with your eyes shut, be

able to tell the difference; but no one argues from this that _there

is no difference_. The ear is not only easily confused about the

quality, but even about the direction of sound.

Let one man shut his eyes and another snap his fingers on the right,

left, and above the other’s head several times running, and this one

shall be utterly unable to tell after a few turns where the fingers

are being snapped. No one is a real judge of the distance from which

a sound comes. If, then, we can be easily puzzled when plied with

such tests about the direction and the distance, no wonder if tests

expressly designed to confuse us about timbre should be equally

successful. But the question is practically settled by soloists

invariably preferring a fine old fiddle to a fine new one, not as

connoisseurs, but as _players_, and there must be a reason for this.

Therefore, I will hear of no talk, even from the lips of a Charles

Reade, about the varnish, the finish, the artistic beauty in form

or colour of the old violins being largely responsible for this

avowed preference. It is tonal power--quality, sensibility, volume,

timbre--a something _personal_, as it were, to the old fiddles, which

points to certain real qualities in their makers which have not since

been rivalled, and this is quite apart from the item of age.

Age will make a good fiddle better, but it won’t make a bad fiddle

good; it may also be possible to prematurely age a new fiddle, not

with heat or acids, but quite legitimately, by incessantly and for

long periods of time grinding it through every semitone of its

compass, and well-made modern fiddles will doubtless improve every

year, like good wine, up to a certain point. They will then probably

deteriorate. But the age at which the old Cremonas are bound to

deteriorate has happily not yet been reached.

The root of the matter lies here.

A listener behind the door may not know the difference between a

Strad or Joseph or some other, but the _player does_. A spectator in

the Park may see no great difference between the pet horse ridden by

the lady and the even more handsome quadruped upon which her groom

follows; but _she_ knows. So the hunter knows his horse, and values

him above another horse which looks better; the beast he rides will

answer to his will, go anywhere with him, and rise to every occasion.

This is what your Strad fiddle does.

All violinists will tell you that there is a _reserve_ of force about

a Strad; you can “pull out,” and you will never be disappointed.

All lovers of Amati will tell you that they find in Nicolo a

trembling sighing sensitiveness, a tenderness, and a tone delicate to

the point of vanishing, which endears Amati to the women, and still

leaves his finest instruments unapproachable for cabinet-playing.

And all players will tell you that for domination and downright

big-battalion power, Joseph Guarnerius del Gesù has not his equal.

And the reason for this real, not fancied, supremacy of the great

makers and their best pupils?

The reason is complex, no doubt--so complex that, when all

precautions have been taken to imitate wood, proportions, varnish,

workmanship, so as thoroughly to deceive the eye, the modern

_chef-d’œuvre_ is, in spite of puzzled auditors, still not identical

in quality with the old Cremona gems.

I was called the other day to judge a set of English bells, cast with

the same proportions of tin and copper, of exactly the same size,

weight, and model as a suite of Belgian bells cast by Severin Van

Aerschodt; but the sound?

Ye gods! No silver clang and tin-kettle parody could be further apart

than were those English and Belgian bells.

But to return to our fiddles. The reasons of Cremona supremacy remain

to be tackled.

I hazard the following points:--

_1st._ Selection of wood. No doubt the old Lombardian forests, with

their salt-impregnated roots, provided rare planks. The vaunted

American woods fail technically to satisfy the Cremona requirements.

_2nd._ The knowledge, at first empirical, then intuitive, born of a

lifelong study of the relative density of woods fitted to vibrate

together. Nothing can teach this, no rule or measurements; for every

plank varies in porousness, density of fibre, age, and seasoning.

Charles Reade was napping when he expressed a hope that a certain

Stradivari back, mated with a new belly, might some day be united to

_some_ Stradivari back of which he knew; but unless it happened to be

_the_ belly Strad had selected for that particular back, what reason

is there to suppose that the result would be satisfactory?

_3rd._ I am of opinion that the old method of careful oil-sizing and

the subsequent application of gum materially affected the tone.

Think for a moment only of what is implied in the saturation--too

much or too little of the wood--with oils, spirit, gum of this or

that quality.

Necessarily some vibratory capacities must be affected--for better,

for worse--by the filling in, one way or another, of the wood

pores; and do not the commonest of modern artificers admit that the

Cremona varnish, and the exact mode of its application, is as yet

undiscovered; and when they speak otherwise, do they not laugh in

their sleeves?

_4th._ Admit that the _proportions_ are exactly equal, the column

of air almost identical in cubic measure, about 512 to the second;

still remains the vibratory qualities of infinite varieties of

grain--coarse or close, loose or serried--in wood fibre acting upon

that air column.

The old makers varied their models, but, no doubt, had regard to the

thicknesses and the subtle relations between the hard and soft woods

which would produce the power or quickness of reply, or sweetness, or

penetratingness aimed at.

It _may_ be that the secret for the production of these is quite

incommunicable, just as a painter, an actor, a singer, a sculptor

will do a thing before you, which you cannot do, which he cannot

teach you how to do, though he place his brush, his chisel, his

music, his toga and footlights at your disposal.

_5th._ We have no time for failures; they had. Endless experiment,

endless comparison, observation, meditation, unlimited leisure:

one and the same man made each part, and knew the interpenetrative

qualities and the mutual adaptation of the sundry parts.

We now have subdivision of labour; each man makes one of the parts,

and some one else puts them together. How can such backs accord

with such bellies? How can such ribs cotton with such strange and

fortuitous planks? Truly a scratch company brought together like

strangers, yet expected to accept their arbitrary assortment, and

make sweet harmony together. But they were not fastened together, in

view of one another, by one and the same master-mind, who knew what

was good for them, and what they were good for!

_6th._ But given the possibility of favourable conditions--time,

absorption, infinite experience, and all the accumulated knowledge of

the past--and given a modern Nicolo, Strad, Joseph, or even Bergonzi,

and given climate, and given wood galore, and might not we expect

Cremona results?

Why, yes, with Cremona conditions, certainly, or at least a very fair

approximation; and I am far from saying that we are not on the road

to it.

Until lately it has not been worth while for makers like the Hills,

the Gands, or the Chanôt firms to do aught seriously but repair or

parody closely for the eye the old fiddles.

But such of Vuillaume’s fiddles as have not been aged with heat and

acids, and the fine £10 to £30 violins now being made conscientiously

by Messrs Hill, in proportion as old fiddles become rare and

inaccessible, must come to the fore. Anyhow, players will, it is

hoped, give up the idiotic folly of paying large sums for indifferent

old fiddles, even with respectable names, when they can get really

fine new ones for half the money with twice the tone--a good tone,

too, which a very few years will suffice to mellow.

We write these words in the interest of dealers, collectors, players,

and artificers alike--indeed, it would be well worth while for

collectors even now to get hold of the finest attainable specimens

of new work. As a mere speculation it would be at least as sound an

investment as laying down good vintages of port or sherry.

A good Hill recently made, price £30 or £40, _e.g._ the fine copy

of the Tuscan Strad, only requires age to mellow it into a price of

three figures.

These new and garish-looking instruments, which, after all, do not

look more gaudy than the Messie Strad, are exceedingly loud in tone,

and withal very sensitive.

A certain tartness of timbre merely calls aloud for another ten or

twenty years to soften and refine it into the Cremona tone.

Meanwhile, the aspirants to Cremona excellence are entertainingly

numerous. From time to time I get letters accompanied with samples

from people who claim to have discovered the secret of the Cremona

varnish.

Here and there some enterprising maker will get a literary friend to

extol him as the successor of Stradiuarius.

I came across a pamphlet the other day assigning Cremona rank to

a worthy musician who makes fiddles _en amateur_, and a certain

German working in America, whose violins present all the usual

characteristics of instruments made in Germany. I actually got half

through this remarkable document, written _au grand serieux_, before

I discovered that it belonged to the liver pill, patent syrup, and

soap class.

Rumours may reach you from America of the wonderful Californian wood.

Well, European experts tell me that, fine as is the marking, it does

not yield the required timbre, and that the planks now coming over

from the old forests of Herzgovina and Bosnia are far superior for

fiddle-making purposes.

Then think of the care and study in selection made by those old

Italian artificers who frequented the Brescian and Cremonese markets,

and haggled over special bits of timber. They knew exactly where it

came from--the peculiarities of the soil, iron or salt impregnated

from whence it came; whether it was cut as it should be, in autumn,

with the sap out of it, and exactly how long it had been cut, and

to what conditions it had been exposed before it came to be worked

up. The subtleties were endless. Who troubles their heads about such

things now?

No! The fact about modern fiddles you, my anxious inquirer, may take

it for granted is what I have stated. Take good new fiddles by Hill,

Chanôt, Bernardel, Gand, and, according to the time and individual

or one-man power and skill spent upon them, they will rank high, and

higher by-and-by; and if ever the genius and the conditions which

obtained at Cremona, anno 1700, are again found, then, and not till

then, will the peers and rivals of the Cremona masterpieces be seen

and heard--and paid for.

It may be rash to attempt a scale of prices, when the experience of

the last fifty years proves that we have to deal with a _sliding_

scale. Forty years ago my father bought a rather small Andrea

Guarnerius at Puttick & Simpson’s for £4, which could not now be

picked up under £20. No Cremona from 1660 to 1760 can be got for much

less, though many better fiddles can be got for half that price.

Of course the rise in the Strads is quite phenomenal. Stainer, on

the other hand, is not valued as highly by comparison as he was last

century; whilst, owing to the rarity of real Stainers, the demand for

Klotz and Albani, more easily attainable, has somewhat increased, and

generally all the second and third class makers are being hunted up

and command good figures now, just as a man who can’t get Charles II.

silver will put up with William and Mary, Queen Anne, and even the

early Georges.

It is quite safe to buy Urquhart, Ford, Banks, Forster, Furber

(Henry, David, or John), and Pamphilion; but the once popular “Duke”

days are pretty well over.

Lupôt should be _always_ secured, and Vuillaumes that have not been

cooked with acids and heat; and no collector will go far wrong with

Pique.

Venetian fiddles, and especially violoncellos, near akin to Cremona,

will be sure to rise; and, as a rule, the Northern fiddles will

command a better figure than the Southerners--Rome and Naples.

But all such hints are general, and must be taken for what they are

worth, for stray specimens will often turn up belonging to almost any

school, which will have rare merits and can hardly be accounted for

by any systematic classification.

The following up-to-date (1898) scale of prices may be a useful but

rough guide to the collector with money that burns his pocket:--

PRICES

[1898]

Stradivari £2000 to £200

Joseph Guarnerius 1000 ” 100

Other Guarnerii 300 ” 30

Nicolo Amati, and the brothers

Anthony, and Gerome 500 ” 80 or £50

Stainer 200 ” 30

C. Bergonzi 600 ” 40

Maggini 500 ” 50

J. B. Vuillaume 60 ” 20

Lupôt 200 ” 50

Pique 60 ” 10

Forster (’cellos) 100 ” 20

Duke 40 ” 5

Banks 100 ” 20

There are two general rules, which, like all rules, may have some

exceptions--not many:--

I. Never buy a fiddle simply at the owner’s valuation; judge it by

your own knowledge if you have any, or that of an expert if you have

none.

II. If you buy at auction, always go a few pounds better than the

highest bid offered by a _dealer_, and if you win, you will be in

luck.

III. Before sending a valuable violin to be “done up,” select your

repairer carefully. A fiddle maker is not necessarily a fiddle

restorer, and may be quite ignorant of the traditions which should

regulate this branch of the luthier’s art.

IV. Get your violin’s pedigree _as far as you can_ in detail, with

names and dates. Had this been always done, exhibitions would have

been spared many a delusion and collectors many a fraud.

POSTLUDE

My task is ended.

The shades of the great melodious dead still seem to hover around

me--as their echoes

“Roll from Pole to Pole,”

and from

“Soul to soul,

And grow for ever and for ever.”

Violins may be made hereafter, copies may deceive the eye, sounds

bewilder the ear, but there will never again be an Amati or a

Stradivari, any more than a Phidias or a Raphael.

The age of discovery comes but once.

It is big with the future up to the moment when it resumes in itself

the golden heritage of the past. We may imitate, but we cannot

reproduce; nor will that thrill of perfection--that emotion of

eternal novelty which we experience in contemplating and sounding

the Cremona masterpieces--ever electrify those who handle their pale

effigies, uninformed by that secret magic which only appertains to

absorbing things done for the first time.

Hail! to the mighty dead, whose incommunicable touch is still felt by

millions upon millions from generation to generation!

Hail! to the mystic life, which still circulates throughout the

arteries of ten thousand orchestral organisms!

Hail! to the undying names of those who first imprisoned (in order

to set free) the passionate longings and divine aspirations of

humanity--in the

SOUL OF A CREMONA!

[Illustration:

Nicolaus Amatus Cremonen. Hieronymi Fil., ac Antonij Nepos Fecit.

Gasparo da Salo, In Brescia.

Andres Guarnerius fecit Cremonæ sub titulo Sanctæ Teresiæ 1696

Joseph Guarnerius fecit ✠ Cremona anno 1793 IHS

Gio Paolo Maggini in Brescia.

Anno 1733 Carlo Bergonzi fece in Cremona

Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1709

]

DICTIONARY OF VIOLIN MAKERS

AACHNER, Philipp. A Mittenwalder, 1772; ordinary German characteristics.

ABBATI, Giuseppe. He worked at Modena, according to Forster,

1775-93.

ABSAM, Thomas. Lived at Wakefield, in Yorkshire; but his name,

identical with the birthplace of Stainer, suggests a German origin.

Employed by Pickard, of Leeds; his labels run: “Made by Thomas

Absam, Wakefield.” Date 1810-49.

ACEVO. Doubtful whether he ever existed. Fétis saw a bass viol

which he connected with his name. It was signed at the back, “Marin

Marais,” but it is all very shadowy.

ADAM, Jean Dominique, son of Jean Adam. Both worked at Mirecourt,

according to Vidal; both made bows, and the son made the best, and

signed all he sold himself, 1823-69.

ADAMS, C. Takes rank merely as a local maker at Garmouth, Scotland,

1800.

AGLIO, Giuseppe dall’, of Mantua; varnish bright yellow, 1800-40.

AIRETON (Airton), Edmund, of London. Made good fiddles on the Amati

and Steiner models; he varnished yellow, 1727-1807.

ALBANESI, Sebastiano, is said to have lived at Cremona; his work is

almost unknown, 1720-44.

ALBANI, Mathias, b. about 1621, Botzen (Tyrol); d. there 1673.

(_See_ p. 102.)

ALBERTI, Ferdinando. Milanese; yellow varnish. Label: “Ferdinando

Alberti, fece in Milano, nella contrada delle pesce al segno della

Corona, nel anno 1740-60.”

ALDRIC. Maker and great repairer. Labels: “Fait par Aldric,” or

“Rue de Seine, 71, près celle de Bussy, Aldric, luthier, Paris, an.

18--.” (_See_ p. 174.)

ALESSANDRO. A Venetian maker, 1540.

ALETZIE, Paul. Worked at Munich; good tenors and violoncellos,

German type, 1710-20.

ALLARD, François. Successor of Maubert, 9 rue du Petit-Pont,

1788-89.

ALVANI. A Cremonese maker, 1750.

AMATI, Andrea. The father of the Cremona school, 1525. (_See_ Chap.

V.)

AMATI, Antonio, elder son of Andrea Amati; b. Cremona about 1560.

(_See_ Chap. V.)

AMATI, Girolamo, second son of Andrea Amati; b. about 1562. (_See_

Chap. V.)

AMATI, Girolamo, third son and successor of Nicola Amati; b. Feb.

26, 1649. (_See_ Chap. V.)

AMATI, Giuseppe. Said to have lived in Bologna, seventeenth

century. (_See_ Chap. V.)

AMATI, Nicola, younger brother of Andrea Amati, is said to have

worked with him, 1568-80. (_See_ Chap. V.)

AMATI, Nicola, son of Girolamo Amati; b. Dec. 3, 1596; d. April

12, 1684, aged eighty-eight, according to the registers of Cremona

Cathedral. (_See_ Chap. V.)

AMBROGI, Pietro. Cremona and Rome. “Petrus Ambrogi, Crem. fecit

Romæ, an. 17--.”

AMBROSI, Pietro. A Brescian maker; very mediocre, 1712.

AMBROSIO, Antonio d’. Neapolitan, 1820.

AMELOT. French maker in Lorient; yellow varnish; mediocre, 1812-29.

ANCIAUME. Existence doubtful.

ANSELMO, Pietro. Cremona and Venice; small pattern; deep yellow

varnish; fair maker, 1700.

ANTONIAZZI, Gregorio. Bergamo, 1738; labels bear: “in Colle, 1738.”

ANTONIO, Cypriano.

ANTONY, Girolamo. Cremonese pattern; yellow varnish, 1751.

ARDENOIS, Johannes. Ghent, 1731.

ARTMANN. Weimar, cir. 1760; pupil of Ernst of Gotha; Amati pattern;

yellow varnish.

ASKEY, Samuel. Pupil of John Morrison; employed by Corsby, cir.

1825.

ASSALONE, Gaspare. Roman; Amati pattern; over-arched; poor yellow

varnish.

AUBRY. Paris; a nephew of Aldric (who dealt with Tarisio); inferior

to his uncle, 1840.

AUDINOT, Nestor Dominique, b. at Mirecourt 1842; worked under

Sébastien Vuillaume; took up his business in 1875 at the age of

seventeen; is very industrious, and makes excellent instruments.

Labels: “N. Audinot, luthier, élève de Vuillaume, Paris.”

AUGIÈRE. Pupil of Clément, Paris; good maker; red and brown

varnish, 1830.

BAADER, J. A., & Co. Mittenwald; wholesale producers on cheapest

terms; their Stainer copies are good, 1854.

BACHELIER. Inferior French maker, 1777-89.

BACHMANN, Carl Ludwig. An excellent maker of Berlin, 1716-1800;

violins, violas, and ’cellos often mistaken for Cremonas; a viola

player; maker to the Prussian Court; founder of the Berlin Amateur

Concerts; inventor of screw pegs for double-basses.

BACHMANN, O. Good maker, of Halberstadt; first-rate repairer; wrote

on violin construction, 1835.

BAGATELLA (Bagattella), Antonio. Padua; good restorer; much

employed by German princes; made few good instruments, but wrote

learnedly on violin construction, 1750-82.

BAGATELLA (Bagattella), Pietro. Padua, 1760-66.

BAILLY, Paul. Mirecourt; fair maker; Chicago Exhibitor, 1893.

BAINES. London; pupil of Furber, 1780.

BAIRHOF, Giorgio. Naples; Gagliano school.

BAJONI, Luigi. Milanese, 1840-76.

BAKER, Francis. London, 1696.

BAKER, John. Oxford, 1688-1720; excellent tone; yellow varnish;

transition maker.

BALESTRIERI (Balestieri), Pietro, brother of Tommaso. (_See_ p. 88.)

BALESTRIERI (Balestieri). Tommaso, brother of Pietro. (_See_ p. 88.)

BALLANTINE. Scotch, 1850-56.

BANKS, Benjamin, son of George and Barbary Banks, 1727-95. (_See_

pp. 130-132.)

BANKS, Benjamin, second son of Benjamin Banks (1727-95), b. Sept.

13, 1754; d. Jan. 22, 1820. (_See_ pp. 130-132.)

BANKS, James and Henry, fourth and sixth sons of B. Banks

(1727-95). (_See_ pp. 130-132.)

BARBANTI, Silva Francesco. A maker at Correggio, 1850.

BARBIERI, Francesco. Veronese; early Guarnerian pattern, 1695.

BARNES, Robert Pupil of Thomas Smith; set up with John Norris,

1765; employed Aireton, but used their own trade label.

BARNIA, Fedele. Milanese, 1716-51.

BAROUX. Paris; very good bow-maker, 1830.

BARRETT, John. London; a contemporary of Barak Norman and Nathaniel

Cross; long and arched pattern; yellow varnish; sweet tone;

labelled: “John Barrett, at the Harp and Crown in Pickadilly,

London, 1731.”

BARTON, George. London; d. cir. 1810.

BASSOT, Joseph. Paris; fine maker; brown and reddish varnish;

earlier yellow and inferior; label: “Joseph Bassot, luthier, Paris,

1802.”

BAUD. Versailles; experimented omitting sound-bar, but not a

success.

BAUSCH, Ludwig Christian. Good bow-maker; Naumburg and Leipsic,

1805-71.

BAUSCH, Excellent bow-maker; silver medallist, Dresden; friend of

Spohr, 1840.

BECKMANN (Bekman), Sweno. Stockholm; rough maker, 1700-6.

BEDLER, Norbert. Würzburg, 1723.

BELA, Szepessy. Good contemporary maker; worked at Budapest and

Munich, and is now in London; copies Strad and N. Amati.

BELLONE, Pietro Antonio, known as Il Pescorino, Milanese, 1694.

BELLOSIO, Anselmo. Venetian; pupil of Serafino and master of M. A.

Cerin, 1720-80.

BELVIGLIERI, Gregorio. Fairly good Bolognese maker, 1742.

BENEDICT, Jose. Cadiz, 1738.

BENEDICTI, Donate de. Cremona, 1674.

BENTI, Matteo, b. 1579. Brescia; contemporary of Maggini.

BERETTA, Felice. Como; Guadagnini school; bow-maker, 1760-85.

BERGÉ. Toulouse, 1771.

BERGONZI, Benedetto, d. 1840. (_See_ p. 86.)

BERGONZI, Carlo. Cremona; the first of the great Bergonzi family of

makers; b. (?); d. 1747.

BERGONZI, Carlo, third son of Michel Angelo. (_See_ p. 86.)

BERGONZI (Baganzi), Francesco. Named as early as 1687.

BERGONZI, Michel Angelo, son of Carlo; b. 1722; d. after 1765.

BERGONZI, Nicola, eldest son of Michel Angelo.

BERGONZI, Zosimo, brother of Nicola.

BERNARDEL, Auguste Sébastien Philippe. An excellent maker who

worked under Lupôt and Gand. Firm: “Bernardel et fils,” then “Gand

et Bernardel”; Paris (1849) gold medal, London (1855) gold medal.

BERNARDEL Frères. Ernst Auguste and Gustave Adolphe, sons of

Sébastien Philippe.

BERTASIO, Luigi. Piadena, 17--.

BERTASSI, Ambrogio. Piadena, 1730.

BERTET, Joseph R. French maker; little known, 1754.

BERTRAND, Nicolas. Paris; a few early fiddles, 1686-1735.

BETTS, John Edward, known as “Old John Betts”; b. 1755, at

Stamford, Lincolnshire; d. March 1823; was buried at Cripplegate

Church; pupil of Richard Duke, senior. (_See_ p. 132.)

BETTS (Ned), Edward, nephew of John Betts; like him a pupil of

Richard Duke. He died between 1815 and 1820.

BIANCHI, Nicola. Pupil of Guadagnini, 1800 to 1875; Genoa, Cremona,

and Paris; fair maker.

BINDERNAGEL. Gotha, 1745-1804; inferior maker.

BITTNER, David. Viennese, 1862-80; made chiefly for America.

BLAIR, John. Edinburgh, 1820.

BLAISE, Mirecourt. 1820; indifferent.

BLANCHARD, Paul François, 1865-94; worked with J. B. Vuillaume;

very good violins; his workmen turn out good cheap ones; follows

Strad; Mirecourt and Lyons.

BODIO, Giambattista. Venice, 1792-1832.

BOIVIN, Claude. Paris, 1735-53; fair maker.

BOMBERGHI, Lorenzo. Florentine, seventeenth century.

BOMÉ, Thomas. Inferior; French.

BOOTH, William. English; 1779-1858; good repairer.

BOOTH, William, son of W. Booth, senior; b. 1816, Leeds; d. 1856; a

clever workman.

BOQUAY (Bocquay), Jacques, b. at Lyons. 1700-30. (_See_ p. 105.)

BORBON (Bourbon), Gaspar. End of sixteenth century; Brussels;

Gaspar model.

BORELLI, Andreas, 1730-47; Parma; Guadagnini model.

BORLON, François. Antwerp maker, 1680-1710.

BOUCHER. London, 1764.

BOULLANGIER, Charles, b. 1823, Mirecourt; d. October, 1888. Learnt

his trade in Mirecourt till 1843; worked with Vuillaume and Gand

and Bernardel, also for Edward Withers, London; good copyist of

Strad.

BOUMEESTER (Baumeester). Amsterdam maker, 1637-68.

BOURDET, Jacques. Fair French maker, 1751.

BOURGARD, Jean. Worked in Nancy about 1780-87.

BOUSSU. Bruxelles about 1750-80; fairly good Amati pattern.

BRAGLIA, Antonio. Modena, eighteenth century.

BRANDIGLIONI. Brescia; copied Maggini.

BRANDL, Karl. Budapest; exhibited in London Exhibition, 1862.

BRANZO, Barbaro Francesco. Padua, 1660.

BREMEISTER, Jan. Amsterdam, 1707.

BRETON, J. F. Paris, 1740-80.

BRETON, Le, b. 1780, at Mirecourt. No great value; 1812 to 1830.

BROSCHI, Carlo. Parma, 1730-44.

BROWN, James, b. 1755, d. Sept. 1830. Silk weaver in Shoreditch,

London; pupil of Thomas Kennedy; chiefly a repairer of instruments.

BROWN, James, jun., son of the above; both father and son fair

workmen; b. Nov. 1786; d. 1860, at White Lion Street, Norton

Folgate; apprenticed to his father, but was principally employed to

make bows.

BROWN, son and pupil of James Brown, jun. When about twenty years

old, ceased to make instruments.

BROWNE, John. Cornhill, London, 1743; copied Nicholas Amati.

BRUBACH, Antoine, b. Jan. 22, 1847, Mirecourt; head of “Klein et

Cie.,” Rouen.

BRUGÈRE, Charles Georges, b. Nov. 10, 1865, at Mirecourt; excellent

maker; only labels what he makes himself.

BRUGÈRE, Charles Malakoff, d. 1894. Son of above; made about 100

good fiddles; the family still work at Mirecourt.

BRUGÈRE, François, brother of Charles Joseph Brugère. Had three

sons, all makers.

BUCHSTADTER (Buchstetter), Gabriel David. Ratisbon, 1752; Cremona

flat pattern; good orchestral instruments.

BUDIANI, Giavetta. Some of his large bass viols adapted for

double-basses with four strings; contemporary of G. P. Maggini.

BUONFIGLIUOLI, Pier Francesco. Florentine, seventeenth century.

BURGLE, Johann. A maker in Griezbach, 1828.

BUSAS, Domenico. Vicenza, 1740.

BUSSETO (Buseto), Giammaria del. Cremonese viol-maker, 1540-80;

said to have taught Andrea Amati.

BUSSOT. Paris, 1788.

BUTHOD. Cheap Mirecourt maker; good strong fiddles fit for

orchestral use; turned out about 900 instruments a year;

contemporary of Vuillaume.

CABROLI, Lorenzo. Milan about 1716; indifferent.

CABROLY. Toulouse about 1740-47; fair.

CAESTE, Gaetano. Cremona in 1677.

CAESTO (Caesta), Pietro Antonio della. Treviso, 1660-80; copied

Strad.

CAHUSAC. London about 1788. Worked with Banks’s sons.

CALCANI (Calcagni), Bernardo. In Genoa, 1710-50; copied Strad

carefully and with good effect.

CALONARDI, Marco. Cremona, seventeenth century.

CALOT (Callot), b. 1810. Paris and Mirecourt; fine workman: good

tone.

CALVAROLLA, Bartolommeo, of Torre Baldone (Bergamo). About 1753-67,

Bologna and Bergamo; fair.

CAMILLI, Camillus (Camilus di Camila). Mantua about 1739-50; copied

Strad; resembles also Landolfi; excellent tone.

CAMILLIO, Davido. Cremona, 1755.

CAPPA, Giofredo (Goffredo), 1590-1640. Worked with the Amatis;

unequal in work; his instruments have often been cut down.

CAPPA, Giachimo (Gioacchino) and Giuseppe. Working in Saluzzio, and

in Turin about 1661-1712; indifferent.

CARCASSI, Lorenzo Francesco and Tommaso. Florence, about 1735-58;

not first-rate.

CARLO, Giuseppe. Milan, 1769.

CARLOMORDI, Carlo. Verona in 1654.

CARON. Versailles, 1775-85. Maker to the Queen; not remarkable.

CARTER, John. Worked in London, 1780-90, for John Betts. Good;

often sold for Betts’.

CASINI (Cassini), Antonio. Modena about 1660 to 1700. Made large

violoncellos; fair.

CASPAN, Giampietro. Venice about 1650; Amati pattern; violins

small, yellow varnish.

CASSANELLI, Giovanni. Ciano in 1777.

CASSINEAU. Paris; maker of all sorts.

CASTAGNERY (Castagneri), Andrea. Worked in Paris, 1732-57; he made

good instruments.

CASTAGNERY (Castagneri), Gian Paolo. A maker from Cremona, who

worked in Paris about 1630-62; very good and sweet tone.

CASTELLANI, Luigi, son of Pietro Castellani. Florence, 1809-84;

good restorer of fiddles, but made none.

CASTELLANI, Pietro, b. Florence, second half of the eighteenth

century. Made only a few violins.

CASTELLO, Paolo. Genoa about 1750-80; fair.

CASTRO. Worked in Venice, 1680-1720; indifferent appearance, but

good wood.

CATENAR (Catenari), Enrico. Turin about 1670; fair; a follower of

Cappa.

CATI, Pier Antonio. Florence, 1741; famous for his “kits.”

CAVALORIO. Geneva, 1725.

CELLINI, Giovanni, the father of Benvenuto Cellini, b. in Florence;

d. there of the pest, 1527 or 1528. Architect; lute and viol maker.

His viols, made about 1500-5, had a great reputation.

CELONIATI (Celionati), Giam Francesco, 1732. Good maker; Amati

pattern; yellow varnish. “Joannes Franciscus Taurini, anno 1732.”

CERIN, Marc Antonio. A maker in Venice, 1780-93; pupil of Anselmo

Bellosio; fair maker.

CERUTI, Enrico, son of Giuseppe Ceruti; b. 1808; d. Oct. 20, 1883.

Cremona, at 14 Via Borgo Spera; made about 365 instruments; much

esteemed in Italy.

CERUTI, Giovanni Battista, 1755, Cremona; d. 1817. Pupil of Lorenzo

Storioni; good; made about 500 instruments; varnish yellow.

CERUTI, Giuseppe, son and successor of Giovanni Battista, 1787; d.

1860, Mantua. Fair maker; chiefly repairer.

CHALLONER, Thomas. Worked in London in the eighteenth century.

CHAMPION, Jean Baptiste. Paris in 1783.

CHAMPION, René. Paris, 1731; finished and graceful; varnished like

Boquay.

CHANOT, François, son of a musical instrument maker in Mirecourt;

b. 1787, d. 1828. (_See_ p. 112.)

CHANOT, Georges, a brother of François; b. March 26, 1801; d. Jan.

10, 1883.

CHANOT, Georges, son of Georges Chanot.

CHANOT, G. A. Manchester.

CHAPPUY (Chapuy), Nicolas Augustin. Paris about 1732-76; fairly

good; badly varnished. Fr. Habeneck played on one of his violins

for many years.

CHARDON, Marie Joseph, son-in-law and pupil of Georges Chanot,

sen.; b. May 22, 1843, Paris. He succeeded his father-in-law in

1872; good maker; better restorer.

CHARDON, Marie Joseph Antoine Georges. Worked under his father.

CHARLE. Paris in 1748.

CHARLES, Theress. From Mirecourt, but settled in London, in King

Street, Soho.

CHAROTTE. Mirecourt; d. 1836; settled in Rouen in 1830; indifferent.

CHATELAIN, François. About 1777-91; good maker; collaborated

sometimes with Renault.

CHÉRON, Nicolas. Paris, 1658-91.

CHERPITEL, Nicolas Emile. Mirecourt, 1841-93; worked with the Gands

at Paris; very good workman.

CHEVRIER, André Augustin, b. in Mirecourt. Paris, and then in

Brussels, 1838.

CHIAVELLATI, Domenico. Lonigo in 1796.

CHIBON, Jean Robert. Paris, 1775-85; indifferent.

CHIOCCHI (Chiocci), Gaetano. In Padua nineteenth century; good

maker and repairer.

CHRÉTIEN, Hippolyte, 1845-89. Lyons; excellent maker and restorer.

CHRISTA, Joseph Paul. About 1730-40.

CHRISTOPHLE, Jean. Avignon, 1655.

CLARK. London, living at Clerkenwell. A pupil of Matthew Furber.

CLAUDOT, Augustin. Paris, beginning of eighteenth century; large

pattern, yellow varnish; wood good, work carefully finished;

branded his instruments with his name, “Augustin Claudot.”

CLAUDOT, Charles. Paris; but probably came from Mirecourt;

indifferent.

CLÉMENT. Paris, about 1815-40, in the rue des Bonnes-Enfants; a

good deal sought after.

COFFE-GOGUETTE. Mirecourt, 1834; excellent maker; fine tone.

COLE, James. Manchester; pupil of Tarr and George Crask, 1858.

COLE, Thomas. London about 1672-90; good tenor maker.

COLLIER, Samuel. London, at “Corelli’s Head” on London Bridge,

about 1750-55.

COLLIER, Thomas. London, 1775.

COLLIN, Claude Nicolas. Mirecourt; d. 1864; pupil of N. F.

Vuillaume, Brussels.

COLLIN-MÉZIN, Charles Jean Baptiste, son of C. N. Collin.

Mirecourt, 1841-89; excellent maker and restorer; good Strad and

Amati copyist.

COLLINGWOOD, Joseph. Worked in London about 1760, at the “Golden

Spectacles” on London Bridge.

CONTRERAS, Joseph, 1710-80. Madrid or “Granadino”; beautiful Strad

copyist; has passed for Strad.

CONTRERAS, son of Joseph Contreras.

CONWAY, William. London about 1745-50.

CORDANO, Jacopo Filippo. Genoa about 1774.

CORNELLI, Carlo. Cremona, 1702.

CORSBY, George. London; believed to be a brother of Corsby of

Northampton.

CORSBY. Northampton about 1780; chiefly made double-basses.

COSTA, Agostino. Brescia and Venice in the seventeenth century.

COSTA, Marco della. Treviso, 1660-80.

COSTA, Pietro Antonio della. Worked in Treviso about 1740-65; fair

Amati model.

COUSINEAU, Georges, 1753-1824. In 1788 was entitled “Luthier de la

reine”; made all sorts of instruments.

CRAMOND, Charles. A maker in Aberdeen, 1821-34.

CRASK, George. Worked in various places, Salford, Manchester, etc.;

prolific worker; Italian pattern.

CROSS, Nathaniel. London about 1700-51. (_See_ p. 125.)

CROWTHER, John, 1755-1810. He worked occasionally for John Kennedy.

CUCHET, Gaspard, 1729.

CUNAULT, Georges, b. 1856, Paris; Miremont, 1874-82; a good workman.

CUNY. Paris about 1740.

CUTHBERT. Maker of viols and violins in London, seventeenth

century; fair.

CUYPERS, Johannes. The Hague about 1779.

DANIEL. Antwerp about 1636-56; two specimens in Antwerp Cathedral.

DANIEL, Charles. Marseilles in 1762.

DARCHE, C. F. Brussels; was a pupil of N. F. Vuillaume (a brother

of the Parisian maker); better restorer than maker.

DARCHE, Nicholas. Aix-la-Chapelle.

DAVID. A contemporary of Pierray; Paris about 1730; indifferent.

DAVIDSON, Hay. Huntly, 1870.

DAVIS, Richard. London; employed by Norris and Barnes; but when

Norris died in 1818, he succeeded to the business. He knew little

of violin-making, and always remained more of a dealer in, than a

maker of, instruments.

DAVIS, William. London (in 1846 sold business to Edward Withers);

restored violins; Maucotel worked for him.

DAY, John. Ingenious amateur maker, devoted to reproduction of

Cremonas, nineteenth century.

DEARLOVE, Mark. Leeds, 1812-20.

DEARLOVE, Mark William, son of Mark Dearlove. Leeds, 1828-62;

employed good workmen--Absam, Gough, Fryer.

DECOMBE (not De Comble). Paris, eighteenth century.

DE COMBLE, Ambroise, b. at Tournai, Belgium, end of the seventeenth

century; worked till 1760; said to have been a pupil of Antonio

Stradivari at Cremona; instruments scarce, well made, of excellent

wood, and have a rich tone.

DECONET, Michele. Venice about 1742-79; Cremona school.

DEFRESNE, Pierre. Rouen, 1730.

DEHAYE (Deshayes), nephew and only pupil of Salomon, 1775-1825,

Paris; more dealer than maker; sold all sorts.

DEHOMMAIS, 1870. Successful amateur maker.

DE LANNOY, N.J. Lille about 1740-75; fair maker.

DELANOE, Pierre Jean. Paris, 1754.

DELANOIX. Brussels about 1760; good maker.

DELANY (Delaney), John. Dublin in 1808; an original egotist, 1808.

Label bears: “Made by John Delany, in order to perpetuate his

memory in future ages. Dublin, 1808. Liberty to all the world,

black and white.”

DELAU, Lucien, 1836-48. On the death of Charotte he joined Jeandel

in violin-making, and they continued the business at Rouen.

DENNIS, Jesse, 1795-1855. London; apprenticed to John Crowther,

1805; worked under Matthew Furber.

DERAZEY, J. Mirecourt; successor to J. Nicolas, jun.; sold his

fiddles; made good cheap ones, from 5 to 150 francs; a prolific

firm.

DEROUX, Sébastien. Mirecourt and Paris; b. 1848; making in 1898;

good restorer; best Cremona models. Signs: “A. S. D.”

DESCHAMPS, Claude. Paris, 1783-85.

DESJARDINS. Caen, 1763.

DESPONS, Antoine. Paris about 1610; rare, but not very good.

DESROUSSEAU. Eighteenth century.

DEVEREUX, John. He worked with B. Simon Fendt in London; migrated

to Melbourne.

DICKENSON (Dickinson), Edward. Strand, London, about 1750-90;

Stainer model; inferior.

DICKESON (Dickson), John, b. in Stirling. London and Cambridge,

about 1750-80; excellent.

DIDELIN, Joseph. Nancy, 1765-75; poor maker.

DIDION, Gabriel. Mirecourt; d. 1881.

DIEHL (or Diel, as it was originally spelt). Friedrich, son of

Nicolaus Diehl; 1814-67; Darmstadt; fair.

DIEHL (Diel), Heinrich, a son of Johann Diehl.

DIEHL (Diel), Jacob, son of Nicolaus Diehl; d. 1873; Bremen in

1834, then Hamburg.

DIEHL (Diel), Johann, a brother of Nicolaus Diehl. Mayence.

DIEHL, Martin. Mayence, eighteenth century; work poor.

DIEHL (Diel), Nicolaus, b. 1779, d. 1851. Son of Martin Diehl, to

whose business he succeeded.

DIEHL (Diel), Nicolaus Louis, d. 1876. Was a son of Jacob Diehl;

worked in Hamburg; he published a work on Italian violin-makers.

DIEULAFAIT. A viol-maker; Paris in 1720.

DINI, Giambattista. Lucignano in 1707.

DITTON. London about 1700. In Thomas Britton’s Collection was a

“good violin by Ditton.”

DODD, Edward, b. 1705, Sheffield; d. 1810, London, at the age of

105. First bow-maker of this name. He lived in Salisbury Court,

Fleet Street; buried in St Bride’s Church.

DODD, James, second son of Edward. Also made bows.

DODD, James, son of James Dodd, sen.; was a good bow-maker.

DODD, John, eldest son of Edward Dodd; b. 1752. (_See_ p. 116.)

DODD, Thomas, third son of Edward Dodd. Employed Bernhard Fendt and

Lott; proud of his varnish; an all-round man, and dealer in all

sorts of instruments; violoncellos fetch £50.

DODD, Edward and Thomas, sons of Thomas Dodd, sen. Both learnt from

Bernhard Fendt, and carried on the business at St Martin’s Lane.

DOMINICELLI (Domincelli). Ferrara, 1695-1715; studied in Brescia;

copied the Amati pattern; varnish of a golden colour.

DOMINICHINO, Giuseppe. Verona, 1700; Amati pattern.

DONATO, Serafino. Venice, 1410-11.

DONI, Rocco. A priest in Florence, 1600-60; made lutes and violins.

DOPFER (Döpfer), Nicolaus. Mayence (?) about 1768; instruments well

made, slightly arched; sound-holes small but well cut, varnish

brown.

DORANT, William. Spitalfields, 1814.

DORFFEL (Dörffel), Johann Andreas. A violin and lute maker in

Klingenthal, Saxony, in 1743.

DRINDA, Giacomo. Pianzo, eighteenth century.

DRÖGMEYER, Hermann August. Bremen; wrote a book on violins, 1891.

DROULEAU or Droulot. Paris, 1788-1800.

DROUYN, Dimanche. Paris.

DUCHÉRON, Mathurin. Contemporary of Boquay, working in Paris in

1714.

DUIFFOPRUGCAR (Duiffoproucart), Gaspard, 1514. (_See_ p. 18).

DUKE, Richard. London about 1750-80. (_See_ p. 132.)

DUKE, Richard, son of Richard Duke.

DULFENN, Alexander. Leghorn in 1699.

DUMÉNIL, N. Paris, 1786.

DUMESNIL, Jacques. Paris about 1655-60.

DUNCAN. Aberdeen, 1762.

DUNCAN, George. Glasgow, 1887.

DURFEL (Dürfell), J. G. Altenburg, 1778; double-basses excellent;

violins very arched; muddy dark brown varnish.

DU RIEZ, Nicolas. A good French maker; Abbeville, 1663.

EBERLE, Johann Ulrich. Prague about 1730-60; good Cremona copyist.

EBERTI, Tommaso. Italian maker about 1730-50.

EDLINGER, Thomas, b. in Bohemia, and was living in Prague 1712-15.

Good.

EGLINGTON. London in 1802; fair tone.

ELÉMENT, Jean Laurent. Paris in 1783.

ELSLER (Esler), Johann Joseph. Mayence about 1715-30; bass viol

maker; transition on verge of the violin.

EMILIANI, Francesco de. Rome about 1715-20; fine workman; yellow

varnish.

ENGLEDER, Andreas, Munich, 1854; an original designer.

ENGLEDER, Ludwig. Bamberg, 1854; German pattern; fair tone.

ERNST, Franz Anton, b. Dec. 3, 1745, Georgenthal, Bohemia; player

and maker; Stradivari pattern, and some say approached Stradivari

tone.

EULRY-CLÉMENT. Mirecourt, 1800.

EURY. About 1810-30, Paris; an excellent bow-maker, 1820. He was

working at 20 rue des Lyonnais-Saint-Jacques in 1820. His bows are

justly celebrated, and are thought to rival even those of François

Tourte. He generally marked them with his name.

EVANGELISTI. Florence, eighteenth century.

EVANS, Richard. London about 1742-50.

EVE, Jacques. German model, arched; brown varnish; good workman.

FABRIS, Luigi. Venice in nineteenth century.

FACINI, Agostino. A monk at Bologna, 1732-42; delicate workman;

yellow varnish.

FALAISE. French follower of Pique; Cremona pattern; yellow varnish.

FARINATO, Paolo. Venice about 1700-30; fair maker, Serafino pattern.

FEBBRE. Amsterdam in 1762.

FENDT, Bernhard. (_See_ p. 132.)

FENDT, Bernhard Simon. (_See_ p. 132.)

FENDT, Francis, fourth son of Bernhard Fendt. (_See_ p. 132.)

FENDT, François, best known in France as Fent.

FENDT, Jacob, third son of Bernhard Fendt.

FENDT, Martin, second son of Bernhard Fendt.

FENDT, William, second son of Bernhard Simon.

FERATI, Pietro. Sienna, 1754-64; poor maker.

FÉRET. A pupil of Médard; Paris, 1708; good maker.

FERGUSON, Donald. Huntly, Aberdeenshire.

FERGUSON & SON. Edinburgh, beginning of the nineteenth century.

FERRARI, Agostino. Budrio (Italy), eighteenth century.

FERRARI, Alfonso. Carpi (Modena), 1738.

FERRARI, Carlo. Sienna in 1740.

FEURY or Ferry, François, son-in-law of Leclerc the violin-maker.

Paris about 1750-60; violins small pattern, the sound-holes small,

varnish red, work good.

FICHTL, Martin. Vienna, 1750-57; careful in wood and varnish.

FICKER, Johann Christian. Cremona, 1720-22; German style.

FICKER, Johann Gottlieb. Cremona about 1788-89.

FIKER, Johann Christian. Neukirchen (Saxony), eighteenth century.

FIORILLO, Giovanni. Ferrara, 1780; German and Italian patterns;

violoncellos are best.

FIORINI, Giuseppe, son of Raffaele Fiorini, b. 1867. Excellent

maker.

FIORINI, Raffaele, b. at Pianoro. Worked at Bologna.

FIRTH, G. Leeds, 1836; pupil of William Booth, sen.

FISCER, Carlo and Giuseppe, brothers. Milan about 1760-64; inclined

to German style, but good varnish.

FISCHER, Anton, b. 1794, d. 1879. Vienna.

FISCHER, Zacharie, b. Nov. 5, 1730, Würzburg; d. there Nov. 27,

1812; first began baking his wood to age it; his violins are still

liked.

FLEURI (Fleury), Jean François. Paris, 1783-85.

FLEURY, Benoist. Paris, 1751-91; fair maker.

FLORENUS (Florinus), Guidantus or Florentus. Bologna about

1700-60; far from first-class.

FONCLAUSE, Joseph (called “Le Mayeux”), b. 1800 à la Conté; d.

1865, Paris. Mirecourt, and employed by Vuillaume.

FORCHEVILLE, J. Baptiste. Early pochette-maker.

FORSTER (Foster or Forrester), John, b. Kirkandrews, on the Esk.

FORSTER, Simon Andrew, son of William Forster (1764-1824). (_See_

p. 126.)

FORSTER, William, son of John Forster; b. 1713-14; d. 1801. (_See_

p. 126.)

FORSTER, William (“Old Forster”), son of William Forster

(1713-1801). (_See_ p. 126.)

FORSTER, William (“Young Forster”), son of William Forster

(1739-1808). (_See_ p. 126.)

FORSTER, William, eldest son of William Forster, 1764-1824. (_See_

p. 126.)

FRAISER, Giorgio. Cremona, 1666; worked for Nicola Amati.

FRANCK. Ghent, 1800-30; chiefly a clever repairer.

FRANKLAND. London, 1785; employed by the William Forsters.

FREBRUNET, Jean. Paris 1750-60; good maker; yellow varnish.

FRITSCHE (Fritzche), Samuel. Leipzig, 1787; pupil of C. H. Hunger;

good maker (Cremona model) and fine repairer.

FRYER, Charles. London and Leeds, 1830-40.

FURBER, David. Pupil of John Johnson (1750-60), a maker in London.

(_See_ p. 234.)

FURBER, Henry John, son and pupil of John Furber.

FURBER, James, first son of Matthew Furber, sen.

FURBER, John, third son of Matthew Furber, sen.

FURBER, Matthew, sen., son of David Furber.

FURBER, Matthew, second son of Matthew Furber, sen.

GABRIELLI, Antonio. Florence, 1760; good violins.

GABRIELLI, Bartolommeo. Florence about 1730.

GABRIELLI, Cristoforo. Florence, 1730.

GABRIELLI, Giovanni Battista. Florence, 1740-70; good tone,

excellent wood, yellow varnish; his violoncellos and altos

considered best.

GAETANO, Antoniazzi, b. Aug. 7, 1825, Cremona; good maker, has

gained medals of honour; his sons, Ricardo and Romeo, work with him.

GAFFINO, Giuseppe. An Italian, worked in Paris, 1745-83; careful

maker.

GAGLIANO (Galiano), Alessandro, b. 1640. (_See_ p. 89.)

GAGLIANO, Antonio, son of Giovanni, grandson of Nicola. (_See_

“Raffaele Gagliano.”)

GAGLIANO, Ferdinando, eldest son of Nicola, grandson of Alessandro.

(_See_ p. 89.)

GAGLIANO, Gennaro, second son of Alessandro, brother of Nicola;

b. about 1680, at Naples; d. 1750. He was the best maker of this

family.

GAGLIANO, Giovanni, fourth son of Nicola, nephew of the great

Gennaro; d. 1806.

GAGLIANO, Giuseppe and Antonio, second and third sons of Nicola;

lived at Naples.

GAGLIANO, Nicola, eldest son of Alessandro; b. about 1675, at

Naples; d. there about 1745.

GAGLIANO, Raffaele and Antonio, sons of Giovanni, grandsons of

Nicola.

GAILLARD-LAJOUE, J. B. Mirecourt; d. about 1870; first an

apprentice and then first workman in the workshop of Gand; fair

maker.

GAIROUD, Louis. Nantes about 1740.

GALBANI, Piero. Florence in 1640.

GALBICELLIS, G. B. Florence, 1757.

GALBUSERA, Carlo Antonio. Follower of Chanot; made a guitar-shaped

model; violins much praised, but little known now.

GALERZENA. Piedmont, 1790.

GALLAND, Jean. Paris, rue St-Honoré, about 1744-50.

GALRAM, Joachim Joseph. Lisbon in 1769.

GAND, Charles Adolphe, eldest son of Charles François Gand; b. Dec.

11, 1812, Paris; d. Jan. 24, 1866.

GAND, Charles François, eldest son of Charles Michel Gand; b. Aug.

5, 1787, Versailles. (_See_ p. 108.)

GAND, Charles Michel, the head of the Gand family; b. 1748, at

Mirecourt; d. 1820, Versailles.

GAND, Charles Nicolas Eugène, second son of Charles François Gand;

b. June 5, 1825, at Paris; d. Feb. 5, 1892, Boulogne-sur-Seine.

GAND, Guillaume, second son of Charles Michel Gand, 1792-1858.

GARANI (Garana), Michelangelo. A maker in Bologna about 1680 to

1720; small value.

GARANI, Nicola. 1700. Fair instruments, Gagliano pattern; plain

wood, yellow varnish.

GARENGHI, Giuseppe. Brescia, 1857.

GASPARO DA SALÒ, son of Francesco Bertolotti, b. 1542. (_See_ p.

30.)

GATTANANI. Piedmont, 1785-90.

GATTINARI. Enrico. Turin, 1670-75.

GATTINARI, Francesco, son of Enrico Gattinari. Good maker, 1700-5;

red varnish.

GAUTROT. Mirecourt, 1855.

GAVINIÉS (Gavaniès), François. 1700-63, Bordeaux; 1730 Paris, and

was living in Rue St-Thomas-du-Louvre, 1734-63. Unequal maker of

violins, some cheap and poor, others very superior.

GEDLER, Johann Anthony and Johann Benedict. Fussen, Bavaria, about

1750-96. Poor violins.

GEISENHOF (Geiffenhof, Geigenhof), Franz, b. 1754; d. 1821. Fairly

good.

GEMÜNDER, August, b. 1814, Würtemberg; d. Sept., 1895, New York.

Excellent maker, fine copyist.

GEMÜNDER, George, brother of August Gemünder, b. 1816 in Würtemberg.

GERMAIN, Emile, son of Joseph Louis Germain. Turin, 1870-88.

Studied at Mirecourt. Prolific maker, good varnish, fair tone, fine

repairer.

GERMAIN, Joseph Louis, b. July 23, 1822, Mirecourt, 1868; worked

with F. Gand family and B. Vuillaume. Excellent maker and repairer.

GERONI, Domenico. Ostia, Italy, about 1800-20. Inferior.

GHERARDI, Giacomo. Bologna, 1677.

GHIDINI, Carlo. Parma, about 1746.

GIANOLI, Domenico. Milan, 1731.

GIBBS, James. London, 1800-45. Was employed by J. Morrison, George

Corsby, and Samuel Gilkes.

GIBERTINI, Antonio. Parma, 1830-33. Stradivari pattern. Employed by

Paganini as a repairer.

GIGLI, Julio Cesare. Rome, 1730-62.

GILBERT, Nicolas Louis. Metz, 1700.

GILBERT, Simon, son of Nicolas Louis Gilbert. Metz, about 1737.

GILKES, Samuel, 1787-1827. Morton Pinkney, Northamptonshire.

London. Worked for William Forster (1764-1824). Nicola Amati

pattern; clever maker.

GILKES, William, son of Samuel Gilkes, about 1811-75, in Grey

Coat Street, Tothill Fields, Westminster, London. Prolific maker;

chiefly double basses.

GIOFFREDA, B. Turin, in 1860.

GIORDANO (Giordane), Alberto. Cremona, about 1735-40.

GIORGI, Nicola. Turin, 1745.

GIRANIANI. Leghorn, 1730.

GIRON. (_See_ “Villaume.”)

GIULIANI. Cremona, 1660. Pupil of Nicola Amati.

GOBETTI, Francesco. Venice, 1705. A pupil of Antonio Stradivari.

Alleged fine wood, varnish, and tone.

GOFFRILLER (Gofriler), Antonio. Venice, 18th century.

GOFFRILLER, Francesco. Venice. Fair maker; yellow-brown varnish.

GOFFRILLER, Matteo. Venice, 1690-1740. Careless in wood but careful

in work; yellow varnish; arched pattern violin excellent.

GONNET, Pierre Jean. Paris, 1775-83.

GOSSELIN. An amateur maker in Paris about 1814-30.

GOSSET. Rheims, 1769.

GOUVERNARI, Antonio. Cremona, 1600-10.

GRABENSEE, J. A. Düsseldorf, about 1850-55.

GRAGNANI, Antonio. Leghorn, about 1741-80. Rough workmanship;

inferior wood; sweet tone.

GRAGNANI, Gennaro. Leghorn, 1730.

GRAGNANI, son of Antonio Gragnani. Inferior to his father.

GRANCINO, Francesco and Giam Battista, sons of Giovanni and

grandsons of Paolo Grancino. 1710-60. (_See_ p. 90.)

GRANCINO, Giovanni, son of Paolo Grancino. Milan 1690-1730.

GRANCINO, Paolo. Worked at Milan, 1665-90. Pupil of Nicola Amati at

Cremona.

GRAND-GÉRARD. Vosges, 1790-1810. Also Paris. Prolific but inferior.

GRANDINI, Geronimo, sen. Mirecourt. Some merit.

GRANDJON, sen. Mirecourt.

GRANDJON, J., son of Grandjon, sen. Mirecourt. Fair maker.

GRAY, J. Fochabers, Banffshire, Scotland, in 1870.

GREFFTS, Johann. Fussen, Bavaria, in 1622.

GREGORI. Bologna, 1793.

GRIMM, Carl, b. about 1792; d. 1855, Berlin. One of the best German

makers.

GRIMM, Ludwig, son of Carl Grimm.

GRISERI, Filippo. Florence in 1650.

GROBITZ, A. Warsaw in 1750. Good violins on the Stainer pattern.

GROLL, Matthew. Meran, Tyrol, in 1800.

GROSSET, Paul François. Paris, 1747-59. Pupil of Claude Pierray.

Inferior.

GROSSI, Giuseppe. Bologna in 1803.

GROU. 1752.

GRULLI, Pietro. Cremona, 1883.

GUADAGNINI, Antonio, son of Gaetano, grandson of Carlo Guadagnini,

b. 1831; d. 1881 at Turin. (_See_ p. 86.)

GUADAGNINI, Felice, son of Carlo Guadagnini. Turin, 1835.

GUADAGNINI, Francesco and Giuseppe, sons of Antonio Guadagnini.

Turin.

GUADAGNINI, Gaetano, son of Giambattista, grandson of Lorenzo.

Turin about 1750.

GUADAGNINI, Gaetano. (_See_ “Carlo Guadagnini.”)

GUADAGNINI, Giambattista, son of Lorenzo, b. 1711 at Cremona; d.

Sept 18, 1786, at Turin.

GUADAGNINI, Giovanni Battista, brother of Lorenzo Guadagnini.

Milan, Piacenza, and Turin about 1695-1775.

GUADAGNINI, Giuseppe, second son of Giambattista, grandson of

Lorenzo, b. 1736; d. about 1805.

GUADAGNINI, Giuseppe. (_See_ “Carlo Guadagnini.”)

GUADAGNINI, Giuseppe. (_See_ “Francesco Guadagnini.”)

GUADAGNINI, Lorenzo. b. at Piacenza (?) about 1665. A pupil of

Antonio Stradivari at Cremona.

GUARINI, Joseph. Germigny, Vosges. Good violins, double purfle,

powerful tone.

GUARNERI, Andrea. b. about 1626 at Cremona; d. there Dec. 7, 1698.

(For the Guarneri family, see p. 51.)

GUARNERI, Caterina (?), daughter of Andrea.

GUARNERI, Gian Battista, son of Bernardo, younger brother of Andrea.

GUARNERI, Giuseppe, known as “del Gesù,” the greatest of the

family. (_See_ p. 51.)

GUARNERI, Giuseppe Giovan Battista, second son of Andrea. b. Nov.

25, 1666, Cremona; d. soon after 1738.

GUARNERI, Pietro, son of Giuseppe Giovan Battista Guarneri,

grandson of Andrea, b. April 14, 1695. 1760.

GUARNERI, Pietro Giovanni, eldest son of Andrea. b. Feb. 18, 1655,

at Cremona; d. about 1740.

GUÉDON, Jacques Antoine. Paris, 1775-77.

GUÉRIN, Alexandre Sauveur, 1834-88, Hyères. Pupil and successor of

Edmond Daniel; works at Marseilles; repairs old instruments and

makes new ones on the pattern of Stradivari; much admired.

GUERRA, Giacomo. Modena, 1810.

GUERSAN, Louis. A maker in Paris about 1730-69; one of the best

French makers; great experimentalist; used spirit varnish.

GUGEMMOS (Gugemos). Fussen, Bavaria. Eighteenth century; poor maker.

GUGLIELMI, Giobattista. Cremona, 1747.

GUIDANTUS, Joannes Florenus. Bologna, 1685-1728.

GUIDOMINI, Lorenzo. Milan, 1740.

GUILLAMI. A Spanish family, 1680-1780.

GUITON, R., of Cork. Good.

GUSETTO, Nicola. Florence, 1730.

GUTERMANN. Vienna, nineteenth century. Good.

HAENSEL, Johann Anton. Was maker and musician to the Duke of

Schönburg at Rochsburg, 1800-15.

HAFF. Augsburg, eighteenth century.

HAMBERGER, Joseph. Pressburg, Hungary. Firm still maker at Vienna.

HAMM, Johann Gottfried. A German who worked in Rome about 1810;

violins ivory edged.

HAMMIG, W. H. Leipzig, tenth century; good work.

HARBOUR or Harbur. A maker, London, 1785.

HARDANGER. Norway.

HARDIE, James & Sons. Edinburgh, 1837-90. Industrious makers and

exhibitors. Maggini, Stradivari, and Guarneri models.

HARDIE, Matthew, 1825, and Thomas, 1856. Good violins, violas, and

violoncellos on the Amati pattern.

HARDIE, Peter. Dunkeld, 1773-1863. Excellent violoncellos.

HARE, Joseph (or John), 1700-30. Reacted against Stainer pattern in

favour of Stradivari. London, 1726.

HARHAM. London, 1765-85.

HARMAND. Mirecourt in 1772.

HARRIS, Charles. London, 1780-1800. Seldom labelled; his work good,

especially ’cellos, Stradivari and Amati pattern; red varnish.

HARRIS, Charles, eldest son of Charles Harris. Worked for John

Hart, nineteenth century; yellow varnish.

HART, John Thomas, 1805-74, London. Pupil of Samuel Gilkes; made

few instruments; reputation for experience and skill in repairing.

HASSERT. Eisenach, eighteenth century. Good instruments, not much

arched, beautiful wood, amber-coloured varnish; good copyist.

HASSERT. A brother. Eisenach, 1790, in Rudolstadt. Instruments too

much arched; rather harsh tone.

HAYNES, Jacob. London, 1746. Stainer pattern.

HEBERLEIN, Heinrich, jun. Clever maker in Markneukirchen,

nineteenth century.

HEESOM, Edward. London, 1748-50. Stainer pattern.

HEIDEGGER. Passau.

HEL, Pierre Joseph, 1842-95. Seven years in Mirecourt, then

with Sébastien Vuillaume in Paris, and Nicolas Darche at

Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1865 he started his own business at 14 Rue

Nationale, Lille; full of ingenuity; peculiar methods of seasoning

wood without fire; has received much praise and many honours; a

beautiful maker.

HELD, J. J., b. July 17, 1823-89, Flamersheim, Rheinbach (Cologne).

Great repairer and careful maker of about sixteen instruments a

year; much esteemed.

HELL, Ferdinand. Vienna, 1854. Eccentric maker of a trumpet-violin.

HELMICH. Continued Carl Grimm’s business.

HENDERSON, D. Aberdeen.

HÉNOC (or Hénocq), François. Paris, 1775-89.

HÉNOC (Hénocq), Jean (?Georges Bienaimé). Maker, Paris, 1768 to

about 1790.

HENRY. Paris.

HENRY, Carolus, son of Jean Baptiste Henry, 1803-59; prolific

maker; inventor of a barytone fiddle (not a success); a good maker

otherwise.

HENRY, Eugène, son of Charles Henry, 1843-92; an excellent maker of

fine repairs; business continued by Charles Bruyère.

HENRY, Jean Baptiste, b. 1757-1831, Mataincourt, Mirecourt

(Vosges). He was the head of the present family of makers.

HENRY, Jean Baptiste Félix, eldest son of Jean Baptiste Henry.

1793-1858. Paris. Pupil of his father; in Bordeaux, 1822; in

Marseilles, 1825. In 1844 he returned to Paris. A prolific maker,

but never signed.

HENRY, Octave, son of Jean Baptiste Félix Henry. 1826-54. Paris. In

Grenoble in 1854; made a great many violins.

HENRY. A violin bow-maker; 1812 at Mirecourt; 1870, Paris; worked

with Chanot; made excellent bows.

HILDEBRANDT, Michael Christopher. Hamburg, 1765-1800; good work;

fine repairer.

HILL, Henry Lockey, son of Lockey Hill; grandson of Joseph Hill; b.

1774; d. Aug. 1835. (For Hill family see p. 133).

HILL, John. Red Lion Street, Holborn, 1794.

HILL, Joseph, b. 1715; d. 1784. He was a fellow-apprentice of

Banks, working at “Y^e Harp and Hautboy,” in Piccadilly, London,

under Peter Wamsley, about 1740-42. Worked till 1772. His sons,

William, Joseph, Lockey, and Benjamin, were all makers.

HILL, William, son of Joseph Hill. Worked in London about 1740-80.

HILL, William Ebsworth, son of Henry Lockey Hill, 1817-95. The

present members of the firm are his four eldest sons: William

Henry, b. June 3, 1857, followed the musical profession for

some years before joining his brothers in the business; Arthur

Frederick, b. Jan. 25, 1860; Alfred Ebsworth, b. Feb. 1862, who

worked for some time at Mirecourt (Vosges), and was the first

Englishman to go there to study; and Walter Edgar, b. Nov. 4,

1871, who also worked at Mirecourt. They employ a large staff of

assistants in their workshops at Hanwell. (_See_ p. 133.)

HIRCUTT. London about 1600.

HOCHBRÜCKER. Donauworth, Bavaria, 1699. Later at Augsburg. Made

some violins, but is chiefly known as the inventor of pedals for

the harp, about 1720.

HÖHNE. Dresden and Weimar.

HÖRLEIN, Carl Adam, b. 1829-75. Winkelhof, Würzburg; great

reputation both as maker and repairer.

HOFFMANN, Anton. Courtmaker in Vienna, 1850.

HOFFMANN, Martin. Leipzig, 1725; in Leipzig from about 1685;

violins and violoncellos of good tone, inelegant pattern; shows

well the transition period between viol and violin by recurrence to

older types of a five-stringed violoncello.

HOFMANS, Matthias. Antwerp, 1700-50; choice maker in the Cremona

style.

HOLLOWAY, John. London. 1794.

HOMOLKA, F. Kuttenberg, Bohemia, 1850; good maker, but wood rather

too thick.

HOPKINS. Worcester; exhibited a double-bass in London in 1862.

HORIL, Giacomo. Rome, 1720-50.

HORNSTEINER (Hornstainer), Joseph. Mittenwald, 1730; good

double-basses; mediocre.

HORNSTEINER (Hornstainer), Mathias. Maker in Mittenwald, 1770-1800;

better than Joseph.

HOSBORN, Thomas Alfred. London, 1629. A bass viol exhibited in

Paris, 1878.

HUET, Henri. Paris, 1775-90; good workmanship.

HULINSKI. Prague in 1760; instruments were well made; varnish

red-brown.

HULLER, August. Shœneck, 1735-76.

HULSKAMP, G. H., b. in Westphalia. Settled in New York, U.S.A.

In the 1862 London Exhibition he exhibited violins made on a new

pattern. Instead of the ordinary sound-holes, was one round hole in

the middle of the violin, just below where the bow sets the strings

in motion; his innovations ineffectual.

HUMEL, Christian. Nuremberg in 1709.

HUNGER, Christoph Friedrich, b. 1718, Dresden; d. 1787, Leipzig;

excellent instruments.

HUREL, Jean. Paris, living in 1686, Rue des Arcis, at the sign of

“A l’image de St Pierre”; from 1689 to 1717, Rue St Martin, near

the Fontaine Maubué. He was maker of instruments “pour la musique

du Roy.”

HUSSON. _See_ “Buthod.”

IVRONTIGNI, Wougelli. Turin.

JACOBS, Peeter. Amsterdam, about 1690-1740; prolific maker;

sometimes mistaken for Nicola Amati; grand pattern; whalebone

purfling; sweet tone.

JACOBS. Amsterdam; probably son of Peeter; used dark red varnish of

good quality.

JACOT, A., eldest son of Jean Charles. Paris, 19th century.

JACOT, Jean Charles. Metz, 1811-87.

JACQUOT (Jacquart), Charles, 1804-80. Mirecourt; much esteemed;

careful finish; a learned connoisseur and successful exhibitor.

JACQUOT, Etienne Charles Albert, eldest son of Pierre Charles

Jacquot, b. 1853-82, Nancy.

JACQUOT, Jules Victor, second son of Pierre Charles Jacquot, b.

Aug. 12, 1855.

JACQUOT, Pierre Charles, son of Charles Jacquot; b. March 10,

1828-94. Nancy; had a great reputation, and exhibited beautiful

instruments at various Exhibitions; his two sons worked with him.

JAIS, Johann. Botzen, 1775; varnished brown.

J’ANSON, Edward Popplewell. Manchester. Learnt from William Booth,

jun.

JAUCH, Johann, b. Gratz, Styria; in Dresden, 1765-74. Cremona

pattern; learned maker; tone rather harsh.

JAY, Henry. A maker of viols in London about 1615-67; justly

celebrated, and on the verge of the violin period.

JAY, Henry. Worked in London about 1746-68. He was best known

for the small violins or “kits” that he made, which were used by

dancing-masters; also made some violoncellos.

JAY, Thomas. Working in London from about 1690; made some excellent

violins.

JEANDEL, Pierre Napoleon, 1812-79. Courcelles-sous-Vaudémont

(Meurthe), Rouen, and Paris; red varnish; good tone.

JOHNSON, John. London, 1750-60. Stainer pattern.

JOMBAR, Paul, Paris. He worked for Gand and Bernardel; started his

own business in 1892.

JORIO, Vincenzo. Naples, 1847, Good.

JOSEPH, J. Vienna, 1764.

JULIANO, Francesco. Rome, 1620-70.

KEMBTER. Dibingen, 1725-30. Varnish yellow or reddish; neat maker.

KENNEDY, Alexander. Scotland, 1695-1785. Excellent maker; high

repute; spirit varnish, brown; Stainer pattern.

KENNEDY, John. London, 1816. Buried in Shoreditch Church. Pupil of

Alexander Kennedy. Violins and violas, all very arched; Stainer

pattern.

KENNEDY, Thomas, 1784-1870, London. Son of John Kennedy. Worked

sometimes for William Forster; made at least 300 violoncellos, as

well as other instruments. Good tone, fine finish.

KERLINO, Joann.

KIAPOSSE, Sawes. St Petersburg, 1748-50.

KIESGEN, Louis. Paris. Fine workman. Pattern of Gand; red varnish.

KIRSCHSCHLAG. Tyrol, 1780.

KLEIN, A. In 1884, Rouen. Important firm. Red varnish. High

Exhibition awards.

KLOSS, Ernst. Breslau.

KLOTZ (Kloz), Egidius. (_See_ p. 119.)

KLOTZ, George, son of Mathias and grandson of Egidius Klotz.

Mittenwald, 1750-70.

KLOTZ, Johann Carl. Mittenwald, about 1740-55. Excellent work; dark

varnish.

KLOTZ, Joseph, brother of George Klotz. Mittenwald, 1774. Also

followed the Stainer pattern.

KLOTZ, Mathias, son and pupil of Egidius. 1650. His three sons,

George, Sebastian, and Joseph, were all makers.

KLOTZ, Michael and Carl, two brothers. Mittenwald about 1770. A

great many of the violins with “Stainer” labels are made by members

of the Klotz family.

KLOTZ, Sebastian, a brother of Joseph and George Klotz. 1700-40.

The best maker in the family. Large pattern, not much arched;

varnish is excellent, the tone clear and full.

KLÜHER. Markneukirchen, Saxony.

KNITTING, Philipp. Mittenwald, 1760.

KNITTLE (Knitl), Joseph. Mittenwald, 1790.

KNOOP, Wilhelm. Meiningen. Stainer pattern; good.

KOEUPPERS, Jean. The Hague, 1755-80. Well-made fiddles; ugly yellow

varnish.

KOLB, Hans. Bavaria, 1666.

KOLDITZ, Johann. Rumburg, Bohemia, 1796. Good violins and violas.

KOLDITZ, Mathias Johann. Munich, 1720-55.

KOLIKER, Jean Gabriel. Paris, 1783-99. Clever repairer.

KRAMER, H. Vienna in 1717.

KRIGGE, Heinrich. Danzig, 1756-58. Maggini pattern, model large

size, neat edges and work, and double purfling in ink.

KRINER, Joseph. Mittenwald, 1785-95.

KRUPP, Pierre. Worked in Paris, Rue St Honoré, 1777-91; he also

made harps.

KÜHLEWEIN UND TETZNER. Makers in Markneukirchen. Exhibited in

Munich, 1854.

KÜNTZEL. Berlin. He exhibited a quintet of instruments in London,

1862; tone excellent.

KUNTZEL, Laurent. 1790. Hof Bavaria and Breslau, 1815-55. Excellent

violins on Italian model.

LACROIX, Salomon. Nineteenth century.

LAFLEUR. London, brother of the Parisian maker.

LAFLEUR, Jacques. A bow-maker in Paris. Excellent disciple of

Tourte.

LAFLEUR, Joseph René, son of Jacques. 1812-74. Excellent bow-maker.

LAFRANCHINI, Jacobo de. Worked for Maggini.

LAGETTO, Louis. An Italian maker; Paris, 1745-53; early Italian

model.

LAMBERT. Prolific but indifferent maker.

LAMBERT, Jean Nicolas. Paris, 1743-85. Not remarkable.

LAMBIN. Clever repairer in Ghent, 1800-30.

LAMY, N. Alfred Joseph. A bow-maker; 1850-89, Mirecourt; excellent.

LANDI, Pietro. Sienna, 1774.

LANDOLFI, Carlo Ferdinando. Milan, 1740-75. Unequal maker; at his

best often mistaken for Joseph or Peter Guarnerius; £50 outside

price, but rising in value.

LANTEZ, M. E., son-in-law of Grandjon, sen. Mirecourt.

LANZA (Lansa or Lausa), Antonio Maria. Brescia about 1675; followed

the patterns of Gasparo da Salò and Maggini; excellent maker.

LAPAIX, J. A. Lille (Nord, France), 1840-55. Tried many new shapes

with moderate success; industrious and ingenious.

LAPRÉVOTTE, Etienne. Mirecourt; 1856, Paris. Made good violins;

beautifully finished; also guitars.

LARCHE. Brussels, 1847. Dyed his fiddles with acids, with usual

result of impoverished tone.

LARCHER, Pierre. Tours, 1785. Pupil of Guersan, Paris, but work

dissimilar; brown varnish of poor quality.

LASKA, Joseph. 1738-1805, Prague. Pupil of J. Kolditz; worked for

best makers in Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, and Brünn; his violins

popular in Bohemia, Saxony, and Poland.

LAUTTEN, L. W. Tyrol. One “fine and handsome” violin known.

LAVAZZA (or Lacasso), Antonio Maria. Milan about 1700; Stradivari

pattern; good varnish, pale red.

LAVAZZA, Santino. Was working in Milan at the same time as Antonio

Maria Lavazza.

LEB. Pressburg, eighteenth century; one of the best German makers

of his time.

LE BLANC. Family of makers who, through four generations, worked in

Paris, eighteenth century.

LEBLANC, Claude. Mirecourt, eighteenth century.

LECLERC, J. N. Paris, 1760-80; good maker and repairer.

LECOMTE (or Fouquet-Lecomte), Antoine. Paris, 1775-1800.

LECUYER, Pierre. Paris, 1775-83.

LEDUC, Pierre. Paris, 1647; one of the oldest makers there.

LEEB, J. Carl. 1792-1819. Vienna.

LEFEBVRE (Lefebre), J. B. A Frenchman who worked in Amsterdam,

1735-70; Amati pattern; yellow varnish.

LEFÈVRE (Lefebvre). Toussaint Nicolas Germain. Paris, 1783-89.

LEGROS de la Neuville, Nicolas. French maker, eighteenth century;

guitars, violins, and violoncellos.

LE JEUNE. A family of makers who for several generations worked in

Paris; nineteenth century.

LE JEUNE, François. Paris, eighteenth century; violins and viols;

not remarkable.

LE JEUNE, Jean Baptiste. Made harps and violins in Paris;

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

LE JEUNE, Jean Charles. Paris in 1776; succeeded by his nephew,

Guillaume Martin, in 1822.

LE JEUNE, Louis. Paris, 1783-89.

LE LIÈVRE. Paris, 1750-80.

LEMBÖCK, Gabriel. 1814-92. Budapest; worked with Fischer in Vienna;

copied Guarnerius; much esteemed.

L’EMPEREUR, Jean Baptiste. Paris, 1750; few instruments.

LENK, W., b. 1840; 1881, Schönbach bei Eger, Bohemia; worked under

Klüher in Markneukirchen; then Berlin, Breslau, Vienna; finally

settled at Frankfort; fair maker.

LENTZ (Lenz), Johann Nicolaus. Came from the Tyrol to London;

friend of Bernhard Fendt; varnished like Dodd and J. F. Lott.

LEONI, Carlo. Treviso, 1861.

LEONI. Parma in 1816.

LE PILEUR, Pierre. Paris, 1750-55. Not very good.

LÉTÉ, Simon, b. about 1768; 1828 made very cheap, good fiddles for

£1; at one time a partner of J. B. Vuillaume.

LEWIS, Edward. London about 1700. An excellent maker; yellow and

red varnish; in Thomas Britton’s collection was an “excellent tenor

by Mr Lewis” and a “rare good” bass-violin.

LIEBICH, Ernst, b. Oct. 27, 1796-1876; Stradivari and Guarneri

pattern; he was the father of

LIEBICH, Ernst. 1830-84, Breslau. Italian pattern. His son,

LIEBICH, Ernst. 1862-95, Breslau. Excellent repairer; makes few,

but good; best Italian patterns.

LIEBICH, Johann Gottfried. 1752-1813.

LIEDOLF, Joseph Ferdinand. Vienna eighteenth century.

LIGNOLI, Andrea. Florence, seventeenth century.

LILLY, James. An English maker, 1821.

LINAROLO (Linerolli), Francesco Giovanni. A family, seventeenth

century; on the verge of the violin period; some of their

instruments have been adapted for tenors.

LIPPETA, J. G. Neukirchen, Saxony, 1771.