Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . Stradivari dated 1724 of the late SenorSarasate—a violin which was the solo instrument of thatdistinguished player for upwards of forty years. Known tous for twenty years, the condition of this instrument is as 254 NUMBER OF 1NSTRUMENTIS MADE fresh to-day as when we first had it in our hands. Alard,Sarasates master, seems also to have taken care of hisviolins in a similar manner ; but we are sorry to say thatthis cannot be affirmed of most players. Thoughtlessnessand indifference seem to reign supreme. | To close,—one most earnest word. Instr
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . Stradivari dated 1724 of the late SenorSarasate—a violin which was the solo instrument of thatdistinguished player for upwards of forty years. Known tous for twenty years, the condition of this instrument is as 254 NUMBER OF 1NSTRUMENTIS MADE fresh to-day as when we first had it in our hands. Alard,Sarasates master, seems also to have taken care of hisviolins in a similar manner ; but we are sorry to say thatthis cannot be affirmed of most players. Thoughtlessnessand indifference seem to reign supreme. | To close,—one most earnest word. Instruments bycontinual use are apt to become weary. They may evenvirtually be killed. Give them rests. We feel it a duty tourge most strongly that fine instruments should not bebrought to premature death by ceaseless use. CHAPTER XLThe Prices Paid for Stradivari Instruments. T may be useful to commence this chapter bygiving the information we have been able toglean concerning prices paid for Cremoneseinstruments previous to the time of Vidal quotes the following: In 1572 Charles IX. ofFrance ordered to be paid to one Nicolas Dolivet, aCourt musician, the sum oi fifty livres iournois to enablehim to purchase a Cremona violin for his use. * The livretournois, a nominal not actual coin, was approximatelyequivalent to the franc of to-day, and fifty of them thusrepresented £2 of our money. We believe that the pur-chasing power of the livre tournois then was six times thatof the franc now. The price paid, therefore, by Dolivetfor his Cremona, was approximately equal to i^i2 ; and wemay reasonably assume that the instrument was by AndreaAmati, as he was the only Cremonese maker of repute atthat time. Again, very interesting and instructive is a correspon-dence which took place in 1637-38 between the astronomerGalileo and his former pupil the Servite monk, Fra Ful-gentlus Micanzio, concerning a violin which Galileo wishedto procure for his nephew. ^ Cimber et Danjou, Arch
Size: 1581px × 1581px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonmacmillanand
