Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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Geheimniss
;
712 STRADIVARI STRADIVARI
profeaaion of their illustrious ancestor Antonio
Stradivari.
Synopsis of tM most Noticeable Violins, etc.,
mide by Antonio Stradivari-.— -According to
Messrs. Hills' careful calculations Stradivari
made 1116 instruments between the years 1666
and 1737 ; of these, 640 violins, twelve violas,
and fifty violoncellos are actually known to
them to-day, whilst they have traces (unconfirmed)
of over one hundred more. The earliest
dated instruments seen by them are of the years
1666, 1667, and 1669. Count Oozio di Salabue
states, however, that Stradivari was working
and inserting his own labels in 1659. The
following are the names of some of Stradivari's
most noticeable violins: The 'Hellier,' 1679 ;
the ' Selli^re,' made between 1666 and 1680 ;
the 'Tuscan,' 1690 (see Mosel) ; the 'Betts,'
1704; the 'Ernst;' 1709 (presented to Lady
'
Halle by Earl Dudley and others) ; La
Pucelle,' 1709 ; the ' Viotti," 1709 ; the Vieux-
'
temps,' 1710 ; the ' Parke,' 1711 ; the 'Boissier,'
1713 ; the 'Dolphin,' 1714 (so named from its
iridescent varnish); the 'Gillot,' 1715; the
'Alard,' 1715; the 'Cessol,' 1716; the
Messie,' 1716 (preserved in Count Cozio di
'
Salabue's collection for fifty years without
being played on ;
hidden by Luigi Tarisio for
thirty years in an isolated farm near the village
of Fontenato, Italy ;
purchased by Vuillaume
when Tarisio died in 1854 ;
preserved by him
in a glass case in his shop ; sold to Mr. E.
Crawford, an enthusiastic musical amateur, for
£2000, and now the property of Messrs. William
Hill). The 'Sasserno,' 1717; the 'Maurin,'
1718; the 'Lauterbach,' 1719; the 'Blunt,'
1721 ; the 'Sarasate,' 1724 ; the 'Rode,' 1722 ;
the 'Deurbroucq,' 1727; the 'Kiesewetter,' 1731;
the 'Habeneck,' 1736; the 'Muntz,' 1736 (both
of these show the shaky hand of the veteran
master).
Violas: The 'Tuscan,' 1690, preserved in
the Municipal Institute, Florence— it bears
Stradivari's monogram stamped on the mortice
'
;
of the neck, the original finger-board, tail-piece,
tail-nut, and bridge ; two violas, 1696, belonging
to the quintet of inlaid instruments for
some years owned by King Philip IV. of Spain
;
the Archinto,' 1696 (named '
after Count Archinto
who owned a Quartet of Strads) ; the
'Macdonald,' 1701; Paganini's viola, 1731,
which inspired Berlioz to write his symphony
Harold in Italy.
Violoncellos : The Archinto,' ' 1689 the
'Tuscan,' 1690 ; the 'Aylesford,' 1696 ; the
'Cristiani,' 1700; the 'Servais,' 1701; the
'Gore-Booth,' 1710; the Duport," ' 1711;
the 'Adam,' 1713; the 'Batta,' 1714; the
'Piatti,' 1720; the 'Baudiot' and 'Gallay,'
1725, comprise some of the finest instrument
made by Stradivari (see also Quartets of
Instruments).
Bibliography.—Alfonso Mandelli, Nuove Indagini
su Antonio Stradivari ; W., A. F., & A.
Hill, Antonio Stradivari ; Vincenzo Lancetti,
Biografica Cremonese ;
Carl Schulze, Stradivari's
. ;
Horace Petherick, Antonio
Stradivari ;
Federico Sacohi, Gli inMrumenti
di Stradivari {Estratto delta Oazzetta Musicale),
Milano, anno 1892 ;
Edouard Roche,
Stradivarius ; Juliet von Lepel Guitz (nSe
Buchanan-Austin), Ein Stradivarius ; Anonymous
(Enrico Stradivari), Oenni sulla celebre
scuola Cremoiiese, Cremona, 1872 ; F. J. F^tis,
Antonio Stradivari Luthier eSlibre, Paris, 1856
(English translation by John Bishop, London,
1864) ; H. R. Haweis, My Musical Life, pp.
314-328, Stradivarius of Gremorva,' his House;
C. Reade, Cremona Violiris (vide Meadiana)
Anon., A Short Account of a Violin by Stradivari
dated 1690 ; W. E. Hill & Sons, The
Tuscan Strad ; E. J. Payne, The Violins of
Stradivari, pp. 202-4 ;
Musical Standard, vol.
xxxiv., London, 1888 ; Giovanni di Piccolellis,
Liutai Antichi e Moderni ; Jules Gallay, Les
Luthiers Italiens aux XVII et XVIII Siicle,
Paris, 1869 (only 500 copies printed) ;
Jules
Gallay, Les Instruments des Ecoles Italiennes ;
Richard G. White, Antonius Stradivarius {The
Atlantic Monthly), Boston, vol xlv. p. 253,
1880 ; The Stradivarius case at the Violin
Loan Exhibition {Musical Star), Edinburgh
(secular), No. 167, July 1885 ; J. M. Fleming,
ITie Stradivarius Violin, the Emperor, London,"
1891 ; Joseph Pearce (jun.). Violins and Violinmakers
; A. Vidal, Les Instruments d, Archet ;
G. Hart, T!ie Violin ; The Salabue Strad
(the Messie), W. E. Hill & Sons, London,
1891 ; Louis Perrard, Le violon, son Histoire
Von Lutgendorff, Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher
George Eliot, Stradivari ' ' (poem) ;
Longfellow,
Tales of a Wayside Inn; Robert Fissore, Les
Maitres Luthiers. B. H-A.
STRADIVARI, Francesco and Omobono,
sons of the above by his first wife, n^e Francesca
Feraboschi. Francesco was born at
Cremona on Feb. 1, 1671 ; died May 11, 1743 ;
and Omobono was also born at Cremona on Nov.
14, 1679 ; died June 8, 1742. Both were interred
in the Villani vault. They were the only
members of Stradivari's family who embraced
their father's profession, and although their
work is not without merit, their brilliant and
long-lived father entirely eclipsed them. During
the latter years of Stradivari's life there is little
doubt that they assisted him, probably in conjunction
with Carlo Bergonzi, in constructing
his violins. This would account for those
specimens of the great master's work that frequently
give rise to controversy. But for the
hand of the vandal these 'doubtful' instruments
would bearthe label ' sotto ladisciplina d'Antonio
Stradivari,' by which inscription he distinguished
the instruments made in co-operation
with his sons. These tickets have, however,
in almost every oase^.been removed, and fresh