![]() From his extraordinary seventy-year career as a luthier, 650 instruments survive, a testament both to his productivity and longevity, and to the high value placed on his instruments. Violins are judged by their tone, responsiveness, elegance of design, visual appeal, and precision of their craft, and the instruments of Stradivari are superlative in all categories. During Nicolò’s working life, the Amati workshop was one of the finest violin ateliers in Europe, training many apprentices who went on to careers as important instrument builders, possibly including the young Antonio Stradivari.Ī century of violin making in Cremona culminated in the instruments from the workshop of Antonio Stradivari. His violins ( 1974.229) were somewhat wider than other makers’ instruments (a design we now call the “Grand Amati”), with a unique, beautifully shaped soundhole and a strong sound. In a very real sense, Nicolò single-handedly passed down the tradition of fine Cremonese violin making to subsequent generations. This is fortunate, because he was the only member of his family and indeed the only violin maker in Cremona to survive the famine and plague that devastated that city in the years around 1630. Nicolò Amati, grandson of Andrea Amati, son and nephew of two other Amati instrument builders, is today considered the finest craftsman of this family of luthiers. The growing importance of the violin played a significant role in this change, both as a solo instrument and as a component of the nascent string orchestra. During the sixteenth century and into the seventeenth, a new music aesthetic emerged in western Europe, emphasizing the soloist’s ability to express emotion and to dazzle with virtuosity. ![]() The violin’s more brilliant tone suited playing for dance, but the more refined tone and appearance of Cremonese violins led to their acceptance by aristocratic amateurs.īy 1600, Cremona was the undisputed center of violin making in Europe. Consorts consisting of a violin, two violas, and a cello became among the most popular choice of professional instrumental groups in the sixteenth century. The violin’s lively attack was particularly suited to dance accompaniment. The sixteenth-century violin was played primarily by professionals, as opposed to the viol ( 1990.223), which was the bowed stringed instrument preferred by amateurs. ![]() It is one of a matched set of two large violins and a viola built for an unidentified Italian marquis. (The authenticity of these instruments has recently been challenged, possibly making authenticated instruments by Andrea Amati even more scarce.) The Museum’s example by Andrea Amati is a large violin ( 1999.26), 354 mm (13.9 inches) long, highly decorated, with the Latin motto QVO VNICO PROPVGNACVLO STAT STABIQ(ue) RELIGIO (“By this defense alone religion shall stand”) inlaid on its ribs or sides. Eight of these bear the coat of arms of Charles IX of France, and so were probably completed before the French king’s death in 1574. His instruments, which show an elegance of line and more delicacy and lightness than many later examples, are exceedingly rare eight small and large violins, three violas, and five violoncellos are all that survive. 1511–1580) of Cremona was among the first generation of makers to add a fourth string to the violin and to create the standard sizes of cello, viola, and violin in their classic modern shapes. Violin family instruments appeared in essentially their modern form in northern Italy, specifically in Brescia and Cremona, about 1550.
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