construction that are common to all, each maker had marked individuality of method and often applied his own method in peculiar or unique ways. It is certainly most remarkable, however, that in the main the art of violin-making reached a culmination so long ago as 1700 which seems to be unsurpassable.
The niceties of the art include not only the choice and proper seasoning
of the woods for every part and the minute determination of the shape,
size and placing of the nearly 60 pieces, with their perfect modeling, joining
and gluing, but the very important treatment of the whole with beautiful
varnishes and the decoration of the head with its carved 'scroll' and of
the edges of the back with 'purfling.' Critical attention is required for
the location of the soundholes and of the soundpost, since these determine
the centre and character of the vibrations transmitted from the
strings through the bridge to the body. Individuality is shown in the
quality of tone secured and in the grace and harmony of the outlines, the
one appealing to the ear, the other to the eye. Similar niceties enter
into the making of the bow by which the strings are sounded (see sec.
149).
111. The Great Violin-Makers.—The evolution of the violin
took place between the middle of the 16th century and the first
third of the 18th, culminating with the work of geniuses like
Stradivari and Guarneri. The chief makers worked at Brescia
or Cremona in northern Italy—a region offering superb materials,
established traditions in fine instrument-making, and nearness
to Venice, then the headquarters for artistic secular music.
Bavaria, Austria and the Tyrol also had able masters, and their
disciples gradually became frequent throughout western Europe.
Many instances occur of families of makers whose skill descended
from generation to generation, since success in the art depended
on the inheritance not only of patterns and models, but of delicate
manipulation.
Several makers are often named in the early 16th century and even in the
15th, but it is doubtful whether any true violins much antedate 1550, though
artistic viols were common.
At Brescia the most noted names are Gasparo da Salò [Bertalotti] (d. 1609), perhaps the first to note the value of the corners, who had many pupils, though his relation to the Cremonese makers is not clear; Giovanni Paolo Maggini (d. c. 1640), pupil of Da Salò, specially successful with the larger viols and with violins of a full, rich tone; and his son Pietro Maggini (d. c. 1680), often quite his father's equal.
At Cremona the great makers are more numerous and renowned. First stands the Amati family, especially Andrea (d. 1611), his two sons Antonio and
