Show THE A3IATIS The Amatis turned out Instruments of great beauty some indeed being of Indescribable Inde-scribable grace and finish but the tone 13 rather soft small and without body as the violinist would put itand for this reason their violins do not command the highest Satires A Nicola Amati may bf had for from 20 to 300 according to size pattern preservation pedigree etc A good Andreas Amati more suitable for chamber than for ordinary lire can be trot for 50 Andreas who died about 1577 vq frm dr of + b Amatis family Very few authentic instruments of his make are extant and those that do exist are not in a high state of preservation Nicolas the grandson was the most em riPnt of the name and he is besides deserving of special honor as having been the master of Stradivarius Although Al-though he worked as a rule on the small pattern adopted by the rest of the Amatis he made some very fine large vfolins the socalled grand Amatis which are almost al-most worshipped in these days and which hold the field In the matter of prices Even during his lifetime his instruments were In high repute Charles IX of France pave him an order for twelve violins six violas and six cellos for his private band Before the French revolution revolu-tion 17SS most of these instruments could bo seen in the Chapel Royal but after the days of the 5th and 6th of October 179 they all mysteriously disappeared and their subsequent history is uncer tain One of them a cello was sold 4n the early years of the century to Sir William Curtis it was put up at 500 guineas and bought in at 2SO puinaes In 1872 the instrument belonged to the Rev AISJrapPSvwho snowed it in the loan exMhiton of that year In Stradivarius and Guarnprius del JPSU we rwch the zenith of norfee + on in violin making The Guarnerlus family like the Amatis consisted of several ds tlnct makers whose work is often con fused They all form an important brari of the Cremona school but wh n violinists speak of a Guarnerius the v mean an instrument by the last of trace t-race towlt the Joseph Guarnprius wh was horn In 1CS7 and who is degantej del Je u from the curious hahlt he wl of putting a cross and the letters I H S on his labels Guarnerius del Jesu stands next o Stradivarius himself as the greatest violin maker the world has ever seen and it Is with him that the art may he said to have died From the Cornhill Magazine |