BARRETT, JOHN. A London maker, who worked about 1725. He made some good instruments which are dated from the Harp and Crown in Piccadilly. He followed the Stainer model. His varnish is unsatisfactory.
BETTS, JOHN, London, born at Stamford in 1755, died 1823. This excellent maker was a pupil of Duke, and adopted the Amati model. He was not himself a prolific maker, his time being principally occupied in the study of old Italian instruments, the result of which enabled him to become a very successful dealer and connoisseur. Betts, or “old John,” as he was most commonly called, carried on an extensive business in the construction of violins, and employed in his workshop such men as John Carter, Edward Betts, Panormo, Bernhard Fendt, all of whom subsequently succeeded in making good instruments on their own account. Betts’s shop was No. 2 near Northgate of the Royal Exchange, and after his death the business was continued by his descendants till within a few years ago.
DUKE, RICHARD, London, about 1765-1791. Probably no violin of English make has attained such popularity as have the instruments of this maker, hence it is that he is so extensively imitated. Who instructed him in the art of making violins, etc., is not positively known, but his instruments are of the highest order in all respects but the varnish, in which he was not always successful. Duke followed both the Stainer and Amati models, the latter being his best. His violoncellos are rather high in model, long in pattern, yellowish varnish and rich in tone. For his violins he used a dull brown varnish, very elastic and transparent. During a considerable period Duke worked in the vicinity of Holborn. Many of his instruments are stamped near the button “Duke, London.”
Labels, mostly written in pen and ink, are as follows:
Richd. Duke, Londini, fecit 1767.
Richard Duke, Maker, Holborn, London, Anno 1777.
The following is a copy of a printed one:
“Richard Duke, Maker, near opposite Great Turn-Stile, Holbourn, London.”
FENDT, BERNHARD, born at Inspruck, in the Tyrol, in 1756, died in London in 1832. He was at first instructed in the art of violin making by his uncle in Paris, who spelt his name Fent, a maker there of some reputation. Bernhard then came to London and entered the service of Thomas Dodd, the bow maker, and remained with him several years, working in conjunction with John Frederick Lott. They were never entrusted to carry their work beyond the white, and the instruments turned out by this pair were delivered to their master, who applied the varnish with his own hand, the secret of which he kept carefully to himself.
FORSTER, WILLIAM, known as “Old” Forster, born at Brampton, Cumberland, May, 1739, died in London, December 14, 1808. The name of Forster in connection with violin making includes a family whose operation extended over a very considerable period, but the artist under notice was the fiddle maker of the group, and his instruments to-day reflect great credit on the British school of a century ago; indeed his instruments, whether they be violins, violas or violoncellos, are pre-eminent amongst the productions of this country. His father pursued two occupations, viz., that of spinning-wheel maker and violin maker and repairer; instructions in which handicrafts were duly imparted to the son, who also became tolerably proficient as a violinist. In consequence of some family differences, the young man quitted his native village and proceeded to London, arriving there in 1759. His first endeavours in the metropolis were unsuccessful, and he was forced to accept some employment offered him by a gun-stock maker. However, he did not forsake the art he loved, and his spare time was occupied in making violins, which he disposed of to the music shops. During this time he suffered great hardship and privation, the effects of which were never afterwards entirely eradicated. At length he obtained employment as a violin maker at a music shop on Tower Hill kept by one Beck, and the violins he made during his two years’ engagement there, gaining much recognition, he not unnaturally demanded an advance in wages. This was refused, and Forster consequently left him. In 1762 he commenced business on his own account at a house in Duke’s Court, and there his artistic abilities procured for him the attention and patronage of the musical dilettanti. He then moved into St. Martin’s Lane, and added music publishing and selling to his business, and at this period he was wont to cut his name from the title-pages of his soiled or unsold music and use it as a ticket for his instruments. In 1781 he entered into negotiations with Haydn for the supply and publication of certain pieces of music for the string family, which resulted, it would appear, in a great success all round. About 1784, Forster opened in the Strand—No. 348, and here the climax of his success was attained, even to the extent of receiving Royal patronage. From the year 1762 to 1770 he adopted the Stainer model, and applied to his instruments some sort of dark stain, completing the operation with a coat of varnish. From 1770 or thereabouts he affected the Amati pattern with greater success, and this refers particularly to his violoncellos, as they are really grand instruments, better varnish is used and greater attention is paid to detail. Robert Lindley, the famous violoncellist, used one of Forster’s instruments at the Italian Opera for nearly forty years; he named it “The Eclipse.” Crossdill had a famous one, and Cervette the younger had another. Only four double basses are known to have been made by William Forster. His commoner instruments are devoid of purfling. Ticket: “William Forster. Violin Maker in St. Martin’s Lane, London.”