STADELMANN, Johann Joseph, Vienna, 18th century. Copied Stainer; average merit.
| Jacobus Stainer in Absam prope Oenipontum. 16— |
STAINER, Jacob, Absam, born July 14, 1621, at Hall. The celebrity of this maker is second only to that of the great Cremonese artists. His admirers in Germany and England were, at one time, more numerous than those of the principal Italian makers. In a manuscript note which Sir John Hawkins added to his own copy of his History of Music (1776), he says, "The Violins of Cremona are exceeded only by those of Stainer, a German, whose instruments are remarkable for a full and piercing tone." To the connoisseur of to-day such commendation may seem inexplicable, and cause him to believe that Fiddle admirers of past times were incapable of appreciating true beauty of form, and its bearing upon sound, or else that fashion made its influence felt on the Fiddle world as elsewhere. It would be absurd to deny that the greatest German maker of Violins that ever lived was a man of rare abilities, because it is indelibly written on his chief works that he was a thorough artist. Therefore an expression of surprise that Jacob Stainer has been estimated higher than even Stradivari by the Germans and English, must not be understood as a reflection on his abilities, since it refers to the form that he chose to give to his works. To account for the apparent inconsistency in the works of Stainer, and to strike the balance between his exceptional abilities on the one side and his model on the other, is not easy. His form was not a borrowed one; it is as original as that of Stradivari—a fact which makes it more than ever unintelligible that he should have been content with it. To arrive at anything approaching to a satisfactory solution, we must endeavour to trace the history of this model. Jacob Stainer was born in the Tyrol, and passed there his early years, and probably received his first instructions from one of the old Tyrolean Lute and Viol makers, at a period when they raised their model, and introduced into the German School the scooping round the sides of the backs and bellies, the inelegant sound-hole, the harsh outline, and uncouth scroll. As experience ripened his understanding, he may have felt that these characteristics of the German School were not such as could be moulded with advantage by an artist, whatever his talent might be, and resolved to do his best to unlearn much that he had acquired. In order to do so with any chance of success, but one course was open to him—that of studying the works of the Italian masters. It has been stated that he went to Italy when very young. With this view I do not concur. In all cases where there is an absence of direct evidence, opinions can only be formed from particular analogies bearing on the case under consideration. Now in the case of Stainer we have nothing to guide us but his variations of style, and dates of time and place. What is the result of a careful investigation of every particle of evidence that we can glean? The style is ever German, although the great maker is head and shoulders above all his countrymen who followed his art. I am thus forced to believe that had so excellent an artist visited Italy in his youth, as reported, there would have remained but the faintest trace of its origin. That men of less ability should be unable to entirely sever themselves from their national style of work, even under circumstances most favourable for such a release, I can readily understand; it is an incapacity which has been exemplified over and over again; but Jacob Stainer was not one of these ordinary men; he had not his superior in the school of Cremona as a finished workman, with the single exception of Antonio Stradivari. I believe, therefore, that the German style was deeply rooted within him when he ceased to be young, and that if he went to Cremona or Venice, it was not until he recognised the inferiority of the school in which he had been bred, as compared with that of Cremona or Venice. That he did not go far enough in his "second thought" is pretty well acknowledged on all sides. His originality was conceived in the German School, amid the worst examples, and it was too late to undo what had gone before. Here, then, lies, I consider, the key to the seeming anomaly that so great a maker as Stainer should have adopted and clung to so clumsy a model. That he became acquainted with much of the best work of the Italians is evidenced by his improved style. The varnish he used furnishes even stronger evidence of his having possessed a knowledge of the subject equal to that of the Cremonese makers. Whether he acquired this knowledge in Cremona or Venice cannot be stated with certainty, but I am inclined to believe that he gained it in the first-named city. Who but an artist acquainted with the best work of Italy in Violin-making could have made those exquisite Violins known as "Elector Stainers"? The wood, selected for its rare loveliness, the finished workmanship, and charming rose-coloured varnish, render these works of art of which one glimpse is a never-fading memory. These works show the diligent zeal with which Stainer laboured in his studies of the Italian masters. He contrived to give these instruments an air of grace quite foreign to the best efforts of his brother German makers. In the sound-hole and scroll is observable his seeming desire to leave behind the German preferences; and although it must be admitted that he was but partially successful in his endeavours to stamp out early tendencies, the connoisseur cannot but be impressed with the results of the artist's manipulations. Had such skill been exercised on a form nearer akin to the Italian, the result would have been perfect.
Prior to the publication of the interesting facts obtained by Herr S. Ruf, relative to the personal history of Jacob Stainer, we had no really reliable account of this famous maker.3 The industry and research of Herr Ruf has not only supplied all the ascertainable facts with regard to Stainer, but also served to trace the history of Stainer fiction. The last-mentioned portion of Herr Ruf's labours is singularly instructive as to the manner in which romance is spliced on to what is intended to be sober history, and which results oftentimes in the graft being rendered invisible, or even unsuspected. He tells us that the first mention of Jacob Stainer is that made by Johann Primisser, about a century after the death of the Violin-maker, and that he merely states that there lived in Absam in 1673 a celebrated maker named Stainer.
3 The notice of Jacob Stainer in the "Biographie Universelle des Musiciens" contains information supplied by J. B. Cartier, the well-known Violinist, which formed a portion of the history of the Violin which Cartier proposed publishing, also from notes made by Paul L. de Boisgelou, who brought together much curious information relative to music and musicians.
Early in the present century Counsellor Von Sardagna collected certain particulars concerning Stainer, which were published in 1822. He states that Stainer lived at Absam, that it is traditionally reported that he went to Venice or Cremona, and died a madman. It appears that this slight material was at once utilised for the manufacture of nearly all the romantic accounts of Stainer with which we are familiar. Herr Ruf says that in the year 1825 there appeared in a German literary publication a poetical effusion entitled "Jacob Stainer," and that in 1829 Dr. Johann Schuler published a novel of great merit on the same subject.
Herr Ruf states that August Lewald in 1835 made the novel of Dr. Schuler the basis of the romantic account of Stainer, published in his "Guide Book to Tyrol," under the title of "An Evening in Absam," but without any acknowledgment whatever. Notwithstanding the growth of Stainer literature down to 1835, not a single historical fact concerning the maker had been brought to light. In the year 1839 Herr Ruf began his labours of research. He discovered at Hall a register of the parish of Absam, wherein he found all the information we possess as regards the birth and death of Stainer and his family. About this period the poem of Dr. Johann Schuler, "Jacob Stainer," was dramatised by Theodore Rabenalt. Other poems based on the same material appeared in 1843, but still the facts of Stainer's life were all but unknown. At length Herr Ruf was prevailed upon by Dr. Schafhaült (an ardent admirer and collector of Stainer's Violins) to prosecute his inquiries concerning the great maker.
In the archives of the town and salt mines at Hall, Herr Ruf found much information, which he published in the local newspapers, the ephemeral nature of which naturally placed his valuable contributions beyond the reach of those likely to value them. In the meantime Nicolaus Diehl, of Hamburg, published a little book on Violins, into which was imported a portion of the romance traceable to the novels or poems on Stainer. Herr Ruf, feeling disappointed that his labours in discovering the facts relative to Stainer had failed to clear away the cloud of Stainer fiction, published in 1872 his book, "Der Geigenmacher Jacob Stainer von Absam in Tirol," which gives us a full account of his researches, and should have secured to him the full credit due to his industry. His facts, however, like the good fiction found in Dr. Schuler's novel, "Jacob Stainer," have been used by German writers on the subject of the Violin without any acknowledgment. Herr Ruf died at Hall in the year 1877.
It is said that Stainer was apprenticed to an organ-builder at Innsbrück, but owing to his weak constitution he was unable to continue in the business, and chose instead the trade of Violin-making. Amongst the rumours concerning this maker may be mentioned that of his having been a pupil of Niccolò Amati. It is certain there is no direct evidence in support of it, neither is it shown that his work is founded on that of Amati. I am satisfied that Stainer was assisted neither by the Brothers Amati nor Niccolò Amati, and I am strengthened in this opinion by the steadfastly German character of a model which no pupil of Amati could have persisted in using, even though based on his earliest traditions.
The marriage of Stainer took place October 7, 1645. On the 9th of October, 1658, he was appointed by the Archduke Leopold (of Austria, Governor of Tyrol) one of the "archducal servants," and on the 9th of January, 1669, he obtained from the Emperor the title of "Violin-maker to the Court." About this period he is said to have incurred the displeasure of the Jesuits, which led to his being accused of the crime of heresy. The accusation seems to have been based on the fact of books of a controversial kind—chiefly Lutheran—having been found in his possession. The penalty he suffered for daring to indulge in polemical literature was six months' imprisonment, and his future prospects were completely shattered. Prior to this misfortune he appears to have been in pecuniary difficulties, and frequently at law with one Salomon Hübmer, of Kirzchdorf, from whom he had obtained money loans. In the year 1677 he petitioned the Emperor Leopold—who was a great patron and lover of music—to render him pecuniary assistance, but failed to procure it. Over-burdened with troubles, he was bereft of his reason, and died insane and insolvent in the year 1683.