To deal in anything like detail with the huge army of makers of German origin is a task which no English writer has had the temerity to attempt, nor would any useful purpose be served by so doing in a work intended for English readers. Those who desire more precise information on that branch of the subject than is hereinafter conveyed are recommended to refer to the two portly volumes of the German writer, von Lütgendorff, who, with characteristic Teuton thoroughness, seems to have hunted up nearly every one of his countrymen who ever made a fiddle. The work in question is indeed a monument of literary industry and research.
A number of the more recent Italian makers, whose work has come into prominence during the past twenty-five years, have been noticed in somewhat more detailed fashion than has usually been adopted in books of this kind, and an attempt has been made to deal in the same way with a few makers of the French school whose names, for some reason or other, have previously received somewhat meagre attention.
Stradivari, and some of the other Italians of the first rank, have already been handled so fully in works which will be found mentioned in the text that the facts already published concerning them have been digested so far as possible, to enable them to be succinctly presented, and to make room for other matter.
ABSAM, Thomas.—Wakefield; nineteenth century to about 1850; said to have been of Tyrolese birth. Worked for Pickard of Leeds, and on his own account.
ADAM.—Mirecourt. A family of bow-makers of whom the best was Jean Dominique, who worked to about 1860.
AIRETON, Edmund.—London. Died about 1807. A maker of the style and period of Peter Wamsley. Worked for the dealers, Norris and Barnes.
ALBANI.—Late seventeenth and first half of eighteenth centuries. A family of violin makers originating at Botzen in the Tyrol. The chief maker, and the founder of the family, was Matthias, who was born in 1621, and died at Botzen in February, 1712. Most authorities mention two different individuals named Matthias, but it seems to be established that there was but one. Matthias Albani’s work belongs chiefly to the school of Stainer, but the later and better examples show distinct traces of Italian influence, and are built upon lines more approximating to the Amati school. The arching is much less pronounced than that of older specimens, in which it is often extravagantly high; outline and sound-holes, though never losing entirely their German cut, are more Italian-looking, and the varnish, usually a brilliant red-brown, is either identical in composition with that used by Italian workmen of the period, or closely allied to it. The tone of his better instruments is excellent. The wood used is of good quality and frequently handsome. Examples with lion and other ornamental heads occur. He made violins, tenors, and basses, and the larger instruments are held in high esteem amongst players. Tradition has it that he worked for some time at Cremona or elsewhere in Italy, but anything like tangible evidence in support of this appears to be lacking. His name has been made free with by forgers and imitators, and may be seen in all sorts of worthless fiddles, ancient and modern. Spurious labels, dated in the year 1690, abound. His ordinary label reads, “Matthias Albanus fecit Bulsani in Tiroli,” with date. Other makers of the family were Michael, a son who worked chiefly in Gratz, where he died in 1730; Joseph, a younger son, who assisted him, and died at Botzen in 1722; and Joseph Anton, a nephew, who died at Botzen in 1771.
ALBANI.—Mention is made of makers of this name working in different parts of Italy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. One, named Paolo, is said to have operated in Palermo, Rome, and Cremona.