Chapter One, The Ancestry of Antonio Stradivari

We propose to touch but lightly on the ancestry of Stradivari, as researches on this subject have been published by Fetis, Lombardini, Hart, and others, and have now been supplemented by Signor Mandelli. All these writers agree that the family name, spelt in different ways, was borne by more or less notable citizens of Cremona as far back as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Signor Mandelli gives various documents in proof of this, the earliest one being dated May 13th, 1188, from which we learn that "the Priest Alberto, Canon and Chief Warden of the Cathedral of Cremona, lets to Giovanni Stradivarto and heirs two pieces of allodial land," etc., etc.

With regard to the derivation of the name, Mr. E. J. Payne says, "It is the plural form of Stradivare, a Lombard variety of Stradiere, a toll-man or douanier, a feudal official who was posted on the strada or high road for the purpose of exacting dues from passengers." (Art. 'Stradivari,' Grove's "Dictionary of Music.")

Mandelli, on the authority of' Professor Astegiano (A Piedmontese, who compiled the catalogue of the ancient rolls of the community of Cremona up to the year 1300, printed in two volumes at Turin in 1899) writes, "The form of the name 'de Stradaverta' as used in 1298 is derived from 'Strada averta' of the Cremonese dialect, in Italian 'Strada aperta.'" The earliest documentary evidence forthcoming concerning the direct ancestry of the violin-maker is furnished by Signor Mandelli, who quotes an extract from the Marriage Register of the Cathedral of Cremona, under date April 10th, 1600, recording the marriage of Signor Giulio Cesare Stradivari, of the parish of S. Michele Vecchio, to the Signora Doralice Milani, a widow, of the parish of the cathedral (Parrocchia del Duomo). To them was born in 1602 a son, christened Alessandro on January 15th at the Church of S. Michele Vecchio.

From the Register of Marriages of the Parish of S. Prospero, Signor Mandelli obtained the record, under date August 30th, 1622, of the marriage of Signor Alessandro, son of Giulio Cesare Stradivari, to Signora Anna, daughter of Leonardo Moroni.

From this union were born, as recorded in the baptismal register of the above-named parish, Giuseppe Giulio Cesare, March, 1623; Carlo Felice, September, 1626; Giovanni Battista, October, 1628. Then comes a complete blank in the records, and we are left to speculate as to whether any other children were born between 1628 and the year 1644, the date of the birth of Antonio, the subject of our enquiries. Repeated researches, made at different periods in the registers throughout the thirty-seven parishes of Cremona, have failed to yield further information. Signor Mandelli says-

"Supposing that Antonio was christened- which seems fairly certain, seeing that we have proof of the fact in the case of his elder brothers-I felt hopeful of finding some mention of the fact in the registers and documents of one or other of the parish churches of Cremona; and as no further entry of either birth or death of any member of the family of Alessandro Stradivari is to be found in the records of S. Michele Vecchio, I concluded that they had removed elsewhere. Aware of the fact of Antonio Stradivari's marriage in 1667, I turned my attention to the record of the same in the Marriage Register-the extract from which I transcribe later on-and I enquired for the marriage documents, to which the birth certificates of the married couple ought necessarily to have been added; but the papers 'Stradivari Feraboschi' have disappeared. I then went to the cathedral, where the registers and documents of the suppressed parish of S. Donato, which was the parish from which Stradivari married his second wife in 1699, are kept; and here again, strange to relate, I found the registration of the marriage, but neither documents nor birth certificates of man or wife."

Signor Mandelli is decidedly of opinion that these papers have, for some unaccountable reason, been either purloined or carelessly destroyed. He adds: "Bearing in mind the first marriage certificate, in which Stradivari is described as residing in the parish of S. Cecilia, I went to the Bishop's Palace, where the registers are kept, and perused them from beginning to end without finding mention of the name of Stradivari. I then examined the Census Book of that epoch, but with the same result.

"I now turned my attention to the registers of all the other parishes, and availed myself of every known channel likely to furnish any information, but with the same negative result attained by those who had previously searched them."

In the years 1628 and 1629 Cremona was visited by a terrible famine, which was followed in 1630 by the scourge of plague, the ravages of which caused many of the inhabitants to flee, even the bishops and magistrates, so that the population, in consequence of the deaths and exodus which ensued, was reduced to a third of its number (Robolotti, "History of Cremona.").

In the Census Book of the Parish of S. Vincenzo the parish priest confirms the deplorable state of the city, and under date 1628 he adds the following remark: "Many citizens have left Cremona to live quietly in other towns, and many have quite recently gone to the war."

Again in the Census Book, under date January, 1630, he records that the inhabitants of his parish have decreased in forty-four years from over one thousand to less than five hundred; some have gone to the war, others have died, and many have gone in search of a country where they can live by the fruits of their labour and not die from starvation.

In April of the same year he once more reverts to the subject, and states that "rich people have by this time been reduced to such a state of poverty, caused partly by the quartering of soldiers in their houses and partly by the heavy taxes imposed, etc., that were it not for the shame of it they would go about begging." He also says that all the inhabitants, rich and poor, who were able to leave the city were doing so.

Additional testimony as to the sufferings of the people is supplied by the parish priest of S. Michele Vecchio, in entries made by him in the Marriage Registers. After mentioning the war and famine which preceded the plague, he says: "This year, 1630, God our Lord has sent the scourge of plague all over Lombardy; at Cremona it made its appearance in the early days of January, began to spread at the commencement of April, and raged to such an extent during the months of June, July, and August that the town was deserted and had the appearance of a wilderness." Here, then, is evidence which justifies us in assuming that Alessandro Stradivari was amongst those who fled from the city-most probably accompanied by his wife and children- apparently never again to return, otherwise their names would have been met with at some later date in the reoisters of births, deaths, or marriages, or in the census returns.

Signor Mandelli thus explains the non-existence of any record of the birth of Antonio in the city of Cremona. His parents had left their home under stress of calamity; some of those dear to them may even have fallen victims to the plague (Hieronymus Amati, his wife and two daughters, were amongst the victims who died from the plague during 1630. Maggini also fell a victim at Brescia in 1632) previous to their departure, and for one reason or another they determined to stay where they had found a haven of refuge.

Nothing daunted by failure, Signor Mandelli now turned his attention to the villages and other places in the province of Cremona, for it seemed quite rational to suppose that Antonio's parents may have settled down but a few miles from the city. He accordingly begged and prevailed upon the Bishop of Cremona to issue a circular, addressed to all the parish priests of the diocese, asking that research be made in the registers and census returns of every parish, including those suppressed since 1788, from the year 1628 until 1670, concerning the family of Stradivari.

The result was again disappointing: some of the parishes had no old registers to consult; others had been searched, but without success.

In conclusion, we think the above evidence points to the fact of Antonio Stradivari not having been born in Cremona; he may have come into the world in some neighbouring village, but in all probability his parents had gone some distance away. Be this so or not, the fact remains that henceforth Alessandro, his wife and children, with the sole exception of Antonio, occupy no place in the family history.

Nothing whatever is known concerning the early career of Antonio. Did his parents bring him back to Cremona in order to apprentice him to Nicolo Amati? What were the reasons that induced them to make him a violin-maker? As far as we can learn, no earlier member or connection of his family had adopted this calling. These questions, we fear, can never be answered.

The first documentary intimation even of Antonio's existence in Cremona, as yet met with, is furnished by the label inserted in one of his violins, and dated 1666.

Then comes the announcement of his marriage in the next year. He married Francesca, the daughter of Francesco Feraboschi, and widow of Giovanni Giacomo Capra, who committed suicide with an arquebus on the Piazza S. Agata (now Piazza Garibaldi), in April, 1664. The following is the extract from the Marriage Register of the Parish of S. Agata: "On the 4th of July, 1667, having three times published the banns on feast days, the first on June 26th [wrongly written July in the register], which was a Sunday, the second on the 29th, the feast day of St. Peter, the third on Sunday, the 3rd of July, announcing the marriage which Signor Antonio Stradivari, of the Parish of S. Cecilia, intended to contract with Signora Francesca Ferabosca (We have retained the different spellings of this name as found in the original documents), of my parish; I hereby beg to declare that, no impediment of any kind having arisen, I, the Reverend Pietro Guallo, Parish Priest of the Collegiate and renowned Church of S. Agata in Cremona, have united them today, here, in my church, in the holy bond of matrimony, in the presence of the two hereafter-mentioned witnesses, namely, Signor Francesco Feraboscho, of the Parish of S. Agata, and of Signor [remains unfilled].

On his marriage Stradivari appears to have left the parish of S. Cecilia, and taken a house known as the Casa del Pescatore in the parish of his bride. The census returns for the year 1668 describe it as being occupied by Signor Stradivari, aged 28, Signora Francesca (his wife), aged 26, and Giulia Maria (his daughter), aged 3 months. The year previously the house was occupied by a certain Francesco Mazzini, his wife and two sons. Here Stradivari seems to have lived until 1680, in which year he purchased the house now known as No. 1, Piazza Roma, formerly No. 2, Piazza San Domenico.

His family had, in the meantime, increased to five, one infant son having died. The house was bought from the Cremonese family of Picenardi for 7,000 imperial lire (approximately equivalent to £840); the contract of sale, first made known by Signor Lombardini, is preserved in the Notarial Archives. From this deed, which is in Latin, we learn that Stradivari paid 2,000 lire of the purchase money in cash, and agreed to pay the remaining 4,990 lire within four years ; the other ten lire were commuted by the vendors in consideration of Stradivari paying the yearly tithe of six imperial sols to the canons of the Cathedral.

We find, too, that the master's name is entered Antonio Stradivari, of the late Alessandro thus showing that the latter-who, as we have seen, was born in 16O2-was then dead, and that he was really the father of Antonio. Signor Mandelli, who has spared no pains to glean details, however small, concerning Stradivari, tells us that the house, as purchased in 1680, consisted of a somewhat narrow structure of three floors-that is, the ground floor, two storeys above and a kind of loft and attic, also large cellars underground.

The rooms were distributed as follows: four on the ground floor - viz. the shop (which is specially mentioned in the deed of purchase), parlour, kitchen, and a store- room at the other end of the courtyard ; on the first floor four rooms also, three on the second, and the loft and attic above; while on the roof was formed a flat terrace, called in the Cremonese dialect seccadour, to indicate that part of the house which is used for drying linen or fruits.

Tradition says that the master worked here-in the loft and attic- during the favourable season, and also hung out his newly varnished instruments to dry. This tradition was corroborated to some extent by finding, fixed to the wooden beams of the loft, strips of parchment, nailed down and so arranged as to form a kind of tool-rack to hold the worker's small tools; and also by the discovery some years ago of a trapdoor containing shreds and bits of maple and pine.

It was in this house that Stradivari remained until his death. It was here during upwards of fifty years that the passer-by may have seen him silently shaping those works which are now so eagerly sought throughout the world. Noble, musician, priest, and friend came to this modest dwelling either to admire his skill or to ask him to make an instrument as he alone could do.

From the time that the mortal remains of the man, who lent such interest to the spot, were carried across the piazza to their resting place in the Church of S. Domenico, the house remained practically unchanged until 1888 (One of the writers visited Cremona in 1884, and very naturally evinced considerable interest on inspecting Stradivari's house , he was not a little amused by the servant, who showed him over the different rooms, gravely taking a heavy tile from the roof and offering it as a souvenir), when it was acquired by the proprietor of the neighbouring cafe, who, in the course of the next year, had carried out considerable structural alterations.

The ground floor is now a billiard room. One day during this partial demolition of the house Signor Soresini, the son-in-law of the owner, happened to be looking at what was going on, he observed that several of the masons had broken up some boards for the purpose of making a fire to warm their frugal meal. At first he paid no attention to the circumstance, but presently asked to see one of the pieces of wood thus being dealt with.

On examination it turned out to be a portion of an old chest made of pine and then painted over, whereon the carved remains of the master's name, and parts of a painted coat-of- arms were still plainly visible. The chest had evidently, at some time, been broken up, and the pieces utilised for patching the wooden ceiling of the house. This relic, as well as a small piece of hematite in the shape of a human canine tooth, found at the same time, and which Stradivari possibly used as a burnisher, together with the stone breastwork of the well, as shown in the corner of the courtyard on the ground plan of house, are now preserved in the Civic Museum of Cremona.

Let us now return to the subject of Stradivari's home life. In the year 1698 he had to mourn the loss of his wife, Francesca Ferabosca, who died on May 20th; the record in the Register of the Parish of S. Matteo reads as follows: "Francesca Feraboscha, wife of Sig. Antonio Stradivari, recommended to God, and fortified by the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist, and Extreme Unction, died at the age of about sixty years. Her body was carried into the Church of S. Domenico."

A later entry, under date May 25th, says: "Given burial to Francesca Stradivari Ferabosca in the tomb in the choir." In addition to the above extracts Signor Mandelli was fortunate enough to find in the "Records of Funerals ordered by the Ecclesiastical and Civil Magistrates," preserved in the Town Archives, the bill of the expenses incurred at the funeral of Signora Feraboschi Stradivari. This very interesting document we give herewith:

The discovery of this document in the files of the year 1698 naturally caused Signor Mandelli to turn to the year 1737; but, alas! the file is missing. This is the more to be regretted inasmuch as we lose not only the record of the funeral expenses of the master, but that of his second wife also. Signor Mandelli adds, that, judging by the above bill of expenses, the funeral of Antonio's wife was probably among the most conspicuous of the time.

Stradivari did not long remain a widower; in August of the next year he married Signora Zambelli. The following is the extract from the Register of the Parish of S. Donato, August 24th, 1699: "Signor Antonio Stradivari, a widower by the death of his wife, the late Signora Francesca Feraboschi, of the Parish of S. Matteo, of Cremona, having previously obtained the mutual consent, as per form exhibited, has been united to-day in marriage, as hereby certified, with Signora Antonia Maria Zambelli, daughter of the late Signor Antonio Maria, of this Parish of S. Donato, the customary three banns having been published both in the Church of S. Matteo, as in this of S. Donato, on the 25th and 26th days of July and the 2nd of August, as by the regular declaration preserved in file, the ceremony taking place in the presence of the Very Revd. Don Francesco Bisoni, Parish Priest of S. Erasmo, invited by me, Don Cesare Rigotti, and in the presence of the witnesses Francesco Passano, son of the late Gio. Batta, of Casal Maggiore, and of Antonio Cervini, son of the late Domenico, of the Parish of S. Lucia."

This second marriage was blessed by five children, one daughter and four sons, making in all eleven. As will be noticed, several of the children died young, and of the others two only, Omobono and Francesco, embraced the career of their father, but neither of them can be said to have distinguished himself; they were, in fact, completely eclipsed by their brilliant and long-lived father.

From the date of the second marriage onwards little is known concerning Stradivari's private life; we can only assume, judging by the assiduity with which he kept to his work, that it was a fairly smooth one. We see that he lost a son, aged 24, in 1727, and another in 1732 ; but his wife remained to comfort him in his extreme old age, and died only a few months before her husband.

Stradivari had decided upon his burial-place in 1729, in which year he purchased from the heirs of Francesco Villani-the descendant of a noble Cremonese family-the tomb hitherto belonging, to them, and which was situated in a small chapel, named after the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, in the Church of S. Domenico. The tombstone which marked the spot bore the name and inscription of the Villani family around the sides, and in the centre their coat-of-arms, all of which Stradivari had effaced-an operation but imperfectly carried out, as traces are still clearly perceptible - and his own name and an inscription substituted.

On the 4th day of March, 1737, the first member of Stradivari's family was laid to rest here. Under that date the Register of S. Matteo says: "Signora Antonia Zambelli, daughter of the late Antonio (Zambelli), who was the wife of Signor Antonio Stradivari, died, aged about seventy-three years, fortified by the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist, and Extreme Unction, and comforted with prayers for her soul, and her body was conveyed on the fourth day of this month by me, Antonio Maria Spada, Coadjutor Priest of the Church of S. Matteo, to the Church of S. Domenico, in which she was buried." The Register of S. Domenico tells us that Signora Stradivari was interred in the Chapel of the Rosary in the tomb of Francesco Villani.

The Chapel of the Rosary

Antonio survived his wife until the following December, on the 18th of which month he passed away, and was buried on the following day. The record, taken from the register of S. Matteo, reads as follows: "In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven, on the nineteenth day of the month of December, Signor Antonio Stradivari, a widower, aged about ninety- five years, having died yesterday, fortified by the Holy Sacraments and comforted by prayers for his soul until the moment he expired, I, Domenico Antonio Stancari, Parish Priest of this Church of S. Matteo, have escorted today his corpse with funeral pomp to the Church of the very Reverend Fathers of S. Domenico in Cremona, where he was buried."

The Register of S. Domenico confirms that the burial of the late Signor Antonio Stradivari, whose body was interred in the tomb of Signor Villani, in the Chapel of the Rosary, took place on the 19th day of December, 1737. Other members of the family were given burial in the tomb at later dates; the last was his son Giuseppe Antonio, who died in 1781.

There reposed the remains of Antonio Stradivari and certain of his descendants until the year 1869 ; but in that year the powers that be willed that they should be scattered to the winds. The Church of S. Domenico, like many another of Italy's noble monuments, had, during the course of long years, fallen into a state of decay, and its condition, going from bad to worse, had now reached a stage positively dangerous. To obtain the necessary sum for its restoration was out of the question. The town authorities therefore decided to take over the church, together with the adjoining deserted convent, pull them down, and on the site lay out a much-needed public garden.

Signor Mandelli, an eye-witness of what was taking place, furnishes us with the following interesting description of the demolition of the sacred edifice. He writes: "In the summer of the year 1869 the work of demolition of the fine Church of S. Domenico was making progress; in fact, the great apses of the church, the tower, and the Chapel of Christ had already disappeared under the never-ceasing blows of the pickaxe, the dull sound of which was slowly re-echoing along the pillars and against the vaulted ceilings of the aisles of the chapels which still stood untouched. It was a sacrifice imposed by modern requirements, and the imperious exigences of civilisation and hygiene. When the work was once in full swing, the masons cared not which part was to be attacked; the pickaxe, incessantly in use, had already rained down its blows upon the Chapel of the Rosary, demolishing the cupola by Malosso and the ceiling by Cattapane.

I still remember it, and vividly recall the remorseless destruction of this work of a past splendour. It seems to me but yesterday, as I never allowed a day to pass without going to view the progress made in razing the church to the ground. I well remember Aurelio Betri, the photographer, being present with his camera, taking views of the different parts of the building, one of which will, I think, prove of interest to the reader. It is taken from the spot whence a long vista of the row of arches on the left is obtained.

On the right is seen the side wall of the Chapel of St. Peter the Martyr, which wall divided it from the Chapel of the Rosary. I was also present on a certain day when several distinguished people were assembled around the tomb of Stradivari. Amongst others, if my memory serves me well, were the Barrister Tavolotti; Mayor of Cremona; Dr. Robolotti; the Librarian, Professor Bissolati; and the Assistant Librarian, Professor Peter Fecit ; and I recall, just as if I heard them now, the following words being pronounced by one of these gentlemen: 'There is such a confusion of bones, without any special mark whatever, that it seems useless indeed to make any further search.'

On the same occasion I heard repeated several times the name of Stradivari; but I was young and ignorant of the significance of the name, and did not then grasp the importance of the search which these gentlemen were disposed to undertake. During the following days I saw men with baskets clear that tomb of all the human bones found within it-skulls, tibias, thigh-bones, and ribs ; some of the bones were of an earthy tint, some of a blackish musty colour.

I learnt afterwards that the men themselves interred the bones outside the city, with the exception of a few of the skulls, three of which were retained by Signor Ferdinando Rossi, the manager of the work, and by his partner, Francesco Ferrari. After retaining them some years the last named gave them to his brother-in-law, Dr. Vincenzo Ferrari, who kept them until he left his father's house, when his brothers, as a mark of respect to these human remains, sent them to be buried in the town cemetery; by this time they are most probably mixed up among the heap of departmental disinterments which periodically take place."

Thus disappeared the tomb of Stradivari. The name-stone alone remains, and is now preserved in the Municipal Museum. As Signor Mandelli suggests, "the matter of the desecration of the grave was perhaps too lightly decided on; in fact, the reverence now felt for everything appertaining to Stradivari had then penetrated but little in Cremona." The town council, however, shortly afterwards decided to dedicate one of the principal streets to his memory, and on several occasions since that period Signor Mandelli and others have striven to induce that body to raise a monument worthy of Cremona's most famed citizen, but unfortunately financial inability bars the way.

As already stated, the site of the church is now a fine public garden. On the pedestal of one of the ornamental vases which adorn the grounds is engraved an inscription, which we translate as follows:

It is gratifying to be able to add that a commemorative tablet has also been placed on the wall of the house in the Piazza Roma in which Stradivari lived and died. It bears an inscription to the following effect:

STRADIVARI HOME

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