The Violin Maker (18 page)

¹
Guadagnini was a late contemporary of Stradivari who was long (and wrongly) thought to have been an apprentice of the master. He died in 1786, one of the last of the great violin makers of the period.

²
Lupot worked in Paris in the nineteenth century and was strongly influenced by the rediscovery of Stradivari’s work after nearly a century of obscurity.

³
In the Guarneri family of violin makers, Giuseppe, the father of the man who became known as “del Gesù,” signed his fiddles in tribute to
his
father, “son of Andrea.”

⁴
Français was from a family of French violin makers and dealers. He emigrated and set up shop in New York. His partner was Sam Zygmuntowicz’s mentor, the restoration expert René Morel.

⁵
Around that same time Galileo ordered through a priest a Cremonese violin for his nephew. There is a funny series of letters from the cleric to the scientist explaining with mounting apologies why it is taking so long to get the fiddle and how come the price keeps going up. The more things change…

⁶
.
Schneider’s violin was returned months later by some rock musicians who’d taken the same taxi later that day. When asked how he felt being reunited with his fiddle, the violinist didn’t bother trying to use words; he picked up the del Gesù and played Bach.