Andrea Amati was a

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...

, from

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and '' comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Amati is credited with making the first instruments of the violin family that are in the form we use today. Several of his instruments survive to the present day, and some of them can still be played. Many of the surviving instruments were among a consignment of 38 instruments delivered to

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the H ...

in 1564.

Charles IX of France

It is estimated that Amati made some 38 instruments between 1560 and 1574 for the

Queen Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

of France

Catherine de Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

on behalf of her young son,

; one of these was a gilded

bass violin Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin (i.e. '' viola da braccio'') family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern c ...

, elaborately painted with royal symbols, called ''The King''. There is some uncertainty about the exact date the instrument was crafted; ''The King's'' "label" gives the date as 1572, but some scholars have proposed an earlier date. Much of the collection was destroyed during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

but some pieces were recovered by

Giovanni Battista Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...

's student M. J. B. Cartier. It then changed hands several times, first being acquired by the Duport brothers, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Louis. According to the instrument's documentation it was then purchased from Rembert Wurlitzer Co. in 1967 by Lawrence Witten. ''The King'' is currently part of the collection at the

National Music Museum The National Music Museum: America's Shrine to Music & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University ...

Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion ( lkt, Waséoyuze; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city in and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-largest city. According to the 20 ...

Role in the development of the modern violin

Based on

iconographic Iconology is a method of interpretation in cultural history and the history of the visual arts used by Aby Warburg, Erwin Panofsky and their followers that uncovers the cultural, social, and historical background of themes and subjects in the visu ...

and literary evidence, the violin can be dated back to 1520. There is no agreement among scholars regarding the development of the early violin. The

rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

and violoncello are attested to in Gaudenzio Ferrari's frescoes at the church of Saronno and ''Madonna of the Orange Tree'' at the church of

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians ...

. However, According to Sotheby's:

"There is no surviving identifiable precedent for the exquisitely refined instruments that Amati made to the commission of
Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the H ...
and
Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is ...
from about 1566 onward. Technically he may have added a fourth string to a louder, outdoor cousin of the
viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pit ...
that was intended to accompany dance music. Artistically he changed everything."

Sotheby's says "Amati's brilliance raised the status of the violin from a farmhand's entertainment to an embellishment fit for a royal court. According to a biography by Roger Hargrave, Amati is one of the top candidates scholars have advanced for the inventor of the violin. The two other candidates he named were a luthier born in Fussen / Bavaria, now part of present-day Germany. The other candidate he named was Gasparo' da Salo from

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Ise ...

. The violin-like instruments that existed when Amati began his career only had three strings. Amati is credited with creating the first four stringed violin-like instrument. Laurence Witten also lists Amati and Gasparo' da Salo, as well as Pellegrino de' Micheli, also from Brescia; as well and Ventura di Francesco de' Machetti Linarol, of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isl ...

. Amati's first violins were smaller than modern violins, with high arches, wide

purfling Purfling is a narrow decorative edge inlaid into the top plate and often the back plate of a stringed instrument. Inexpensive instruments may have no purfling and instead simulate the appearance with paint. Purfling was originally made of laminat ...

, and elegantly curved scrolls and bodies. Andrea Amati's two sons,

Antonio Amati Antonio Amati ( – 1607) was an Italian luthier, active from 1560 to 1605. Biography Born in Cremona, Andrea Amati's son and Girolamo Amati's brother, Antonio worked first with his father, then with his brother, in the same workshop. With the l ...

and

Girolamo Amati Girolamo Amati (1561–1630) was an Italian luthier, active from 1580 to 1630. Biography Born in Cremona, Girolamo was the youngest son of Andrea Amati and brother of Antonio Amati. Girolamo worked, probably from 1575, with his brother, in his ...

, were also highly skilled violin makers, as was his grandson

Nicolò Amati Nicola Amati, Nicolò Amati or Nicolao Amati (, ; 3 September 1596 – 12 April 1684) was an Italian master luthier from Cremona, Italy. Amati is one of the most well-known luthiers from the Casa Amati (House of Amati). He was the teacher of i ...

, who had over a dozen highly regarded apprentices, including

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the colloqui ...

and Andrea Guarneri.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amati, Andrea 1505 births 1577 deaths Luthiers from Cremona Bowed string instrument makers