Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/736

724 a review of the work, by Mr. Prout, see 'Monthly Musical Record,' Dec. 1, 1871.

Burney (iv. 105) gives an analysis of his Oratorio di S. Gio. Battista, and mentions a MS. of his opera 'La Forza dell' Amor paterno,' dated Genoa, 1578 [App. p.797 "1678"].

There are 148 of Stradella's compositions at Modena: amongst them 6 oratorios and 11 dramas. The library of S. Marco in Venice possesses a collection of 'Canti a voce sola dell' insigne A. Stradella, legate alla Biblioteca S. Marco di Venezia dalla nobile famiglia Contarini.' Some of his compositions are also at the Conservatorio at Naples, and some in that at Paris. The Christchurch Library, Oxford, contains 1 motet for 2 voices, and 8 cantatas for 1 and 2 voices.

The following are in the British Museum.

[ G. M. ]

STRADELLA. 1. French lyric drama, music by Flotow. Produced at the Palais Royal theatre, Paris, Feb. 1837. Then recomposed, as a Grand Opera, and produced at Hamburg, Dec. 30, 1844, as 'Alessandro Stradella.' In English (altered by Bunn), as 'Stradella,' at Drury Lane, June 6, 1846. 2. Opera in 5 acts, by Niedermeyer; produced at the Académie, March 3, 1837. [ G. ]

STRADIVARI,, a celebrated violin-maker of Cremona, born in 1649 or 1650, died December 1737. The name carries us back to the middle ages. It is the plural form of Stradivare, a Lombard variety of Stradiere (Stratiarius), 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. The name is erroneously stated by Fétis to occur in the municipal archives of Cremona as far back as the year 1127. The earliest mention of it is in fact in the Matricola of the Collegio Dei Notai for 1213, after which date it frequently recurs during three centuries. Arisi, in his 'Cremona Litterata,' mentions Galerio Stradivari as a learned orientalist in 1230, Alessandro as another orientalist in 1400, about which time Costanzo Stradivari, a monk of the order of Umiliati, wrote a treatise on the natural philosophy of Aristotle. Other notables of the name occur in the middle ages. It is clear that it was a common name in Cremona: but there is no evidence to connect the fiddle-maker with these eminent persons. His pedigree, so far as we know it, goes back only to his father, one Alessandro Stradivari, who married Anna Moroni. The famous fiddle-maker was the child of his father's mature years, for he had at least one elder brother, Giuseppe Giulio Cesare, who was born March 20, 1623, and was thus not less than 26 years older than Antonio. Whether Stradivari was a native of Cremona is doubtful; probably not, for the registers of the 37 parishes of Cremona have been searched in vain for evidence of his birth and baptism by Signore Lombardini, who has taken great pains to elucidate the genealogy of the Stradivaris. He may possibly have been a native of some neighbouring village.

At the age of 17 or 18, Stradivari seems to have engaged the affections of a widow 9 or 10 years his senior. This was Francesca, the daughter of Francesco Ferraboschi, and widow of Giovanni Giacomo Capra, who was assassinated by an arquebus ball on the Piazza Santa Agata of Cremona (now the Piazza Garibaldi), April 28, 1664. The widow Capra, who had been less than two years a wife, returned with her infant child to her father's house, and after three years was married to Antonio Stradivari. The marriage was solemnised in the church of St. Agatha on July 4, 1667; and their first child was born a few months afterwards. There can be little doubt that Stradivari married, and began to make stringed instruments as a trade, in the same year. From 1667 to 1679 he remained in comparative obscurity. A few violins dated in the seventies, with genuine labels bearing his name, are said to exist, but the writer has seen none of them. On the other hand, it is certain that Stradivari's hand is traceable in many violins of this date which bear the name of Nicholas Amati. In some of these we trace the hand of Stradivari in the scroll only: in others it has left its mark on the whole violin. From 1667 to 1679 it is therefore probable that Stradivari worked in the workshop of the veteran Nicholas Amati, then the acknowledged head of violin-making in Cremona. In 1679, when Nicholas seems to have retired from business, five years before his death in 1684, Stradivari probably set up for himself. His wife Francesca had by this time borne him six children, of whom five were living: Giulia, born Dec. 23, 1667, afterwards married to the notary Giovanni Farina; Francesco, who died in infancy; Francesco the second, born 1670, who followed his father's trade, and died a bachelor in 1743; Cattarina, born