French Violin Makers, German Violin Makers, English Violin Makers, Antonio Stradivari

Italian Violin Makers

CASTRO, Venice, 1680-1720. The wood is of good figure generally. The outline is defective; the middle bouts are too long to be proportionate. Sound-hole roughly worked. Varnish red, the quality of which is scarcely up to the Venetian standard.

CATENAR, Enrico, Turin, about 1671.
Henricus Catenar, fecit Taurini anno 167—

Joannes Franciscus Celoniatus,
fecit Taurini, anno 17—

CELIONIATI, Gian Francesco, Turin, about 1734. Appears to have copied the form of Amati. Yellow varnish, good workmanship.

CERIN, Marco Antonio, Venice, end of the eighteenth century. Signed himself as a pupil of Belosio.
Marcus Antonius Cerin, alumnus Anselmi Belosii, fecit Venetiæ, 17—

Jo. Baptista Ceruti Cremonensis
fecit Cremonæ an 18—

CERUTI, Giovanni Battista, Cremona, 1755-1817. Ceruti made a large number of Violins and Violoncellos of the Pattern of Amati. He appears to have been a prolific workman, his instruments numbering, it is said, about five hundred. His favourite model was the large Amati. Giovanni Ceruti succeeded to the business of Lorenzo Storioni in 1790, in the Via dei Coltellai, near the Piazza St. Domenico.

CERUTI, Giuseppe, son of Giovanni, Cremona, 1787-1860. Was a maker and restorer of instruments. He is said to have exhibited, at the Paris and other exhibitions, Violins of good quality. He died at Mantua, in 1860.

CERUTI, Enrico, son of Giuseppe, Cremona, born in 1808, died on October 30, 1883. Enrico Ceruti is the last of the long line of Cremonese Violin-makers; there is, in consequence, a peculiar interest attached to him. Independent of this, however, he is deserving of special notice from his having been the recipient of the traditional history attending the makers of Cremona, from Amati to Stradivari and Bergonzi, and from Bergonzi to Storioni and Ceruti. He was acquainted with Luigi Tarisio and with Vuillaume, to whom he gave many interesting particulars relative to the great makers of his native city. The instruments of Enrico Ceruti are much valued by Italian orchestral players. They are said to number about three hundred and sixty-five, among which are several Violoncellos. He exhibited at the London Exhibition of 1862, and at other exhibitions. The last Violin he made was shown at the Milan Exhibition, 1881.

CRISTOFORI, Bartolommeo, Padua and Florence, 1667-1731. Apprenticed to Niccolò Amati. Is best known as the inventor of the "hammer system," and, therefore, the father of the modern pianoforte. Bow instruments of his make are rare, but authentic examples are in every way excellent. A fine Double Bass, dated 1715, is in the museum of the Musical Academy in Florence. Violoncellos and other instruments are known, and it is to be regretted that so few specimens are to be met with.

CIRCAPA, Tommaso, Naples, about 1730.

COCCO, Cristoforo, Venice, 1654. A Lute-maker. The Museum of the Paris Conservatoire Nationale de Musique contains a specimen of this make, which is described in M. Gustave Chouquet's catalogue of the collection.

CONTRERAS, Joseph, Madrid, 1745-80. This being one of the few Spanish makers, his name is placed with the Italian, the number of the Spanish being insufficient for a separate list. The model of this maker is very good and the workmanship superior. He probably lived In Italy during his early life, the style being Italian. He was born in Granada, and was called the Spanish Stradivarius. He died about 1780, and is said to have been seventy years of age.

CORDANO, Jacopo Filippo, Genoa, about 1774.