The Amatis were a family of celebrated violin makers of Cremona in the 16th and 17th centuries. Andrea Amati, who lived about 1540 until 1600, was the founder of the business, which was carried on by his sons Geronimo and Antonio, and by Niccolo the son of Geronimo. Most of the violins made by them are of comparatively small size and flat model, and the tone produced by the fourth or G string is somewhat thin and sharp. Many of Niccolo Amati's violins are, however, of a larger size and have all the fulness and intensity of tone characteristic of those manufactured by Stradivario and Guarnerio. Research Amati
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian maker of violins. He was born at Cremona in 1644 and died in 1737. Apprenticed to Nicholas Amati, he first modelled his violins upon those made by his master, but around 1684 he adopted larger proportions and became more independent in his methods. He seems to have experimented for many years, but around 1700 he settled upon a design he was happy with, a set of proportions that produce a truly fine violin. His violins are the finest ever made, but he also made fine violas and violoncellos, and some of his early instruments were made with poor materials and are not of the same quality as his later instruments. Research Antonio Stradivari
Benvenuto Garofalo (properly Benvenuto Tisio da Garofalo) was an Italian historical painter. He born in 1481 at Ferrara and died in 1559. He painted at Cremona and at Rome, where he became intimate with Raphael, and then returned to Ferrara, where he he died. His works show the influence of the Lombard school and still more of Raphael, though it is denied that he was an imitator of the latter. Research Benvenuto Garofalo
Campi was a family of Italian artists who founded what is known in painting as the school of Cremona. Of the four of this name, Giulio, Antonio, Vincenzo, and Bernardino, the first and the last are the best known. Giulio (1502-1572), the eldest and the teacher of the others, was a pupil of Giulio Romano, and acquired from the study of Titian and Pordenone a skill in colouring which gave the school its high place. Bernardino (1525-1590) was the greatest of the school. He took Romano, Titian, Correggio in succession as his models, but without losing his own individuality as an artist. Research Campi
Christoph Willibald Ritter Von Gluck was a German composer of operas. He was born in 1714 at Bavaria and died in 1787. When a boy he became a chorister, and acquired some skill on the harpsichord and organ. At eighteen years of age he went to Prague to enter the university, where he maintained himself by the exercise of his musical gifts.
By degrees he attracted the attention of several Bohemian nobles, and Prince Lobkowitz assisted him when he went to Vienna to pursue his musical studies, The Lombardian prince di Melzi then took him to Milan, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Sammartini, a famous organist and composer.
In 1740 he was employed to compose an opera for the court theatre of Milan. The text chosen for him was the Artaxerxes of Metastasio, and the opera was a triumph, in spite of the innovations of style which the author introduced.
In 1742 he wrote Demofoonte for Milan; Demetrio and Ipermnestra for Venice; in 1743 Artamene for Cremona, and Siface for Milan; in 1744 Fedra for the same theatre;
and in 1745 Allessandro nell' Indie for Turin, all founded on classical subjects. Invited to London, he produced La Caduta de Giganti (Fall of the Giants), which was not a success. In London Gluck became deeply impressed with the majestic character of Handel's airs and choruses, and with the simple but natural dramatic style of Dr. Arne. This visit to London, and a short trip to Paris, helped to develop that lyric genius which was destined to create a new order of musical composition.
After producing many pieces of the usual class of opera at Paris, Vienna, Rome, and Naples, he returned to Vienna. The Trionfo di Glelia (1762) was the last of his operas in his first style. However well pleased the public was with his music, he was not so. He felt himself continually cramped by the character of the libretti of Metastasio, who had hitherto furnished him with texts, which were rather lyrical dramatic poems than genuine dramas. The composer at last found a poet in the person of Raniero Calzabigi, who sympathized with him in his ideas, and the result of their co-operation was the Orfeo ed Euridice, performed publicly for the first time in 1762. This opera marked a new era. The fame it acquired at once it never lost. Various works of lighter character filled up the interval between this year and 1766, when his second great opera of Alceste was produced, which raised public feeling to the point of enthusiasm.
In his dedication of this work to the Grand-duke Leopold of Tuscany he enunciates the principles of the new school, which shortly were that the opera should be a musical drama, not a concert in costume; that the text must be descriptive of real passion; that the music must voice fully the spirit of the text; that in accompaniments the instruments must be used to strengthen the expression of the vocal parts by their peculiar characters, or to heighten the general dramatic effect by employing them in contrast to the voice. Gluck now became convinced that his system must be tested on a wider field, and believed that the Royal Opera in Paris offered all a composer could demand. A Frenchman of culture and genius, Bailly du Rollet, adapted Racine's Iphigenie en Aulide for musical treatment, and after a considerable amount of opposition from the musical critics of the old Italian and French school, at that time represented in Paris by Piccini, the piece was brought out in 1774. The intensest excitement prevailed; all Paris took sides, and for a long time the Gluckists and Piccinists contended with much bitterness, but ultimately the victory remained with the Gluckists.
Shortly after the production of the Iphigenie, the Orfeo was adapted for and put on the French stage, and was followed by the Armide in 1777, by the Iphigenie en Tauride in 1779, Gluck's last important work, and by many considered his greatest. It ends the series of works which gave a direction to the operatic genius of Mehul and Cherubini in France, and of Mozart and Beethoven in Germany. Research Christoph Von Gluck
Claudio Monteverde was an Italian composer. He was born in 1567 at Cremona and died in 1643. As a child he became a violinist in the service of the duke of Mantua. In 1602 he was made master of the chapel of Mantua, and in 1613 left to become master of music at St Mark's in Venice. He composed the operas 'Arianna' and 'Orfeo'. Research Claudio Monteverde
Il Garofalo (real name Benvenuto Tisio) was an Italian painter. He was born in 1481 at Ferrara and died in 1559. He studied under Domenico Panetti at Ferrara and Boccaccio Boccaccino at Cremona and worked in Rome and at Mantua under Lorenzo Costa before returning home in 1501 where he was associated with the brothers Dossi in paintings for the Borgias' court. He was again at Rome in 1509, when he came under the influence of Raphael, but in 1512 he appears to have settled permanently at Ferrara. In 1550 he became totally blind. Research Il Garofalo
Prince Eugene of Savoy (Francois Eugene) was a French-born Austrian Imperial general. He was born in 1663 at Paris and died in 1736. He was the fifth son of EugeneMaurice, duke of Savoy-Carignan, and Olympia Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Offended with Louis XIV he deserted his native France and entered the Austrian service in 1683, serving his first campaign as a volunteer against the Turks. Here he distinguished himself so much that he received a regiment of dragoons. Later, at the sieges of Belgrade and Mayence, he increased his reputation, and on the outbreak of war between France and Austria he received the command of the imperial forces sent to Piedmont to act in conjunction with the troops of the Duke of Savoy. At the end of the war he was sent as commander-in-chief to Hungary, where he defeated the Turks at the battle of Zenta on September the 11th, 1697.
The Spanish war of succession brought Eugene again into the field. In Northern Italy he outmanoeuvered Catinat and Villeroi, defeating the latter at Cremona in 1702. In 1703 he commanded the imperial army in Germany, and in co-operation with Marlborough frustrated the plans of France and her allies. In the battle of Hochstadt or Blenheim, Eugene and Marlborough defeated the French and Bavarians under Marshal Tallard, on August the 13th, 1704. Next year Eugene, returning to Italy, forced the French to raise the siege of Turin, and in one month drove them out of Italy. During the following years he fought on the Rhine, took Lille, and, in conjunction with Marlborough, defeated the French at Oudenarde in 1708, and Malplaquet in 1709, where he himself was dangerously wounded.
After the recall of Marlborough, which Eugene opposed in person at London, without success, and the defection of England from the alliance against France, his farther progress was in a great measure checked. In the war with Turkey, in 1716, Eugene defeated two superior armies at Peterwaradin and Temesvar, and, in 1717, took Belgrade, after having gained a decisive victory over a third army that came to its relief. During fifteen years of peace which followed, Eugene served Austria as faithfully in the cabinet as he had done in the field. Research Prince Eugene
Cremona is a fertile agricultural province in Lombardy, Italy. Cremona is the capital town of
Cremona on the left bank of the Po. It was founded by the Romans in 218 BC and changed hands many times in its history. Research Cremona
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Amati
