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Amati

 
Dictionary: A·ma·ti   (ä-mä') pronunciation
n., pl., -tis.
A violin made by Nicolò Amati or the members of his family.


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Italian family of violin makers, active in Cremona. Andrea (b before 1511; d before 1580) originated and perfected the form of violin, viola and cello as they are known today; of his few surviving instruments, dated 1564 to 1574, most bear the coat-of-arms of Charles IX of France. His two sons Antonio (b c1540) and Girolamo (1561-1630), known as the Amati brothers, experimented with outline and arching and improved the form of the soundhole, but retained the elegance and a pleasing sound quality; besides violins in two sizes, they made many tenor violas and large cellos and were widely copied. Girolamo's son Nicolo (1596-1684), the family's most refined workman and highly regarded member, favoured a wider violin model (the ‘Grand Amati’), well curved and long-cornered; with their golden orange colour, noble sound and ease of response, they are among the most sought-after violins. Nicolo's pupils included Andrea Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari.



WordNet: Amati
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: Italian violin maker in Cremona; taught the craft to Guarneri and Stradivari (1596-1684)
  Synonyms: Nicolo Amati, Nicola Amati

Meaning #2: a violin made by a member of the Amati family


Wikipedia: Amati
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Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.

Contents

Family members

Andrea Amati

Andrea Amati (ca. 1505 – ca. 1578) was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today. Indeed he seems more or less responsible for giving the instruments of the modern violin family their definitive profile. A small number of his instruments survive, dated between the years of 1500 and 1574 and most bearing the coat of arms of Charles IX of France. His work is marked by great elegance and an awareness of geometrical principles in design. [1]

Antonio and Girolamo Amati

Andrea Amati was succeeded by his sons Antonio Amati (born ca. 1550) and Girolamo Amati (1551-1635). "The Brothers Amati", as they were known, implemented far-reaching innovations in design, including the perfection of the shape of the f-holes. They are also thought to have pioneered the modern alto format of viola, in contrast to older tenor violas.

Nicolo Amati

Nicolò Amati (December 3, 1596 – April 12, 1684) was the son of Girolamo Amati. He was the most eminent of the family. He improved the model adopted by the rest of the Amatis and produced instruments capable of yielding greater power of tone. His pattern was unusually small, but he also made a wider model now known as the "Grand Amati", which have become his most sought-after violins.

Of his pupils, the most famous were Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri, the first of the Guarneri family of violin makers. (There is much controversy regarding the apprenticeship of Antonio Stradivari. While Stradivari's first known violin states that he was a pupil of Amati, the validity of his statement is questioned.)

Girolamo Amati (Hieronymus II)

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II (February 26, 1649 – February 21, 1740). Although he improved on the arching of his father's instruments, by and large they are inferior and no match for the greatest maker of his day, Antonio Stradivari.

Extant Amati instruments

One of a group of seven Andrea Amati violins, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, believed to have been created in 1558, which would make it one of the earliest known violins in existence.

In popular culture

  • In the manga and anime series Gunslinger Girl, the child assassins often conceal their weapons by carrying them in Amati violin cases.

See also

References

  1. ^ Dilworth, John. "The Violin and Bow-Origins and Development." The Cambridge Companion to the Violin. Ed. Robin Stowell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 1-29.
  • This article incorporates text from the article "Amati" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Dilworth, John (1992) "The Violin and Bow-Origins and Development" in: The Cambridge Companion to the Violin; ed. Robin Stowell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; pp. 1-29.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Amati" Read more