Micheal - Wonderful! I knew the Amati violin was used as the name, hence the Overture modems. What I did not know the background on the saying "John creating an Amati". John is far more renown & revered than most here know. I recently posted some of his credentials. I had the fortune to spend some time with him at SuperComm96, between the IEEE Awards Luncheon, where he received a "Fellow Award" from the IEEE, and a seminar. I video taped the entire luncheon and speakers. We arrived at Hall C, on time, only to find that the Seminar "Getting Real About Multimedia Expectations", had been delayed an hour, John had time to catch his breath. I recorded the seminar also. Yes, I've met the fiddler, he's the main reason I fiddle around in here. JW@KSC
I hope to meet that fiddler again. The last time we chance to meet, was in the small town of Cremona, Italy.
As we were sitting in a outdoor cafe one could here the sweet sound of a street vendors violin. The fiddler looked towards me from his adjacent table and asked if I enjoyed the sound ? I said yes as he gestured for me to come sit at his table. He poured me a glass of wine, I caught a quick glance at the label and noted it was a vintage Amati, from a private collection. As I sampled the contents of my glass, he explained that although the sound emitting from the violin sounded fine, it was much to loud. There are violins which are of much higher quality, which lies in it's low key presence, and soft demure sound. My grandfather, he said, once told me a story of three violin manufactures, all had done business for years on the same block, right here in Cremona. After years of a peaceful coexistence, Stradivarius family the decided to put a sign in the window saying: "We make the best violins in Italy."
The Guarneri shop soon followed suit, and put a sign in their window proclaiming: "We make the best violins in the world."
Finally, the Amati shop put a sign out at their shop saying: "We make the best violins on the block."
Thanks for posting Micheal!
JW@KSC |
