A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Salo, Gasparo di

by Edward John Payne

SALO, Gasparo di, a celebrated violin-maker of Brescia, probably born at Salo, a small town on the lake of Garda. The date of his birth is unknown, but he is supposed to have worked during the latter years of the 16th and earlier years of the 17th century. Gasparo di Salo was one of the earliest makers of stringed instruments who employed the pattern of the violin as distinguished from that of the viol. His works are of a primitive pattern, more advanced than that of Zanetto and other old Brescian makers, but totally different from that of the contemporary Amati family. The model varies, being sometimes high, sometimes flat: the middle curves are shallow, and the sound-holes straight and angular. The wood is generally well chosen, and the thicknesses are correct; and the tone of the instrument, when of the flat model and in good preservation, peculiarly deep and penetrating. The pattern of Gasparo di Salo was partially revived in the last century, owing no doubt to its great tone-producing capacity, by the celebrated Joseph Guarnerius (see that article), and to a less extent by some of the French makers. As a maker of tenors and double-basses Gasparo di Salo has never had an equal, and his instruments of these classes are eagerly sought after. The objection to his tenors is their great size, but their effect in a quartet is unrivalled. The two finest specimens known, formerly in the possession of Dr. Steward of Wolverhampton, are now in the collection of Mr. John Adam of Blackheath. Gasparo's violins, which are mostly of small size, are not in request for practical purposes.

[ E. J. P. ]