Note 2 — 91. Violin. By A. Stradivarius, 1716. “Le Messie.”

The article on Stradivari in Grove’s Dictionary of Music assigns eighty-eight as the maker’s age at his death, but the evidence of Count Salabue, quoted at p. 12, confirmed by further evidence lately obtained from authentic instruments of this maker, point to the conclusion that he lived certainly to 1737, when he had entered his ninety-fourth year. This conclusion refers his birth to the year 1644, which would accord more naturally with the events of his life than the later date suggested in Grove. This question will be treated more fully in a future publication.