For several centuries, practically all the lutes and the viols that supplied Europe were made by colonies of instrument makers who lived in Lombardy (North Italy) and the Tyrol (South Austria). Two towns in Lombardy became especially famous for their violins, Brescia in which Gaspara di Salo and Maggini lived, and Cremona which was the home of the Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri families. In _The Orchestra and Its Instruments_, Esther Singleton says: “It is thrilling to realize that in this little town, in three workshops side by side, on the Piazza San Domenico, all the great violins of the world were made and in friendly competition by the three families.” This covered the period from 1560 to 1760. These men worked together with just one object in life,—to turn out of their shops the most perfect instruments that could possibly be made! With what care they selected the wood! How they worked to make the tone of each instrument as beautiful as possible! Now you will know when you hear of an Amati violin, or a Stradivarius, a Guanerius or a Maggini, that they are worth their weight in gold and are among the rarest art treasures of the world. These were not the only violin makers in Lombardy, for there were long lists of them, and there were also many in the Tyrol. One of the most famous of these was Stainer who lived at Innsbruck. “It is said that this old maker used to walk through the wooded slopes of the Tyrolean mountains with a hammer in his hand and that he would knock the trunks of the trees and listen to the vibrations. When he found a tree that suited him, he had it cut down to use in making his instruments.” (Esther Singleton.) These instrument makers made not only violins, but also lutes, mandolins, guitars, violas, violoncellos, and double-basses. The Italians were the first to develop the last two. The ’cello, as we call the violoncello for short, was the child of an instrument named the _viola da gamba_ (translated leg-viola because it was held against the leg), which for many years was the most popular of all bowed instruments. We do not find many examples of the instruments even in museums for they were made over into ’cellos when the latter came into fashion. There is one _viola da gamba_ in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, however, which was imported from France by the Sisterhood of the General Hospital in Montreal before the conquest of Canada, and was used in the convent choir many years before there were any organs and pianos in the New World. The first ’cello to attract attention was made in 1691 by a famous wood carver and presented to the Duke of Modena. A member of the Amati family in the 16th century was the first to turn the _viola da gamba_ into a violoncello. The ’cello and the double-bass were made more successfully by Bergonzi than by the Cremona makers, although Maggini, Amati and Galiano made very fine ones.