Lingua Inglese, 6 crediti a.a.

2021-22
Italy today- Readings in Economics and Business
Unit One Lord of the Strings: violins in Cremona
SECTION FOUR ANSWERS
1.1 The sentences based on Text A The violins of Cremona.
1 The first great violin maker was Andrea Amati, who lived in Cremona in the sixteenth
century.
2 The way Amati developed the violin led to western music being re-routed around violin-
based ensembles.
3 Amati’s tradition was carried on by the next three generations of his family.
4 The Amati family was overshadowed by the brilliance of two geniuses who followed them -
Stradivari and Guarneri.
5 As Cremona went into economic decline in the eighteenth century, so did the violin trade.
6 The violin trade declined, but the instruments made by the great maestri became more
desirable.
7 An even more affluent market for priceless violins was created in the 1900s by a more
affluent Western World and the rising Asian Rim.
8 Violins had the advantage of being movable assets, therefore good investments.
9 Soaring prices meant violins needed to be authenticated before being put on the market.
10 Considerable research into violin history gave excellent results, including the discovery of
Stradivari’s will.
11 With its stringed-instrument collection and guest experts, Vermillion’s National Music
Museum provided an ideal venue for a show-and-tell conference.
12 The guest speakers talked about Cremona’s advantages, firstly wealth, followed by location
and logistics.
13 It was also remembered that the violin-makers found ready clients in the Church,
municipality and privates with disposable income.
14 Singled out for particular merit was Amati, praised in particular for the way he worked with
re-usable templates.
15 The final note, was, however, that the generation after Stradivari and Bergonzi was only
good – not great.

1.2 The sentences based on Text B Con brio Cremona’s violin makers lead the world again.
16 The article reflects on violin-making in Cremona to suggest that industries can die but
come to life again.
17 The golden period of violin making in Cremona lasted about 200 years from the mid-1500s
to the mid-1700s.
18 By the 19th century violin makers were seen as little more than carpenters.
19 And despite a school opening in 1938, the art of violin making had almost died by the
1950s.
20 Yet twenty years later, an interest in Baroque music coming from Northern Europe
increased the demand for classical Cremona-made violins.
21 By 2008 the school was attracting a far greater number of students, most of them
foreigners/foreign/Orientals.
22 Then, as now, difficulties for craftsmen include the cost of the wood and treating it.
23 Such a level of craftsmanship is time-consuming: violin-makers can produce only about
seven instruments a year.
24 Cremonese craftsmen hope that by emphasizing quality, tradition and craftsmanship they
can win through.
25 They are competing with foreigners who make much cheaper, lower-quality instruments.

1.3 The sentences based on Text C The dark future for the world’s great violin-makers.
26 Covid-19 has had serious effects on both lives and the economy of Cremona.
27 One sector that is particularly stressed is that of violin-making.
28 The production of violins has been the industrial engine of Cremona’s economy.
29 The pandemic’s effects on violin-making show the damage it is inflicting on culture and the
arts.
30 Stradivari’s workshop may no longer exist, but his name and presence are everywhere in the
city.
31 Cremona violin-making is so highly valued that it is on UNESCO’s cultural heritage list.
32 The stringed instruments are made in Cremona by assembling over 70 pieces of wood by
hand.
33 Italy’s annual exports of string instruments, mostly from Cremona, are worth about £5.4m.

1
Lingua Inglese, 6 crediti a.a.2021-22
Italy today- Readings in Economics and Business
Unit One Lord of the Strings: violins in Cremona
SECTION FOUR ANSWERS
34 The Cremonese luthiers were already facing the problem of a saturated market before Covid.
35 Another problem is that they are also competing against more cheaply made foreign
instruments.
36 The luthiers are losing customers, with so many concerts and fairs being cancelled.
37 The classical music industry is among those suffering most from Covid-19.

1.4. Consolidation. The sentences based on all three texts.

38 Cremona is most famous as the seat of the greatest school of violin-makers in the world.
39 Before Amati, no violins worth mentioning had ever been made.
40 The golden period of Cremonese violin-making lasted as long as 200 years.
41 Though the golden period came to an end, the stringed instruments it had produced were
still very highly prized.
42 Collectables increase in value when they take on the function of cultural icons.
43 A movable asset increases in value precisely because it can be easily transported.
44 Given the wealth in both the Western world and the Asian Rim, top violins started to change
hands for astronomical sums.
45 With so much money changing hands, authenticity became essential.
46 The success of all the trade’s research was celebrated not in Cremona, but Vermillion, Dakota.
47 The panellists at the conference talked about why Cremona had become the home of top-
class violins.
48 By the 1950s, Cremona’s violin industry had come to an end.
49 Not even the school inaugurated back in 1938 had managed to encourage more students.
50 Growing interest in Baroque music in the mid 1900s began to make violins more and more
popular.
51 By 2008, Cremona had become the centre of violin-making instruments once again.
52 There were however fewer Italians than foreigners in the school by then.
53 Instrument-making is by no means an easy profession.
54 It’s easy to believe that many craftsmen have thought of giving up.
55 Maintaining quality means making only a few instruments every year.
56 Covid is having very serious effects on the economy, and therefore on violin-making, too.
57 Some luthiers have not sold an instrument for a long time
58 And this means that Cremona’s great industrial engine is being threatened.
59 The name of its greatest violin maker is written everywhere in the city.
60 Many luthiers have not got enough money to live on.

2.1 Do these words rhyme?

1 even seven ✖
2 fair rare ✔
3 force source ✔
4 over cover ✖
5 movable lovable ✖
6 dawn torn ✔
7 harm palm ✔
8 grow how ✖
9 owner loner ✔
10 could mould ✖

2.2 Are these words homophones?

1 wood would ✔
2 seized ceased ✖
3 plain plane ✔
4 hire higher ✔
5 steel steal ✔
6 list least ✖
7 four for ✔
8 lose loose ✖
9 meat meet ✔

2
Lingua Inglese, 6 crediti a.a.2021-22
Italy today- Readings in Economics and Business
Unit One Lord of the Strings: violins in Cremona
SECTION FOUR ANSWERS
10 sell cell ✔

2 .4 Mark where the sound /i:/ occurs.

ee asleep, green, feet, sheet, sleepy, between, three, sweets, seems, keeper, street
ea beach, dreaming, sea, reading, ice-cream, beach, cleaning, team, steal, easily
e me, evening, evil
i magazine, police, machines
ei =
ie fields, niece’s, thief, piece, thieves
ey keys
eo people

2.6. Mark where the sound /ɪ/occurs.

a orange damaged, luggage, villages
i trips, rivers, interesting, little, lived, villages, luckily, thick , bitterly, inside
ia carriage,
ua language
ai mountain, bargained, curtains
ei foreign
ey valley, money, honey, donkeys
ee coffee
y country, luckily, icy
e forests, baskets, women, blankets, buckets
ie babies
o women
ui buildings

SECTION THREE WORD BANK

3.1 Confusables:
a. Fast food is widely used because it is so convenient, though it’s not so economical.
b. He made a politic move and forgave his foes.
c. He refused to stand for mayor, saying he has no political ambitions.
d. It’s one of the classic Goldoni comedies about masters and servants.
e. Most of the characters in De Sica’s recent movies are comical and likeable.
f. Surely Totò was the greatest comic actor in twentieth century Italy.
g. The first historical news about a free Cremona is from 1093, when it sided with Matilde of Canossa against the
Emperor.
h. It was there, in the Canossa courtyard, that Henry IV suffered his historic humiliation.
i. There are some classical remains from about 300 BC in the Varese area.
j. There is a complex of economic reasons why Cremona went into decline in the 1700s.

3.2 Homographs - words with the same spelling, but a different meaning (and at times pronunciation).
a. Don’t lean against that cupboard, it’s very fragile.
b. For a small child she has a very strong will.
c. He doesn’t talk much. Not one to express feelings.
d. He left all the money in his will to cancer research.
e. He was very lean– not an ounce of fat on him.
f. I object to his ways – and he has such a loud voice!
g. It’s a kind of rock from the nearby hills.
h. It’s such a small flat – it has only one room.
i. It’s urgent. We had better send an express.
j. Please close the door, there’s a draught coming in.
k. Rock goes back to the hill-billy music of the 40s and 50s.
l. The child has a lovely red bow in her hair.
m. The strings on that bow are broken.
n. There’s no room in the car for extra luggage.
o. We are close to a result, let’s try once more.
p. What’s his object in saying no?

3
Lingua Inglese, 6 crediti a.a.2021-22
Italy today- Readings in Economics and Business
Unit One Lord of the Strings: violins in Cremona
SECTION FOUR ANSWERS
3.3 Different structures, different meanings.

3.3.1 A I think I will go tomorrow.

B I’m thinking of going tomorrow.
Which statement expresses certainty? A
Which statement expresses non-commitment? B

3.3.2 A He went on strumming his guitar.

B He went on to strum his guitar.
Which statement expresses a change in action? B
Which sentence expresses a continuous action? A

3.3.3 A I will remember to do it

B I will always remember doing it.
Which statement is promising about the future? A
Which statement is promising about the past? B

3.3.4 A Don’t forget to do it.

B Don’t ever forget doing it.
Which imperative is talking about the past? B
Which imperative is talking about the future? A

3.3.5 A He stopped to help her.

B He stopped helping her
Which statement expresses help stopping? B
Which statement expresses help starting? A

3.3.6 A I regret mentioning the meeting

B I regret to inform you
Which statement talks of the present? B
Which statement talks of the past? A

3.3.7 A He tried jumping lunch, but lost no weight

B He tried to jump breakfast, but only managed it once.
Which statement expresses effort? B
Which statement expresses experimentation? A

4.1 Phrasal verbs with OFF

1 Given that they had to leave the country quickly, they sold off all their possessions.
2 If we leave off now, we’ll never get the job done in time.
3 It took us 20 years to pay off the mortgage.
4 The early violins were shown off in a most attractive way.
5 The crash was so violent that both cars had to be written off.
6 The game had to be called off because of the weather.
7 We left off mowing the lawn as it started to rain.
8 The workers were all laid off and went on strike at once.
9 They did not wait for an answer but took off at high speed.
10 His plan did not pay off, and he had to start all over again.