Fondazione Antonio Stradivari Ente Triennale Strumenti ad Arco - Liuteria a Cremona
Cremona 1730 - 1750
Three great families of violinmakers Stradivarius, Guarneri and Bergonzi
Stradivarius, Guarneri and Bergonzi: three
great families of violinmakers covered the
twenty-year period from 1730 to 1750, boosting
the renown of the Cremonese school in the
Olympian era of violin making. Over two and
a half centuries later their instruments
are returning to the city. Some of them come
from private collections and have never been
exhibited, or at least not recently, while
others are violins or cellos that have been
played by famous soloists in concert halls
around the world.
When we consider their visual and acoustic
qualities, we find that analogies and differences
are interwoven. And while each has individual
characteristics, we can easily identify traits
that mark the style of a family and, indeed,
that of a city.
It is for this reason that we have tried
to bring together at least one example of
each violin-making family's work for each
type of instrument. This has involved strenuous
research. Among the cellos, for example,
the ‘Messeas’ by Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ is sure
to arouse interest. However, the ‘Claus,
Adam’ by Michel Angelo Bergonzi is equally
fascinating.
As in the mystical tradition of Cabbala,
the number three seems to dominate. That
is indeed how many pochette violins are displayed,
a remarkable number if one considers how
few have survived to this day.
And yet again, three violins have special
significance in terms of the professional
and personal lives of these great masters.
“MUNTZ”ANTONIO STRADIVARIUS
1736
This was one of the last violins to come
out of the Antonio Stradivarius shop. The
instrument is an important piece of work,
but it displays notable inaccuracies and
an overall shakiness of execution that prompted
the Hills to dub it "the pitiful effort
of an old man". On the other hand the
Hills themselves stressed the extraordinary
quality of the instrument's acoustic output,
in terms of both tone and power. The violin
moreover has an internal scroll annotated
with its maker's age, "92 years old",
showing the old man's pride that he was still
able at such an advanced age to construct
a violin without his sons' help. An annotation
of this kind is not unusual among the final
works of the maestro, and is also found on
the label of the pochette violin “Belle Skinner”.
The extraordinary story of this violin is
interesting too. It is thought to have been
among those that Antonio left to his sons
on his death, and remained in the family's
possession for many years. It was only around
1775 that Paolo Stradivarius sold it to Count
Cozio di Salabue, who kept it among the main
items of his extraordinary collection until
his death. It was later bought by the famous
dealer Tarisio, who took it to Paris and
sold it to Gand. (The cello “Pawle”, made
in 1730 and also in this exhibition, was
also exported from Italy by Tarisio, but
in this case the instrument was bought in
Paris by J.B. Vuillaume). The “Muntz” was
subsequently part of the famous Wilmotte
collection in Amsterdam. Then it passed to
H.M. Muntz, after whom the instrument is
named. He took it to England, where it remained
first in Lord Wilton's collection, and later
that of Mr. Higgins, repeatedly changing
hands and passing through the Hill establishment.
In the early 1900s the instrument was transferred
to Germany, and was there in 1937 when it
was loaned for a memorable exhibition of
stringed instruments in Cremona on the occasion
of the bicentennial celebrations of the death
of Antonio Stradivarius.
“YSAYE” GIUSEPPE
GUARNERI “DEL GESU’” 1740
This violin dates back to the year of the
death of del Gesù's father, and it is in
fact possible that the scroll was made from
an unfinished one left by Giuseppe “filius”.
The violin was known to the Hills, who mentioned
it in their study of the Guarneri family.
It subsequently passed to a Dutch collector
whose daughter took violin lessons from the
famous Belgian virtuoso Eugène Ysaye. Ysaye
managed to borrow the instrument for a voyage
to America in1894-95 and purchased it the
following year. The instrument was later
restored by the violin maker Joseph Hel of
Brussels, and Ysaye asked him to glue a label
inside the body with the words "this
violin has been the most faithful companion
of my life". When the Belgian violinist
died the instrument passed to his wife and
was sold in America, where it became part
of the famous collection of Henry Hottinger.
In 1965 it was finally bought by Isaac Stern
and was for many years his main concert instrument.
“PERKIN BERNFORD”
CARLO BERGONZI C. 1733
This instrument is one of a group of extraordinary
violins made by Bergonzi dated 1732-1733.
Its one-piece back is clearly inspired by
the work of Antonio Stradivarius, the ribs
are high with tapering corners and the "C"
bouts are very flat. The sound holes follow
the Stradivarius model with squared lower
wings. The famous firm of W.E. Hill &
Son regarded this violin as one of the four
most beautiful in the world. It is interesting
to note the small original insert in the
lowest part of the back.
The "Perkin, Burnford" is now part
of the important collection of the Chi Mei
Cultural Foundation.
Its first documented owner was the British
dealer John Alvey Turner, who probably bought
it in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.
In 1859, it passed to the founder of the
Hill firm, William Ebsworth Hill, who sold
it in 1865 to Thomas Dix Perkin, a rich amateur
who kept it in his collection for many years.
Perkin's descendants probably shared the
Bergonzi with Alfonso Marconi, another amateur
violinist and brother of the famous Guglielmo.
After Marconi the violin returned to the
Hill family, who sold it to H.A. Burnford
in 1930. From Burnford the violin passed
to the Wurlitzer Company of New York in1944.
In 1947 it returned to Europe, to the Swiss
dealer Henri Werro. In 1960 it was back in
the hands of the Hills and was bought by
the violinist Carl Pini, first violin of
the London String Quartet.
Honorary President of the Triennial project
‘Stradivarius...and
beyond’
Charles Beare
Organising committee
of the Triennial project
‘Stradivarius...and
beyond’
Renato Meucci, Virginia Villa
Coordination of Scientific
Investigations
Fausto Cacciatori
Scientific committee
of the exhibition ‘Cremona
1730-1750 in the
Olympian era of violin making'
Christopher Reuning (Chairman)
Peter Beare
John Becker
Eric Blot
Bruce Carlson
Carlo Chiesa
Andreas Post
Duane Rosengard Umberto Casellato
