Andrea Amati a Genova - May 18 - June 10 2007
Masterpieces of Cremonese violin making on exhibit

Great performers need great instruments. This is the link that strongly connects the cities of Genoa and Cremona: a remarkable violinist like Paganini could play only on a really great instrument from the unrivalled Cremonese a school of violin making. His choice was to perform on a ‘del Gesù’, named by Paganini himself ‘the Cannon’, because of the richness of its sound. ‘del Gesù’ could make violins so precious because for more than a century and a half, in Cremona, a family of violin makers, the Amati’s, had set the standard in the violin making world. Stradivari was probably an apprentice in the Amati workshop and, certainly, the founder of the Amati family, Andrea Amati, born in c. 1505, might be considered as the father of the violin as we know it. His fame, in the first half of the sixteenth century, was already so renowned that the French Court of Charles IX had commissioned more than 30 stringed instruments for a concert. One of those instruments is the violin ‘Carlo IX’, made in 1566 and considered one of the masterpieces of the Cremonese violin making school. This is the reason for the exhibition ‘Andrea Amati in Genoa’: to understand how the violin was made by this genius of a violin maker, it will also allows us to understand how ‘del Gesù’ made the ‘Cannone’ and so, come full circle, with the violin maker that was able in the end to reach insuperable heights of sound expressiveness. For the first time the violin ‘Carlo IX’ will be on exhibit in the same room where the ‘Cannone’ is kept. Cremona and Genoa are linked in the magic sound of the musical instrument ‘par excellence’: the Cremonese violin. A panel of experts of both cities have worked together on relevant scientific studies and research, they will discuss their achievements during a seminar on the ‘Masterpieces of the Cremonese violin making in comparison’, a specific collaboration that we hope it will continue in this intriguing field in the near future. In Cremona, next Autumn, a great exhibition will be held: ‘Andrea Amati Opera Omnia’, an indispensable itinerary that increases the knowledge of the great father of the violin making.