{"id":2134,"date":"2016-04-27T17:30:06","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T21:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2023-01-25T16:10:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T21:10:06","slug":"cremona-violins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/cremona-violins\/","title":{"rendered":"Cremona Violins: Innovative and Artistic Instruments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cremona<\/a><\/p>\n

What is a Cremona violin? Well, you\u2019ve probably heard of a Stradivarius. Maybe one of your favorite professional string players uses a Guarneri, or an Amati. But did you know that all three of these violin makers were from the same city in Italy?<\/p>\n

Cremona: this is where the modern violin was first created and popularized. Why Cremona? For a couple of good reasons.<\/p>\n

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The Beginning of the Modern Violin<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"nicolo
Nicol\u00f2 Amati By Jacques-Joseph Lecurieux [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Modern violin making seems to have started with Andrea Amati (1507 \u2013 1577)[1]<\/a>. Roger Graham Hargrave, a violin maker, cites that Amati was an accomplished luthier (violin maker) by 1525.[2]<\/a> And many sources record that Amati was pivotal in the shaping of today\u2019s current instrument. John R. Waddle, a luthier (maker of stringed instruments) in St. Paul, Minnesota, explained in a telephone interview that Amati\u2019s creation of the arch in the top and back of the violin, as well as the modification of other elements of the instrument, contributed to the new violin\u2019s success. This was the start of the Cremona violin legacy.<\/p>\n

Andrea Amati passed on the luthier skill to his sons. His grandson, Nicol\u00f2 (1596\u20131684), is credited as being the most famous instrument maker of the family. And it was in Nicol\u00f2\u2019s workshop that craftsmanship was taught. Andrea Guarneri (c. 1626 \u2013 98) was an apprentice in Amati\u2019s violin workshop. Antonio Stradivarius (1644?-1737) might have worked there too.<\/p>\n

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Cremona: Pivotal Center for Music<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cremona, at the turn of the sixteenth into the seventeenth century, had a thriving culture of music. The composer Claudio Monteverdi (baptized in 1567, died in 1643) was born in Cremona and trained at the cathedral with the director of music, Marcantonio Ingegneri. Monteverdi published two full books of music as a teenager. By 1590, Monteverdi was employed as a string player for the Duke of Mantua.<\/p>\n

And this is exactly how the Cremona violins were promoted throughout Europe. John Waddle noted that \u201cCremona [was] where the musicians were. They were good.\u201d From Cremona, these musicians and their instruments went all over Europe \u2013 Vienna, Paris, and Prague, to name a few. Catherine de Medici (Queen and later Regent of France) was a great promoter of the arts, and her son, Charles IX of France, ordered 38 instruments from the Italian Amati.<\/p>\n

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The Cremona Violin Tradition Continues<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"cremona
Il Cannone Guarnerius,<\/em> the Guarneri violin used by Paganini, now on display in Genova, Italy. By Sailko (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>Guarneri and Stradivarius were well prepared for this culture that appreciated fine instrument making. Andrea Guarneri passed on the skill to his sons and his nephew. His nephew, Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, (1698-1745), became the best known luthier of the family, and is today commonly known by the nickname \u201cdel Gesu\u201d because he would print I.H.S. (Latin abbreviation for \u201cJesus, Savior of Man\u201d) on his violin labels.[3]<\/a> According to Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>, the virtuoso violinist Paganini enjoyed the \u2018robust\u2019 tone of Guarneri del Gesu\u2019s instruments \u2013 Paganini\u2019s Guarneri violin is now displayed at the Palazzo Municipale of Genoa.<\/p>\n

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Stradivarius:\u00a0 The Peak of Perfection<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Antonio Stradivarius also had a very long and fruitful life as a luthier. His original birthplace and birth date are unknown, according to the 1915 edition of the Groves Music Dictionary<\/em>.<\/a> Due to an outbreak of plague in Cremona, Groves<\/em> suggests that Antonio Stradivarius\u2019s parents and older siblings may have fled to a different town in order to escape the illness that wiped out much of the Amati family.<\/p>\n

However, Stradivarius was making violins by 1666, when he was 22 years old. Groves<\/em> explains that Stradivarius had the habit of including his age on the label when he would finish an instrument. For someone who marked his age as \u201c89\u201d in 1736 and \u201c93\u201d in 1737, we can tell that this artist didn\u2019t let age slow down his skills.<\/p>\n

Stradivarius is believed to have perfected the modelling and reshaping of the violin that Andrea Amati started back in the 1500s. Stradivarius\u2019s instrument designs varied over time \u2013 he changed the type of varnish, the styling of the bridge, and the proportions of the violin body, for example. But his later Cremona violins are generally thought to be his best, and these are the instruments upon which many modern violins are designed.<\/p>\n

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How the Secret Vanished<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"antonio<\/a>
Painting of Antonio Stradivari’s workshop by Edgar Bundy, 1893.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What made Stradivarius\u2019s violins so good? For many years, it was thought that the varnish was the key. Grove<\/em> says that Stradivarius evidently wrote the recipe for the varnish \u201con the fly leaf of a family Bible.\u201d A relative, Giacomo, destroyed the recorded recipe but reportedly kept his own copy, in case a later family member wanted to try his hand at violin making. But where that secret recipe went, no one knows.<\/p>\n

However, today experts also believe that at least two other factors affect the quality of the Stradivarius sound. Those factors are the condition of the tiny pores within the violin\u2019s wood and the thickness of the back and front of the violin. That, and the varnish all contribute to the construction of these magnificent violins (Encyclopedia Britannica).<\/p>\n

Stradivarius died in 1737. His sons, Francesco and Omobono, kept the business going until they died in 1743 and 1742, respectively.<\/p>\n

In his lifetime, Antonio Stradivarius created or supervised the construction of approximately 1,100 stringed instruments. World Book Encyclopedia<\/em> says that \u201cabout 635 violins, 17 violas, and 60 cellos still exist.\u201d As a comparison, from the Guarneri family, only about 160-170 violins are left that bear the true \u201cdel Gesu\u201d imprint (Hargrave, \u201cAmati, Stradivari and Guarneri\u201d).<\/p>\n

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Where the Instruments Are Today<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Some Cremona violins are in museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Library of Congress began its collection of fine violins with the donation of four Stradivarius instruments in 1935 from Mrs. Gertrude Clark Whitall<\/a>. More instruments have been added to the collection since that time. Today, the Library maintains a collection of Amati, Stradivarius and other valuable instruments which are used by the Library\u2019s string quartet in residence.<\/p>\n

And some of the Cremona violins are kept by collectors and musicians. The Stradivari Society maintains a program that links owners of valuable violins with promising musicians. The program began when teacher Dorothy DeLay wanted to find a high-quality instrument for her preteen pupil, Midori. The young violinist was given the chance to play on the \u201cDavid\u201d Guarneri del Gesu. She won the right to borrow the instrument, and went on to a world-famous career in violin.<\/p>\n

Today, in order to borrow one of the Stradivari Society\u2019s instruments, the musician is contracted to use the instrument only if he or she can pay for the insurance on it<\/a>. The borrower is also required to perform three concerts per year for the sponsoring patron. The instruments are subjected to three exams every year, by the restorer and curator of the Stradivari Society. That way, the Society can assure both the lender and the borrower that the instrument has been kept in the best of care. And the number of famous musicians who have been a part of the program is quite impressive \u2013 Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, and Sarah Chang are just a few of the names on the list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frequently, the musician who owns or plays the Cremona violin (or viola or cello) leaves his name with his instrument: the Ex-Gingold Stradivarius, for example, was played by Josef Gingold, who also taught at Indiana University. His instrument is now a part of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Indiana. Fritz Kreisler\u2019s Guarneri, the Ex-Kreisler, is now kept in the Library of Congress collection.<\/p>\n