Before Cremona- Where Did the Violin Come From?

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
and Ivana Truong

Where did the violin family come from?

"1647 Nicola Amati Violin"

Used by permission of the author and publisher of BC, Before Cremona, All rights reserved

It's possible, although not probable, that Andrea Amati woke up one morning and said (in Italian, of course!) "Hey! I've got a great idea for a four stringed musical instrument that doesn't have any frets, is tuned in fifths, has f-holes, violin type corners, pegs that project out to the sides,  and that you play with a stick that has rosined horse hair on it." More likely, the instruments we know as the violin, viola, and cello slowly evolved from previous instruments and were an amalgamation of ideas for instruments that had preceded them by centuries.

Orch. Dork Vacations, Part II - Europe: Strads, Guarneris, Amatis, Oh My!

Royal Spanish Stradivarius violin

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

The back of the 'Messiah' Stradivarius violin

 If you think of anywhere in Europe associated with violins, you probably think of Cremona, Italy. You might assume that would be my recommendation for the first place to stop on our Orch Dork tour. But it's not.

The National Music Museum - Home to the Works of Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Amati, and More

By Stefan Aune

If you've ever searched for information on instruments by the great violin-makers, chances are you came across the website for the National Music Museum, part of the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. This unassuming museum located far from the great artistic centers houses the preeminent collection of musical instruments in the world. Of particular interest is their amazing collection of stringed instruments by Stradivarius, Guarnerius, and three generations of Amati makers. Many of these instruments were crafted in the 1500's and 1600's. They represent the literal genesis of modern stringed instruments, and their presence in the National Music Museum's collection was the primary factor in the museum's incredible growth over the last 40 years.

National Music Museum

The National Music Museum was founded in 1973, and houses more than 15,000 instruments from all corners of the world. Highlights include some of the earliest known grand pianos, a collection of early brass instruments from Elkhart, Indiana, early Dutch and German woodwind instruments, and a collection of early Italian stringed instruments from Cremona that are found in the Witten-Rawlins collection. This collection was compiled primarily by a Yale-educated bookseller from Southport, Connecticut, Laurence C. Witten, and represents a snapshot of the violin's origins in northern Italy.  

The Andrea Amati "King" Cello

Some of the highlights of the Witten-Rawlins collection of stringed instruments include the Andrea Amati "King" cello, the oldest surviving bass-register instrument of the violin family. Built as early as 1538, the cello was updated and painted in 1560 as part of its inclusion in a collection of instruments sold to the French court of King Charles IX. Only a few of the instruments from the collection survived the French Revolution, and the "King" cello is one of them. Check out more images of this fabulously painted instrument here.

Center bass-rib of the "King" Cello

Another highlight of the Witten-Rawlins collection is a tenor viola made by Andrea Guarneri in 1664. This viola has the distinction of being one of three Cremonese instruments that have survived, unaltered, to the present day. The National Music Museum also owns the other two unaltered Cremonese instruments, a Girolamo Amati violino picccolo, and the Medici tenor viola by Stradivarius, made in 1690. All three instruments retain their original dimensions, as well as their original tuning pegs, scroll, nut, fingerboard, saddle, button, tailpiece, and bass-bar. These instruments provide incredible insight into the work that the classic Cremonese makers were doing hundreds of years ago. It is amazing that they have survived in an unaltered state to the present day, so take a moment to check out each instrument's page. 

Tenor viola by Andrea Guarneri, 1664

Girolamo Amati violino piccolo, 1613

The National Music Museum also has an incredible collection of instrument labels and luthier tools, including patterns, clamps, calipers, dividers, blocks, groove cutters and soundposts setters. Listings, descriptions, and pictures of the items in the Witten-Rawlins collection can be found here, and I would encourage you to browse through and see some amazing pictures of priceless stringed instruments. 

Cremona after Stradivarius

By Andy Fein, Owner and Violin Maker, Fein Violins, Ltd.

The greatest era of violin making in Cremona from the late 1600s to the mid 1700s saw the life and work of Antonius Stradivarius, two of Stradivarius' sons- Omobono and Francesco, Guarnerius del Gesu, Giuseppe Guarnerius filius Andrea, and Carlo Bergonzi. In a strange and unfortunate twist of fate, all of these makers died within a ten year span. Antonius Stradivarius died in 1737, his sons in 1742 and 1743, Giuseppe filius Andreas in 1739, del Gesu in 1744, and Carlo Bergonzi in 1747.

Scroll of a violin by Lorenzo Storioni, Cremona circa  1793

Violin makers carried on in Cremona, but they did not reach the same heights of fame as their predecessors. Who were these makers? While these makers did not achieve the glory of the Golden Period of violin making in Cremona, there are certainly some very fine luthiers in their ranks.

A viola by Nicola Bergonzi, made in Cremona circa 1781

Goffriller, Montagnana, and the Golden Age of Venetian Violin Makers

By Stefan Aune

In recent blogs we have focused on the city of Cremona, Italy, the renowned violin-making hub that gave us the names Amati, Stradivarius, and Guarnerius. While Cremona is certainly the nexus from which much of violin making history resonates, attention must also be paid to the city of Venice, renowned for its rich musical culture as well as its violin makers.

A Painting of the Venetian Canals by Joseph Turner

The political and economic context of Venice played a significant role in the development of its violin making culture. Venice was a "cultural crossroads" for commerce and art, with Saracens, Arabs, and Greeks rubbing shoulders with Europeans. The city was always staunchly independent from its European neighbors, hesitant to enter into long term alliances and agreements. The focus of Venetian politics was on propagating its trading culture, which flourished and made the city one of the mercantile centers of the world. Venice also maintained its independence from the Roman Catholic Church to such a degree that one of the popes excommunicated the entire city.  This was later reversed.

This independence resulted in two fundamental differences between the violin making cultures of Cremona and Venice. Whereas Cremona's fame derived from its provision of instruments to the courts of European royalty, Venetian makers made instruments for all classes of people, rich and poor alike. Additionally, the lack of church connections meant that Venice didn't benefit from the influences that spurred the development of the Cremonese violin designs. Consequently, the famous Venetian makers appear slightly after the rise of the Cremonese makers.

Nicolo Amati, Violin Maker Extraordinaire & Teacher of the Greats

By Andy Fein,  Luthier at Fein Violins
and  Stefan Aune, with image research help by Elijah Fein

In The Amati Family of Violin Makers we introduced Andrea Amati and his sons Antonio and Hieronymus. These early makers established the Amati family and the city of Cremona, Italy as preeminate violin making institutions, and Hieronymus' fifth son, Nicolò, would build on this reputation and become the greatest maker of the Amati family, producing amazing instruments and training several of the most famous makers in history.

A violin by Nicolo Amati, Cremona,Itay, 1628

image from the National Music Museum

The Amati Family of Violin Makers. A Cremonese Dynasty

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

1560 was a long time ago, even by violin standards where an instrument is "modern" until it's about one hundred years old. In an earlier post on the Oldest Known Violin Makers, we introduced Andrea Amati, the first recorded violin maker in Cremona, Italy. Andrea leased his first shop in Cremona in 1538, and his skills and those of his descendants produced a dynasty of violin makers of the Amati name and trained the Guarneris, Bergonzis, Rugeris and a fairly skilled violin maker named Antonius Stradivarius.

circa 1560 Andrea Amati Viola

image from the National Music Museum

The life of Andrea Amati goes so far back in history that it is difficult to pin down the exact timeline of his career. It is commonly held that Andrea learned under Gaspare da Salo in Brescia before setting up shop in Cremona, with the bulk of his work occurring in the second half of the16th century. However, in the Daniel Draley sponsored translation of Cremonese historian Carlo Bonnetti's La Genealogia degli Amati Liutai e il Primato della Scuola Liutistica Cremonese, there emerges a different story of Andrea's life. Carlo Bonnetti made use of documents produced by the Cremonese government, such as leases, marriage agreements, and contracts, to show that Andrea was established in Cremona far earlier in the 16th century, and that he was in fact much older than Gasparo da Salo. In a document from 1556 listing those Cremonese residents of the appropriate age to bear arms (15 - 50), we find Andrea's elder son, Antonio, but not Andrea himself. This would mean that Andrea was at least 50 years old in 1556, and this fact, combined with the fact that Gaspare de Salo was born in 1542, means that Andrea was about 40 years older than Gasparo and highly unlikely to have learned under him.

The Gagliano Violin Makers: The Pride of Naples

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
and Ivana Truong

What if you're a budding superstar violin soloist or concertmaster and you can't come up with a few million dollars for a Stradivarius or a Guarnerius del Gesu to power your playing career onto the world stage?

You could save a few nickels and consider one of the somewhat lesser Cremonese instruments like a Guadagnini or one of the other Guarneris. The best of those instruments are equal or better in tone than some of the lesser Stradivaris and del Gesus. Heresy, I know, but there are soloists that don't use Strads & del Gesus and they are quite happy.

Another alternative is to take a turn to the South and play some of the finest violins from Naples made by members of the Gagliano family.

Violin by Alessandro Gagliano, made in Naples,  circa 1715

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Violin Maker of Piacenza, Milan, Cremona, Parma & Turin

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
& Angie Newgren

Italy's Po River Valley figures prominently in the history of great violin-makers, as well as the Fein family history.

The towns of Cremona, Piacenza, Parma, Milan, and Turin are all beautiful towns along the Po, or one of its many tributaries. In 1944 and 1945, Bert Fein, Andy's father, along with thousands of other brave soldiers of the U.S. Tenth Mountain Division, and joined by local Appenine fighters, pushed the Nazi army out of the Appenine Mountains and other strongholds along the Po River.

About 230 years earlier, in the small village of Beligno, at the foot of the Appenine Mountains, Giovanni Battista (J.B.) Guadagnini was born on June 23, 1711. J.B.'s father Lorenzo was a violin maker, the first in a long line of violin makers that stretched into the twentieth century.

So You Think You Found a Stradivarius

Written by Andy Fein, Luthier at Fein Violins
Stefan Aune, & Angela Newgren

So, you think you found a Stradivarius? Unfortunately, YOU PROBABLY DID NOT FIND A STRADIVARIUS! It probably is not a Stradivarius!

A real Stradivarius violin. You probably do not have one. 

Even if the instrument has a Stradivarius label and has been in your family for generations, YOU PROBABLY DON'T HAVE A STRADIVARIUS! 

First, Stradivarius was a real person (Antonius Stradivarius). He was born in Cremona, Italy in 1644 and he worked there until his death in 1737. If you have an instrument that is dated outside the timeline of Antonius Stradivarius's life, it is not a Stradivarius. If you have an instrument that's marked "Made in Germany" or "Made in Czechoslovakia", it's definitely not a Stradivarius. Even if you have a violin that isn't marked "Made in Germany" or "Made in Czechoslovakia" and even if the date is from the 1700s- YOU PROBABLY DON'T HAVE A STRADIVARIUS.

The 'Messiah' Stradivarius. No, your "Stradivarius" does not look exactly like this.

Stradivarius

Written by Andy Fein, owner and luthier, Fein Violins:

Stradivarius. If there is one thing most people know about violins, it is Stradivarius. The name is almost like a knee-jerk reaction mantra. "I'm a violin maker." The response is often "Stradivarius." But with good reason.

Antonius Stradivarius (or Antonio Stradivari in Italian) really was one of the greatest makers. His wood selection,