Violoncello
Alternate name(s)
- Cello
Date1740 - 1760 ca.
Place MadeVerona, Italy, Europe
Place MadeMantua, Italy, Europe
Signedno labelDescriptionThis cello has poplar back and sides, a less expensive material sometimes used for larger instruments in eighteenth century Italy. It preserves a fiery, red, pigmented varnish. Possibly made in Mantua or Verona.
Top: three-piece, quarter-cut spruce: two flanking pieces with wide to very wide grain and separate center strip between inner bridge feet; two wood pins through top into top block and through top into bottom block, oriented along grain lines; top edge not notched at nck position
Back: one-piece, slab-cut poplar: three filled patches to correct wood flaws, under original varnish; single wood pins through back into top block and into bottom block
Ribs: slab-cut poplar
Head and neck: poplar; pegbox with shoulders; deeply cut scroll volutes
Purfling: does not continue under fingerboard
Varnish: medium red orange
Fingerboard: spruce veneered with black-stained dark brown tropical hardwood; channeled under neck position; wedge-shaped
Nut: bone; channeled under neck position
Tailpiece: black-stained dark brown tropical hardwood; scars from string knots on top indicate higher position than current setup
Tailgut: black gut
Pegs: four boxwood with concave heads; short stems
Saddle: ivory
Endpin: ebony; for adjustable endpin
Linings: poplar or willow
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; later; two slot head screws through block into neck heel
Bottom block: spruce; later
Bassbar: spruce; low height; later
DimensionsTotal violoncello length: 1162 mm
Back length: 716 mm
Upper bout width: 344 mm
Center bout width: 228 mm
Lower bout width: 425 mm
Upper rib height: 109-115 mm
Center rib height: 113-118 mm
Lower rib height: 117-121mm
Stop length: 397 mm
Vibrating string length: 668 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 265 mm
ProvenanceAcquired by Laurence Witten from Giacomo and Leandro Bisiach, Venegono Superiore, Italy, 1968.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 17.
Paul Laird, The Baroque Cello Revival: An Oral History, (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press), 2004.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03373
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