Viola
Alternate name(s)
- Tenor viola
Maker
Andrea Guarneri
Date1664
Place MadeCremona, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on paper label, the year written in black ink: Andreas Guarnerius fecit Cremonæ ſub titulo / Sanƈtæ Tereſiæ i664MarkingsWritten in black ink on back of peghead at base: T [to left of spine] 48 [to right of spine]
Branded on bridge toward fingerboard: S. / WURLITZER. N.Y.
DescriptionMany of the large-size violas of the seventeenth century have been cut down to smaller sizes for later tastes and repertoire. This Andrea Guarneri has been spared modification, and can be seen in its tremendous, untouched glory. The varnish is very well preserved, and has never been polished.
Technical drawing available for purchase.
Top: four-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain broadening to wide; separate wings at the edges of medium grain; top not notched at neck position; hardwood pin through top into bottom block through center joint
Back: two-piece maple cut slightly off-the-quarter: narrow curl descending from center joint; hardwood pin through back into bottom block through center joint
Ribs: maple cut off-the-quarter: narrow curl; one-piece lower rib
Head and neck: maple: plain; pegbox with shoulders; inside of pegbox varnished
Purfling: does not continue under fingerboard
Varnish: medium red-brown with craquelure
Fingerboard: spruce veneered with dark brown tropical hardwood; channeled over neck position; small hardwood wedge underfingerboard; fingerboard possibly later but from original period of use
Nut: bone
Tailpiece: poplar or willow veneered with dark brown tropical hardwood; key-shaped string holes; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face; possibly later but from original period of use
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: four dark tropical hardwood, possibly ironwood; undercut, convex heads; marks from peg turner on heads
Saddle: dark brown tropical hardwood; minimal height; descends into lower rib with rounded shape; finished with same varnish as body
Endpin: boxwood with large, decoratively turned head
Linings: maple; tall
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; three iron nails; one filled hole, possibly with iron nail
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: short; low height
Other: parchment glued on inside of back joint
DimensionsTotal viola length: 759 mm
Back length: 481 mm (19")
Upper bout width: 238 mm
Center bout width: 161 mm
Lower bout width: 281 mm
Upper rib height: 41-43 mm
Center rib height: 42-45 mm
Lower rib height: 43-46 mm
Stop length: 265 mm
Vibrating string length: 424 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 158 mm
Provenance"In the possession of the Counts Canal, Venice, probably from the time of manufacture, and bought from the family by the Bisiach family in the 1940's. Witten acquired from the Bisiach Collection, Venegono Superiore, Italy, with the assistance of Rembert Wurlitzer, Inc., 1967." - according to Laurence Witten
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published References"Witten Collection Acquired," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc., Newsletter 11, No. 3 (April 1984), p. 3.
"Witten Collection is Acquired by Shrine to Music Museum at USD," Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society 13, No. 3 (October 1984), p. 1.
Roger Hargrave, "Preservation Order," The Strad 96, No. 1142 (June 1985), pp. 124 and 127.
Margaret Downie Banks, "The Witten-Rawlins Collection and Other Early Italian Stringed Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Violin Society of America 8, No. 3 (1987), pp. 37-39.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), pp. 5 and 48.
André P. Larson, “Rare Lira Da Braccio a Highlight. . . Important Acquisitions Made by Museum in 1988,” The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 16, No. 2 (January 1989), pp. 1-3.
William L. Monical, Shapes of the Baroque: The Historical Development of Bowed String Instruments (The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, 1989), pp. 72-73.
Herbert W. Myers, "The Renaissance Violin: An Introduction for Players," Strings 4, No. 5 (March/April 1990), p. 37.
Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola, Volume II (Ypsilanti, Michigan: Maurice W. Riley, 1991), pp. 13-14.
Experience the World of Music: Orange County Philharmonic Society 1994-95 Subscription Season (Irvine, California, 1994), pp. 10-11.
Paul R. Laird, "That Gut Feeling: The World of Early Strings - The Shrine to Music Museum," Continuo 20, No. 3 (June 1996), p. 15.
Michael H. Hoffheimer, Fiddling for Viola (Pacific, Missouri: Mel Bay Publications, Inc., 2000), front cover.
André P. Larson, “Andrea Amati's 500th Birthday . . . Secrets, Lives & Violins of the
Great Cremona Makers 1505-1744,” National Music Museum Newsletter 32, No. 2 (May 2005), pp. 1-2.
Naomi Sadler, "Cremonese Feast," The Strad, 116, No. 1386 (October 2005), p. 26.
Mary Oleskiewicy, "The Rise of Italian Chamber Music," Chapter Three in the World of Baroque Music: New Perspectives, edited by George B. Stauffer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006). pp. 48, 50, and plate 3.
Philip Ihle, “Between the Lines,” The Strad 123, No. 1470 (October 2012), pp. 34-41. [article about Cremonese purfling corners]
Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.48 (mistakenly used as illustration for Jacob Stainer violin NMM 4548).
Technical Drawings
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03354
On View
Not on view
1890-1930 ca.
1740 - 1760 ca.
1860-1890 ca.
