Viola
Date1751
Place MadeLeipzig, Saxony, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedWritten in black ink on paper label: ChristophFriedrich Hunger / als NachfolgerdessreL: H:L: / Hoffmans in Leipzig 1751
MarkingsWritten in pencil on inside of back to lower right of label: 1929
DescriptionThis viola was made by a follower of the Hoffmann family, court makers in Leipzig and friends of the Bach family. It is a large, exceptionally deep instrument and may have been an experimental model.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain
Back: one-piece maple cut off-the-quarter: narrow, horizontal curl
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: narrow curl; one-piece lower rib
Head: maple: plain; pegbox with shoulders
Neck: maple: narrow curl; grafted; later
Arching: high
Varnish: very dark brown
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; later
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: boxwood with integral pins; later
Saddle: ebony; later
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye and turned ring around head; later
F-holes: curved wings
Linings: maple; very small
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; later
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; long; later
Other: 19th century ebony chin rest held on by tailgut
DimensionsTotal viola length: 699 mm
Back length: 440 mm (17-5/16")
Upper bout width: 199 mm
Center bout width: 134 mm
Lower bout width: 251 mm
Upper rib height: 48-53 mm
Center rib height: 50-53 mm
Lower rib height: 52-54 mm
Stop length: 335 mm
Vibrating string length: 397 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 164 mm
ProvenancePurchased by the National Music Museum in 1987 from John & Arthur Beare, London, England.
Published ReferencesShrine to Music Museum Newsletter, January, 1988, p. 1.
Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola, Vol. II, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Braun-
Brumfield), 1991, p. 81, 88.
Credit LineArne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Fund, 1987
Object number04144
On View
Not on view
