Giuseppe Guarneri
Encyclopedia
Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù (21 August 1698 – 17 October 1744) was an Italian luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 from the Guarneri
Guarneri
The Guarneri is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati and Stradivari families...

 house of Cremona. He rivals Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...

 (1644–1737) with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and he has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati
Amati
Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.-Andrea Amati:Andrea Amati was not the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today...

 line. Instruments made by Guarneri are often referred to as Josephs or del Gesùs.

Giuseppe is known as del Gesù because his labels incorporated the nomina sacra
Nomina sacra
Nomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture...

, I.H.S.
Christogram
A Christogram is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbol. Different types of Christograms are associated with the various traditions of Christianity, e.g...

 (iota-eta-sigma) and a Roman Cross. His instruments diverged significantly from family tradition, becoming uniquely his own style. They are considered second in quality only to those of Stradivari but are also claimed by some to be superior. Guarneri's violins often have a darker, more robust, more sonorous tone than Stradivari's. Fewer than 200 of Guarneri's instruments survive. They are all violins, although one cello bearing his father's label, dated 1730, seems to have been completed by Del Gesù.

The most illustrious member of the House of Guarneri, Bartolomeo was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista
Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri
Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, better known as Giuseppe filius Andrea Guarneri was a violin maker from the prominent Guarneri family of luthiers who lived in Cremona, Italy.-Biography:...

, thus the grandson of Andrea Guarneri
Andrea Guarneri
Andrea Guarneri was an Italian luthier and founder of the house of Guarneri violin makers.-Biography:Thought to be born in 1626 to Bartolomo Guarneri in the parish of Cremona, Italy, very little is known about Andrea Guarneri's family of origin...

, both noted violin makers themselves. Andrea learned his trade as an apprentice of Nicolò Amati
Nicolò Amati
Niccolò Amati was an Italian luthier from Cremona.-Biography:Nicolò Amati was the fifth son of Girolamo Amati and the grandson of Andrea Amati, the founder of the Amati Family of violin makers. Of all the Amati Family violins, those of Nicolò are often considered most suitable for modern playing...

, to whom Stradivari was also apprenticed. Undoubtedly Del Gesù learned the craft of violinmaking in his father's shop.

Del Gesù's unique style has been widely copied by luthiers since the 19th century. Guarneri's career is a great contrast to that of Stradivari, who was stylistically consistent, very careful about craftsmanship and finish, and evolved the design of his instruments in a deliberate way over seven decades. Guarneri's career was short, from the late 1720s until his death in 1744. Initially he was thought to be a man of restless creativity, judging by his constant experimentation with f-holes, arching, thicknesses of the top and back and other design details. However, what has become clear is that, like other members of his family, he was so commercially overshadowed by his illustrious and business-savvy neighbor, Antonio Stradivari, that he was unable to command prices commensurate with his rival, needed to make more instruments and work hastily. Indeed, two of the five violin makers of the Guarneri family, the two Pietros--of different generations, left Cremona, the first for Mantua, the second for Venice, apparently because business prospects in Cremona were so stunted by the presence of Stradivari. From the 1720s until about 1737, Joseph's work is quick and accurate, although he was not obsessed with quality of finish per se. However, from the late 1730s until his death, his work shows increasing haste and lack of patience with the time needed to achieve a high quality finish. Some of his late violins circa 1742-1744 are actually quite amazing to look at. The scrolls can be crudely carved, the purfling hastily inserted, the f-holes unsymmetrical and jagged.
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Nonetheless, many of these late violins, in spite of the seeming haste and carelessness of their construction, possess a glorious tone and have been much coveted by soloists. His output falls off rather dramatically in the late 1730s, and the eccentricity of the works following that period gave rise to the romantic notion that he had been imprisoned for killing a rival violin maker (actually it was one of the Lavazza brothers in Milan to whom this occurred), and even the unlikely fiction that he made violins in prison. Such stories were invented during the nineteenth century and were repeated by the Hills in their 1931 work; while the Hills did no take them at face-value, it did feed into their idea that Joseph Guarneri del Gesu` must have been temperamental and mercurial, rather than simply overworked and commercially unsuccessful. More recent data shows that business was so bad during the later period of his life that he had to relegate violin-making to the sideline and earn his living as an innkeeper (refuting the "prison" myth).

It has also become known that some of the violins emanating from his shop and bearing his label were actually the work of his German wife, Caterina Roda, who apparently returned to Germany after her husband's death in 1744. The couple had no children in over 20 years of marriage, exceedingly rare for violin makers of the period, and one must wonder about the reason. Moreover, while every other member of the family, the Stradivari family, Nicolo Amati, and a peculiarly large number of makers, lived long lives--Stradivari living and working to age 93, Joseph died at only 46. There is thus the possibility that the odd qualities of finish in his later instruments--ironically, those most highly prized and preposterously expensive--were due not only to stress and haste but also to encroaching illness. It is also worth noting that a common wisdom is that the tone of both Stradivari and Joseph Guarneri did not come into their own until late in the 18th century, that the high-built instruments of Amati and Stainer were the only ones prized during the 18th century. While it is true that players, then as now, preferred old instruments, Stradivari made one of the handsomest livings of all violin makers during his lifetime. It is also customary to conflate Stradivari and Guarneri in this regard, but even the Hills hinted that such was not the case in their styles, the Guarneri always bearing traces of Amati, and even Stainer, the latter Stradivari "would have none of." (p. 33). Moreover, Joseph's instruments were recognized by a world-class soloist three decades before Stradivari's were likewise championed. By the 1750s, Gaetano Pugnani is known to have acquired and preferred a Joseph Guarneri del Gesu` violin, but it is not until the 1780s that his pupil, G.B. Viotti became an advocate of Stradivari instruments. Of course, Pugnani's advocacy is usually forgotten when Paganini became the most noted del Gesu` player three generations later.

Accomplished violinists such as Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...

, Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....

, Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor born in Liège. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tzar"...

, Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...

, Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz was a violinist, born in Vilnius, then Russian Empire, now Lithuania. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time.- Early life :...

, Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...

, Leonid Kogan, Henryk Szeryng
Henryk Szeryng
Henryk Szeryng was a Polish violinist.-Early years:He was born in Żelazowa Wola, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy family....

, Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...

, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...

, Gordan Nikolitch
Gordan Nikolitch
Gordan Nikolitch is a Serbian violinist. He is the leader of the London Symphony Orchestra.Gordan Nikolitch began playing the violin when he was seven. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Basel, Switzerland, where he studied with Jean-Jacques Kantorow...

, Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...

, Eugene Fodor
Eugene Fodor
Eugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr. was the first American violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.Fodor was born in Denver, Colorado. His first ten years of study were with Harold Wippler...

, Michael Rabin
Michael Rabin (violinist)
Michael Rabin was an American virtuoso violinist whose fame has continued despite his death at the age of 35.Michael Rabin was of Romanian-Jewish descent. His mother Jeanne was a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his father George was a violinist in the New York Philharmonic...

, Bartek Niziol
Bartek Niziol
Bartłomiej "Bartek" Nizioł is a Polish violinist playing in a bel canto style. His interpretations tend to be objective and comprehensive.- Education :...

, Domenico Nordio
Domenico Nordio
Domenico Nordio is an Italian violinist, who was born in Venice .Nordio studied violin with Corrado Romano and Michèle Auclair. He began his concert career very young, winning the Vercelli "Viotti" International Competition at the age of 16, with Yehudi Menuhin as President of the panel of judges...

, Marie Soldat
Maria Soldat-Röger
Marie Soldat-Roeger was a virtuoso violinist active in orchestral and chamber music in the Vienna of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century...

, Maud Powell
Maud Powell
Maud Powell was an American violinist who gained international acclaim for her skill and virtuosity. She was born in Peru, Illinois. She was the first American violinist to achieve international rank...

, Rachel Barton Pine
Rachel Barton Pine
Rachel Barton Pine is a violinist from Chicago. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at the age of 3 and a half. She played at many renowned venues as a child and teenager...

, Richard Tognetti
Richard Tognetti
Richard Leo Tognetti, AO is an Australian violinist, composer and conductor. He is currently Artistic Director and Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Maribor Festival in Maribor, Slovenia....

, Midori
Midori Goto
is a Japanese American violinist. She made her debut at the age of 11 in a last-minute change of programming during a concert highlighting young performers by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. When she was 21, she formed the philanthropic group Midori and Friends to help bring music to...

, Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...

, Elmar Oliveira
Elmar Oliveira
Elmar Oliveira is a contemporary American violinist.The son of Portuguese immigrants, Elmar Oliveira was born on June 28, 1950, in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Mr. Oliveira was nine when he began studying the violin with his brother John. He later continued his studies with Ariana Bronne and Raphael...

, Kyung-wha Chung
Kyung-wha Chung
Kyung-wha Chung is a Korean violinist.- Biography :Kyung-wha Chung's musical career began at the age of three. Her fame in the seventies and eighties was at the top level, and ranked alongside the great violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman...

, Bill Barbini
Bill Barbini
William 'Bill' Barbini is an American violin player. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 1970.He began his career as a member of the New York Philharmonic orchestra and served as concertmaster for the Joffrey Ballet...

, Ruth Palmer
Ruth Palmer
Ruth Palmer is an acclaimed young British violinist, an exponent of music ranging from Bach to Shostakovich and beyond, who was named "Young Classical Performer of the Year" at the Classical BRITs in 2007.-Career:...

, Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang is a Korean American violinist. Her debut came in 1989 with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shortly thereafter, Chang was recognized as a child prodigy. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduating in 1999 and continuing university studies...

, Leila Josefowicz
Leila Josefowicz
Leila Bronia Josefowicz , is an American/Canadian classical violinist.-Biography:Josefowicz was born in Missisauga, Ontario, Canada. When she was a young child her family moved to Los Angeles, California where she started studying violin at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method...

 and Charlie Siem
Charlie Siem
-Life:Charlie Siem was born in London, England, to a Norwegian father and a British mother, and began the study of violin at the age of four. He studied at Eton College and Girton College, Cambridge, and continued his violin studies with tutors from The Guildhall School of Music and The Royal...

 have used Guarneri del Gesù violins at one point in their career or even exclusively. Virtuoso Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

's favorite violin, Il Cannone Guarnerius of 1743, and the Lord Wilton
Lord Wilton
The Lord Wilton Guarnerius, sometimes called the ex-Jehudhi Mehudin, is an antique and valuable violin fabricated by Italian luthier, Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri . It was crafted in 1742 in the city of Cremona. It was named for a Seymour Egerton, 4th Earl of Wilton, a musician, associate of Arthur...

 of 1742, once owned by Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

, are del Gesù instruments. In addition, the Vieuxtemps Guarneri
Vieuxtemps Guarneri
The Vieuxtemps Guarneri is a violin built by the renowned Italian instrument maker Giuseppe Guarneri in 1741. One of the last built by Guarneri, the instrument gained its name after being owned by the French 19th century violinist Henri Vieuxtemps. The instrument was later used by Yehudi Menuhin,...

--once owned by Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....

--has been offered for sale at a price of $18 million, which would make it the most expensive instrument in the world. Jascha Heifetz owned a c1742 Del Gesù from the 1920s until his death in 1987. It was his favorite instrument, even though he owned several Stradivaris.

A treasury of instruments

  • ex-Vieuxtemps
    Vieuxtemps Guarneri
    The Vieuxtemps Guarneri is a violin built by the renowned Italian instrument maker Giuseppe Guarneri in 1741. One of the last built by Guarneri, the instrument gained its name after being owned by the French 19th century violinist Henri Vieuxtemps. The instrument was later used by Yehudi Menuhin,...

     1741 Guarnerius, called the "Mona Lisa" of violins
  • Lord Wilton
    Lord Wilton
    The Lord Wilton Guarnerius, sometimes called the ex-Jehudhi Mehudin, is an antique and valuable violin fabricated by Italian luthier, Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri . It was crafted in 1742 in the city of Cremona. It was named for a Seymour Egerton, 4th Earl of Wilton, a musician, associate of Arthur...

     1742 Guarnerius, used by Yehudi Menuhin, now in collection of David L. Fulton
  • Il Cannone 1743 Guarnerius, used by Niccolò Paganini, now in the City Hall of Genoa
  • Ysaÿe 1740 Guarnerius, used by Issac Stern, now belonging to Nippon Music Foundation
  • ex-David 1742 Guarnerius, used by Jascha Heifetz, now in the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum
  • King Joseph 1737 Guarnerius, reportedly the first Guarnerius del Gesu to come to America in 1868, now in collection of David L. Fulton
  • ex-Kochanski 1741 Guarnerius, used by Aaron Rosand, sold for about $10 million in 2009
  • ex-Kubelik 1735 Guarnerius, used by Kyung-Wha Chung
  • Kreisler 1733 Guarnerius, given to Library of Congress in 1952
  • Dushkin 1742 Guarnerius, used by Pinchas Zukerman
  • ex-Huberman 1734 Guarnerius, used by Midori, on lifetime loan from the Hayashibara Foundation
  • LeDuc 1745 Guarnerius, used by Henryk Szeryng, believed to be Guarneri's last work
  • The King 1735 Guarnerius, now in the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • ex-Alard 1742 Guarnerius, now in Cité de la Musique, Paris
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