|
The "Castelbarco" viola has a curious history, and is in fact only partly by Stradivari. That part, though, is the front, and it is one of the most beautifully preserved and richly varnished examples of his work extant.
It was originally made by Stradivari as a viola d’amore, using the same “CV” mould he employed for his violas, such as the “Archinto” in this exhibition. The original head, which is in the collection of the Museum of the Music in Paris, has an extended pegbox with provision for the twelve pegs necessary for the characteristic combination of bowed strings and sympathetic vibrating strings of the viola d’amore. In its original state it would also have had a fl at back and sloping upper shoulders in the style of a viola. The conversion to a viola was carried out by J. B. Vuillaume, and the work was extensive. The ribs were lowered in height and the sloping shoulders at the neck mortice fl attened out. The back was removed entirely and replaced with an arched back made by Vuillaume in appropriate style. The head was replaced by a very fine Brothers Amati scroll, which is around one hundred years older than the Castelbarco itself. The black lining to the chamfer was almost certainly added by Vuillaume.
The front is a superb piece of work, with wonderfully well-preserved edgework and deeply pigmented varnish in very pure and original state, showing the soft and lustrous texture of the unpolished surface. The soundholes are very similar in style to those of the “Maurin”, placed widely apart with slender and upright arms compared to those of the earlier “Archinto” viola.
Quite how Vuillaume obtained the original viola d’amore is unknown, but the likelihood must be that Tarisio was once again the source. Count Cesare Castelbarco of Milan was a well-known client of Vuillaume’s, who built up a small collection of Stradivari instruments which was dispersed in 1862. The purchaser of the “Castelbarco” was Dr Leopold Geismar of Mannheim, from whom it passed in 1914 to Wilhelm Kux of Vienna, another avid collector of instruments. By 1958 it was in New York, to be sold by Rembert Wurlitzer to Benjamin Cooper. In 1964 it left New York for the San Francisco shop of Frank Passa. Since 2000 it has been in the collection of the Royal Academy of Music in London.
|
