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DHV:
364
Tourin ID:
HARN 01

Size:

Bass

Place Made:

Maker:

I

Cremona

Stephanus

De Fantis

Date:

1558

Label Text:

Stephanus de Fa[n]tis, 1558 [handwritten]

Body Shape:

Guitar

Current Location:

A

Vienna

No. of Strings:

5

Collection:

Harnoncourt, Nikolaus [heirs]

Sound Holes:

C*

Catalog Number:

Head:

Scroll

Private Owner:

Yes

Previous Owner:

Prof. Maximilian Jeller, Graz, 1916-54; Josef Christoph von Wenger-Wiesenburg and his heirs (Hall, later Innsbruck), -1916; Königliche Damenstift, Hall (Tirol), -1781; Archduchess Magdalena of Tirol, when she entered the Damenstift in 1569

Measurements:

Body Length:

84.2

String Length:

77.8

Rib Depth:

Upper Width:

35.8

Middle Width:

26.5

Bottom Width:

43.9

Information

Source:

Harnoncourt 2023 (P20); Harnoncourt 2017, pp. 39-40, 148, 178-82; Senn 1957

Literature:

Bölli & Münzberg 2023 [reprint of Harnoncourt 2017, pp. 179-82]; Harnoncourt 2023 (P20); Harnoncourt 2017, pp. 39-40, 148, 178-82; Hopfner & Seipel 2003, p. 193 (VII.9); Senn 1957

Photographs:

Harnoncourt 2023 (front 3/4, F+B body only, head FB+S [color]; front 3/4 with cello neck); Hopfner & Seipel 2003, p. 193 (front); Senn 1957, between pp. 392-93 (FB+S)

Recordings:

Harnoncourt 1964 (Maximilian; played by H. Höbarth))

Auctions:

Comments:

Senn 1957: Only body is original; one-piece table and (arched) back. Soundholes are backwards Cs and very close (hence originally only 5 strings?). Modified to a cello in mid-18th C.: already listed as such in a 1783 inventory, which adds “in Cremona” after maker’s name. New neck, still as a cello, for Prof. M. Jeller, c. 1916. Dimensions: 80, 36/-/44, 12, -. Repair label: “Joan. Georg Psenner, Lauten-, / Geigen- und Saitenmacher in Inns- / bruck. An. 1791. Reparavit” [printed except 91, Reparavit]. Hopfner & Seipel: 5-piece purfling, uniquely also on ribs. No further information on builder. Dimensions 80.6, 35.7/26.2/44.4, 11.0,-. Harnoncourt 2017: neither a cello nor a gamba, but a predecessor of both, deriving from medieval fiddles; does not blend well with either viols or violins, but does with voices and brass. Renecked in 17th C. as a cello, and thus when found, but original must have had at least 5 strings; new neck by Josef Krenn, based on “Tenorfiedel” c. 1550, acquired in 1961 from U. Rück.

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