Viola da Gamba Society of America

DHV: 266 Tourin ID: FOLGER 2 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: GB London George Miller Date: 1665 C Label Text: [None] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: USA Washington, DC No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Folger Shakespeare Library Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: ART Inv. 1048 Head: Scroll Private Owner: Previous Owner: Arnold Dolmetsch, -c. 1930 (purchased from him by Mrs. Folger) Measurements: Body Length: 71.1 String Length: 70.5? Rib Depth: 11.5 Upper Width: 32.2 Middle Width: 23.9 Bottom Width: 39.5 Information Source: TGM visit 8/92; Monical report to Folger, 1978 Literature: MacCracken 2016, pp. 194-95 Photographs: MacCracken 2016, pp. 196 (FB+S), 197 (table ornament); Fleming 2001: VME L33 (table ornament [color]); [unpublished, from Fleming 8/10: front body only (color)]; [unpublished, at Smithsonian: front] Recordings: Auctions: Comments: 2-piece table, 3-piece back, both with double purfling. Table ornament matches DOLM 5; back has diamond matrix in center, “footballs” top and bottom. 4 nail holes visible in top block; tall crossbars on back at top and bottom bouts; modern bass bar, wooden perimeter linings. Scroll like that by Dolmetsch on Caldwells’ Bertrand–-is this also by him? Not set up when seen, so string length estimated. Monical: neck, pegbox, scroll, fingerboard and tailpiece are modern, also lower ribs. Pegs are original, also much of back varnish.

DHV: 696 Tourin ID: PARIS 05 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: F Paris Benoist Fleury Date: 1769 Label Text: Benoist Fleury, rue des Boucher[i]es / Fauborg St. Germain a Paris 1769; FLEURY (stamped on back at top) Body Shape: Viol Current Location: F Paris No. of Strings: 8 [sic] Collection: Musée de la musique Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: E.0072 (formerly C.174) Head: Female Private Owner: Previous Owner: Louis Clapisson, Paris, -1861 Measurements: Body Length: 68.5 String Length: 68.5 Rib Depth: 13.5 Upper Width: 32.3 Middle Width: 24 Bottom Width: 39.7 Information Source: Museum’s website; PT visits 6/77 & 9/78 Literature: Muthesius 2012; Gétreau 1996, p. 643; Gétreau 1988, p. 102; Chouquet 1884, p. 39 Photographs: On museum’s website (FB+S, head side; front 7/8, back, head 3/4 [color]); Gétreau 1988, p. 103 (FB+S); König 1985, p. 97 (FB+S, from museum) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Striped back (5 pieces, light at edges) and ribs (3 pieces); double purfling front and back. Highly ornate, open-carved and gilt tailpiece; back and sides of pegbox and neck foot also carved, pegbox and head are gilded. No cross-braces on back; soundpost plate is mahogany, as is center stripe of back (Tourin). Pegbox seems to have plenty of room for all 8 pegs. Repaired in 1862 and 1864 by Henry & Martin: new pegs and bridge (Gétreau 1996, pp. 441-42). Website and Gétreau 1988 dimensions: 67.9, 32.2/24.1/39.6, 13.5, -. Lütgendorff gives date as 1755. On display 8/02.

DHV: 498 Tourin ID: LEIPB 09 Size: Tenor Place Made: Maker: Date: 16.. ? Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: D Leipzig No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Universität Leipzig Sound Holes: Flame Catalog Number: 801 Head: Lion Private Owner: Previous Owner: Measurements: Body Length: 47 String Length: Rib Depth: 7.5 Upper Width: 22.5 Middle Width: Bottom Width: 27 Information Source: Kinsky 1912, 2:453 Literature: Schultz 1929, p. 27; Kinsky 1912, 2:453 Photographs: Kinsky 1912, 2:448 (front 7/8) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Neck, carved pegbox, and head not original; back and ribs of plain maple, bright yellow varnish. “Kleine Alt-Viola da gamba (Haute-contre de viole) aus dem Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts.” Tuning given as c-f-b flat-d’-g’-c’, i.e. “alto viol”.

DHV: 225 Tourin ID: CONG 2 Size: Pardessus Place Made: Maker: F Paris Louis Guersan Date: 1749 Label Text: Ludovicus / GUERSAN / prope / Comoediam / Gallicam, / Lutetioe / Anno / 1749 [printed except 49] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: USA Washington, DC No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Library of Congress Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: Head: Female Private Owner: Previous Owner: Henry Blakiston Wilkins, -1937 Measurements: Body Length: 32.9 String Length: Rib Depth: 5.4 Upper Width: 15.9 Middle Width: 11.1 Bottom Width: 19.3 Information Source: TGM visit 8/92; Monical Checklist 1983; Traficante 1973 Literature: Traficante 1973, p. 36 Photographs: Traficante 1973, pp. 44-49 (FB+S, head side) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Striped back and ribs; double purfling. 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side. Not set up when seen, so string length estimated. Tourin/Traficante dimensions 32.7, 15.9/11.2/19.3, 6, 31.6; Monical dimensions 32.7, 15.9/11.2/19.4, 5.4, -

DHV: 141 Tourin ID: BRUS 07 Size: Pardessus Place Made: Maker: F Lille Gerard J. Deleplanque Date: 1766 Label Text: Gerard J. Deleplanque Luthier, marché aux Poulets près le marché aux Poissons à Lille 1766 [printed except 66] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: B Brussels No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Musée des instruments de musique Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: 1399 Head: Scroll Private Owner: Previous Owner: V. & J. Mahillon, Brussels Measurements: Body Length: 33.2 String Length: 31.3 Rib Depth: 4.6 Upper Width: 15.6 Middle Width: 11 Bottom Width: 19.9 Information Source: R. Sutcliffe to TGM 5/24; PT visits 6/77 & 9/78 Literature: Hemmy 2018, pp. 20, 23; Mahillon 1900, 3:40; Loan 1885, p. 34 Photographs: On museum’s website (F+S [color]) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Tourin: 12 metal frets, end button, double purfling front and back. Mahillon (and museum’s website): quinton. 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side. Hemmy 2018: purfling with 3 intertwining strips crossing at center bouts of both table and back, also at neck heel. Some original varnish still present, but shows signs of intensive use; quinton.

DHV: 1352 Tourin ID: Size: Pardessus Place Made: Maker: F Paris Louis Guersan Date: 1768 Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: NL Culemborg No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Private Collection Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: Head: Putto Private Owner: Yes Previous Owner: André Bissonet, Paris, -2001 Measurements: Body Length: String Length: Rib Depth: Upper Width: Middle Width: Bottom Width: Information Source: Owner to TGM, 2/05 + 1/08; F. Lindeman to TGM, 11/02 Literature: Photographs: van der Velden 2002 (front 3/4); [unpublished, from owner: F+B (color)] Recordings: van der Velden 2002 (Couperin) Auctions: Comments: Striped back and ribs. Double purfling front and back. Carved pegbox with 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side.

DHV: 290 Tourin ID: GENEV 10 Size: Treble ? Place Made: Maker: D Mainz Nikolaus Dopfer Date: 1748 Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: CH Geneva No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Musée d’art et d’histoire Sound Holes: Flame Catalog Number: IM 12 Head: Lion Private Owner: Previous Owner: Fritz Ernst, Geneva, -1969 Measurements: Body Length: 43.5 String Length: 39 Rib Depth: 5.7 Upper Width: 21.7 Middle Width: 14.7 Bottom Width: 27.7 Information Source: A.-M. Huwyler to TGM 9/24; PT visit 10/78 Literature: Photographs: König 1985, p. 89 (front); Museum checklist (F [color]); [by PT: front (color)] Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Display photo shows chin rest. Tourin: thin ribs, violin-type neck but wide, “neck possibly original: arm viol?” Probably a viola d’amore. Huwyler back widths 21.6/14.3/27.7.

DHV: 1382 Tourin ID: Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: GB Bristol Thomas Howell Date: 1839 Label Text: Made by T. Howell / Inventor of the Improved / 18 Patent 39 / Violin, Tenor, Violoncello / Double Bass & Spanish Guitar / at his Manufactory and / Music Warehouse Bristol [printed except 1839] Body Shape: Guitar Current Location: GB Glasgow No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Private Collection Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: Head: Lion Private Owner: Yes Previous Owner: Layton Ring, Newcastle-on-Tyne Measurements: Body Length: 69.5 String Length: 70.7 Rib Depth: 12.5 Upper Width: 32.2 Middle Width: 25 Bottom Width: 44 Information Source: TGM visit 8/03 Literature: Photographs: Brompton’s 7/16-26/24, lot 194 (F+B,head side, label [color]); [by TGM: FB+S (color)] Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Brompton’s 2024/07/16-26, lot 194 2-piece (?) table and 2-piece arched back, both with single purfling; square shoulders, overhanging edges; C-holes nearly vertical; tailgut and endpin fitting; bridge by Arnold Dolmetsch. Stamped on back below button: Patent / T. Howell Bristol / Inventor. Second internal label, elaborately printed: “T. Howell / Teacher of the Pianoforte &c / Music Warehouse / Bristol...”. A cello dated 1836 with very similar body outline (overall slightly smaller) and identical labels = Sotheby’s 11/25/76, lot 301; violins with essentially similar outlines (but proportionally much narrower upper bouts) are at the National Music Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (with fretted fingerboard), and Royal College of Music.

DHV: 1143 Tourin ID: Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: F Paris Nicolas Bertrand Date: 1712 Label Text: ...Bertrand / in Paris 1712 (?) [handwritten] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: CDN Montreal, PQ No. of Strings: 7 Collection: Université de Montréal, Faculté de Musique Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: Head: Female Private Owner: Previous Owner: Jacques Simard, -1982; [an antique dealer]; Joseph Lyonnais, Québec, c. 1860-76; L’hôpital général de Québec [mid-18th to mid-19th-C.] Measurements: Body Length: 70.5 String Length: 71 Rib Depth: 12.7 Upper Width: 32 Middle Width: 23.8 Bottom Width: 39.2 Information Source: Margaret Little to TGM, 11/95 Literature: Ludwig 2025 Photographs: [Unpublished, from F. Beaulieu 7/12: F+B body only, head FB+S, repair inscriptions, many details (color)] Recordings: Little 1995 (Sainte-Colombe & Marais) Auctions: Comments: Restored by Philip Davis, Toronto, c. 1985, including a new table; his proposal (1982) says “par Nicolas Bertrand...ou de son atelier.” Neck, fingerboard, and tailpiece had been narrowed for use as a (3/4-size) cello; neck also had worm damage and multiple bad repairs. Two-piece table had cracked into 5; back was in 7 pieces, ribs also unattached. Body outline altered with extra wood at all four corners. Head and bass bar original. Earlier repair label by Roch Lyonnais, Quebec. Supposedly among the viols discovered c. 1860 in a convent (l’hôpital général) in Quebec: cf. www.the canadianencyclopedia.com, s.v. Collections d’instruments, which says they were probably hidden there during the siege of Quebec in 1759; ibid. s.v. Québec says the find included “une dizaine de violes ... fabriquées à Paris chez Nicolas Bertrand.” Exhibited at American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. New neck by Francis Beaulieu, Montreal, 2011; he says body is a composite, though all parts by Bertrand.

DHV: 815 Tourin ID: STOCK 14 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: NL Amsterdam Jan Boumeester Date: 1666 Label Text: Ian Boumeester / me fecit in Amsterdam / Anno 1666 Body Shape: Viol Current Location: S Stockholm No. of Strings: -4 Collection: Swedish Museum of Performing Arts Sound Holes: F Catalog Number: N148328 Head: Female Private Owner: Previous Owner: Permanent loan from Nordiska Museet; Nordiska Museet 1924-1977; Historiska Museet, Stockholm, c. 1873-1924; Carl von Nackreij, Linköping, -c. 1873. Measurements: Body Length: 67.3 String Length: 66 Rib Depth: 12 Upper Width: 33.3 Middle Width: 25.3 Bottom Width: 39.6 Information Source: Museum website; museum to TGM, 4/04; PT visit 10/78 [not seen] Literature: Photographs: On museum’s website (front); [unpublished, from museum, 4/04: FB+S] Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Converted to a cello. Table not original, with huge F-holes; 2-piece back with diamond-pattern inlays at top and bottom; double purfling on front and back. Black-and-white edging to fingerboard; open-carved back of pegbox. Neck sharply angled back; unstrung in photos. Handwritten observations dated 5/63 by Günther Hellwig: table not original, nor neck; head original but not by Boumeester (?); recommendation to make no changes but keep in storeroom. Repair labels: “:Jonas Elg / Stockholm / Reparatum / 1724 d. 8 Fe- /bruari”; “Reparerad af Rong Wallberg / Linköping 1817”. Website string length 65.0-66.0.