Viola da Gamba Society of America

DHV: 434 Tourin ID: KOPEA 23 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: Date: 1700 C Label Text: JOACHIM TIE[lke] / in Hamburg An. 168[?]. [large format, printed except 8] Body Shape: Festoon Current Location: DK Copenhagen No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Danish Music Museum/Claudius Samling Sound Holes: Flame Catalog Number: 272/325 Head: Head Private Owner: Previous Owner: Measurements: Body Length: 70.5 String Length: Rib Depth: 12.5 Upper Width: Middle Width: Bottom Width: 44 Information Source: Skjerne 1931, p. 220 Literature: Hellwig 2011, p. 53; Skjerne 1931, p. 220 Photographs: Skjerne 1931, pp. 210, 223 (front) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Not in Hellwig 2011, or Hellwig 1980; only the label is from Tielke’s workshop. Rosette. Fingerboard and tailpiece edged with ivory and ebony. Tourin: striped. Skjerne: perhaps a copy. Repair label: “Reparerad af A. Chr. Öhman ar 1811”.

DHV: 605 Tourin ID: MFA 5, LOAN 26 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: F Paris Claude Pierray Date: 1710 C Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: USA Boston, MA No. of Strings: 7 Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: 1917.1717 (formerly 275) Head: Female Private Owner: Previous Owner: Francis W. Galpin, -1916 Measurements: Body Length: 69 String Length: 72.5 Rib Depth: 13.5 Upper Width: 33.3 Middle Width: 24.7 Bottom Width: 40.5 Information Source: Museum data sheet; Loan 1904, p. 152 Literature: Galpin 1972, p. 19; Bessaraboff 1941, p. 281; Loan 1904, p. 152; Loan 1900, p. 29 Photographs: On museum’s website (front [color]); Kuronen 2004, p. 136 (front [color]); Jeppesen 1979 (color); Bessaraboff 1941, pl. XI (front); Galpin 1937, pl. VI.9 (front); [unpublished, from museum: front; from D. Kuronen, 5/15: back (color)]; [by TGM: front (color)] Recordings: Jeppesen 1979 (Rameau) Auctions: Comments: Bessaraboff: 2-piece back, 2-piece table, double purfling on latter only. Cross-bars replaced with “extra strong” ones. Suggested date “ca. 1708.” (Museum website: “about 1710”)Galpin 1972: “in faint ink writing, Claude Pierray Paris 1727” (date sic). Tourin notes seen at MFA: 19th C. neck, but head and pegbox original. Tourin/Viollist: wood liners and corner blocks, not original? Restored 1961/63 by Donald Warnock (table recontoured, 4 new pegs, etc.); 1965 by Lloyd Adams (new back braces and bass bar, repaired worm damage esp. to head and pegbox, revarnished); also a repair label of Messrs. John A. Gould & Sons, Boston, Mass., 1936. Bessaraboff reports bridge stamped “Chanot” (later replaced by Warnock).

DHV: 107 Tourin ID: BERB 06 Size: Pardessus ? Place Made: Maker: D Munich Sebastian Mayr Date: 1720 Label Text: Sebastian Mayr Lauden / Vnd Geigenmacher / in Minchen anno 17200 [handwritten; date sic] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: D Berlin No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: 4799 Head: Angel Private Owner: Previous Owner: Dr. Leopold Paur, Freiburg i Br., -1962; Fritz Wildhagen Measurements: Body Length: 31.5 String Length: 30.8 Rib Depth: 4.6 Upper Width: 17.8 Middle Width: 12.2 Bottom Width: 20 Information Source: Otto & Adelmann 1975, p. 108 Literature: Otto & Adelmann 1975, p. 108 Photographs: [Unpublished, from A. Otterstedt 2/07: FB+S, head front, treble soundhole (color)] Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Otto & Adelmann 1975: pardessus. Neck, fingerboard, tailpiece, and pegbox are new; head old but does not belong to body (perhaps from a viola d’amore: blindfolded). Upper bout has been cut down, neck rounded. 1-piece back; tailgut. 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side. TGM visit 11/10 (no measurements): head grafted to pegbox, which is integral with the neck; edging of table, FB + TP might be tortoise-shell, or more likely an imitation; arching very high and steep, starting just inboard of C-bouts. Probably not originally a 5-string pardessus, given the early date and German origin; more plausibly a cut-down treble (not as likely a viola d’amore, due to C rather than flame holes).

DHV: 503 Tourin ID: LEIPB 15 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: D Date: 17.. ? Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: D Leipzig No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Universität Leipzig Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: 821 Head: Scroll Private Owner: Previous Owner: Measurements: Body Length: 71.3 String Length: 65.5? Rib Depth: 12.6 Upper Width: 31.5 Middle Width: 22.3 Bottom Width: 38 Information Source: PT visit 10/78 Literature: Schultz 1929, p. 27; Kinsky 1912, 2:466 Photographs: On museum’s website (front 7/8); Kinsky 1912, 2:468 (front 7/8) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Reparirt von Carl Christian Otto / in Halle 1816. Varnish similar to Hoffmann. Tailpiece has mother-of-pearl inlay showing two musicians, plus initials R.B. New neck and fingerboard. Kinsky dimensions 71.5, 31.5/-/38.5, 12, -.

DHV: 1199 Tourin ID: Size: Treble Place Made: Maker: GB Date: 16.. Label Text: [None] Body Shape: Viol Current Location: F Paris No. of Strings: 6 Collection: Musée de la musique Sound Holes: C Catalog Number: E.980.2.398 Head: Lion Private Owner: Previous Owner: Geneviève Thibault, Comtesse de Chambure, -1979; W.E. Hill & Sons, London, -1930 Measurements: Body Length: 39.7 String Length: 40 ? Rib Depth: 4.9 Upper Width: 18.8 Middle Width: 13 Bottom Width: 23.3 Information Source: TGM visit 8/11; museum’s website; M. Fleming visit 3/00; Gétreau 1996, p. 73 Literature: Gétreau 1996, p. 735 Photographs: On museum’s website (FB+S, head); Khazine 2004, p. 7 (front); Fleming 2001, L31 (table ornament) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Probably same instrument referred to by Gétreau 1996 on p. 162 as “de H. Jaye?” and on p. 362 as “un dessus qui serait attribué à Henry Jaye”—though not so identified on p. 735. M. Fleming (conversation, 10/01) says definitely not by Jaye. Neck (notched into table) and head not original; 2-piece back looks newer than rest of body, with poorly-done purfling knots and thick varnish; 1-piece table has ornament that looks like late 17th-C. English work, similar to a bass by Pitts (1675) and two by or attributed to Miller. TGM 8/11: double purfling on front and back; clear graft between pegbox and neck, whose profile is more rounded than flat, and was perhaps intended for only 5 strings (current fingerboard overhangs neck edges, and even so string spacing is narrow); bridge is modern, viola-style. Rib depth 4.9 at bottom block but 5.9 at center bouts, with no lower back fold; dimensions 39.8, 19.0/13.2/23.4, 5.9, 40 ± (not set up when seen). Per Anne Houssay, tailpiece made from a violin fingerboard, and hookbar from a piano-keyboard sharp!

DHV: 902 Tourin ID: VIENNA 11 Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: I Date: 16.. Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: A Vienna No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum Sound Holes: F Catalog Number: SAM 682 Head: Scroll Private Owner: Previous Owner: Erich Fiala, Vienna (before 1939 - after 1973) Measurements: Body Length: 72.9 String Length: Rib Depth: 18 Upper Width: 35 Middle Width: 24.9 Bottom Width: 39 Information Source: Seipel 1999, p. 143; Museum to TGM, 8/96 Literature: Watchorn 2007, p. 118; Seipel 1999, p. 143; Fiala 1973, pp. 34-35 Photographs: Watchorn 2007, p. 58 (front); Seipel 1999, p. 145 (front 3/4 [color]) Recordings: Hermann 1955 (Bach Flute Sonatas); Hermann 1957 (Bach Gamba Sonatas [B.c.]) Auctions: Comments: Inlaid fingerboard and tailpiece. No nicks in F-holes. Length of back 76.7 cm (longer than table). Handwritten repair label: “Zugeschrieben Giovanni Grancino um 1680. Repariert von Hans Wittmann Wien 1939.” 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side. First half of 17th C. Fiala 1973: by Johannes Maria, c. 1530 (based on fragment of label “Johannes Mar...” found during 1939 restoration; neck is new (original in collection of Fiala’s great-uncle, Karl Schreinzer, now at Nuremberg GMN); fingerboard from a contrabass by Anton Posch, with new tailpiece made to match; blocks. linings, and bassbar also new; dimensions 76.6 (”mit Blatt,” i.e. on back), 34.5/-/39.0, 19.0, 76.0. (Per K. Martius 2/15, neck and label are not in fact at GNM.)

DHV: 556 Tourin ID: LIS 03 Size: Quinton Place Made: Maker: F Date: 17.. Label Text: [None] Body Shape: Violin ? Current Location: P Lisbon No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Museu da Música (formerly Conservatorio Nacional) Sound Holes: F Catalog Number: Head: Private Owner: Previous Owner: Measurements: Body Length: 35.5 String Length: Rib Depth: 5 Upper Width: 16.5 Middle Width: 11.4 Bottom Width: 20.5 Information Source: PT visit 10/78; P. Torres to Tourin 3/77 Literature: Herzog 2003, QT-12 Photographs: Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Repair label (?): “Reglé par G. Tarle; C Marle / 1925” [sic?]. Not on museum’s website (2013).

DHV: 1604 Tourin ID: Size: Bass Place Made: Maker: Date: 18.. Label Text: Body Shape: Viol Current Location: D Bombach No. of Strings: 6+6 Collection: Private Collection Sound Holes: Flame Catalog Number: Head: Female Private Owner: Yes Previous Owner: [an estate in southern Germany, -2010] Measurements: Body Length: 74 String Length: 67 Rib Depth: 12 Upper Width: 36.5 Middle Width: 22 Bottom Width: 44 Information Source: Owner’s website, and owner to TGM, 1/13 Literature: Owner’s website; Weber 2016 Photographs: On owner’s website (front 7/8 from below, C-bouts 7/8, head 7/8 [color]); Weber 2016, pp. 140-41 (front, head front, treble soundhole, details of bridge and tuning/hitch-pins for sympathetic strings [color]; also from owner 1/13) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Acquired July 2010, restored by Mathias Behrle, Freiburg (back was badly damaged). “Antonio Cassini 1694” written on the back but surely incorrect; more likely 19th-C Bohemian work (cf. Elsler or Hulinsky), according to K. Martius. (But dendrochronological report by Willy Tegel (2010) says youngest growth ring in table is 1684, using wood from northwest Bohemia rather than Alps: composite instrument?) Owner calls it a “viola da gamba d’amore” and claims it’s the only such currently in playable condition. Both table and back are only lightly arched; no evidence it ever had frets, and very few signs of use; found with all 6 bowed strings of unwound gut, and restrung the same way after restoration. Harpsichord-style tuning pins for sympathetic strings at bottom block, with hitchpins just inside pegbox, above nut.

DHV: 789 Tourin ID: SHRIN 5 Size: Violone Place Made: Maker: I Brescia Giovanni Paolo Maggini Date: 1600 C Label Text: Paolo Maggini Brescia [printed (or handwritten in imitation of printing?)] Body Shape: Guitar Current Location: USA Vermillion, SD No. of Strings: 3 Collection: National Music Museum Sound Holes: F Catalog Number: 3432 Head: Scroll Private Owner: Previous Owner: Laurence Witten, Southport, CT, 1968/9-1984; Leandro Bisiach, Milan Measurements: Body Length: 90 String Length: Rib Depth: 16.4 Upper Width: 38.4 Middle Width: 30 Bottom Width: 50 Information Source: TGM visit 6/95 Literature: Banks 1984, p. 22 Photographs: On museum’s website (detached table and back, each from both sides; composite of inner surfaces of both with label; composite of 6 rib segments; side view of neck/pegbox with 3 tuning machines/scroll [color]); Banks 1984, p. 23 (front, inside of back, label) Recordings: Auctions: Comments: Currently disassembled, condition fragile. Back and ribs are cherry wood. Date “before 1630” (Banks 1984); website lists as “attributed to” Maggini. Neck, pegbox and scroll not original; was used as 3-string contrabass. Website dimensions: 89.3, 38.1/29.8/49.2, 16.4, - (stop length 45.0); Banks dimensions: 90, 38/-/49.5, 16, -. Tourin: no dimensions; gave maker as Gasparo da Salo; classified as a bass.

DHV: 1515 Tourin ID: Size: Quinton Place Made: Maker: F Bordeaux Feyzeau Date: 1761 Label Text: Feyzeau / à / Bordeaux / 1761 Body Shape: Violin Current Location: CH Basel No. of Strings: 5 Collection: Private Collection Sound Holes: F Catalog Number: Head: Scroll Private Owner: Yes Previous Owner: Jean Michel Renard, Bellenaves (France) Measurements: Body Length: 35.3 String Length: 32 Rib Depth: 3.3 Upper Width: 16 Middle Width: 10.5 Bottom Width: 20 Information Source: Owner to TGM, 3/13, 11/17; Renard’s website, 6/09 Literature: Photographs: On Renard’s website (front, back body only, head 3/4 and back [color]) Recordings: Eketorp 2016 (Cellini Consort; Gibbons only); Eketorp 2016a (Ensemble Meridiana; Boismortier 1er Ballet only) Auctions: Comments: Original fingerboard, later tailpiece; “original brown varnish, a small restore on the left rib”. 2 pegs treble, 3 bass side.