By Megan Westberg | From the November/December 2024 issue of Strings
Dressed in a rich, reddish chocolate shade, with darker patches and small dings signifying a long and eventful life, the Musical Instrument Museum’s (MIM) c. 1560s Andrea Amati violin is a treat to behold. But even something so beautiful, so rare (fewer than 25 documented Andrea Amati instruments have survived the four centuries since their workshop days), can feel somewhat static when robbed of any context—a lovely thing without a human world to anchor it in one’s imagination. It is, after all, more likely to come to life when one can contemplate the lives that once surrounded it.
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For example, when this instrument left the hands of its innovative Italian maker, England had just recently marched into the first years of its Elizabethan Age, and two of its greatest playwrights—William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, both born in 1564—were defying the odds (which were heavily stacked against infants and, indeed, just about everyone else) and surviving their childhoods. Closer to home, Galileo was also entering the world in 1564 just as artist Michelangelo was leaving it. Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder was applying himself to landscapes and peasant scenes as Titian painted a somber self-portrait in profile and Tintoretto boldly plied his trade with a speed that astonished his contemporaries. John Dowland was born to compose mournful tunes for the lute. And behind it all, an ever-present struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism preoccupied much of Europe, both in terms of everyday worship and all-out war.
And just like that, Andrea Amati’s 1560s sepia jewel takes on a new brilliance, with supplemental facets lending it deeper meaning. It is more than a thing; it is part of a story. And storytelling is exactly the driver of MIM’s exhibition, Stradivarius and the Golden Age of Violins and Guitars, which opened in Phoenix on November 8.
The purpose of the exhibit—its fundamental narrative—is to illustrate that none of these instruments or makers existed in isolation, and specifically that the violin and guitar making traditions during this period are linked. “There are two main points that I want to get across with this exhibition,” says Matthew Zeller, curator for Europe at MIM. “First is to celebrate this collection of musical instruments as historical artifacts and as artistic masterpieces. But the second, to make connections between the different types of instruments and then for our guests to make connections to their own lives. And for them to find the relevance of these historical musical instruments in today’s world.”
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Zeller, his MIM team, and other outside collaborators assembled an exceptional medley of 70-plus European instruments and bows made during the 16th to 19th centuries, including the aforementioned Amati (part of MIM’s permanent collection), a 1728 violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (on loan from Beare Violins), and the 1726 “Tartini” violin by Stradivari (on loan from a private collection). The Amati and Strad violins have never been exhibited publicly before.
And Zeller is just as excited to present the work of makers outside the violin making tradition as he is to celebrate those within it. “I’m a bowed string guy; I’m a violin maker and a bow maker, and I come from that world,” he says, “but this is not just a violin show. This show is about drawing those connections between violins and guitars specifically, but then also other types of instruments: We’ve got violas da gamba in the show, we’ve got a quinton, we’ve got a sultana, we’ve got lutes, and, of course, mandolins—only a couple, but one of the mandolins is a Stradivari, so that’s pretty special. And even cases and bows. The bow is so often forgotten; it’s something that I really wanted to be able to highlight.”
But how is the exhibit set up to make these connections between bowed strings, guitars, and the other instruments in the show? Zeller describes one example, where the exhibit presents together “an Etienne Laprevotte guitar and a François Chanot violin, where that Chanot is a cornerless violin. You may be familiar with François Chanot’s designs, where he was using elements of guitar making in violin making. Etienne Laprevotte was a violin maker who was also making guitars and was using elements of violin making in guitars.”
In both cases, one instrument’s construction specifically informed the other. The exhibit also expands to geography, relating work from Cremona to Venice to Füssen. Illuminating mutual influences like this is the point of the show—the reason that this exhibit uses Stradivari’s name in its title but dodges comparison with other shows focused on just his work and influence, like the 2013 exhibit at the Ashmolean Museum in the UK. It is, as Zeller says, an opportunity “to get these incredible musical instruments in conversation with one another.”
Speaking of conversation, it is often a matter of some debate whether ancient and important instruments should be encouraged to use their voices. They were built for a purpose, after all, but that purpose can result in damage to an irreplaceable musical artifact. At the MIM exhibit, says Zeller, there’s a fairly even mix of instruments that still sing and those who’ve been allowed a more restful retirement. “Certainly the instruments that come from museums are generally played less, but some instruments come from private collections and are played quite frequently. And, in this exhibition, we are able to accompany many of the instruments with video performances of the instruments being played. I’d say over half of the instruments on display.”
Being able to listen to many of the instruments may serve as a welcome bonus to visitors, but Zeller thinks the biggest surprise for guests will be in the relationship the exhibit forges between the old world and the new. “What do Quentin Tarantino and the Renaissance lute have in common?” he asks by way of an example. “The music for Quentin Tarantino’s 1993 film True Romance was done by Hans Zimmer. He adapted a 1536 lute song by Hans Neusidler called “Gassenhauer,” so that’s a tune that people will recognize, but it’s a 1530s lute song. So finding those moments of relevance—those, I think, will be aha moments, really fantastic moments for the guests. Moments that’ll make people smile.”
It sounds as though there will be plenty to smile about. In addition to the power trio (the Stradivari, Andrea Amati, and Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesù violins), there will be examples by other members of the Amati and Guarneri families, Matthias Albani, Nicolas Lupot, and Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, among others. Bow makers will be represented well by F.X. Tourte, Dominique Peccatte, Nicolas Maire, and a “very rare” Nikolai Kittel.
“Also in violins,” says Zeller, “we’ve got a mute violin by Nicolò Gagliano from the 1770s that is phenomenal. The top is made of maple rather than spruce, and it’s got no back, so it’s obviously made as a mute instrument to be quiet so you could practice without waking the neighbors. That’s a really, really cool instrument. And then I’d say the [Matteo] Sellas and Voboam guitars are really fantastic, and we’ve got a 1684 Tielke guitar that’s ornately decorated in tortoiseshell and ivory. Those three names in guitars—Sellas, Voboam, and Tielke—are kind of like Amati, Guarneri, Stradivari in violins, so we’re bringing these names together.”
By bringing these names, and their celebrated instruments, together and prompting them to mingle, MIM is offering an unusual experience—Zeller says it’s rare to find such an assemblage all in one place. “The show will run for ten months,” he adds, “and that’s a very long run for an exhibition, so I think there’s ample opportunity for people to come to MIM and see these instruments and hear these instruments. I think it’s a great opportunity.”
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