Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Background information
Also known as	G. B. Guadagnini Giambattista Guadagnini
Born	23 June 1711 Bilegno in Val Tidone, Italy
Died	18 September 1786 (aged 75) Turin, Italy
Occupation(s)	Luthier, pedagogue
Years active	1729–1786

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (or "G. B. Guadagnini"); (23 June 1711 – 18 September 1786) was an Italian luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.^[1] He is widely considered the third greatest maker after Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri "Del Gesù".

Biography

Guadagnini was born in Bilegno in Val Tidone near Piacenza, now in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He practiced his craft from about 1729 until his death, and his work is divided into four main periods corresponding to and named after, Piacenza, Milan, Parma and Turin, the four cities in Italy where he lived and worked. The instruments of the Milan and Turin periods are generally considered to represent his best work, and tend toward higher valuations. The world-record price for a Guadagnini violin was set by the ‘Dorothy DeLay’ of 1778 when it auctioned for $1.39 million USD in 2013 by Tarisio Auctions. However, private sales for his finest examples have approached $2 million USD.

Guadagnini's father, Lorenzo, his son, Giuseppe, and some other members of the Guadagnini family continued in the line of violin making through several generations.

He died in Turin in 1786.

Performers who have used or are using Guadagnini instruments

Violinists

Violinist	Date & place of manufacture	Instrument name	Comments	Reference
Mayumi Seiler	Circa 1940, Piacenza
Riccardo Brengola	1747, Piacenza	"Contessa Crespi"
Goran Končar	1753, Milan
Michał Kowalkowski	1753	"Gucio"
Adolf Brodsky	1751, Milan	ex-Brodsky
Amaury Coeytaux	1773
Roman Simovic	1752		on loan from Jonathan Moulds
Manfred Leverkus	1752	ex-Kneisel	missing since 2006
Zakhar Bron	1757, Milan
Andrew Dawes	1770, Parma
Julia Fischer	1742
Felix Ayo	1744
David Halen	1753
Carl Flesch		ex-Henri Vieuxtemps
Min-Jeong Koh	ca. 1767
David Garrett	1772		In December 2007, Garrett fell after a performance and smashed his Guadagnini, which he had purchased four years earlier for US$1 million.[2] He now uses it for mainly his outdoor crossover performances.[3]
David Greed	1757		Owned by the Yorkshire Guadagini 1757 Syndicate.
Arthur Grumiaux		ex-Grumiaux
Willy Hess	1740s
Marlene Hemmer	1784
Joseph Joachim	1767, Parma	ex-Joachim
Ida Kavafian	1751
David Kim	1757		on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra
Manfred Leverkus	1752	ex-Kneisel	stolen in 2006
Mikhail Kopelman	1773
Jan Kubelik	1750	ex-Kubelik
Pekka Kuusisto	1752		on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation
Wayne Lin	1779, Turin
Tasmin Little	1757
Haldon Martinson	1750		Being used in the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Viktoria Mullova	1750
Linda Rosenthal	1772, Turin
Leon Sametini		ex-Sametini
Mari Silje Samuelsen	1773, Turin		On loan from ASAF (Anders Sveeas Charitable Foundation, Oslo).
Yvonne Smeulers	1785
Lara St. John	1779	Salabue	called "the Resurrection" by St. John
Henri Temianka	1752		Built on the Petro Guarnerius model.	[Certificate of Joseph Vedral, violinmaker, Holland, 28 September 1929]
Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio	1757
Lyndon Johnston Taylor	1777
Vanessa-Mae	1761	"Gizmo"
Henri Vieuxtemps		ex-Henri Vieuxtemps
Henryk Wieniawski	1750	ex-Wieniawski
Eugène Ysaÿe	1774	ex-Eugène Ysaÿe
Sini-Maaria Simonen	1760		on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation
Bob Wills	1784		Described as 157 years old when bought in 1941 for $3,000.00, Wills later claimed in an interview that he gave it away "to a friend of mine in Tayxas" and bought another for $5,000.00.	[4]
Jack Liebeck	1785	ex-Wilhelmj
Li Chuan Yun	1784		on loan from the Stradivari Society
Simone Porter	1745		on loan from The Mandell Collection of Southern California

Violists

• Li-Kuo Chang plays the 'ex-Vieuxtemps' G.B. Guadagnini viola, Parma c.1768^[5][6]
• Geraldine Walther plays a G.B. Guadagnini viola, Turin 1774^[7]

Cellists

• Natalie Clein plays the "Simpson" Guadagnini cello (1777)^[8]
• David Geringas plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello made in 1761^[9]
• Maxine Neuman plays a 1772 Guadagnini^[10]
• Han-na Chang plays the G.B. Guadagnini cello made in Milan in 1757
• Gilberto Munguia plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello (1748)
• Saša Večtomov played a G.B. Guadagnini cello made in Milan in 1754
• Sol Gabetta plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello (1759)
• Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Guadagnini made in Milan in 1745^[11]

Bibliography

• Guadagnini
• G B Guadagnini
• E.N. Doring: The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers (Chicago,1949)
• A.H. König, ed.: Die Geigenbauer der Guadagnini-Familie. Die Turiner Schule (Frankfurt, 1981)
• G. Fiori: ‘Documenti biografici di artisti e personaggi piacentini dal ’600 all’ ’800 nell’Archivo Vescovile di Piacenza’, Strenna piacentina (1994), 67–111
• P.J. Kass: Violin Makers of the Piedmontese School
• Vannes, Rene (1985) [1951]. Dictionnaire Universel del Luthiers (vol.3). Bruxelles: Les Amis de la musique. OCLC 53749830.
• William, Henley (1969). Universal Dictionary of Violin & Bow Makers. Brighton; England: Amati. ISBN 0-901424-00-5.
• Walter Hamma, Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst, Wilhelmshaven 1993, ISBN 3-7959-0537-0
• Duane Rosengard: G.B. Guadagnini - The life and achievement of a master maker, Carteggio Media, 2000

References

1. Ernest N. Doring. The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers Lewis and Sons, Chicago, 1949. Reprint with new introduction by Stewart Pollins, Dover, 2012. ISBN 978048649796-9
2. Wagner, Thomas (2008-02-14). "Violinist: Fall Fractures $1M Fiddle". The Associated Press (Associated Press). Retrieved 2008-02-15.
3. David Garrett - livestream in NY, 8 June 2012. By David Garrett. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 July 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htp6OPCLrXc>.
4. San Antonio Rose: The Life And Music Of Bob Wills. Charles R. Townsend. 1976. University of Illinois. p. 230. ISBN 0-252-00470-1
8. Natalie Clein
9. Aitchison Mnatzaganian cello makers, restorers and dealers
10. Maxine Neuman's biography

External links

• Images of the ex-Joachim G.B. Guadagnini Turin 1775