RARITIES from VENICE

Fausto Cacciatori reports on a Museo del Violino project to analyse and restore a unique collection of instruments from the Ospedale della Pietà, the Venetian orphanage where Vivaldi taught

One of the treasures of the Venice collection: a 1654 violin by Andrea Guarneri

St Mark’s Square in Venice is known across the world for its beauty. Facing the Basilica and the bell tower, visitors can walk towards the Doge’s Palace, with the Grand Canal in front of us and the islands of San Giorgio Maggiore and Giudecca visible across the water. Having passed the palace and continuing on the left along the Riva degli Schiavoni, we reach the church of Santa Maria della Visitazione, consecrated in 1760 and designed to be both a religious building and an auditorium. On entering, we are immediately struck by the atmosphere created by the expansive, evocative choirs, described by travellers from centuries past including Charles de Brosses and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The figlie di coro performed here: orphaned girls who were taught music and the art of bel canto by renowned teachers, including Vivaldi, who composed original music for them. The church is tied to the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage founded in Venice in the 14th century to take in children abandoned due to poverty or illegitimacy, and which housed the figlie di coro.

Vivaldi’s name is linked to the orphanage – he was music director and choir director here from 1703 until 1740, when he left Venice to join the Viennese court. But let us return to the church of Santa Maria and its choirs, which now house a museum – three rooms of displays that provide further information on the items within the building complex. One of these rooms contains the Istituto della Pietà’s collection of historic bowed stringed and wind instruments, whose value is enhanced by the major role that Vivaldi played in the life of the religious institution. We can assume that some of these instruments were played by Vivaldi’s students, if not by the man himself.

Unfortunately, no documentary evidence has yet been found that reveals the precise era when the instruments were purchased, and in many cases the stringed instruments, unlike the wind instruments, cannot be dated with any certainty. The collection’s importance stems from its rarity; indeed, it is completely unique. It is the only collection of its kind in which the instruments were not subjected to alterations in the 19th century, an era when many historic instruments were converted into the modern set-up. The collection therefore provides significant insight into the history of the violin, as well as instrument performance and preservation.

The instrument collection was entrusted in 1939 to the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice, and in 1954 was the subject of a report compiled by a group of experts comprising Giuseppe Ornati, Marino Capicchioni, Carlo De March and Luigi Vistoli. The collection later returned to the Istituto della Pietà. However, it is safe to say that, with the exception of the collection’s two cellos, the instruments are in the same condition that they were in when they were exhibited in the 1870s and 1880s, perhaps in Casa Correr.

Several inventories have been made of the collection – the first in the late 19th century, another by the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in the 1930s and a third in the 1970s, all of which were then combined in a catalogue published in 1990 by Marco Tiella and Luca Primon. Claudio Amighetti’s final list, including a description of the instruments, is a more recent creation.

We can assume that some of these instruments were played by Vivaldi’s students, if not by the man himself

1708 cello by the Venetian maker Matteo Gofriller

Detail from Tiepolo’s fresco La Gloria o Incoronazione di Maria Immacolata which graces the ceiling of the Istituto della Pietà (right)

A performance at the Istituto della Pietà

The collection provides significant insight into the history of the violin, as well as instrument performance and preservation

The collection contains numerous violins, one viola, two cellos and two double basses. One of the most interesting violins is an instrument by Pietro Guarneri of Venice, dated 1751 and with a soundboard remade by Pietro Valentino Novello in the late 18th century (Amighetti inventory). A violin with a Francesco Rugeri label, dated 1690 and attributed to this violin maker in the early inventories, was later reclassified as being the work of Matteo Gofriller (Amighetti inventory). An instrument with a fake Andrea Guarneri label was considered by the group of experts in 1954 to be a work of Venetian origin, probably Gobetti, but is now thought to be the work of Martin Kaiser (Amighetti inventory). Other violins are of German origin, attributed in the past to the Nuremberg, Saxony and Tyrol schools, from makers including Leopold Widhalm, Mathias Hornsteiner and Jacob Petz. There are two cellos, both of which have always been attributed to Matteo Gofriller – one from 1710, which retains its original body size, and the other from 1720.

An unattributed German violin from the 16th century

The instruments were displayed in the Venetian church until the last week of August 2019, when they set off from the lagoon for Cremona. Thanks to the International School of Violin Making, during the Pietà collection’s absence the space in the church will be filled with an exhibition of copies of Baroque bowed and plucked stringed instruments built by students at the school, with clear references to the repertoire of Antonio Vivaldi.

In a project managed by the Museo del Violino, upon arrival in Stradivari’s home city the instruments will undergo an anoxic treatment at Cr.Forma’s Cultural Heritage Applied Diagnostics Laboratory. They will then be photographed in both visible and UV light, and subjected to non-invasive scientific analysis, which will be used to define how they are restored. This work will prioritise preserving the historic value of the instruments, taking into account their condition, and focusing on this above any functional restoration procedures.

The project forms part of the wide-ranging Cremona Barocca programme of events, headed by the Municipality of Cremona and which, alongside the Museo del Violino, involves the Fondazione Teatro Amilcare Ponchielli, the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage at the University of Pavia, the Claudio Monteverdi Music High School and the city’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts and Agriculture as partners.