FAIR COPIES

Vincenzo Postiglione was one of Naples’ leading instrument makers in the late 19th century, and his work is well represented in its Conservatory of Music. Luigi Sisto examines two copies of instruments by Mariani and Gofriller, to find what they reveal about his making style

The Naples Conservatory of Music is the last in a long line of music schools based in the city. It continues the traditions of establishments such as the Santa Maria di Loreto, Sant’Onofrio a Capuana and Pietà dei Turchini, which contributed to the city’s musical life over the past five centuries. Since 1826 the Naples Conservatory has been located in the 14th-century architectural complex of San Pietro a Majella. An integral part of its heritage is the Musical History Museum, founded in 1868, where an abundance of fascinating rare instruments are preserved along with a collection of paintings and relics, a historical archive and a library. The museum houses the autograph manuscript of Giuseppe Verdi’s only string quartet, as well as a rare example of a diatonic harp, built in 1681 by Antonio Stradivari. Not only have these institutions been activ in music tuition, but they have also contributed to the work of Naples’ instrument makers: they have kept luthiers busy in the repair and conservation of old instruments as well as commissioning new work.

One of the undisputed leading figures of Neapolitan instrument making in the 19th century was Vincenzo Postiglione. Born in 1831 he began an apprenticeship with Vincenzo Iorio aged 16, before establishing his own workshop in 1855. It was located at 24 Vico Tre Regine, in a small street in the heart of the commercial Spanish Quarter, just a few hundred metres from the Teatro di San Carlo, one of Europe’s oldest opera houses. It was also not too far from the Real Collegio di Musica, as the Naples Conservatory was then known.

Postiglione had a firm, long-lasting relationship with the music school, for which he made several instruments over the century’s last two decades. The museum’s collection now houses a violin dated 1890; three violas of 1881, 1882 and 1890; two violas d’amore, dated 1888 and 1890; two cellos; and two double basses. The museum’s records also document another violin that has now been lost. All these were built expressly for the institution, but two more instruments have since been added to the collection: the copy of a viola by Antonio Mariani ‘il Pesarino’, dated 1646, and that of a Matteo Gofriller cello, datable to the early decades of the 18th century. Since the museum holds the original instruments as well, it is instructive to examine the Postiglione copies alongside them and reveal the maker’s unique manner of copying as well as the points of style he introduced himself.

Above left The museum of the Naples Conservatory of Music Above right The cloisters and Scarlatti concert hall Opposite page The original 1646 viola by Antonio Mariani ‘il Pesarino’ (left) and the Postiglione copy from 1874 (right)

Postiglione was working in a time of economic upheaval in the city. When he began his career, Naples was a hub of prosperity, the capital of the ‘Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ruled by the Bourbons. However, in 1861, six years after he opened his own shop, the Kingdom of Italy was founded and the city came under the dominion of the Piedmontese Savoy dynasty. As a result, Naples experienced a sharp decline in manufacturing activity, affecting more than just the musical instrument trade. The Bourbons relaxed customs duties on imports, resulting in more products from abroad flooding the market, threatening the livelihoods of local artisans. Business only began to pick up again in the last decades of the 19th century, which coincided with a growth of interest in the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Not only were composers and music theorists influenced by this new regard for the Baroque period, but its effect could also be seen in the fields of painting, music publishing and in the activities of concert societies. Of course, it also led to instruments from that era being commissioned from instrument makers – something that had not been so prevalent in Naples before that time. In the early part of his career, Postiglione was most influenced by the work of the Gagliano family, even though he had never apprenticed at their workshop. The forms of northern Italian makers such as Stradivari had not been widely adopted in the city, where local traditions were more respected. This is another reason why the copies of instruments by the Venetian Matteo Gofriller and by Mariani, a disciple of Giovanni Paolo Maggini of Brescia, are so interesting in terms of his stylistic evolution.

THE NEW REGARD FOR THE BAROQUE COULD BE SEEN IN PAINTING, MUSIC PUBLISHING AND IN THE ACTIVITIES OF CONCERT SOCIETIES

Both the Mariani viola and its Postiglione copy came into the conservatory’s possession in the early 20th century. They are part of a much larger donation made by Duke Ernesto Del Balzo (1845–1930, right), who spent his later years as governor of the institution. Del Balzo was a passionate collector of musical instruments, including non-European ones, and more than 50 of them were eventually donated to the conservatory after his death.

The label of the original Mariani viola reads: ‘Antonio Mariani / in Pesaro 1646’, making it the oldest bowed stringed instrument in the Naples Conservatory’s collections. It arrived in good condition, with an old inventory number, ‘1086’, written in white paint on the upper left rib. There is also a note on paper: ‘Dono Duca Del Balzo’. The top, made from two pieces of spruce with a very marked and regular curl, is characterised by its double purfling. The back is made from one piece of slightly marbled quarter-cut maple. There is inlay on the back and more double purfling, in the style of Maggini. The orange–brown varnish has been heavily retouched. The instrument has a back length of 460mm, with the maximum width of the lower bouts 224mm and the minimum width at the C-bouts 148mm. It is equipped with an endpin of 530mm. It was restored in 2001 by Luigi Lanaro of Padua, and there are evident traces of deformation of the pegholes, dating back to a much older restoration.

Comparing the original Mariani viola with the copy built by Postiglione in 1874, we can see many obvious differences between the two. The two-piece front of the Postiglione shows narrow grain in the centre, becoming wider at the edges. The f-holes are long and large, while the back is only 447mm long, significantly shorter than the original, and is made from two pieces of maple with a wide, irregular flame. Its maximum width in the lower bouts is 207mm, the minimum at the C-bouts 147mm. The sides of the pegbox show notches on the edge. This instrument was restored in 2001 by Romano Vettori of Florence.

 Seven-string viola d’amore made by Postiglione in 1890 

 A five-string viola d’amore, dated 1888, also by the maker

The Postiglione copy was built for Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Acuña, Marquis of Casafuerte (1847–90), or so it is reported on his label: ‘Par ordre de son Exellence / le marquis de Casafuerte / Vincent Postiglione fit à Naples 1874’. The cousin of the Empress Eugénie of France, the Marquis of Casafuerte was born and died in Naples, and always remained closely involved with the city’s cultural milieu. His wife, the Marquise Flavia di Balsorano, founded the famed Casa Fuerte cultural salon in Paris, where his son Illán Álvarez de Toledo y Lèfebvre was one of the most prominent musicians. It was frequented by Gabriel Fauré, Lucien Daudet and Marcel Proust among others.

Del Balzo commissioned more instruments from Postiglione. In the collection of Geneva’s Art and History Museum there is a tenor viola which bears the label: ‘Per ordine di S. E. il Sigr. Duca del Balzo / Vincentius Postiglione / me fecit Neapoli 1891’. The instrument has some affinities, at least in the cut of the f-holes, with a seven-string viola d’amore built by Postiglione in 1890, also kept in the Naples Conservatory collections. However, it is significantly larger, with a body length of 520mm. This viola d’amore is kept alongside another copy by the maker, dated 1888, though this one has five strings on the fingerboard and fourteen sympathetic strings.

The Gofriller cello occupies a prominent place in the conservatory collections, along with the copy made by Postiglione in 1898. They are kept in the museum, in the same room that houses the Stradivari harp. Both cellos arrived at the conservatory in 1917, donated by one Silvio Rispoli, who wrote: ‘I give my two cellos at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in Naples, one antique Venetian by Matteo Gofriller from 1713 and the other made on the model of this by Vincenzo Postiglione of 1898.’

THE GOFRILLER CELLO AND THE COPY BEAR MANY DIFFERENCES, WHICH POSTIGLIONE INCORPORATED FOR STYLISTIC REASONS

Left The 1713 Gofriller cello with its label Right The 1898 Postiglione copy and label

Although not completely legible, the label of the Gofriller seems to confirm the dating indicated by Rispoli: ‘Mattio Goffriller / Fece in Venetia Anno 170’ [printed]. The number ‘13’ is written in ink after the printed figures.

The instrument’s front is made from two pieces of narrowgrain spruce. The f-holes are typical of Gofriller. The back, in two pieces of maple, has four additions at the ends. The head is of non-flamed maple. The varnish is brown and rather dry.

Here again, the original and the copy bear many differences, which it seems Postiglione incorporated for stylistic reasons. The back of the copy is of two pieces of maple with a deep, wide and irregular flame going down on the sides. The head is in the style of Postiglione rather than Gofriller. The varnish is orange, tending towards brown. However, in this case Postiglione has been more faithful to the dimensions of the original.

Although it is not known how Rispoli came into possession of the Gofriller cello, it is certain that he commissioned the copy from Postiglione. The label of this instrument is proof of this: ‘N. 106 – Vincentius Postiglione fecit / ad imita: M. Goffriller Neap. 1898 = Per ordine del Sig. Silvio Rispoli = V.P.’

These copies demonstrate the central role Postiglione played in the cultural panorama of late 19th-century Naples. He received commissions from well-heeled private customers such as Del Balzo and Rispoli, but also from the most important public institutions of the time. He is also by far the bestrepresented luthier in the collections of the Naples Conservatory. His instruments occupy a prominent place in the museum, together with those built by representatives of the Gagliano dynasty, by their student Lorenzo Ventapane, and by other important Italian luthiers such as Zanti, Mezzadri, Storioni, Tanegia, Ornati and Bignami.