VENETIAN SPLENDOUR

Many of the great Italian double bass makers lived and worked in the city of Venice. Thomas Martin, George Martin and Martin Lawrence tell the stories of some of the leading names in the trade, with commentary on a number of their instruments

Venetian virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti performed on this c.1580 Gasparo da Salò instrument, with a head by Giovanni Battista Bodio (see page 32)

ARPEGGIO PUBLISHING

ARPEGGIO PUBLISHING

The 13th and 14th centuries were turbulent times in Italy as the various city-states vied with each other to consolidate their territories. By 1500 Venice had gained control of a vast swathe of land extending westwards to the River Adda, just to the east of Milan. The new territories, known by the Venetians as ‘Terra Firma’ included Brescia – the birthplace of the instrument we now recognise as the double bass. There is a great deal of confusion about the origins of this instrument, much of it caused by the many names by which it was referred to and by the manner in which the composers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries tended to use the term ‘violone’ in the part-books for all instruments operating in the bass clef. The musicologist Stephen Bonta has noted that the instruments we would recognise as cellos, made by Andrea Amati, Gasparo da Salò and Giovanni Battista Maggini, were not called that at the time of their production, as the term ‘violoncello’ first appears in Bologna in 1685. Bonta concludes that a whole group of instruments that operated in the bass clef of either 8-foot or 16-foot pitch were simply referred to as ‘violone’. This makes sense as the earliest form of music making was singing, and it would seem logical for the earliest composers to arrange their music by dividing the different instruments of the ensemble along the familiar lines that they used for choirs – by range of pitch. So when ensembles of instruments were first organised, composers such as Orlande de Lassus came from a choral tradition and divided the ensemble in similar terms (soprano / alto / tenor / bass) with less importance attached to the specific instruments of the ensemble.

At the same time as instrumental ensembles were being developed, the fortunes of the great Brescian luthier Gasparo da Salò were improving, with his tax return of 1588 showing a big increase in profits compared to that of 1568. As Brescia was part of the Venetian state at the time, Gasparo and the other Brescian luthiers would have had easy access to the city of Venice to sell their instruments.

Although there is no formal record of the numbers of each type of instrument that his workshop produced, the sizeable proportion of his surviving instruments that are double basses would suggest Gasparo da Salò and his workshop produced a large number. From our research in preparing The English Double Bass (2018), by comparing the number of surviving examples with the recorded output of makers such as William Tarr and the Forster family, we concluded that the attrition rate for double basses is around 50 per cent per century. At first glance this might seem high, but when one considers the habit of leaving these large instruments in damp old churches where destruction by wood beetle was common, or in theatres where fire was an ever-present hazard, added to the ravages of the many wars fought across Europe over the centuries, this calculation seems realistic. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to apply this attrition rate to the double basses made in Italy. Given that we know of around twelve surviving Gasparo da Salò double basses it would suggest that his workshop originally produced between 150 to 200 of the instruments. It seems likely that many of them would have ended up in Venice, where ensemble music was developing.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Venice was Europe’s second largest city, and had become fabulously wealthy in the previous centuries as Europe’s main gateway to trade with the Far East. It was home to affluent merchants who ploughed their riches into all manner of cultural activity, decorating their palaces with the finest furniture, textiles and paintings and laying on private concerts for their friends. As such it was a place where there was a great deal of musical activity, providing lucrative employment for musicians and luthiers alike. For the next 200 years violin making thrived in the city, developing its unique identity and style, but it was perhaps when the luthiers turned their hand to making double basses that they were at their most unconstrained. This freedom of style is best seen in the variety of ways that they designed the bass heads.

Among the earliest Venetian instrument makers were the Sellas family. Giorgio Sellas probably arrived in the city of Venice in the late years of the 16th century having travelled from his native Füssen, where the family were well established. Although they are not considered as violin makers as such but makers of lutes and guitars, they brought to Venice the necessary skillset of instrument making and the concepts of running a successful commercial workshop.

A c.1715 instrument by Matteo Gofriller, who can be regarded as the first maker of what is unambiguously a double bass

VENICE’S AFFLUENT MERCHANTS PLOUGHED THEIR RICHES INTO CULTURAL ACTIVITY

A 1747 Domenico Montagnana bass

MONTAGNANA PHOTO INGLES & HAYDAY. BUSAN PHOTO ARPEGGIO PUBLISHING

Domenico Busan made this instrument in 1781

The first Venetian instrument maker known to have made instruments of the violin family is Martin Kaiser. He was also a native of Füssen, arriving in Venice to work in Sellas’s workshop around 1630. He went on to establish his own business by 1652.

In 1685 Matteo Gofriller arrived in Venice from Bressanone in the Tyrol region to work for Kaiser, eventually marrying his daughter, Maddalana and took over the Kaiser workshop upon his father-in-law’s death in the 1690s. Gofriller can be regarded as the first maker of what is unambiguously a double bass. While the dimensions of his basses are clearly modelled upon those of Gasparo da Salò, he employed a round back with a break set lower than the Brescian instruments (as opposed to Gasparo’s flatbacked instruments) and the pegbox is sized to accommodate three or four strings (rather than the six-stringed configuration that Gasparo’s instruments are assumed to have used). The bottom of the pegbox is formed in the ‘clog heel’ style of the earlier Brescians although with a vestigial tongue at the bottom of the central spine. The side view of the head with a very round volute, perched on the pegbox with a minimal throat, was copied by later Venetian double bass makers, although they often departed from his rather conservative working of the fluting around the front of the volute and back of the pegbox. The f-holes are a refined interpretation of the Stainer pattern that sweep gracefully outwards with a delicate lower wing. Again, this style of f-hole was adopted by many of the later Venetians for their double basses.

Matteo Gofriller’s business was very successful, producing very many instruments all of the highest quality for the buoyant market in Venice. He employed Zuanne Ongaro around 1725, who married his daughter, Maddalena in 1737. Ongaro left the Gofriller workshop around 1740, probably to work for Giorgio Sellas’s brother Matteo, before setting up his own business in 1748. He was assisted by his son Ignazio (born in 1737) and Domenico Busan. Although the Ongaros’ work is barely known in the violin world, they produced a number of fine double basses, and it is likely that many of their violins and cellos have been re-attributed to other better-known makers over the years.

Domenico Busan, born in 1720 in Treviso, was active in Venice from 1743, working in the Ongaro workshop, and later on his own account. His double bass model is similar to that of Gofriller, although his instruments were made with both flat backs and round backs, with shorter, more upright f-holes. The side view of the head is also derived from Gofriller, although his approach to other aspects of the head was more flamboyant.

Busan’s pegbox design has a considerable taper both from bottom to top and front to back. In most instruments these have been later modified with additional cheeks, to mount machine heads.

For the fluting around the front of the volute, Busan carved a broad flat centre spine bounded by two narrow channels set close to the edge. The centre spine fades out at the top of the back of the pegbox forming a flat area with raised edge, which continues into the pegbox tongue. A number of Busan’s double basses have a thick strip of wood added to the lower edge of the back, formed into a decorative wave pattern. This strip overhangs the ribs and appears to have been added to provide a bearing point to tip the instrument backwards (as a modern spike would), making it easier to play while sitting.

A bass by Zuanne and Ignazio Ongaro from c.1780

ONGARO PHOTO YASUHARU HIKAWA

Busan’s death in 1783 marks the end of the line of makers founded by Gofriller. By this time a new lineage had been founded, with the arrival of Domenico Montagnana in Venice in 1697. Born in the town of Lendinara in 1686, Montagnana moved to Venice to join his two brothers, Lorenzo (a tailor) and Ludovico (a shoemaker). It is probable that he was initially employed in the workshop of Matteo Sellas before setting up his own business in 1712. He married Catrina Banti in 1717, going on to have six daughters who are believed to have been involved in the running of his business. In the workshop he employed a number of assistants who went on to become well-known violin makers in their own right, including Anselmo Bellosio, Pietro Novelli, and Giorgio Seraphin who eventually took over the workshop after Montagnana’s death in 1750.

Montagnana produced a large number of fine-quality instruments including many cellos. The one surviving double bass of his, dated 1747, follows Gofriller’s model although it is slighter smaller. It has a similar style of f-holes and the round back has a break set low, in the typical Venetian style. The head is very much in a classical style, with a deep throat under the volute. The pegbox is somewhat elongated, and tapers markedly from bottom to top in what is clearly an enlarged version of his cello head.

Of his protégés, only one, Anselmo Bellosio, is known to have made a double bass, with a single instrument surviving. Although no double basses are known by Giorgio Seraphin, he provides the onward link for two further double bass makers: Giovanni Battista Bodio and Giacinto Santagiuliana. While neither of these makers are well known in the circles of violin connoisseurs, they have esteemed places in the world of the double bass.

There are few surviving instruments currently attributed to Bodio. It seems his output was fairly modest. He is known to have worked as a professional violinist and we would guess that he was mainly engaged in repair work. His illustrious place in the double bass world comes as a result of his friendship with the celebrated double bass virtuoso and fellow Venetian Domenico Dragonetti. After his relocation to London in 1794, Dragonetti continued to correspond with Bodio, in 1824 requesting that he send wood for double basses and also finished necks complete with machine heads, which were fitted to instruments such as his own Gasparo da Salò by workers in London. By 1835 Bodio had suffered a series of misfortunes including the early death of his wife (probably from an outbreak of cholera) and a stroke that had paralysed his arms. Unable to work and facing destitution, Bodio wrote to Dragonetti pleading for funds.

Gaetano Santagiuliana and his son Giacinto are also minor figures in the violin world, but clearly produced a large number of double basses, many of which survive to this day. Born in Venice in 1760, Gaetano is thought to have worked for Giorgio Seraphin before leaving Venice to establish his own business in the nearby town of Vicenza. Giacinto was born there in 1781 and worked with his father producing guitars as well as instruments of the violin family. It is difficult to separate the work of Gaetano from that of his son, as they worked together for many years, Gaetano dying in the early 1830s with Giacinto surviving until 1853. Gaetano developed his own model for double bass, moving away from the Gofriller outline that had been prevalent among previous Venetian makers. The lower bouts increased in size, resulting in an outline that is reminiscent of a pear, but with violin corners. This model was produced in a variety of sizes and with both round and flat backs with a typical Venetian low set break. The backs were generally made of locally grown maple (oppio) but occasionally highly figured imported wood was used with one example having a back of spectacular bird’s-eye maple. The heads are based upon the designs of Busan, with a similar side profile. The pegbox tapers inward from back to front, necessitating the later addition of cheek plates in order to mount machine heads. The detailing of both the volute and the fluting around the front and back of the head is very variable Some examples have an extra turn to the volute, while others are almost short of a turn. The fluting around the front and back of the head is generally in the ‘classical’ style, with a sharply raised centre spine between two flutes.

MONTAGNA NA’S ONE SURVIVING DOUBLE BASS, DATED 1747, FOLLOWS GOFRILLER’S MODEL

Matteo Gofriller c.1715

Zuanne & Ignazio Ongaro c.1780

Domenico Busan 1781

Domenico Montagnana 1747

Giovanni Battista Bodio c.1820 (fitted to Dragonetti’s Gasparo da Salò)

Giacinto Santagiuliana c.1830

Antonio Pedrinelli c.1850

BODIO, BUSAN AND GOFRILLER PHOTOS ARPEGGIO PUBLISHING. CHIERICATO PHOTO GEORGE P. POST. CORAIN PHOTO STEFANO PIO. MONTAGNANA PHOTO INGLES & HAYDAY. ONGARO 1 PHOTO YASUHARU HIKAWA. PEDRINELLLI PHOTO DIRK EISEL. SANTAGIULIANA PHOTO UPTON BASS

Luigi Chiericato 1894

Vincenzo Corain 1846

Zuanne & Ignazio Ongaro c.1780

Domenico Busan 1781

Giacinto Santagiuliana c.1830

A c.1830 bass by Giacinto Santagiuliana

SANTAGIULIANA PHOTO UPTON BASS. CHIERICATO PHOTO GEORGE P. POST

A Luigi Chiericato bass from 1894

The last decade of the 18th century saw the end of the city-state of Venice. Its demise was initiated by the French invasion of 1797 under Napoleon Bonaparte. Following the Napoleonic wars that raged across Europe until 1815, Venice and its former territories were handed over to Austria, and the city’s economic fortunes dwindled. Up until the 19th century, luthiers had been drawn into the city from the surrounding region, but now the trade dwindled, and violin making was largely conducted in the nearby towns by amateur luthiers. But they continued to make instruments that maintained the distinctive Venetian style.

Of these later members of the Venetian school, Antonio Pedrinelli was one of the most prolific. Born in 1781 he lived and worked in Crespano del Grappa some 55 miles west of Venice in the province of Treviso. He was born into a wealthy family who were keen musicians, and developed an interest in violin making through his family contacts. He was considered an amateur maker, producing violins and double basses that were supplied to locals who played in village bands. His double basses have a similar type of outline to those of the Santagiulianas with enlarged lower bouts. The flat backs have a low break in the Venetian style. His heads often feature volutes with an extra turn or occasionally a lion head. The pegbox cheeks are worked to provide a flat plateau to facilitate the mounting of machine heads. He produced many instruments before his death in 1854.

Vincenzo Corain was born in 1781 and worked in Trieste at the Teatro Grande as a bassoonist, prior to his dismissal in 1846 for incompetence. He appears to have been self-taught at instrument making although he may have had an association with Giovanni Dollenz, the only other violin maker active in Trieste at the time. Corain instruments are notable for his habit of inverting the spine, running around the front of the volute and down the back of the pegbox. He produced scrolls in this manner for his violins as well as surviving examples of his double basses. But in keeping with the Venetian tradition, the side view of his double bass heads echoes Gofriller’s design.

Another musician turned instrument maker was the double bass player Luigi Chiericato. He lived and worked in the city of Venice in the second half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th. His work is known from the double basses that he made and a number of repair labels left in instruments. For his double basses, Chiericato closely followed the model of Domenico Montagnana, the only significant departure being the design of the head, which features a much less tapering pegbox (better suited for mounting machine heads).

The economic downturn in Venice, led by the Portuguese, British, Dutch and Spanish opening up new trade routes to the Far East, was partly to blame for the demise of violin making within the city. Other factors were undoubtedly the competition of cheaper mass-made violins from other regions, and large numbers of instruments by earlier makers still in circulation.

In their double basses, the violin makers of Venice have left us a legacy of some of their most exciting work, instruments that remain among the most sought-after by players across the world.

Thanks to Takashi Tsuruta, Kenji Kadomoto, Alexander & Thomas Grünert, Gary Upton, Stefano Pio, Ingles & Hayday, Basilica of St Mark’s in Venice, the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, Claudio Lisci, Eleonora Bruno and Jade Freeman

The authors’ latest book, The Italian Double Bass, is scheduled to be published by Arpeggio Publishing in mid-2022 and will be available at The Strad Shop: www.thestradshop.com