ONE OF A KIND

Despite being self-taught and living far away from any centres of lutherie, Marino Capicchioni became famous in his time for the superb quality of his instruments, which remain sought after today. Lorenzo Frignani looks back at his life and legacy

Marino Capicchioni at his Rimini workshop in the 1960s

The life of a violin maker often follows the same pattern: study at one of the renowned lutherie schools around the world, then time spent as a journeyman in a reputable city workshop, before striking out on one’s own, possibly winning some awards and developing a reputation for quality instruments. Marino Capicchioni bucked this trend in many ways: being entirely self-taught, he spent nearly all his career working alone in Rimini on Italy’s east coast. However, his output of instruments was huge, numbering around 580, and their sound is excellent, attracting the attention of such virtuosos as Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich and Salvatore Accardo. His personal models, often inspired by Stradivari and Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, are still copied by makers today – and indeed, nowadays it is common to find instruments circulating with fake Capicchioni labels. For this reason, it is a good time to shed light on this intriguing luthier, whose life story may be inspirational for anyone just starting out today.

Capicchioni was born on 30 June 1895 in Santa Mustiola, a village in the Republic of San Marino. He was the son of a barrel maker, the second of seven brothers, and went into the family business at the age of 16. The Capicchionis were a musical family and Marino taught himself to play the guitar and saxophone, which he played in the San Marino Military Band with his brothers Aldo (clarinet) and Alfredo (trumpet). His first introduction to violin making is unknown, although his interest in stringed instruments was almost certainly influenced by his dealings with Dr Bernardino Graziani, a chemist and amateur cellist, who may have stimulated his interest in varnishes in particular.

While it is impossible to say definitively when Capicchioni began making instruments, it would have been in the early 1920s, since in 1923 he participated in an exhibition in San Marino and received a diploma with the citation ‘Silver medal certificate for his violins’. His son Mario also recalled that his father mentioned a trip to Ravenna to meet Luigi Mingazzi (1859–1933) and show him some of his work, although his instruments show no trace of Mingazzi’s influence. In fact, Marino’s early instruments are characterised by their dissimilarity to one another, as this self-taught maker sought to find a definitive, representative style of his own. As early as 1925–26 we can see how the channels in the scroll are very pronounced, the corners are noticeably rounded, and he had a tendency to leave the edges lighter in colour.

On 28 September 1924, Capicchioni married Antonia Stacchini and they remained together for the rest of their lives. Mario was born three years later, on 7 September 1926. In 1928, probably due to financial difficulties, Marino and one of his cousins moved to the city of Caen in northern France, where he found work in a factory making musical instruments, and later worked as a carpenter. He remained in France for about a year, returning in 1929. One violin dated 1928 is known, made probably before he moved to France; it is one of the first violins that deviates stylistically from the earlier instruments, evincing the style that he would eventually come to be known for. We also have a violin dated 1929, probably made after his return to Italy.

In 1930 Marino and his family moved to the city of Rimini, around twelve miles north-east of San Marino, where he finally opened a violin making business despite still living in poverty. At that time Rimini was a burgeoning seaside resort attracting holidaymakers from all over the world, and Marino hoped it might offer something more than a job in a factory. Rimini was home to the Teatro Amintore Galli and the Lettimi Conservatoire, both of which still exist today. The conservatoire in particular was an important musical hub for the city and surrounding district, and it is no coincidence that many Capicchioni instruments can still be found in the hands of players in the Rimini area.

The bass-bar of this Marino Capicchioni violin gives its date as 1 July 1923, as well as the location, Santa Mustiola

Diploma recording the award of a silver medal to Capicchioni by the National Fascist Federation of Artisans in 1937

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY LORENZO FRIGNANI

. A 1928 violin by Marino Capicchioni

In the early 1930s the cellist Arturo Bonucci (1894–1964) brought his instrument to Capicchioni for regluing prior to a concert with his Trio Italiano. This meeting had a seismic effect on the luthier’s career, as the acclaimed musician recognised the high quality of his work and bought several instruments from him in the following years. In 1937 Bonucci also convinced him to participate in the famous violin exhibition in Cremona marking Stradivari’s bicentenary. There, Capicchioni received the third prize for a quartet of instruments. He missed out on the top prizes because he made the quartet in a very short time; the varnish had also given him problems and had not dried well. This quartet also brought him a silver medal from the National Fascist Federation of Artisans, an award often confused with the previous one. In addition, the Museum of Cremona purchased the quartet for 8,000 lire, and it can still be viewed in the Museo del Violino today. This marked the final time in Capicchioni’s career in which he entered a violin making competition.

Pina Carmirelli (centre) and Arturo Bonucci (far right) performed together in the 1950s as part of the Boccherini Quartet, alongside (l–r) Nerio Brunelli, Guido Mozzato and Luigi Sagrati

The year 1933 saw the birth of Marino’s second son Luciano, who would become an excellent violinist. During this period, Marino was still short of money and had to take on extra work as a shoe retailer on the local market. In five years he moved the family to three different addresses: to Via Montefeltro from 1933 to 1936 (next door to Italo Roberti, the future director of the Lettimi Conservatoire), then to Via Di Duccio from 1936 to 1938 (a few yards from the Teatro Galli), and to Via Aponia in 1938, where he remained until the mid-1950s.

By this time, however, his reputation was growing. Cellist Franco Rossi of the Quartetto Italiano, one of the most famous chamber ensembles in the world at the time, bought his first Capicchioni cello in 1938, and would go on to purchase two more in subsequent years. The luthier was also cultivating a more personal friendship with Bonucci that stretched beyond their professional relationship. In the 1940s the cellist was performing alongside the violinist Pina Carmirelli (1914–93), an association that soon extended into their private lives. Although married, Bonucci began an affair with Carmirelli, and Capicchioni frequently offered the couple hospitality and refuge until their eventual marriage. Carmirelli bought the first of several Capicchioni violins around that time, and since her concert activity encompassed performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, Capicchioni’s name began to be known throughout the world.

In 1943, during World War II, the American bombing of Rimini forced Capicchioni to return to San Marino, but he never stopped producing instruments. His son Mario began to collaborate with him during those years as well; in particular, he worked on constructing the soundbox, whereas Marino would always carve the heads.

A Tertis model viola made by Marino Capicchioni in 1954

VIOLA PHOTO LORENZO FRIGNANI

From the 1950s onwards, thanks largely to the success of Bonucci and Carmirelli, Capicchioni’s instruments enjoyed an international reputation. This decade saw the introduction of the Tertis model viola. The British violist Lionel Tertis retired from concert activity in 1937 for health reasons, and devoted himself to transcriptions for viola and scientific studies of the viola. He owned large violas by Testore, Gasparo da Salò and Montagnana, but sought a smaller-sized instrument that still produced a ‘big’ sound. So he designed, in collaboration with luthier Arthur Richardson, a personal model of viola and then tirelessly championed it across Europe. Capicchioni adopted the new model with enthusiasm, and the instrument found a market in Italy, thanks in part to its use in Pina Carmirelli’s string quartet. The model was also adapted for violin and cello and Capicchioni quickly found it in great demand.

From the mid-1950s he began to experiment with a ‘Guarneri’ model, recognisable by the carving of the f-holes. He was probably attracted to the form because so many of the great virtuosos have always championed its almost magical sound qualities. It was Capicchioni’s preferred model throughout the 1960s, although strictly speaking, he merely adapted some stylistic elements of ‘del Gesù’ to his own personal model.

CAPICCHIONI’S INSTRUMENTS

Heads of Capicchioni violins from (l–r) 1923, 1938 and 1971

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY LORENZO FRIGNANI

There are a number of stylistic attributes that can help identify a genuine instrument by Marino Capicchioni. In the construction of violins and violas, he almost always used an external mould, whereas an internal mould was used for the cellos. He only ever used maple for the back plates, always chosen for its superb quality and beauty. The top plates were always made from spruce, often of medium to wide grain, well marked. He sometimes bought whole trunks of spruce from raw timber merchants around Bologna. For this reason, a certain qualitative ‘homogeneity’ can be noted in the material he used.

The internal fittings were almost always made from spruce as well, with willow appearing sporadically. This included the linings, which until the end of the 1930s he would sometimes fit whole, i.e. not inserted into the cornerblocks. This can also be seen in a violin from 1938.

The archings are generally very full, while the corners, the chamfers and the eye of the volute are all rounded, as if they have been worn down by time and use. The back of the head is quite wide, with a curve that is broad, full and very elegant. From the front, the sides of the pegbox are very prominent. Capicchioni never blackened the chamfers of the scroll and pegbox in the manner of the old Italians.

Among the distinctive features of Capicchioni’s work are his varnishes and the preparation of the plates, with the grain always well marked. His varnish recipe was pretty much finalised by the beginning of the 1930s: he always began by applying an amber ground to the plates, followed by layers of varnish alternating from golden orange to red–brown. He often added darker elements at the edges or in the central area, thus giving a slightly antiqued, lived-in feel to the instrument. The varnish was alcohol-based and fairly thin, though the effect was akin to an oil varnish. The edgework and chamfers of the head were almost always lighter.

Of the 580 instruments known to have come from the Capicchioni workshop, 60 date from between 1922 and 1930; 100 from 1930 to 1945; 350 from 1945 to 1970; and 70 from 1970 until his death in 1977.

MARINO CAPICCHIONI ONLY EVER USED MAPLE THAT HE HAD CHOSEN FOR ITS SUPERB QUALITY AND BEAUTY

In 1958 Capicchioni received a commission from Helmut Heller, concertmaster of the RIAS Symphonie-Orchester (now the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin). Two years later, in October 1960, Heller showed his violin to David Oistrakh who was so impressed that he expressed an interest in owning one himself – though he only got round to asking five years later. After a concert in Rome, Oistrakh went up to Rimini to meet Capicchioni and, after having lunch together, he showed the luthier the contents of the double case that he always kept with him. It contained the two Stradivari violins entrusted to him by the Soviet state. Later, when Oistrakh was travelling the world, the case would carry just one Strad alongside his Capicchioni.

Mario and Marino Capicchioni in the 1950s

David Oistrakh sent an autographed photo to ‘the great maestro’ Marino Capicchioni after receiving the violin made for him

Body and head of a 1961 Capicchioni violin

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY LORENZO FRIGNANI

Also in the early 1960s, one of Heller’s three Capicchioni violins made an impression on Yehudi Menuhin, who wrote to Marino on 21 May 1961: ‘I was very impressed by the violin of maestro Helmut Heller of the RIAS Orchestra, and I would like to order a violin from you. I have never seen a contemporary instrument that can match the quality of yours in sound or beauty.’

In those years the Capicchioni family moved several times. From 1956 to 1960 they were based in Via Trieste, then from 1960 to 1966 in Via Vittorio Veneto. In 1966 Marino finally stopped renting and bought a house in Via Ugo Ojetti, where he remained until his death.

‘I HAVE NEVER SEEN A CONTEMPOR ARY INSTRUMENT THAT CAN MATCH THE QUALITY OF YOURS IN SOUND OR BEAUTY’ – YEHUDI MENUHIN

A CAPICCHIONI STORY

Stefan Hooss relates how his former tutor Alfred Glück met Capicchioni and found an instrument that served him well for half a century

Around 1960, the violinist Alfred Glück (b.1933) was on tour with David Oistrakh and the Kurpfälzer Kammerorchester Mannheim, where he was leader of the second violins. He showed Oistrakh his current violin, a Reinhold Geipel of Mannheim, and said he’d like to get a better one. Oistrakh replied very firmly: ‘You should contact Marino Capicchioni in Rimini,’ and gave him the address. Via a colleague who spoke Italian, Glück wrote to Capicchioni and a few months later heard back from him that the violin would be ready in August 1962. He informed another colleague about his plans and drove down to Rimini. On arrival, Glück found Capicchioni very friendly and paternal in his behaviour; he had not one but twelve violins laid out ready to play. Glück chose a Stradivari model because of its colours, evenness and a very special G string, which had a deep, full-bodied tone like a ‘del Gesù’. He also took a photo of Capicchioni on the roof of his house, surrounded by wood laid out in the sun to dry. Glück’s colleague arrived before he left, and on hearing the violin he’d chosen was so jealous that he stormed off without buying a Capicchioni of his own. Glück went on to play the violin every day until his retirement in 1998. He kept the violin until 2019, eventually deciding to sell it to one of his pupils – me. To his pleasure, the violin still visits its former owner after serving 57 years in the hands of Alfred Glück.

Alfred Glück’s photo of Capicchioni in 1962

The Stradivari-inspired Capicchioni violin chosen by Glück

PHOTOS COURTESY STEFAN HOOSS

The growing demand for his instruments, combined with the assistance from Mario, brought Marino to a peak production of around 15 instruments per year. To optimise their sound, he collaborated closely with the violinist Lamberto Corbara, based in nearby Cesena. Corbara’s name is still known to luthiers for his 1963 treatise Ancient and Modern Varnishes for Violin Making.

Towards the end of the 1960s, when Capicchioni was in his seventies, his style began to be somewhat fluid and soft. Meanwhile, Mario’s handiwork became more and more evident, and from the beginning of the 1970s Capicchioni labels acknowledged his contribution: from the earlier ‘Marinus Capicchioni Fecit Arimini’ to ‘Marinus Capicchioni et Filius Fecit Arimini’. However, Marino’s own hand can still be seen in features such as the purfling, the edgework and the carving of the volute. Marino and Mario’s violins can easily be distinguished by such distinctive elements as their corners, f-holes and edgework.

Marino’s wife Antonia Stacchini died in 1976 and Marino himself passed away a year later in Rimini hospital. Mario continued the business alone, and built around 140 instruments after the death of his father. He remained in Rimini until his death on 3 January 2022 at the age of 95.

Six years after Marino’s death, the City of San Marino commissioned a monument to be built in his memory. Constructed by sculptor Marina Busignani Reffi, the modernist concrete sculpture was unveiled in 1983. The city is also home to Piazza Marino Capicchioni, a testament to how the city values one of its most successful and talented sons.

TRANSLATION BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD