A Violin by Antonio Stradivari

1710 ex-Vieuxtemps

The re-emergence of a long unseen Stradivari violin of the most desirable form, in superb condition, having a first class provenance and a famously splendid tone, is a rare occurrence. Up to the point when we handled the sale of the 1710 ex-Vieuxtemps Stradivari, this violin had been in the hands of only one family for over 100 years and had escaped being photographed for any of the 20th century publications on Stradivari. The images of this extremely important violin presented here are the first modern photos of this spectacular instrument.

Vieuxtemps violin: top and back

The 1710 Vieuxtemps Stradivari was pictured in a 1901 Fridolin Hamma catalogue right around the time when the violin was sold to the estate from which we acquired it. In the Hamma catalogue one will also find the much-heralded ex-D'Egville del Gesu violin, but the Vieuxtemps Stradivari is featured ahead of the del Gesu! Hamma's black and white photos hardly do the Vieuxtemps justice and the catalogue is by now rare enough to have only been seen by relatively few violin book mavens.

Since 1901 a number of books have been published noting the existence of a fine 1710 Stradivari known as the ex-Vieuxtemps, reputed to have been the famous violinist's favorite instrument. Doring's How Many Strads? gives a favorable, albeit second-hand report of the violin. The entry in Henley's Antonio Stradivari and His Instruments is scant but makes an unconfirmable claim that this was the violin presented to the French violinist Count Stroganoff at St. Petersburg.

In Herbert Goodkind's Iconography of Antonio Stradivari our example seems to be confused with another 1710 Stradivari known as the ex-Camposelice, which is pictured and clearly does not match the 1710 Vieuxtemps shown here. Goodkind may have become confused by the fact that the Hills had acquired the violin in question from the Duchesse de Camposelice. However it happened, Goodkind seems to have merged two separate provenances for the violin pictured in his book and omitted the existence of the violin that is the subject of this article.

From the meticulous records of the Hills we can reliably track the provenance of the instrument from their acquisition to the time it left their hands and until the time it reached Dr. Geissmar, from whose estate we acquired the instrument over a century later:

Mr. Hohenmensen, who is a banker, referred to Geissmar, the lawyer of Mannheim, with whom we did business some years ago, and who now owns the Vieuxtemps Strad, which we sold to Percy Woodgate for £800, and he sold it to Hart for £1,400, and Hart sold to Hamma for £1,500. Dr. Geissmar gave the last named 31,000 Marks for it, so the man who made the great profit was the private person, Woodgate, all the dealers coming off second best. When we sold the violin on behalf of the Duchess de Camposelice to Woodgate, I think we got about £100 out of the transaction.

There are other interesting entries in the Hill diaries about the Vieuxtemps Stradivari. The Hills tracked the most important violins assiduously, as they were always on the lookout to purchase back particularly special examples. In their diaries the Hills say, "A finer Strad or Guarnerius from a tone point of view hardly exists." This is a judgment with which we wholeheartedly concur.

With a body length of 357mm and upper and lower bouts of 168mm and 208mm respectively, the Vieuxtemps violin is among the fullest, broadest violins that Stradivari ever built. The choice, highly figured maple on the back recalls the wood used in other violins of the period including the King Maximilian and Scotta violins, both of 1709, and the Ries of 1710. Stradivari often made heads of less figured wood than on his backs, presumably for ease of carving, but the head and the ribs of the Viuextemps violin are all made of highly figured wood that matches that of the back. The spruce for the top of the violin is also extremely fine and the front, sides and head of the violin are all covered with the finest possible varnish of a fiery red color on a brilliant ground coat. By the time the Hills first sold the Vieuxtemps violin the much of the original soft Cremonese varnish had been worn away by use into a familiar pattern found on old violins. At the time this caused the Hills to consider the condition of the instrument to be less than first-class despite the absence of major repairs. But the century since has been kinder to the Vieuxtemps violin than to many other top Stradivari violins and so as of this writing we can describe this extraordinary violin as being in excellent condition.

Vieuxtemps violin: head

When he ended his experimentation with the long pattern, around 1700, Stradivari developed and concentrated on the size we now regard as normal. These usually have a body length of 353 to 355mm, upper bouts between 166mm and 168mm, lower bouts of 205mm. The initial examples retained the more highly contoured, or "scoopy" arching characteristic of pre-long pattern instruments, combined with the lower arch of the long pattern violins, but over time this scoop was abandoned for a more powerful arching shape. Around 1710 or a little before, Stradivari added a new, larger, and particularly bold model. Because of their overall size and powerful, less contoured arching, instruments of this type appear generally fuller and stronger than their more feminine siblings. The upper bouts remain fairly consistent between the two models with measurements not normally exceeding 168mm. The lower bouts are expanded to a width of 208mm or more and the length of the body as much as 360mm!

Was Stradivari recalling something he had liked about the "Long Pattern" that he had discarded by 1700? Whatever the reason for the larger model, Stradivari achieved what was for him an unprecedented volume of air space in a more readily playable model than the "Long Pattern" instruments with their extra-long body lengths of as much as 362mm, but lower bouts narrower than the later full model, at only 202mm to 203mm. Always experimenting, Stradivari had moved away from the large model by the early 1720s but over the intervening centuries these full-bodied Stradivari violins have come to be regarded as some of the most successful violins of all time, for their bold and timeless beauty and robust, yet pure, tone. A list of the most famous and well-preserved examples of Stradivari large pattern instruments built between 1710 and 1720 would include:

The tone of the 1710 Vieuxtemps violin is nothing less than thrilling. There is reserve power in every range; indeed there are no problem notes and no discernable weaknesses save for a wolf-note on C natural on the G-string. The whole violin, and especially the E-string invites seemingly limitless colors and beauty of tone. The response of the violin is fast and even as long as one is playing close to the bridge. Perhaps most remarkable is not only how loud one can play on this instrument but how softly and beautifully one can remain audible! As a concert instrument this violin is in a class with some of the greatest Stradivari violins we have ever had the opportunity to play.

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