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‘Fortissimo di voce, e quasi tenore’

‘Very strong of voice, and like a viola’

An evidence-based investigation into the historical reality of the 1724 Stradivari violin

which Il Conte Cozio di Salabue sold to Niccolò Paganini in July 1817

Nicholas Sackman

© 2018

Dr N Sackman: Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of Nottingham (retired). Author of ‘The Messiah

violin: a reliable history?’ (2015); see the www.themessiahviolin.uk website for details. Author of an historical study of the

Stradivari Habeneck violin, published in the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, 2016, and re-published on

the aforementioned website. Author of an historical study of the ‘original’ neck of the Stradivari Soil violin (also available

on the website). Author of an extensive and detailed historical study of the two Guarneri del Gesù violins which belonged to

John Tiplady Carrodus (website). Author of an historical study of the Stradivari Chant du Cygne violin (Journal of the

Galpin Society, March 2017). Author of a detailed historical examination of the Stradivari quartet of decorated instruments

exhibited at the Palacio Real in Madrid, Spain (website). Author of a transcription and translation (with commentaries) of the

complete sales-ledger archive of Jacques Francais Rare Violins Inc. (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American

History, Archives Center, Washington DC, USA) from the Appendix of which (see website) the following article is

extracted.

*****

The following description of a 1727 Stradivari violin was written by the Paris-based violin dealer

Gustave Bernardel. Bernardel’s text is today located within the The Jacques Francais Rare Violins

Inc. Photographic Archive and Business Records (The sales ledgers 1845-1938, Box 55, Folder 2, p.

126, and Box 55, Folder 4, p. 126), National Museum of American History (Archives Center),

Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA; see the link from www.themessiahviolin.uk.

1894: M r Nicolini, à Ystradgynlais

Violon Stradivarius, année 1727, 13p. 3l.,

Fond de 2 pièces, ondes douces descendant, belles éclisses pareilles, table de 2 pièces, très-beau

sapin; petite cassure à l’f droite, et 2 petits trous de ver au fond; beau vernis rouge doré bien

conservé; très-belle tête.

Ex Paganini

Ex Comte de Vireille

30,000 francs.

1894: M. Nicolini, from Ystradgynlais

Antonio Stradivari violin, year 1727, 13 pouces 3 lignes [358.7mm]

The back plate is made from two pieces; mild flames, descending [from the centre-joint]; the

beautiful ribs are similar [the wood used for the ribs is similar to that used for the back plate]. The

front plate is made from two pieces; very beautiful spruce. There is a small split at the treble f-

hole and two small worm tracks at the bottom. Beautiful varnish, golden red, well conserved.

Very beautiful head.

ex Paganini

ex Comte de Vireille

30,000 francs.

NOTES: Ernesto Nicolini (1834-1898) was the second husband of the soprano Adelina Patti (1843-1919);

Adelina bought a country house in Ystradgynlais (Powys, Wales) overlooking the river Tawe. Bernardel’s

measurement uses the Pied du Roi system where one pouce = 27.07mm and one ligne = 2.26mm. Note that

Bernardel does not indicate the name of the owner prior to (Niccolò) Paganini, nor does he mention Jean-

Baptiste Vuillaume (see below). No details of identification for the ‘Comte de Vireille’ have been

discovered.

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Two years later the following report was published in The Violin Times, issue of October 15th, 1896,

pp. 188-189:

Mr. Jan van Oordt, the violinist, and his energetic manager, Mr. Charles de Groat, left England for

the United States on Saturday, September 26th

, by the “Paris”. Mr. Van Oordt is to make his first

public appearances in America on November 13th

and 14th

. He will be assisted by the Chicago

Orchestra, which is under the directorship of Theodore Thomas. Just before leaving London, Mr.

van Oordt bought from Messrs. Hart and Son, of Wardour Street fame, one of the finest

Stradivarius violins that has ever come under my notice. It is one of the finest and most perfect

specimens of this illustrious maker; its date is 1727. It is of the grand pattern, covered with

beautiful soft red varnish. The instrument is of peculiar interest, having been in the possession of

the great Paganini, who bequeathed it to his son, Baron Achille who recently died in Italy. J. B.

Vuillaume acquired it from the Baron and sold it in 1853 to the Comte de Vireille, who in turn

disposed of it to Messrs. Gand and Bernardel, of Paris; thereafter it passed into the hands of

Signor Nicolini from whom it was purchased by Messrs. Hart and Son. With the violin there is an

interesting letter from Vuillaume, dated 1853, fully authenticating its former possession by

Paganini and his (Vuillaume’s) purchase of it from the former’s son. Mr. Van Oordt is thus the

happy possessor of two Strads. Besides these two instruments he owns an exceptionally fine

violin which bears the label of Messrs. Hart & Son; this is such an exact copy of the Stradivarius

whose history we have just given, that if held at a distance of a couple of yards the one may well

be mistaken for the other.

NOTES: The appearance of Jan van Oordt (b.1874) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is confirmed by

the Chicago Tribune newspaper, 8 November 1896, p. 37: ‘Mr. Jan Van Oordt, the young Dutch violinist,

will make his first American appearance with the Chicago Orchestra this week’ [Brahms’ Violin Concerto].

The second Stradivari violin owned by Jan van Oordt was dated 1721. The only violin mentioned in

Paganini’s Last Will and Testament (27 April 1837) is that which he bequeathed to his home city of Genoa.

With Vuillaume having died in 1875 there was no-one in Paris, in 1894, from whom Gustave Bernardel

could obtain confirmation that the violin which (it seems) he had bought from the mysterious Comte de

Vireille was the same violin as identified in Vuillaume’s letter of 1853. The unidentified writer of the Violin

Times article – probably the editor, Eugene Polonaski – does not mention Il Conte Ignazio Alessandro Cozio

di Salabue.

According to Ernest Doring (How many Strads? (1945), p. 283) Jan van Oordt subsequently sold his

1727 Stradivari violin back to George (II) Hart; further owners of the violin included Frederick Smith,

W. E. Hill & Sons, Felix Kahn (in 1914), Helen Jeffrey (in 1920), and, in the mid 1920s, the New

York dealers W. R. Ford Company, Inc. (successors to Gittelson & Howard). In 1927 Ford published

a catalogue of his instrumental stock: Rare Old Violins. What seems to be the Bernardel/Nicolini

violin is identified therein as Antonius Stradivarius, Cremona, 1727 (priced at $35,000). There are

two colour photographs (Figure 1) of the violin – front plate and back plate – and a commentary,

which states:

On the authority of Hill and Sons, London, whose documents accompany this instrument, the

violin was bought from [Achille] Paganini by J. B. Vuillaume, of Paris. The instrument was later

bought by Gustav Bernadel [sic] who sold it to Nicolini, the husband of Adelina Patti. It has been

in the hands of George Hart, and was purchased by Hill and Sons from the well-known collector,

Frederick Smith.

As with the Bernardel description, Ford makes no mention of the violin’s owner prior to Paganini.

Ford specifies the basic measurements of the violin (probably replicating measurements which were

provided in the Hill documents): Upper Bout 65/8 inches (168.3mm), Lower Bout 8

3/16 inches

(208mm), and Body Length 14 inches (355.6mm). These dimensions point strongly towards

Stradivari’s ‘PG’ mould of 1689 or the ‘P’ mould of 1705 as being the source. Gustave Bernardel

specifies his violin’s length as being 358.7mm (cf. ‘it is of the grand pattern’); in this case the ‘G’

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mould is the most likely source. It would be impossible for the ‘G’ mould to be the source for a violin

of 355.6mm length.

Figure 1

Ernest Doring (ibid., pp. 281-283) identifies the following ‘ex Salabue’ violin:

1727* The PAGANINI, ex Salabue. Our plates indicate the visual characteristics of this famous

violin. It is in a perfect state of preservation and almost fully covered with its original varnish of

rich dark-red color.

NOTE: Doring’s asterisk indicates his personal inspection of the violin.

Doring’s monochrome photographs (which include a view of the violin’s rib structure on the bass

side) show the same violin as that which had previously appeared in W. R. Ford’s Rare Old Violins.

During the 1940s the 1727 violin came into the hands of the New York dealer Emil Herrmann who

sold the violin in 1946 – as part of a complete quartet of Stradivari instruments – to Mrs A E Clark of

New York. Ownership subsequently passed to the Corcoran Gallery of Arts (Washington DC) and

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then to the Nippon Music Foundation of Japan; it is assumed that Herrmann’s original certification

and photographic documents are currently with the Foundation. The Jacques Francais Rare Violins

Photographic archive (Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA) includes certification and

photographic documents (Box 42, Folder 4) which are assumed to be Herrmann’s duplicates. These

documents are titled, in Herrmann’s handwriting, Ant. Stradivari 1727 Paganini Mrs Clark, with,

underneath, the annotation Oct 3 1941 (possibly the date when Herrmann acquired the violin). A set

of photographs of the violin is titled – again in Herrmann’s handwriting – Antonio Stradivari

Cremona 172[?] Paganini; the fourth numeral of the date is a 7 which has been over-written with a 4

(or vice versa); see Figure 2.

Figure 2

Herrmann’s photographs of his Paganini violin include one which shows the inside face of the back

plate; the violin’s label is clearly visible and the date on the label is I724 (this photograph is viewable

on the Cozio Archive of Tarisio.com, ID 40048). The first numeral is printed in Roman form, the

remaining three numerals are written in Arabic form, slightly untidily, somewhat ‘jagged’ in their

shaping, as if the nib of the pen failed to run smoothly on the label-paper. The rather crude appearance

of the written numerals raises the suspicion that they might not be the originals, i.e. perhaps the

original date was I727 but the final 7 was altered – by Herrmann? – to show as a 4, possibly to create

the belief that this was the 1724 violin sold by Count Cozio to Paganini (documentary evidence for

the sale having been published by the Hills in 1931 – see below, p. 5). The alteration visible in Figure

2 might be the result of the same intention.

Is it plausible that Gustave Bernardel, Eugene Polonaski, (W. E. Hill & Sons?), W. R. Ford, and

Ernest Doring would all have dated a violin as 1727 if, all the while, it contained a 1724 label?

Claude Lebet (Le Quatuor Stradivarius “Niccolò Paganini”, Les Amis de la Musique, 1994)

identifies the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue 1727 violin as having ‘an original label from 1724;

the experts are agreed on 1727 as the date of its manufacture’ (Ce magnifique instrument porte une

étiquette originale de 1724; les experts, eux, s’accordent sur la période de construction de 1727).

Lebet does not indicate which physical and/or stylistic features of the violin underpin the agreement

of ‘the experts’ with regard to a date of 1727, nor does he identify the experts or indicate where their

agreement is published. On the Nippon Foundation (Instruments) website (accessed January 2017) the

violin is dated 1727 with no mention of its label-text.

*****

Geraldine de Courcy (Paganini, the Genoese, University of Oklahoma Press, 1957, Vol. II, p. 388-

389, List of Instruments in Paganini’s possession at the time of his death) provides the following

chronology (closely sourced from Doring, p. 283) for a Stradivari violin which is dated 1724 rather

than 1727:

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Strad 1724

Acquired by Paganini from Count Cozio di Salabue of Casale Monferrato, in 1817. Vuillaume

purchased it from Achilles Paganini and sold it to Count de Vireille. From the latter it passed to

Bernardel in 1893. Albert Caressa, then a youth employed by Bernardel, was sent to London with

the instrument to place it before Ernest Nicolini, who [bought the violin but subsequently] sold it

to Hart in exchange for a Guarneri. The Dutch violinist, von Oordt, then acquired it from Hart and

some years later sold it back to him. The English collector Frederic Smith later obtained it by way

of exchange and in 1911 sold it to Hill. In 1914 it was sold to Felix Kahn [1873-1950] of New

York and in 1920 passed to Helen Jeffrey [violinist]. It was later acquired by Emil Herrmann, who

sold it to Mrs. Clarke of New York. It is now one of the instruments of the Paganini Quartet.

Courcy’s sequence of owners is that which is associated with the 1727 Stradivari violin.

*****

The documentary evidence – especially the dimensional evidence – from the hand of Count Cozio

demonstrates that the 1724 Stradivari violin which he sold to Niccolò Paganini in July 1817 cannot be

the 1727/1724 violin already described.

Previous to Paganini’s ownership, it is an established fact that the [1727] violin was one of Count

Cozio di Salabue’s choice possessions. Hill records the sale to Paganini as taking place in 1817,

naming the instruments as a “chef-doevre” [sic] of the Count’s collection.’ (Doring, p. 283)

NOTE: The Hills, in their 1931 Guarneri family monograph, p. 92, footnote 2, write: ‘In 1817 Paganini

purchased from Ct. Cozio a violin of Stradivari of the year 1724, described on the receipt as a chef-d’œuvre

of the master; the price paid was ninety-five Louis d’Or = £76.’ Since Ernest Doring quotes this information

(Doring, p. 259) it is peculiar that he replaces, without any explanatory justification, the Hills’ date of 1724

with his own date of 1727.

Documents written by Il Conte Ignazio Alessandro Cozio di Salabue (1755-1840) – the documents

archived at the Biblioteca Statale di Cremona, Italy – demonstrate that the only Stradivari instrument

sold by the Count to Niccolò Paganini was a violin with yellow/light-red varnish, dated 1724, this

violin being one of twelve which the Count had obtained in 1774-75 from Paolo Stradivari in

Cremona (Paolo being the youngest son born of Antonio Stradivari’s second marriage). Count Cozio

sold the 1724 violin to Paganini in July 1817, using Carlo Carli (a Milanese banker who was known to

both men) as an intermediary. There are no known documents within the archive at the Biblioteca

Statale which indicate that Count Cozio owned a 1727 Stradivari violin or ever sold more than the one

violin, of 1724, to Paganini.

Count Cozio’s earliest manuscript text (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 41, written in late 1774 or early 1775)

for his 1724 Stradivari violin is here transcribed and translated by the present author:

Fondo giunto, bosco di vena piutosto larga e bella, il covino più rotondo,

quasi al cerchio, il rizzo belle e col contorno nero, travagliate come

l’antecedente ma la vernice più gialla di tutti. Il biglietto come gli altri anno

1724 e bolate.

Jointed [two-piece] back plate, the wood having flames which are rather wide

and beautiful. The [neck-foot] button is more rounded [than is usual], almost a

circle, the scroll is beautiful and with black edging. The workmanship is like

the previous [violin within the Count’s sequence of descriptions – a 1716

violin] but the varnish is the yellowest of all. The label [in its appearance] is

like the others, anno 1724, and stamped [i.e. with Stradivari’s monogram].

Left margin annotation: 2da

, il più forte, si hà

Number 2; the stronger [in tone]; I have it.

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Added no earlier venduto dal Cavaliere Carlo Carli al celebre suonat Genovev Paganini

than July 1817: per Luigi cento ma da togliere cinque disconto.

Sold by Signor Carlo Carli to the celebrated player from Genoa, Paganini,

for 100 Luigi [100 Louis d’or 20-franc coins] but deduct 5 [Luigi] as a discount.

The reason for the discount is unknown; see also Paganini’s letter of 18th January 1840 (pp. 10-11 of

this account).

*****

In 1801 Count Cozio wrote a new inventory of his instruments (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 42):

1801, 8 Aprile: Violini di Stradivario Antonio da molti anni accomperati dal

suo nipote a Cremona

1801, 8 April: Violins of Antonio Stradivari, of various years, obtained from

his grandson at Cremona

The same 1724 violin is now described in more detail:

Come sovra: anno 1724: fortissimo di voce, tonda e pastosa sebbene paja

ancora interna, di forma più grande, segnata, vernice rosso chiara tirante nel

giallino: fondo, fascie, e manico di bellissima vena larga: e fondo in due pezzi

cosi al solito del coperchio, che ha la vena piùtosto larga. Di forma delle più

grandi con panza corta al fondo ben tirata, ed al coperchio anche ben

spianata: benissimo profilato, e di finissimo lavoro, ed ff ben fatte e scavate,

con manico dato indietro dal G. B. Guadagnini: intatto pero con una piciol

marca di fissura nel coperchio a destra vicino al cordile: vale cento trenta.

As above: anno 1724: very strong of voice, rounded and mellow, although

[paja?] still constricted [?not sounding freely]; of larger type, marked

[?lettered in the pegbox]; the varnish is light red shading into yellow. The

back plate, the ribs, and the neck – all have the most beautiful wide flames.

The back plate is in two pieces; likewise, as usual, the top plate, which has

rather wide veins [growth rings]. [The violin] is of the larger type with the

barrel[?] arching on the back plate being well graduated, and the top plate is

also well smoothed out. Excellent purfling of the finest workmanship, and the

f-holes nicely made and [the wings] hollowed; with a neck which has been

[raised, lengthened and] tilted backwards by G. B. Guadagnini. Undamaged;

however there is one small fissure in the top plate, to the right of, and next to,

the tailpiece. Worth 130 [zecchini].

Left margin annotation: zecchini 130. Viglietto stampato e bollo sudetto

130 zecchini. The label is printed and stamped as above [i.e. as with the previous

instruments described in this inventory]

Added no earlier 1817 Luglio venduto al Signor Professore Niccolò Paganini di Genoa

than July 1817: per mezzo del Signor Cavaliere Carlo Carli di Milano.

1817 July, sold to Signor Professor Niccolò Paganini of Genoa

through Signor Carlo Carli of Milan.

The following features are noteworthy:

1: the violin is of ‘larger type’

2: the violin is ‘marked’

3: the varnish is ‘light red shading into yellow’

4: the back plate, ribs, and neck ‘all have the most beautiful wide flames’.

*****

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In 1808 Count Cozio once again returned to his 1724 Stradivari violin and wrote yet another

description (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 46). Although his manuscript does not contain a margin annotation

identifying the sale of the violin to Paganini the descriptive details agree with the previous (and

subsequent) texts:

1808, 16 Gennajo, Milano. Inventaro delli instromenti nella guardaroba alta di noce nel

gabinetto.

1808, 16 January, Milan. Inventory of the instruments in the tall walnut wardrobe in the closet

Violino di d’Anto Stradiuario del 1724, forma più grande P.G. anche b[..?] fino per modello,

vernice rosso chiara, fondo giondo vena larga viva, fascie di vena più fina bella, e così il manico

fascia doppiamente gionta al fondo con due profili intieri, coperchio pura vena larga eguale

forastiero. Fortissimo di voce, e quasi tenore, con solo picol crepatura in fine a destra nel

coperchio. Colle pontine nel fondo vicino alli profili, e nel profilo dei CC, per la sua rarità di

voce – Luigi 140. Covino più grande a tre quarti di circolo.

Violin of the aforementioned Antonio Stradivari, of 1724, [derived from] the larger P.G. mould,

also […?]. The varnish is light red, the back plate is jointed, with wide bright flames; the ribs have

narrower flames, beautiful; likewise the neck. The rib is double-jointed at the bottom [at the tail-

piece end pin] with two inserted pieces of purfling. The top plate also having wide and consistent

growth-rings; foreign wood. Very strong of voice and like a viola; with one small crack at the

[bottom] end, to the right of the top plate. In the back plate the [top and bottom] locating pins are

[positioned] adjacent to the purfling, and [additional pins are positioned] within the purfling of the

C-bouts. For its rarity of voice – 140 Luigi. The [back-plate] button is larger [than usual] at three-

quarters of a circle.

Note:

1: the violin is associated with ‘the larger P.G. mould’

2: the reiteration regarding the ‘wide, bright flames’ of the back plate (cf. both previous documents)

3: the expression – ‘very strong of voice and like a viola’ – which finds an echo at the end of the

Count’s text from May 1816 (see below)

4: the single crack (to the right of the tail-piece) which was identified in the April 1801 text (see

earlier) and is here identified again.

One descriptive detail found in this 1808 text but not mentioned previously is the identification of two

vertical strips of purfling inserted into the rib at the tail-piece end pin (probably to restore the bottom

ribs, after shrinkage, to their original curvature). What is unclear is why Count Cozio did not mention

this feature in his 1774/75 and 1801 texts. An explanation might be that between 1801 and 1808 the

Count had this 1724 violin restored – possibly by one of the Mantegazza family in Milan – and the

purfling inserts were added on that occasion. A second newly-identified feature concerns the locating

pins in the violin’s back plate, specifically those ‘within the purfling of the C-bouts’. These pins may

have been original but not previously observed by Count Cozio within the dark colouring of the

purfling, or they may have been fitted when the lower ribs were expanded (to ensure the structural

security of the back plate).

Photographic evidence (Figure 3, below) received by the present author demonstrates that the

Stradivari ‘1727 Paganini’ violin currently owned by the Nippon Foundation of Japan does not have

any strips of purfling inserted at the tail-piece end pin. It has not been possible to confirm or deny the

presence of pins within the violin’s C-bout purfling.

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Figure 3

In 1816, one year before selling his 1724 Stradivari violin to Paganini, Count Cozio comprehensively

measured the instrument’s various dimensions (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 47; folio 15r and 15v); the

Count used the French Pied du Roi measurement system in which one pollice measures 27.07mm and

one ponto measures 2.26mm. Since the Count still possessed the 1716 Stradivari violin which he had

defined in his 1774/75 documents as ‘number 1’ he uses that violin as a point of comparison with the

‘number 2’ 1724 violin (Figure 4, below):

1816, 19 Maggio, Milano

Misure del mio violino Antonio Stradivari, nella cassa marcato: forma P.G.,

più forte, vernice giallo, dell’anno 1724

Left margin annotation: N.B. questo violino l’ho venduto al Signor Proffessore Paganino

Retro ## (folio 15v): Maggiore larghezza superiore polici sei e un terzo, 6. 0. 1/3, nel fondo e poco

più nel coperchio

Maggiore larghezza inferiore polici sette, ponti sei, 7. 6. -.

(folio 15r): In mezzo alli CC ossia il petto è questo più grande d’un ponto, ma nel fondo è

eguale al sudetto. La longhezza totale è eguale, ma questo e longo dell’altro

d’un ponto e mezzo inferiormente e più corto di un ponto e mezzo

superiormente.

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E pure eguale nella distanza delle ff in mezzo al petto [...] così le ff di questo

violino sono più in piedi dell’altro di due ponti e sono più vicini li occhietti di

sotto [sopra?] alle ff di un ponto.

Le altezza delle fascie di questo sono pure eguali a quelle. Li bordi sono

eguali ma le ponte del [?] più grande [?] e così sostanzialmente la forma e

eguale all’altro più bello rosso ma non sta nel medesimo sito nella cassetta.

[...] Questo ha la voce più forte, e da tenore.

Figure 4; first part of ms. Cozio 47, folio 15r

1816, 19 May, Milan

Measurements of my Antonio Stradivari violin, marked in the [?peg] box,

P.G. mould, the stronger [of the two violins], yellow varnish, of the year 1724.

Left margin annotation: N.B. this violin I sold to Signor Professor Paganini

Maximum width of the upper bout is 6 polici and 1/3 of one ponto [163.2mm],

measured on the back plate; a little wider on the front plate.

Maximum width of the lower bout is 7 polici and 6 ponti [203.1mm]

[the bout-width maxima do not include the width of the wood lying to the outside of the purfling: add 2 × 3.75mm to each]

[Measuring] across the mid-point of the C-bout, also termed the ‘chest’, and

this [the 1724 violin] is wider [than the 1716 violin] by 1 ponto, but on the

back plate the [1724] measurement is the same as on the aforementioned

[1716]. The total [body-] length is the same [on both violins] but this [1724

violin] is longer than the other by 1½ ponti in the lower part [i.e. from the

bridge to the lower edge of the plate] and shorter by 1½ ponti in the upper part

[bridge to upper edge].

[i.e. the inside notches of the f-holes (the notches defining the location of the bridge) were further up the plate on the 1724

violin than on the 1716 violin]

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And, also, [the two violins] are equal in the distance [between] the f-holes at

the mid-point of the chest […] the f-holes of this violin [1724] are more [i.e.

wider] at the feet [at the f-hole lower eyes] than the other [1716] by two ponti,

and are closer together at the upper[?] eyes of the f-holes by one ponto.

[i.e. the f-holes on the 1724 violin were angled outwards more than on the 1716 violin]

The height of the ribs on this [1724 violin] is also the same as on the other

[the 1716 violin]. The [plate] borders are the same [in width] but the [locating]

pins of [?] are larger [?] and thus the form [of the 1724 violin] is substantially

the same as the other [the 1716, which is] a more beautiful red but is not

identified as being made by this maker [Stradivari] in the [peg-] box.

[i.e. the 1724 violin had identifying letters marked in its peg-box whereas the 1716 violin did not]

[…] This [1724 violin] has the stronger voice; viola-like.

From Count Cozio’s information the upper- and lower-bout widths (extremity-to-extremity) of

Paganini’s 1724 violin are shown to be 170.7mm (163.2 + 7.5) and 210.6mm (203.1 + 7.5). The

equivalent measurements provided by W. R. Ford for the 1727 violin are 168.3mm and 208mm. The

total body-length of Count Cozio’s 1724 violin is the same as on the Count’s 1716 violin

(360.95mm), a length which does not match the 358.7mm of Gustave Bernardel’s 1727 violin nor the

355.6mm of W. R. Ford’s 1727 violin.

Paganini himself described his 1724 violin as ‘the father of all violins; [it] has a tone almost as big as

that of a contrabass, so distinguished is it by its power. I would not part with it at any price.’

(J M Schottky, Paganini’s Leben und Treiben, Prague, 1830, pp. 281-282.)

*****

In 1828 Niccolò Paganini consigned to Carlo Carli, in Milan, a collection of his instruments which

were to be kept safe while Paganini was travelling and performing around Europe. On 4 March 1828

Carli sent Paganini a letter itemising the instruments which he had received:

Un Violino di Antonio Stradivario di forma grande, vernice gialla col biglietto del 1724.

A violin by Antonio Stradivari, of large form, yellow varnish, with label of 1724.

Un Violino con vernice rossa col biglietto di Giuseppe Guarnerio del 1724, con arco in una cassa

da due.

Un Violino di Andrea Guarnerio col biglietto del 1675, in una cassa da uno, quadrata, dipinta in

verde, con arco.

Una Viola di Antonio e Girolamo Amati col biglietto del 1612, in cassa da uno, coperta di

bulgaro.

Un Violino piccolo senza biglietto con arco, borsa, e cassa di legno in bianco.

Una Chitarra di Napoli con cassa di legno.

Un Violoncello con vernice rossa col biglietto di Antonio Stradivario del 1728, in cassa usata.

(Grisley R., Niccolò Paganini: Epistolario, Vol. 1, 1810-1831, Skira, Milan, 2006; letter 218, pp. 340-341.)

In the final few months of his life, Paganini, with his son Achille, took up residence in Nice (southern

France) where he was befriended by Comte Hilarion Spitalieri de Cessole (1776-1845). On 18 January

1840 Paganini wrote to his lawyer, Luigi Germi:

I have neither touched my music nor an instrument, other than the two Stradivari violins recently

received from Milan [i.e. from Carlo Carli] via Genoa – one of which cost me 95 Louis [the

discounted price of July 1817] which I shall have to let Conte de Cessole (a great enthusiast) have

for 4,500 francs, though I could get 5,000 for it in Paris. But it is necessary to make a sacrifice for

such a friend.

11

(Neill E., Paganini: Epistolario, Edizione speciale per il Comune di Genova; letter 366, p. 297; present

author’s translation.)

NOTE: Since Carlo Carli lists only one Stradivari violin in his 1828 inventory it must be the case that

Paganini, at an unknown date, sent a second Stradivari violin to Milan for safe-keeping.

Thus the certain existence and location for Paganini’s large 1724 Stradivari violin with yellow/light-

red varnish is confirmed for the years 1774/75, 1801, 1808, 1816, 1817, 1828, and 1840. It is unclear

whether the violin was actually sold to Conte de Cessole before Paganini died on 27 May 1840.

*****

In a letter of 8 January 1840, to Vincenzo Merighi, Paganini acknowledged the delivery of a quartet of

Stradivari instruments, and in a subsequent letter Paganini identified his personal ownership of eleven

violins, one viola, and four cellos. In April 1840 Paganini instructed Vincenzo Merighi to buy six

Guadagnini violins (as well as a Stradivari violin from Count Castelbarco) as part of ‘our enterprise’

but whether these instruments were bought and delivered to Paganini before his death in May 1840 is

unknown. Further descriptive entries within the Jacques Francais Rare Violins Inc. sales ledgers

identify a Guarneri del Gesù violin of 1740 (known as the Boissier/Paganini/Arbos) as having been

owned by Paganini, likewise a 1672 Stradivari violin, a 1712 Stradivari violin, and a 1726 violin (the

Hubay). The Tarisio.com/Cozio Archive website identifies a 1720 Carlo Bergonzi violin which also

belonged to Paganini (ID 47169). Paganini himself, in a letter of 15 February 1840, identifies his

ownership of an Amati viola and ‘My Amati cello, or Rugeri, or whatever make it is […].’

Paganini died on 27 May 1840; an inventory of his estate was compiled two months later, on 24 July

1840. Claude Lebet (Lebet, p. 18) indicates that the inventory documents are located in the ‘Mandozzi

Collection’ in Locarno, Switzerland; it has not been possible for the present writer to gain access to

these documents. The documentary source for Geraldine de Courcy’s list of Paganini’s posthumous

instruments (see p. 4 of this account) is not identified by her but is assumed to be the Mandozzi

inventory; Courcy does not indicate whether her information is the result of her personal inspection of

the inventory documents. Her List of Instruments identifies seven Antonio Stradivari violins, two

Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, one Giuseppe Guarneri, one Andrea Guarneri, two Niccolo Amati, one

Carlo Tononi, and one Ruggieri – fifteen violins in total. In addition there were two Stradivari violas

(1721 and 1731) and two Stradivari cellos (1708 and 1736), as well as an Andrea Guarneri cello

(1642) and a Pietro Rogeri cello (1714).

The seven Stradivari violins are dated by Courcy to 1680,* 1692, 1695, 1724 (two such violins),

1725, and 1726. The first of the two 1724 violins is identified by Courcy – without any documentary

support – as that which is now known as the Bentinck/Stucki; the Paganini/Bentinck/Stucki/Sandor

Vegh violin (1724) is included within Jost Thöne’s Antonius Stradivarius publication of 2010 (Vol.

IV, pp. 44-51) but the photographs clearly show that the violin has a one-piece back plate and

therefore it cannot be the 1724 violin which Count Cozio sold to Paganini. It is Courcy’s second 1724

violin which she identifies as the Cozio/Paganini instrument, but, again, without any supportive

documentary evidence (see pp. 4-5 of this account).

* Courcy’s date appears to follow the 1945 opinion of Ernest Doring (Doring, p. 40) which is that the violin has a 1696 label

but actually dates from 1680; Doring appears to be following the opinion of the Hills (Hill (1902), p. 35).

*****

There can be no doubt that the Cozio/Paganini violin was label-dated 1724 and had yellow/light-red

varnish; it had the same dimensions as Count Cozio’s large 1716 violin and was ‘marked’ in the peg-

box; it had two strips of purfling inserted in the rib at the end-pin, had ‘wide bright flames’ on the

back plate, and a crack on the front plate to the right of the tail-piece.

12

Achille Paganini (1825-1895) was 15 years of age when his father died in 1840. In the years

immediately thereafter Achille apparently enjoyed full control of all his father’s instruments. With

respect to the violin – il mio violino – which Niccolò bequeathed to the city of Genoa this instrument

was secreted by Achille for more than ten years; only in July 1851 did Achille hand over a Guarneri

violin to the Genoese authorities.

Five years earlier, in 1846, Achille had deposited a quartet of his father’s Stradivari instruments with

Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, in Paris, for repair, restoration, and sale. Within the letters sent by

Vuillaume to Achille between 12 December 1846 and 10 September 1851 (see Lebet, pp. 41-69) the

label-dates of the four instruments are never mentioned; one of the violins is simply described as

‘red’, the other as ‘yellow’.

*****

The current location of the large 1724 Stradivari violin which Il Conte Ignazio Alessandro Cozio di

Salabue sold to Niccolò Paganini in July 1817 is unknown.

*****

The case of the missing P.G. mould

Nicholas Sackman

A minimally-edited version of this article was published in the June 2018 issue of The Strad

under the title ‘The case of the missing mould’.

*****

The Museo del Violino in Cremona maintains a large collection of Stradivari artefacts, many of

which, originating from within the Cremona workshop, were saved for posterity when they were

bought by Il Conte Ignazio Alessandro Cozio di Salabue (1755-1840). Cozio’s purchase of moulds,

tools, templates, and paper patterns followed on from his acquisition during 1774 and 1775 of twelve

‘leftover’ Stradivari violins, ten of these having been made by Antonio, and two by his son,

Francesco. The Museo’s collection of artefacts includes twelve moulds for full-size violins, one for a

violino un quarto, another for a piccolo violino, and three for violas of various sizes. A detailed

examination of Cozio’s manuscripts reveals evidence that another violin mould – now lost – was

included within Cozio’s purchase, and that Stradivari had used it to create at least three large violins.

One of these, dated 1724, was sold by Cozio to Nicolò Paganini in July 1817. The present-day

location of this violin is unknown.

On 27 February 1823, Count Cozio wrote an inventory (La Collezione, Primo Inventaro) of his 34

best instruments – 28 violins, 3 violas, and 3 cellos – which were to be sent to his Milanese banker,

Carlo Carli, to be sold as a single group (a vendersi tutti unitamente). The moulds, tools, and

workshop artefacts were also to be sent to Carli, and therefore, on the same day, the Count wrote a

second inventory (Biblioteca Statale, Libreria Civica, ms. Cozio 72):

Nota ossia inventaro delli modelli, forme di legno, e ferri particolari dell Anto Stradivari e

dell’Amati che si aggiungerebbero alla Collezione delle instrumenti di Antonio Stradivari.

Note, or inventory, of the models, moulds of wood, and individual metal tools of Antonio

Stradivari and of Amati which are to be added to the Collection of the instruments of Antonio

Stradivari.

13

The first page of this second inventory contains descriptions of cello and viola moulds. The

descriptions of the violin moulds then follow (see Figure 5, below):

Forme da violini di d[ett]o Ant

o Stradivari, tutte di legno di noce ripiene e con dieci buchi per

l’uso di cui si espresse per quelle da viole.

Moulds of violins of the aforementioned Antonio Stradivari, all of solid walnut wood and with ten

holes, the use of which is explained [in the notes] for the violas.

The full-size violin moulds that Count Cozio then describes are identified by him as G, PG (4 June

1689), B (3 June 1692), B (6 December 1692), SL (9 November 1691), S (20 September 1703), and P

(25 February 1705) – seven in total. All of these moulds are today exhibited at the Museo del Violino.

The Museo also exhibits moulds that are identified with the letters MB, S, P/B, T, and Q, but none of

these is mentioned by the Count. His inventory is written on a single piece of paper, approximately

A3 size, folded booklet-style; there is no pagination, the seven violin-mould descriptions being set out

on ‘page 2’. It is possible that Count Cozio wrote descriptions of further moulds on a single loose

sheet of paper which was placed within the fold; perhaps this individual sheet was subsequently lost.

The first entry in Cozio’s inventory of his Stradivari violin moulds describes the mould marked with

the letter G:

No 1 Forma segnata con l’inchiostro colla lettera G (quale è un poco più lunga della seg[na]

ta PG

senza che vi si possa più scoprire l’indicaz[ion]e dell’epoca di sua formazione della quale se ne

vede averne fatto molto uso.

No. 1: Mould marked with ink with the letter G (this is a little longer than [the one] marked PG,

without anything further that would indicate the date of its making, and which has clearly been

used many times.

The final description is for the mould marked with the letter P and the date of 25 February 1705:

No 7 altra, che vi si vede moltissimo adoprata, con indicaz[ion]

e manuscritta P, e scolpitovi A 25.

Fb. 1705, stata moltissimo usata, ed esse e forma grande, ma solo d’un ponto sopra ed altro in

fondo meno accosta[?] della P.G.

No. 7: another, which can be seen to have had heavy use, with handwritten indication P, and

carved ‘On the day of 25 February 1705’, very heavily used, and this is a large mould, but only

one ponto in the upper [bout width] and another [ponto] in the lower [bout width] less [i.e.

narrower] when placed against the P.G.

The Count’s descriptive text is confirmed by that which he inked on the P mould itself:

Questa è un poco più corta ed in qualche parte più stretta della forma P.G.

This [mould] is a little shorter and in some parts narrower than the mould P.G.

An assumption that the PG and P.G. moulds are one and the same is not supported by the

documentary evidence, especially the dimensional evidence detailed by Count Cozio in his

manuscripts.

14

Figure 5

The measuring system used by Count Cozio was that known as the ‘Foot of the King’ (of Paris) which was

defined by the French government on 10 December 1799 as being the result of 9,000mm divided by

27.706 = 324.839mm. One Pied du Roi was divided into twelve pouces (of 27.07mm) and one pouce

was divided into twelve lignes (of 2.26mm). Count Cozio’s equivalent Italian terms were pollici and

ponti.

15

If 2.26mm (one ponto) is added to the upper-bout and lower-bout maximum widths of the 1705 P

mould (161mm and 200mm) the equivalent bouts of Count Cozio’s P.G. mould would measure

163.26mm and 202.26mm respectively. These P.G. bouts are thus much wider than the bouts of the

PG mould which is dated 4 June 1689 and are also wider than the bouts of the G mould. The

dimensional evidence points to the existence of a larger-than-G mould which was lettered P.G. but

with the letters perhaps representing Più Grande rather than Poco Grande (a term which might

usefully be applied to the PG mould of 1689). A dimensional hierarchy of moulds can be constructed

thus:

Mould UB width CB width LB width Length

Più Grande (1705 P + 2.26mm) P.G. 163.26mm 202.26

Grande G 161 103 201 350.4

Poco Grande (4 June 1689) PG 161 103 200 348

P (25 February 1705) P 161 102 200 348

Measurements for the P, PG, and G moulds are sourced from Antonio Stradivari: disegni, modelli, forme (Museo del

Violino, Cremona).

The ribs on a violin are usually between 1.1mm and 1.2mm in thickness. The ‘overhang’ of the front

and back plates (the distance by which they project beyond the vertical outer face of the rib) is

variable, but, based on examples of Stradivari violins, a reasonable norm of 2.5mm can be proposed.

Therefore, adding 1.15+1.15+2.5+2.5mm (i.e. 7.3mm) to a mould’s ‘raw’ width-measurement should

reveal a resultant instrument’s extremity-to-extremity width. From the Più Grande mould a resultant

violin’s upper-bout and lower-bout widths would be:

UB 170.56mm (163.26 + 7.3) LB 209.56mm (202.26 + 7.3).

*****

In his Memorie per la costruzione ed addatamento delli stromenti da corda (Notes relating to the

construction and arrangement of string instruments) Count Cozio makes some relevant comments

about sizes and proportions of violins. Specifically, in the section Corpo delli instromenti (Body of

the instrument), he writes:

Must be fairly large but not enormous, of Stradivari the mould G is believed to be the best;

however some [violins derived from the] mould P.G. are strong and good of voice but [the tone]

approaches that of a contralto [viola] (ma si aprossima a quella del Contraldo).

The text (present author’s translation) indicates a P.G. mould that was larger than the G mould, the

additional internal volume of the resultant soundbox tilting the tone of the instrument towards that of

a viola.

In the entry Curve de’ violini Count Cozio writes:

The small [violin] moulds, and even the medium, need no longer be used nowadays, since people

want great power combined with quality of sonority; but even less is it necessary to think (as has

happened with the Parisians of the school of ...) of making violins of still larger size than the

Stradivari P.G. since if made with due proportions, the sonority would be too fat [troppo grossa].

On the contrary, it is observed that generally the best instruments come only from Stradivari’s G

mould, as I am in the process of demonstrating.

The Count’s text clearly indicates that there were violins which were larger than those derived from

the G mould (and, apparently, some violin makers in Paris were using moulds which were even larger

than the Count’s P.G. mould).

16

Count Cozio’s 1808 description of the 1724 Stradivari violin which he would sell in July 1817 to

Nicolò Paganini – forma più grande P.G. […] fortissimo di voce e quasi tenore (Mould larger P.G.

[…] very powerful sonority, and like a viola) – is consistent with the two statements quoted above and

with the comment made by the Count on [29] May 1816 when he measured the 1724 violin – Questo

ha la voce più forte, e da tenore (This [violin] has the more powerful voice; viola-like).

*****

Using dividers (prese col compasso) and the Pied du Roi measuring system Count Cozio specifies

only two bout-width measurements for his 1724 Stradivari violin:

1. Upper Bout; measured between the outer line of the purfling: 6 pollici and 1/3 ponto = 163.17mm

2. Lower Bout; measured between the outer line of the purfling: 7 pollici and 6 ponti = 203.05mm.

Count Cozio does not provide a measurement for this violin’s border, i.e. the narrow width of plate-

wood on the outside of the purfling, but, based on examples of Stradivari violins, a norm of 3.75mm

can be proposed. Combining the border-width on the bass and treble sides of the plate produces a total

of 7.5mm. Therefore the upper-bout and lower-bout widths – extremity to extremity – of the 1724

Stradivari/Cozio/Paganini violin were:

UB 170.67mm (163.17 + 7.5) LB 210.55mm (203.05 + 7.5).

These two results can be compared with the extremity-to-extremity results extrapolated from the raw

Più Grande mould (i.e. the 1705 P mould + 2.26mm + 7.3mm): UB 170.56mm; LB 209.56mm.=

*****

Count Cozio also states that the body length (extremity to extremity) of his 1724 Stradivari violin is

the same as on a 1716 Stradivari violin which he also owned, the length of the latter being defined by

the Count as 13 pollici and 4 ponti (360.95mm). Subtracting 7.3mm (2.5+2.5+1.15+1.15mm) from

this dimension reveals the length of the Più Grande mould: 353.65mm.

Mould UB width CB width LB width Length

Più Grande P.G. 163.26mm 202.26 353.65

Grande G 161 103 201 350.4

Poco Grande (4 June 1689) PG 161 103 200 348

P (25 February 1705) P 161 102 200 348

In addition, Count Cozio states that the 1724 violin’s front-plate C-bout minimum width is one ponto

wider than the equivalent width on his 1716 forma (P.G.) violin but that the 1724 back-plate C-bout

minimum is the same as on his 1716 violin. The front-plate C-bout minimum width on the 1716

violin, measured between the outer line of the purfling, is polici tre, ponti nove e mezzo = 102.68mm.

Adding 7.5mm (for the combined width of the 3.75mm borders) generates an extremity-to-extremity

measurement of 110.18mm. Therefore the front-plate C-bout minimum width on the 1724 violin was

112.44mm (110.18 + 2.26) while the back-plate minimum width was 110.18mm. The average of these

two results is 111.31mm. Subtracting 7.3mm from this result reveals the centre-bout width of the Più

Grande mould: 104.01mm.

Mould UB width CB width LB width Length

Più Grande P.G. 163.26mm 104.01 202.26 353.65

Grande G 161 103 201 350.4

Poco Grande (4 June 1689) PG 161 103 200 348

P (25 February 1705) P 161 102 200 348

17

As well as being used for Count Cozio’s 1716 and 1724 violins the Più Grande mould was utilised by

Stradivari in 1719 to make a violin which, in 1820, belonged to a Professor Giuseppe Moler. In a

description of this violin Count Cozio writes (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 47, folio 111v):

Measurements of the most beautiful violin of Antonio Stradivari of Prof. Moler, of the year 1719.

Red varnish; particularly fine workmanship, like mine [my violin] of 1716 […] Equal in all the

measurements [to my 1716] […] and consequently of mould P.G of 1687.

*****

Carlo Carli was not only Cozio’s banker but also a violinist who was sufficiently talented to play

alongside Paganini in quartets. Carli owned a 1684 Stradivari violin which Cozio described and

measured in June 1816 (BSCr, LC, ms. Cozio 47, folio 53r):

Larger than the P.G. [violins] (più grande del P.G.). Violin belonging to the nobleman Carlo

Carli, of Antoine Stradivari, of the year 1684, [built around an] enormous mould, thus far

unknown (forma grandissima, finora incognita).

The bout-widths of the violin’s source mould are revealed by Cozio to be 166.8, 105.7, and 207mm –

‘wider than the mould P.G.’ (più larghezza della forma P.G.) – with the length of the mould being

defined as 354.7mm. This forma grandissima is perhaps another piece which is missing from the

jigsaw of Stradivari moulds.

*****

Following the deaths of both Carlo Carli and Count Cozio, the former’s son, Giuseppe, drew up an

inventory (May 1841) of the Count’s unsold instruments and workshop artefacts. The inventory states,

simply, that ‘three wooden cello moulds of various dimensions’ and ‘three wooden violin moulds of

various dimensions’ were still held at the Carli offices in Milan. If the Più Grande (P.G.) mould was

sent to Milan but was not sold (and therefore was one of the three violin moulds identified by

Giuseppe Carli in 1841) it should have been passed to Count Cozio’s daughter, Matilde. After

Matilde’s death in 1855 her remaining instruments and artefacts were inherited by her cousin Rolando

Giuseppe Dalla Valle. Following his death in 1891 some of the items – including the extant moulds –

passed to his youngest son, Rolando Alessandro Dalla Valle (d. 1905), and then to Alessandro’s wife,

Paola; from her they were acquired by Giuseppe Fiorini and finally, in 1930, presented to the town of

Cremona. However, the Più Grande mould is not exhibited at the Museo del Violino.

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