The worth of high-quality violins has soared in recent times, particularly these made by Cremonese makers Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and Giuseppe Guarneri (1698-1744). The latter, generally known as ‘del Gesù’ – as a result of cross motif discovered on his later devices – is extensively thought of the best of all luthiers.
His violins, of which lower than 200 have survived, are prized for his or her lustrous sound and luminous tonal colors. Little surprise one in every of his elegant devices holds the present public sale report of $16 million reportedly paid for the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri, named after the good Belgian player-composer who as soon as owned it and at present on mortgage for all times to the American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers.
Which violin grew to become generally known as Paganini’s violin?
But there may be one Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ of such legendary renown that it’s stored guarded below lock and key in Genoa’s Palazzo Doria Tursi: Il Cannone, crafted in 1743 and the principle instrument of the good Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840). This priceless violin is allowed out of its glass show cupboard simply as soon as a month for a warm-up by the curator to maintain it performed in.
What occurred to Paganini’s violin?
Throughout his taking part in profession, Paganini amassed a unprecedented assortment of devices, together with no fewer than 11 Strads (one in every of which went on to be performed by Pablo de Sarasate), two additional Guarneri (one, dated 1740, subsequently owned by Fritz Kreisler) and two devices by Nicolò Amati (1596-1684). But it was Il Cannone that proved to have such irresistible tonal lustre and attract that Paganini thought of it his fifth limb. As an act of generosity, he bequeathed it to his dwelling metropolis of Genoa, which has been Il Cannone’s official guardian since 1851.
In the present day, such devices are the protect of the insanely rich, however remarkably Paganini was gifted it by an admirer. Legend has it that, having mislaid his personal instrument in Livorno whereas on tour, Paganini was loaned Il Cannone by the admirer who was so awestruck by his taking part in that he gave him the dear violin, as he couldn’t bear the concept of ‘profaning the instrument after you had performed it.’ Shortly afterwards, Paganini nearly misplaced the priceless instrument in a card sport of likelihood and was so shaken that he was without end cured of his playing behavior.
Paganini’s relationship with the Il Cannone
Paganini loved an nearly symbiotic relationship with Il Cannone, attaining an incandescent degree of virtuosity when he performed it. This meant that now and again – such a factor can be unthinkable right this moment – Il Cannone was submitted to his trademark scissoring of strings (beginning with the highest E) designed to point out that he might play finger-crippling items on the low G string alone.
There have been additionally a number of forms of ‘thrown’ bow-strokes that concerned ricocheting the bow, often with such abandon that Guarneri’s particular varnish – which enhanced each the violin’s visible attract and its tonal properties – should have taken fairly a bashing.
But away from the live performance stage, Paganini was deeply dedicated to Il Cannone and took nice to make sure it got here to no hurt. Accidents do occur, nevertheless, and in response to one explicit story, the violin (in its case) took a tumble from a horse-drawn carriage on a cobbled Parisian avenue.
Pale-faced, Paganini made for probably the most illustrious luthier on the town, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, and apparently set free agonised cries because the Frenchman repaired it. Vuillaume was so amazed by Il Cannone’s properties that he made a precise duplicate, so exquisitely crafted that even Paganini had hassle in distinguishing it from the unique – this ultimately went to Paganini’s solely recognized pupil, Camillo Sivori (1817-94).
Paganini died earlier than recording know-how had develop into out there, so we’ve got solely the impassioned testimony of his contemporaries from which to evaluate the influence of his taking part in of Il Cannone.
‘I by no means knew that music contained such sounds,’ reported the German poet Heinrich Rellstab following Paganini’s 1829 Berlin debut. ‘Paganini is the incarnation of want, scorn, insanity and burning ache.’ One thing of Il Cannone’s distinctive tonal properties might be gleaned from Castil-Blaze’s overview of an 1831 live performance within the Journal des Debats: ‘[Paganini] took up an concept the place the trumpets had simply left it and rendered it in harmonics in such a method because it appeared as if the identical instrument was taking part in.’
Does anybody play Paganini’s violin right this moment?
It has develop into a convention for the winner of the now biennial Paganini Competitors to present a celebratory live performance taking part in Il Cannone, and infrequently it’s allowed out on mortgage to distinguished gamers. But the one high quality that shines via, regardless of who’s taking part in the instrument – whether or not Shlomo Mintz or Salvatore Accardo – is its sheer quantity of sound. No surprise Paganini nicknamed it ‘The Cannon’.
Over time, Il Cannone underwent so many repairs and changes that the millennium it had develop into difficult to play. In 2000, luthier Bruce Carlson started returning the instrument to its early Nineteenth-century heyday, when Paganini first got here into contact with it.
One among issues that grew to become instantly obvious was Il Cannone’s longer-than-usual physique, which might have suited the tall, long-limbed Italian. By making the distances between notes fractionally bigger, it will have helped facilitate intonation in a few of his excessive passagework. Violin professional Peter Sheppard Skaerved went even additional by taking part in Il Cannone with authentic intestine strings, and found that not solely did they produce a larger vary of tonal shadings, however that numerous hand positions on totally different strings possessed their very own timbral id – which explains the distinctive registral shifts in Paganini’s music.
The latest recorded encounter with Il Cannone options the younger Italian virtuoso Francesca Dego whose first launch for Chandos options repertoire, from Rossini to Schnittke, that pays homage to Paganini. The recording took place on account of an invite from the Metropolis Council of Genoa and Teatro Carlo Felice (with the help of the Enzo Hruby Basis) to carry out on Il Cannone at a particular live performance in October 2019 to have a good time Paganini’s birthday.
‘It was an unbelievable honour to carry out on this legendary instrument,’ Dego beams, ‘particularly as I had the enthusiastic help of Bruce Carlson, conservator and restorer of Il Cannone, who supervised the whole lot. I used to be additionally accompanied by a safety crew of six, who by no means left the room through the recording and had been on stage with me through the efficiency! At first it felt intimidating, however by the top of the week we had been sharing pizza and good laughs.’
To what extent had Dego been in a position to adapt Il Cannone to go well with her personal taking part in fashion? ‘I had carte blanche so far as strings had been involved,’ she explains, ‘so I made a decision on dependable, artificial ones that I knew would reply and adapt shortly. I used to be frightened about all of the taking part in variables one faces when taking part in an instrument that spends most of its time in a cupboard, however I’ve to say I discovered Il Cannone to be in remarkably good well being and raring to go! Thoughts you, it’s notoriously a bit moody, so it will possibly really feel totally different fairly abruptly till you get the measure of it. It warmed and opened as much as me, turning into simpler to play as
the times glided by, though I used to be startled by its sheer energy and projection from the second I picked it up.’
Each violin has its personal distinctive tonal properties, typically with a ‘candy spot’ the place the instrument sounds at its happiest and a ‘wolf’ tone which, particularly when sounded at low dynamic ranges, tends to blur the core pitch with overtones.
It will appear that not even probably the most well-known violin ever made is freed from such acoustical properties, as Dego factors out: ‘Il Cannone will not be solely highly effective, however it’s the epitome of the whole lot one expects from a top-class del Gesù. The depth and heat within the decrease register and the wonderful ringing E string had me besotted.
That stated, it doesn’t simply give of its greatest – distances between notes usually are not as anticipated, it has an notorious “wolf” sound on the excessive C on the G string and it reacts negatively should you attempt too exhausting. For me, the whole lot began working magically once I let it breathe and listened to every tiny response. This meant not utilizing an excessive amount of bow strain, to keep away from suffocating its overtones, and searching for methods to make each small motion, shift and string-change actually efficient, moderately than merely showy.’
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And what about Paganini’s flying spiccato, multiple-stopping, chains of harmonics and such like – is Il Cannone properly suited to acrobatics? ‘It’s undoubtedly one of many most interesting devices I’ve ever touched. I’ve at all times thought of encountering an ideal instrument like that of an ideal colleague: the giving and exploring goes each methods. Some results work splendidly on Il Cannone, together with double harmonics, which are sometimes a nightmare. I used to be overwhelmed by the thought that I used to be exploring and communing with Paganini’s soul – taking part in the instrument he invented these results on, and which, I’m certain, was a continuing supply of inspiration for him.
‘After I selected the repertoire for my recording, the concept was to pay homage to Paganini via the music of composers who idolised him in addition to giving listeners the prospect to listen to Il Cannone in musical contexts it hadn’t but explored.’
And for each violin and violinist there may be additionally the right bow. Dego used her ‘beautiful’ Dominique Peccatte (1810-74), the prince of bow-makers, ‘which seems like a part of my arm. I’m certain Paganini would have favored it too!’
‘Il Cannone – Francesca Dego performs Paganini’s violin’ Chandos (CHAN 20223)
