Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Background information
Also known as	G. B. Guadagnini Giambattista Guadagnini
Born	(1711-06-23)23 June 1711 Bilegno in Val Tidone, Italy
Died	18 September 1786(1786-09-18) (aged 75) Turin, Italy
Occupation(s)	Luthier, pedagogue
Years active	1729–1786

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (or "G. B. Guadagnini"); (23 June 1711 – 18 September 1786) was an Italian luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.^[1] He is widely considered the third greatest maker after Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri "Del Gesù".

Biography

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, aka Johannes Baptista Guadagnini, was born while both Stradivarius and Del Gesu were in the cuspid of their production years. J.B. Guadagnini was born roughly 40 minutes away from the City of Cremona on June 23 of 1711 at Borgonovo Val Tidone of Piacenza.

Recent research shed light as to the influence of both Casa Stradivarius and Casa Guarneri of Cremona on the lines of symmetry of instruments by Guadagnini. J.B. Hence J.B. Guadagnini was still a youth while his father Lorenzo Guadagnini both in Bilegno and Piacenza possibly was a contributing maker of instruments for the Stradivarius Workshop which was the commanding violin shop from the beginning to the first half of the 18th century in Italy.

Antonio Stradivarius died at age 92 in 1737 while J.B. Guadagnini was 26 years old, and Bartolomeo Del Gesu died at 46 in 1744 while J.B. Guadagnini was 33. Hence, a logical nexus could be made whereas the young J.B. Guadagnini may have learned the rudiments of the trade in Cremona as he used the internal form with linings and blocks set in the Cremonese style, a method of creation which he would use throughout his lifetime.

It was the normative use of trade in the 18th Century Italy for a young person to start in a Master's Workshop around the age of 12 on their apprenticeship, in order to later on be allowed to practice a given trade career. Guild shops either in consortium or under one roof included a Master whom provided Journeymen papers and the Apprentices. Trade guilds, which provided such career opportunities including Musical Instrument Makers, was a mercantile arrangement since Medieval times practiced in Europe including Italy. Guilds were a pre-capitalist industrial organization under Ducal oversight which regulated the practice of trade, quality of the articles produced, and pricing practices.

The fact that J.B. Guadagnini practiced the trade of a Luthier of violins possibly before his Piacenza period attests to thorough guild training and graduation as a Journeyman. Likewise, the fact that violin makers in Piacenza and surrounding cities, including Gasparo Lorenzini, Joseph Nadotti, and Felice Berreta among others, already called themselves “alumnus” of the Guadagninis attests to formal guild status attained by shop Guadagnini. His work is divided into four main periods corresponding to and named after, Piacenza, Milan, Parma and Turin, the four cities in Italy where he lived and worked. Appreciation by both connoisseurs and musicians alike attest to the fact that J.B. Guadagnini possibly may be considered as the last Master Violin Maker during the 2nd half of the Golden Period while Italy was under Bourbon Rule.

J.B. Guadagnini died in the City of Turin, Italy in 1786.

Performers who have used or are using Guadagnini instruments

Violinists

Violists

• Li-Kuo Chang plays the 'ex-Vieuxtemps' G.B. Guadagnini viola, Parma c.1768^[5][6]
• Geraldine Walther plays a G.B. Guadagnini viola, Turin 1774^[7]

Cellists

• Natalie Clein plays the "Simpson" Guadagnini cello (1777)^[8]
• David Geringas plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello made in 1761^[9]
• Maxine Neuman plays a 1772 Guadagnini^[10]
• Han-na Chang plays the G.B. Guadagnini cello made in Milan in 1757
• Gilberto Munguia plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello (1748)
• Saša Večtomov played a G.B. Guadagnini cello made in Milan in 1754
• Sol Gabetta plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello (1759)
• Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Guadagnini made in Milan in 1745^[11]

Bibliography

Part of a series on
Fiddle and Violin
Basic physics
Fiddlers
History of the violin
Luthiers
Musical styles
Violin making and maintenance
Violin technique
Violin construction
Violin family
Violinists

• Guadagnini
• G B Guadagnini
• E.N. Doring: The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers (Chicago,1949)
• A.H. König, ed.: Die Geigenbauer der Guadagnini-Familie. Die Turiner Schule (Frankfurt, 1981)
• G. Fiori: ‘Documenti biografici di artisti e personaggi piacentini dal ’600 all’ ’800 nell’Archivo Vescovile di Piacenza’, Strenna piacentina (1994), 67–111
• P.J. Kass: Violin Makers of the Piedmontese School
• Vannes, Rene (1985) [1951]. Dictionnaire Universel del Luthiers (vol.3). Bruxelles: Les Amis de la musique. OCLC 53749830. 
• William, Henley (1969). Universal Dictionary of Violin & Bow Makers. Brighton; England: Amati. ISBN 0-901424-00-5. 
• Walter Hamma, Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst, Wilhelmshaven 1993, ISBN 3-7959-0537-0
• Duane Rosengard: G.B. Guadagnini - The life and achievement of a master maker, Carteggio Media, 2000

References

External links

• Images of the ex-Joachim G.B. Guadagnini Turin 1775