ON THE BORDERS OF GREATNESS

Instruments made by Giuseppe Sgarbi often turn up in workshops and auction houses, and usually display a high degree of skill and accomplishment. They include violins, violas, cellos and double basses, and are inspired by classical Cremonese models such as those of Amati, Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri – but generally his work is very personal. He worked through most of the 19th century, an era when luthiers were not precious about putting elements of their own personality into the models to which they referred; the construction methods and stylistic interpretation remained very much their own. For such an accomplished luthier, it is perhaps surprising how little Sgarbi’s life has been researched, and how few details have come to light. We still have no idea how he became an instrument maker, for instance, nor who he might have apprenticed with. However, it is very possible that his own making style was not only praised in his own lifetime, but even in€uenced a number of highly regarded makers in his locality. Given he spent much of his career in Finale Emilia, a small county in the province of Modena, this would be an impressive endorsement by his peers.

The ‘Finale’ in Finale Emilia derives from the Latin locus nalis, which loosely translates as ‘border place’. Today it lies between the districts of Modena and Ferrara; it was known as ‘Finale di Modena’ until 1863 when it was incorporated into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy. At the time of Sgarbi’s birth in 1818, the territory was under the jurisdiction of the Este family, the long-time rulers of Ferrara, and had gained a reputation for economic, commercial and cultural vitality: it had received the title of a città in 1779 and it was known as a banking hub, led by the local Jewish community. The region already had a strong tradition of stringed instrument making, numbering several well-known makers in its history: the great Luigi Marconcini, once (mistakenly) considered the apprentice of Omobono Stradivari; his sons and apprentices Gaetano and Giuseppe (the latter may also have been a disciple of Storioni in Milan); Giovanni Battista Grancino; Alessandro Mezzadri; and Giovanni Fiorillo, to name but a few. It could easily be thatfiSgarbi came into contact with a local or travelling musician who recognised his talent for manual and artistic work, and introduced him to instrument making. Perhaps heficould also have put him in contact with another luthier offithe Ferrara region.