When we hear the name Antonio Stradivari, our minds naturally turn to the beautiful bowed stringed instruments for which he is best known. However, the master luthier’s oeuvre was much more varied than most people appreciate, and included plucked instruments such as mandolins, lutes ‘alla francese’, harps and guitars. Very few of these instruments have survived, but using the ones we do have, as well as the artefacts from the Stradivari workshop, we can discern some elements of Antonio’s method of making guitars. This record proved immensely helpful in the recent identification of an instrument – catalogued MR1622 in the collection of Rome’s National Museum of Musical Instruments – as being one of these rare Stradivari guitars.
The Stradivari workshop artefacts were originally sold by his son Paolo to Count Cozio di Salabue. They were then passed to the count’s heirs, the Della Valle family, from whom the luthier Giuseppe Fiorini bought them in 1920. He donated them in turn to the city of Cremona, which already had other material from the Bergonzi and Ceruti workshops. All were exhibited during the Stradivari bicentennial celebrations of 1937 and later became part of the Museo Stradivariano collection, now housed in the Museo del Violino. The artefacts comprise moulds, templates, sketches, paper silhouettes, notes on stringing and so on – an incredible insight into a workshop of the period, showing how Stradivari produced everything from single parts (pegs, rosettes, tailpieces, cases) to full instruments. They also attest to the popularity of his plucked instruments, especially from the beginning of his career to the 1690s, and show how experimental he was in making them.