Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

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

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (or G. B. Guadagnini; Giambattista Guadagnini); (June 23, 1711 – September 18, 1786) was an Emiliano luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.

Biography

Guadagnini was born in Bilegno in Val Tidone near Piacenza, now in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He practiced his craft from about 1729 until his death, and 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. The instruments of the latter period, Turin, are generally considered to be his best work, and tend toward higher valuations.

Guadagnini's father, Lorenzo, his son, Giuseppe, and some other members of the Guadagnini family continued in the line of violin making through several generations.

He died in Turin in 1786.

Performers who have used or are using Guadagnini instruments

Violinists

Violinist	Date & place of manufacture	Instrument name	Comments	Reference
Riccardo Brengola	1747, Piacenza	"Contessa Crespi"		[1]
Goran Končar	1753, Milan			[2]
Michał Kowalkowski	1753	"Gucio"
Adolf Brodsky	1751, Milan	ex-Brodsky		[3]
Amaury Coeytaux	1773			[4]
Roman Simovic	1752		on loan from Jonathan Moulds	[5]
	1752	ex-Kneisel
Zakhar Bron	1757, Milan			[6]
Andrew Dawes	1770, Parma			[7]
Julia Fischer	1750			[8]
Felix Ayo	1744			[9]
David Halen	1753			[10]
Carl Flesch		ex-Henri Vieuxtemps		[11]
David Garrett	1772		In December 2007, Garrett fell after a performance and smashed his Guadagnini, which he had purchased four years earlier for US$1 million.
David Greed	1757		Owned by the Yorkshire Guadagini 1757 Syndicate.	[12]
Arthur Grumiaux		ex-Grumiaux		[13]
Willy Hess	1740s			[14]
Joseph Joachim	1767, Parma	ex-Joachim		[15]
Ida Kavafian	1751			[16]
David Kim	1757		on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra	[17]
	1752	ex-Kneisel
Mikhail Kopelman	1773			[18]
Jan Kubelik	1750	ex-Kubelik		[19]
Pekka Kuusisto	1752			[20]
Wayne Lin	1779, Turin			[21]
Tasmin Little	1757			[22]
Haldon Martinson	1750		Being used in the Boston Symphony Orchestra	[23]
Viktoria Mullova	1750			[24]
Linda Rosenthal	1772, Turin			[25]
Leon Sametini		ex-Sametini		[26]
Yvonne Smeulers	1785			[27]
Lara St. John	1779	Salabue	called "the Resurrection" by St. John	[28]
Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio	1757			[29]
Lyndon Johnston Taylor	1777			[30]
Vanessa-Mae	1761	"Gizmo"		[31]
Henri Vieuxtemps		ex-Henri Vieuxtemps		[32]
Henryk Wieniawski	1750	ex-Wieniawski		[33]
Eugène Ysaÿe	1754	ex-Eugène Ysaÿe		[34]
Sini-Maaria Simonen	1760		on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation	[35]
Jack Liebeck	1785	ex-Wilhelmj		[36]

Cellists

• Natalie Clein plays the "Simpson" Guadagnini cello (1777)
• David Geringas plays a G. B. Guadagnini cello made in Turin in 1761
• Maxine Neuman plays a 1772 Guadagnini
• Han-na Chang plays the Guadagnini cello (1757)
• Gilberto Munguia plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello (1748).

Bibliography

This article is part of the Fiddle & Violin series.

Basic physics of the violin

Fiddlers

History of the violin

Luthiers

Musical styles

Making and maintenance

Playing the violin

Violin construction

Violin family of instruments

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 0901424005. 
• 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

External links

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