1590 Gasparo de Salo Sale?

[LOBass]

On a recent vacation to Italy, I attended a violin maker's fair (called Mondomusica) in Cremona. It was a very large show with lots of luthier and luthier's supply booths including tone wood suppliers, tool vendors and many high quality violins, cellos and some basses on display and for sale. In a very prominent booth at the entrance to the show was a 1590 Gasparo de Salo bass on display. The guy in the booth said that this was recently sold to the museum in the town of Salo to display and loan to " deserving musicians" for ocassional concerts. He said that the seller was renowned musician that recently retired. He wouldn't say who it was or what the selling price was. I have posted a couple of pictures here that I took while there, but I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about this or may have any inside knowledge. It seems to me that this is a very significant instrument in the bass world and it would be interesting to know more about this transaction.

I had an opportunity to play a 1863 Enrico Ceruti bass while at the fair. It had a big beautiful "old sound" that was very even across the whole range and was very easy to play. It was a wonderful experience to have the opportunity to play this instrument for a short while.

It was really interesting to walk around Cremona and see all the luthier shops, the city museum with rare Stradivari and Amati violins, the Stradivari museum with more rare instruments and many of Stradivari's tools and patterns, Stradivari's house and gravesite.

In conjunction with the violin maker's fair was the annual Cremona International Contest of Bowed Instruments where violin, cello and bass makers from all over the world submit instruments they have made for judging. The winning instruments were playing in a concert at the historic Cremona Opera House. They did Schubert's Trout Quintet as well as other chamber pieces. Pure joy.
Regards,
Tom

[Matthew Tucker]

Originally Posted by LOBass

It seems to me that this is a very significant instrument in the bass world

golly - and it was just sitting there on a stand, waiting for a clutz like me to knock it over and drive the bridge through the belly????

[ElMon]

Just curious on the Stradivarius museum, did he make any uprights, and if so were they also unparalleled?

[Eric Rene Roy]

LOBass, I'm green with envey! Congrats on such a unique opportunity!

[drurb]

Wow! What a fantastic experience. Are the ribs on that thing deep enough?

[bassist14]

thats what i call a "cremona adventure"

[emidwood]

Hi Tom,

I purchased a bass about 20 years ago that came with an appraisal from Paul Toenniges of Studio City Music, that stated that he believed the instrument was a 1590 Gasparo de Salo bass. The document stated that is was originally so large that no one could easily wrap themselves around it to play it very well, so it was cut down to a smaller size. It is an extraordinary instrument, with a rich deep mellow sound, and it practically plays by itself. I am very honored and humbled to have it. I just feel guilty that I am not a better player.

Since I purchased this instrument, and there is no identification label inside the body, no one knows for sure if this is actually a Gasparo de Salo instrument, because there are not many around to compare it to. I went to Cremona a few years ago to see if I could find any other examples of the instrument, but I did not have any luck in finding one at the time.

I was wondering if you had more photos of this instrument so I can look more closely at what is thought to be a genuine Gasparo. If you have higher resolution files, that would also be helpful to me.

You can email me the photos if you are willing to do this to my email address so they might be in a higher resolution format. My email address is: emidwood@pacbell.net

The bass in your photos looks very much the same as mine except that mine has a lions head for the scroll.

Thanks so much for sharing these photos with us, and I am glad you had a great time there. Cremona is a wonderful little community.

Elliot

[tobytimber]

LOBass, I would be interested in more detailed pictures if you have any. I would like to compare this bass to a bass I have in the shop at the moment, supposedly same century and area but unknown maker. Unusual thing about this bass is the front, it's from two pieces of slab cut poplar. The sound is amazing.
It has its original scroll, poplar too.

[Mudfuzz]

I really think we all need more pictures of both basses Just to make sure

[jsbarber]

There are some high quality photos of Domenico Dragonetti's' Gasparo Da Salo bass in Stefano Pio's book 'Liuteri Sonadori Venezia 1750 - 1870'. The text of the book is in both Italian and English, and in addition to many photos of instruments there are extensive discussions of the luthiers. There is also a companion volume 'Violin and Lute Makers of Venice 1640 - 1760'. Stefano's website is:

http://www.veniceresearch.com/

He provides contact information for his US book distributor on the website. You might try sending Stefano pictures of your bass, and he may give you an indication of the likelihood of it being a Da Salo.

Jim

Originally Posted by emidwood

Hi Tom,

I purchased a bass about 20 years ago that came with an appraisal from Paul Toenniges of Studio City Music, that stated that he believed the instrument was a 1590 Gasparo de Salo bass. The document stated that is was originally so large that no one could easily wrap themselves around it to play it very well, so it was cut down to a smaller size. It is an extraordinary instrument, with a rich deep mellow sound, and it practically plays by itself. I am very honored and humbled to have it. I just feel guilty that I am not a better player.

Since I purchased this instrument, and there is no identification label inside the body, no one knows for sure if this is actually a Gasparo de Salo instrument, because there are not many around to compare it to. I went to Cremona a few years ago to see if I could find any other examples of the instrument, but I did not have any luck in finding one at the time.

I was wondering if you had more photos of this instrument so I can look more closely at what is thought to be a genuine Gasparo. If you have higher resolution files, that would also be helpful to me.

You can email me the photos if you are willing to do this to my email address so they might be in a higher resolution format. My email address is: emidwood@pacbell.net

The bass in your photos looks very much the same as mine except that mine has a lions head for the scroll.

Thanks so much for sharing these photos with us, and I am glad you had a great time there. Cremona is a wonderful little community.

Elliot

[LOBass]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

What did it sound like, how did it feel?

Hi Ken,
Well I asked to play it, but it was for display only, and they wouldn't let anyone play it. Disappointing, but since it was sold to the Salo museum, there was no reason to let anyone touch it and risk damage.
Tom

[LOBass]

Originally Posted by tobytimber

LOBass, I would be interested in more detailed pictures if you have any. I would like to compare this bass to a bass I have in the shop at the moment, supposedly same century and area but unknown maker. Unusual thing about this bass is the front, it's from two pieces of slab cut poplar. The sound is amazing.
It has its original scroll, poplar too.

Hi Toby and Elliot,
Unfortunately, these are the only two pictures I took of the bass. In retrospect, I should have taken a lot more detailed pictures, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

You may be able to contact the City of Salo museum (it is in the Brescia area) and see if they have any pictures available. Both of you have some very interesting old basses! As Ken said, it is very difficult to verify the authenticity of basses that old without some serious and expensive testing.
Regards,
Tom

[LOBass]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

There are so few actual Gasparos and so many other makers into the 18th century that can easily make a bass similar. After 250 -300 years, no one can tell without special testing if it is old enough to be a d'Salo. If it was a style or even admired then it was copied for the next 200 years os so. There are way way more Magginis and Gasparos than could have ever been made. On this Bass pictured above, the Scroll is not to that Bass and the Ribs are not old enough in my opinion. They could be replaced but IF a copy was made and antiqued 200 years ago, it can easily look real today to the naked eye or most eyes for that matter.

Hi Ken,
The guy in the booth said that the bass had a pretty extensive restoration in the last few years, so it is hard to tell what was done to it without the records of repair or talking to the luthier who did the work. The scroll doesn't look original to me, either. It would be really interesting to find out what sort of testing or verification that was done prior to the sale. I am sure that the museum in Salo would want to authenticate this bass before they put it on display, especially if they paid a high price for it.
Tom

[LOBass]

Originally Posted by ElMon

Just curious on the Stradivarius museum, did he make any uprights, and if so were they also unparalleled?

Stradivari didn't make any basses, as Ken mentioned, and only a couple of cellos. There was a very old 3-string bass in the museum that was in pretty poor condition, but I don't remember who the maker was, or even if it was labeled.

We also visited the Accademia Museum in Florence and they had an interesting exhibition called the "Music at the Grand-Ducal Court" where they had a number of early musical instruments on display. They had a small 3-string bass of an unkown maker that they labeled as a mid-18th century Italian bass, a 5-string bass made by Bartolomeo Cristofori, who was a famous harpichord maker, in 1715 in Florence. According to the info on that bass, it started out as a 4-string and was converted to 5-string in 1901 by Florentine violin maker Valentino de Zori. Fun stuff.....
Tom

[larry]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

There are so few actual Gasparos and so many other makers into the 18th century that can easily make a bass similar. After 250 -300 years, no one can tell without special testing if it is old enough to be a d'Salo. If it was a style or even admired then it was copied for the next 200 years os so. There are way way more Magginis and Gasparos than could have ever been made. On this Bass pictured above, the Scroll is not to that Bass and the Ribs are not old enough in my opinion. They could be replaced but IF a copy was made and antiqued 200 years ago, it can easily look real today to the naked eye or most eyes for that matter.

Which is why I propose that all current makers must leave some sort of DNA evidence on their basses.

For example, Arnold and Wil could prick their fingers and smear some blood on the inside of all New Standards.

Then my great-great-great grandchildren can sell my bass without hassle...

[ispider6]

Originally Posted by LOBass

Stradivari didn't make any basses, as Ken mentioned, and only a couple of cellos. There was a very old 3-string bass in the museum that was in pretty poor condition, but I don't remember who the maker was, or even if it was labeled.

We also visited the Accademia Museum in Florence and they had an interesting exhibition called the "Music at the Grand-Ducal Court" where they had a number of early musical instruments on display. They had a small 3-string bass of an unkown maker that they labeled as a mid-18th century Italian bass, a 5-string bass made by Bartolomeo Cristofori, who was a famous harpichord maker, in 1715 in Florence. According to the info on that bass, it started out as a 4-string and was converted to 5-string in 1901 by Florentine violin maker Valentino de Zori. Fun stuff.....
Tom

Interesting. I saw a bass that I believe was made by Cristofori at the Met museum in New York. It was pretty small as I recall and didn't appear to be set up for playing (just for looking). I remember wishing that it hadn't been kept in a glass case so I could get a 360 view of it. If any of you are in New York, you should go check it out.

[LOBass]

Originally Posted by ispider6

Interesting. I saw a bass that I believe was made by Cristofori at the Met museum in New York. It was pretty small as I recall and didn't appear to be set up for playing (just for looking). I remember wishing that it hadn't been kept in a glass case so I could get a 360 view of it. If any of you are in New York, you should go check it out.

The book I bought at the museum on this collection mentions the bass you are refering to in their description of the Cristofori. They said that the bass in the Met museum is believed to be a Cristofori, but that none of the research on it has been able to verify that so far. Just another reason to come to New York, in addition to all the top bass shops, jazz clubs and symphony halls!
Tom

[Martin Sheridan]

[quote=larry]Which is why I propose that all current makers must leave some sort of DNA evidence on their basses.

.

I know I have left plenty of blood, sweat, hair in varnish.
You name it, but none was intentional.