The Girolamo Amati Viola

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Code
500980
€130.29
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This rare instrument, one of the first contralto violas of modern proportions made by the great Cremonese masters, is one of the most precious gems preserved in the Galleria Estense in Modena. The fact that this Amati viola has remained almost undisturbed for almost four centuries allows you to admire an instrument in unchanged conservation conditions, if not for minor modifications to the set up made at the end of the 18th century which have however preserved the original neck.

After almost four centuries, this rare instrument may be admired and examined in its exceptional purity thanks to photographs by Jan Röhrmann, the micro CT scans analyses performed by the Vienna Micro CT-Lab, and the varnish stratigraphic studies conducted by Brigitte Brandmair.

  • Edizioni Scrollavezza & Zanrè (2015), edited by Andrea Zanrè
  • Photos by Jan Röhrmann
  • Essays: Brigitte Brandmair, Carlo Chiesa, Davide Gasparotto, Alberto Giordano, Rudolf Hopfner, Peter Ratcliff, Andrea Zanrè
  • 56 pages in 45,7 by 28,5 cm format
  • 800 copies, texts in English
  • DVD with multimedia contents and sound recording

“All the mass of data is presented beautifully, with great clarity, sensitivity and appreciation of the subject. Every page is filled with stunning visual imagery (…) It is a revelation”
John Dilworth, The Strad - June 2015
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The Girolamo Amati Viola

IN THE GALLERIA ESTENSE with essays by Brigitte Brandmair, Carlo Chiesa, Davide Gasparotto, Alberto Giordano, Rudolf Hopfner, Peter Ratcliff and Andrea Zanrè
  • 56 pages in 45.7 by 28.5cm format
  • 1:1 illustrations with further magnifications up to 500x
  • 1000 numbered copies, texts in English
Enclosed a CD with video 3D animations from the Micro-CT scanning, 3D photography, and an exclusive recording of the instrument’s sound.

John Dilworth´s vibrant review regarding the book:
"This is surely the most comprehensive technical account ever published about a historical stringed instrument. It is, as might have once been said, 'all singing, all dancing'. We have text, precise measurements, magnificent photography, dendrochronology, CT scanning and varnish examination – even a DVD with 3D imagery and crisp sound recordings. Every modern analytical tool […] has been brought to bear on this magnificent Amati viola, a subject well deserving the attention. All the mass of data is presented beautifully, with great clarity, sensitivity and appreciation of the subject. Every page is filled with stunning visual imagery. To me, and I would hope to anybody interested in our profession, this book is as exciting and glamorous as a cross between Indiana Jones and CSI: an archeological quest through the strata of the instrument and a forensic investigation that is excitingly vivid. It is a revelation. […]

The contributors to the project are the leading authorities in their fields. […] Jan Röhrmann's photography is excellent throughout, and every word from these experts deserves our fullest attention.
The detail views of varnish, arching and modelling are superb, and of course the viola itself is one of the jewels of the classical Cremonese era of violin making: a rare, uncut, almost perfectly preserved Amati contralto.

"It will take me a long while to absorb all the information here; I will be thumbing through the pages for some time. Owning this volume is probably as close as you will get to the sensation of handling the instrument itself, and for me it represents a high-water mark in publishing." - John Dilworth, The Strad Magazine, July 2015
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