Antique violins – Why violinists love to play centuries old violins

Like a fine wine, violins just get better with age. Vintage violins allow us to touch and listen to the past, bringing our musical lineage to life.

When you play an antique violin, you become a part of history. The instrument’s voice sings the story of its long journey to you. Maybe it began its life in an Alpine forest before being lovingly handcrafted in an eighteenth century Italian workshop. Perhaps it graced the stage of a world-renowned concert hall or brought joy to an intimate musical salon.

The Science of Antique Violins

Antique violins are well-aged, but seasoning is not the only factor that gives vintage instruments their unique tone quality. Violins sound better and become more responsive the more they are played.

Before a violin is even made, aging is already a factor. Tonewood is cut from the oldest trees possible, and then it is sealed and aged for even longer in a controlled environment. This process allows the wood to dry out and oxidize, resulting in a more durable and more resonant piece of wood. Tonewood should be seasoned for a minimum of ten years, but many luthiers prefer working with wood that has been aged for thirty or even fifty years.

A 1996 study by Dr. David Hunt found that vibrations cause wood’s dampening coefficient to decrease, resulting in longer resonance. Dr. Hunt attributes this effect to the redistribution of moisture throughout the instrument, although respected American luthier Carleen Maley Hutchins posits that vibrations break molecular bonds in the cellular structure of the wood, changing the tone.

An antique violin’s sound is literally affected by the musicians who played it before you!

Italian Antique Violins

Italy is the birthplace of the violin, and it has been home to some of music history’s most famous luthiers. Italian instruments represent the gold standard of antique violins. These high end violins are prized by collectors and musicians alike.

Cremona Violins

In the early sixteenth century, Cremonese instrument maker Andrea Amati developed the modern violin. He began a long luthier legacy that reached its apex with famed violin maker Antonio Stradivari’s Baroque instruments. Other notable luthiers from Cremona include Niccolò Amati, Carlo Bergonzi I,  Michele Angelo Bergonzi, Andrea Guarneri, Guarneri del Gesù, and Francesco Rugeri. The most expensive rare violins are from Cremona’s golden period roughly 1650 – 1750. Read our in depth article on early Cremonese violin makers here.

Brescian Violins

Brescia’s instrument-making tradition dates back to the fourteenth century. Supported by generous patrons like Isabella d’Este, the city eventually rose to rival Cremona. Brescian luthiers reflected the influence of their ruling city-state, Venice’s, lively music scene, which emphasized instrumental ensembles. Brescia produced excellent violas, cellos, and double basses in addition to violins. However, the Italian Plague (1629-1631) devastated the city, cutting short a whole generation of rising violin-makers and allowing Cremona to overtake Brescia’s prominence. Important Brescian luthiers include Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Gaspar da Salò, Micheli Zanetto and his son Peregrino Zanetto.

Turin Violins

Turin’s violins combine international influences: the rivalry between the bordering French and Spanish Empires and Tyrolean immigrants fleeing the Thirty Years War. Turin’s first instrument makers were German lute makers, but when the French princess Christine Marie became Piedmont’s regent in 1637, she introduced Franco-Flemish violins to the region. The French court continued to shape Turin’s violin-making industry throughout the eighteenth century. The most famous Turin luthier is J.B. Guadagnini, who immigrated to the city from Parma in 1771 to found a violin-making dynasty. Other notable luthiers include Gioffredo Cappa, Henricus Cattenar,Giovanni Francesco Celoniato, Andrea Gatto, Giovanni Battista Genova, and Fabrizio Senta.

Naples Violins

Like Turin, Naples’ violin-making industry also benefited from German immigrants. Luthiers from the Bavarian town of Füssen traveled to Italy en masse at the end of the sixteenth century, settling in Naples, Venice, Florence, and Rome. Naples’ status as a cultural center made it particularly attractive, and it still enjoys an active violin-making heritage in the modern day. Notable Neopolitan luthiers include the Fabricatore family, the Filano family, the Gagliano family, Vincenzo Postiglione, Lorenzo Ventapane, and the Vinaccia family.

Venice Violins

Unlike most of their contemporaries, Venetian luthiers did not produce the majority of their instruments for court musicians. Instead, they took advantage of Venice’s trading importance to market their violins. Venice’s musical culture drove a vibrant violin-making industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some of most well-known Venetian luthiers are Francesco Gobetti, Matteo Goffriller, and Domenico Montagnana.

Mantua Violins

While violin-making was prospering across Italy in the Baroque era, Mantua was struggling. Sacked by the Austrian Army in 1630, the glorious Renaissance city of Monteverdi, Virgil, and Isabella d’Este was gone. Pietro Guarneri came to Manuta in 1683 to serve as a violinist in the court of Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, and he established a Mantua violin-making tradition that centered around the position of court luthier. Camillo Camilli, Tomaso Balestieri, and Antonio Zanotti distinguished themselves as excellent makers throughout the 18th century. Inspired by Balestieri, Brescian luthier Stefano Scarampella came to Manuta in the 19th century and produced many fine instruments.

Milan Violins

Milan is in Italy’s Lombardy region, and it did not take long for violin-making to make its way to the city from nearby Cremona. Brothers Giovanni and Francesco Grancino launched the city’s first luthier dynasty in the seventeenth century. In addition to making fine violins, Milan also became particularly well-known for its violas and cellos. Milanese luthiers did not always have their Cremonese counterparts’ easy access to quality maple, so they sometimes used poplar and willow for the backs and beech for the scrolls. Other notable violin-makers from Milan include Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, Giuseppe Pedrazzini, and Carlo Giuseppe Testore, and Carlo Antonio Testore.

Genoa Violins

Seventeenth-century German immigrants brought the twin traditions of violin-making and strong professional guilds to Genoa. The industry flourished throughout the next century and provided inspiration to a young Niccolò Paganini, who grew up in the city. Paganini’s favorite instrument, a Guarneri del Gesù violin dubbed “il Canone,” became the template for many Genoese luthiers. A small group of violin-makers kept the tradition alive during the political upheaval of the1800s, and Genoa enjoyed a renaissance at the turn of the twentieth century. Among Genoa’s most famous luthiers are Cesare Candi, Paolo Castello, Giuseppe Cavaleri, Bernando Calcagno, Jacopo Cordono, Antonio Gibertini, Davide Pizzorno, Eugenio Praga, and Giuseppe Antonio Rocca.

Tuscan Violins

Tuscany’s violin-making industry emerged during the late sixteenth century; however, it truly blossomed during the eighteenth century. Tuscany’s classical school of violin-making was spearheaded by Giovanni Battista Gabrielli and the Carcassi family. Like many other Italian regions, Tuscany’s violin production waned during the early nineteenth century. However, when Florence briefly became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1865, Brescian luthier Giuseppe Scarampella moved to the city and launched a violin-making renaissance. Other major luthiers from Tuscany include Bartolomeo Bimbi, Antonio Gragnani, and Valentino De Zorzi.

Roman Violins

During the Baroque area, a strong tradition of lutherie, especially cello-making, developed in Rome. The Roman school reflects the blending of the Italian traditions of Amati with the Stainer models preferred by German émigrés and includes David Tecchler, Michael Platner, Giulio Cesare Gigli, and Giorgio Tanigher.

The Roman school drove the innovation and standardization of the modern cello. Roman luthiers experimented with different proportions, with Tecchler favoring a larger model and Platner preferring a smaller one, until the recognizable contemporary cello emerged by 1750.

French Antique Violins

Baroque guilds bolstered French violin production, and by the turn of the twentieth century, France had supplanted Italy as the center of European violin-making. French violins are a unique blend of local influences with Italian and German traditions.

Mirecourt Violins

The first luthiers were active in Mirecourt as early as 1629, and the industry thrived in the city. While many Italian workshops slowly declined over the nineteenth century, Mirecourt luthiers like Didier Nicolas actively engaged in international trade, putting a spotlight on French violin-making. Some of Mirecourt’s most famous luthiers are , Nicolas Viullaume, Honoré Derazey, François Salzard, August Darte, the Charotte family, Didier Nicolas L’Ainé, Marc Laberte, and Amédée Dieudonné. Read our in depth article on Mirecourt violin makers here. 

Paris Violins

As France’s political, commercial, and cultural capital, Paris attracted many luthiers. The most famous Parisian luthiers are Nicolas Lupot “the French Stradivari” and Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. Many luthiers born and trained in Mirecourt moved to Paris to take advantage of the city’s opportunities, most started out working for established violin makers before opening their own workshops. Notable Parisian luthiers producing fine violins include the Bernardel family, George Chanot, Charles Jean-Baptiste Collin-Mezin and Charles François Gand.

German Antique Violins

The cold climate of Germany’s alpine forests provide excellent tonewood, and luthier communities emerged around these abundant resources. German violin-making responded extraordinarily well to three of the nineteenth century’s major shifts: the democratization of music, the Industrial Revolution, and the beginning of globalization. German luthiers rose to meet the demand of amateur musicians by combining traditional craftsmanship with new techniques, and their violins found homes all over the world, especially in the United States.

Mittenwald Violins

This small, scenic mountain town seems like an unlikely addition to music history. However, the founding of Matthias Klotz’s atelier in the 1680s set off a chain reaction that changed Mittenwald’s history. Luthier family dynasties continued the violin-making tradition well into the nineteenth century, when the Instrument Making School of Mittenwald was established to ensure the town’s legacy. Mittenwald produced famous workshops such as Neuner & Hornsteiner and J.A. Baader & Co. as well as individual luthiers. Read our in depth article on Mittenwald violin making here.

Markneukirchen Violins

Markneukirchen is part of the region known as the “Musikwinkel,” or “Music Corner,” that runs along the border of Saxony and Bohemia. Protestant luthiers fleeing the Thirty Years War established Germany’s oldest, continuous trade organization, the Markneukirchen Violin Makers’ Guild, in 1677. The guild ensured that the city’s traditional craftsmanship remained alive over the following centuries. By the early 1700s, Markneukirchen already had eyes on international commerce, and the city successfully pivoted to serve the global market. Markneukirchen’s most famous luthiers include Hermann Geipel, Kurt A Gutter, the Hamm family, the Heberlein family, Roth family, and Ernest Reinhold Schmidt. Read our in depth article on Markneukirchen violin making here. 

Eastern European Antique Violins

Eastern European luthiers worked closely with their German counterparts, and the two regions influenced each other’s work.

Prague Violins

Prague’s status as a trade center attracted luthiers of various backgrounds, blending German, Hungarian, Italian, and French influences. Supported by violin-makers in nearby Luby (known as the “Austrian Cremona” during the nineteenth century), a Czech luthier tradition emerged in the 1600s. It has continued through to the modern day, despite political upheaval. Notable Czech luthiers include Johann Ulrich Eberle, John Juzek, Johann Michael Willer, Johann Carel Kirchbaum, Anton Sitt, Kašpar Strnad, and Michael Weber.

Viennese Violins

As the home of such luminaries as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, and Mahler, it is no surprise that Vienna developed a strong violin-making industry. Vienna’s stringed instrument legacy goes back to medieval lutes, and it was continually supported by court patronage, reaching a Golden Age from 1700-1900. Some major Viennese luthiers are Franz Geissenhof, the Leidolff family, Anton Posch, Nicholas Sawicki, the Stadlmann family, the Thir family, and Carl Hermann Voigt.

An antique violin is an investment in the past, present, and future of music making. Dolce Violins offers a beautiful selection of vintage instruments suitable for both professional and advanced student violinists. Play an antique violin and become a part of history!