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(Bartolomeo) Giuseppe Guarneri (‘del Gesù’)

(b Cremona, 21 Aug 1698; d Cremona, 17 Oct 1744). Youngest son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri. This last member of the family was one of the two greatest violin makers of all time. In tone-colour and in response a ‘del Gesù’ differs quite markedly from a Stradivari, some players preferring one make, some the other. Paganini played on a ‘del Gesù’ and started the vogue for his instruments. In the 20th century they have been used by Grumiaux, Heifetz, Kogan, Ricci, Stern, Szeryng, Zukerman and many others.

Giuseppe was trained by his father, but he soon showed that his mind was both original and capable of assimilating the best qualities of the work of others. He very soon took note of Stradivari’s work, which his father had almost completely ignored, and this partly explains the improvements in the sounding quality of the late work of Giuseppe ‘filius Andreae’, built in collaboration with ‘del Gesù’. Late in 1722 Giuseppe left his father’s house and married Cattarina Rota, a native of Vienna. For perhaps as much as five years he seems to have turned his attention to other work, but by the end of the decade he had returned to violin making. His first independently made violins of the late 1720s may have originally borne a label in which Guarneri described himself as the grandson of Andrea. More certain, however, is that in about 1731 he adopted a label with the well-known IHS cipher added to the margin, which later gave rise to his nickname ‘del Gesù’. His reason for using the cipher is a matter for speculation; perhaps it was used simply to underline his independence from his father, who shared his name and used a label, like the other family members, which read ‘sub titulo sanctae Teresiae’. By the early 1730s his work was so different in appearance from either his father’s or Stradivari’s, and so successful tonally, that it is perhaps worth pausing to speculate on what may have been his intentions. There is so much of Brescian influence to be seen throughout his work – the fullness of arching near the edges in the centre part; long, rather pointed soundholes; long waist – that he may well have been trying to make a Cremonese version of the Gasparo da Salò–Maggini instruments. These were probably then, as now, known for their strong sound and ability to withstand strong bow pressure, to go on giving sound however hard the violinist plays. What ‘del Gesù’ achieved was a combination of this feature with the tonal beauty and ease of response of a Stradivari violin, and it is for this that he is sometimes rated higher than Stradivari himself.

With regard to craftsmanship and design, Giuseppe probably reached his peak around 1735, by which year many of his finest violins had been completed and covered with an unsurpassable varnish of varying tint. At this time his work does not show the raw, savage character that is usually associated with him, but by 1737 or 1738 the erratic nature of his genius was beginning to show itself; he continued with the principles developed in the earlier years, but with ever fewer inhibitions, using knife and gouge with increasing abandon. This trend grew, often with magnificent effect, over the next few years. The last two or three years offer some of the most glorious, outrageous fiddles ever seen, yet however wildly Guarneri appears to have lashed out with his tools, that same, inimitable tonal result is still present. Even the unhappiest, most mutilated examples retain something of it, something that died, apparently forever, in 1744.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

W.H., A.F. and A.E. Hill: The Violin-Makers of the Guarneri Family (London, 1931/R)

C. Chiesa and D. Rosengard: ‘Guarneri del Gesù: a Brief History’, The Violin Masterpieces of Guarneri del Gesù, ed. P. Biddulph and others (London, 1994), 13–17

C. Beare and others: The Guarneri Centenaries (Cremona, 1998)

C. Chiesa and others: Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (London, 1998)

© Oxford University Press 2007

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