弦楽器専門店ラルジュー販売、鑑定、修理、調整、買取ーバイオリン、ビオラ、チェロ、弓

Giuseppe Guarneri ´del Gesu´ was the most outstanding master among the Guarneri family.
Since Nicola Amati established the standard patterns of modern violin making, Cremona was in glorious years as the capital of lutiers, and the tradition was inherited by many of Amati´s pupils. Then, Guarneri appeared with an entirely different style. He created violins with a strong originality and uniqueness, which nobody else could have imagined.

Some of his earlier violins seem to have been hastily finished, unevenly carved, and even sometimes remained scars from the tools. Therefore, Guarneri in his time was not recognised as a fine craftman, but rather eccentric. Rumor said that he was a murderer and was making violins in prison.However, in spite of the seeming carelessness in construction of his instruments, they had an absolute power and gloriousness in sound.

Nearly the only person who admitted Guarneri´s talent was his rival, Antonio Stradivarius. Guarneri´s arching of the instrument body influenced Stradivarius in his late years. One extraordinary talent was not admired by ordinary, but only by another.

This Guarneri del Gesu, ex-Midori, was made in 1735, an early stage of his golden age, when ex-King was also built, as both have quite similar scrolls. Ex-D´Egville and ex-Plowden were also produced around this year. Violins from this period are more carefully finished and well balanced than those from other periods. One could imagine that the master, at the time, was spending good years. Ex-Kreisler is another example of his highest quality works from this time.
They have depth and power in sound, and also have richness and beauty in high register.

Ex-Midori is in an extremely good condition. No cracks on the back, several of negligibly minor cracks on the front, and a small sound post patch.

Midori has been the owner of this violin for 27 years until its sale through Large Co., Ltd. and it was with this instrument that she gave the legendary performance at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1986, which can be viewed on Youtube. The fact that Midori, at the mere age of 12, was able to give an outstanding performance of a concerto, during which the E-string broke twice, deeply impressed the critiques and she was immediately hailed as the prodigious "Midori". It was reported in some of the newspapers then that the violin was not a full size, but with its body length at 350mm, it is in fact quite a standard size for a del Gesu.
Midori plays this violin in the recordings, "Live at Carnegie Hall", and "Dvorak Cocerto".
She used a Galigano-school 3/4 violin before the del Gesu, which you can see in our Other Noteworthy Sales #2.