Andrea Guarneri, Cremona, 1664, the 'Bisiach, Witten'
Viola: 40037
Bearing its original label, "Andreas Guarnerius fecit Cremonæ sub titulo / Sanctæ Teresiæ 1664."
Back: Two-piece, with original wings in all four flanks
Top: of spruce with wings in all four flanks
Scroll: original
Varnish: Medium golden brown
Length of back: 48.2 cm
Upper bouts: 24.2 cm
Middle bouts: 16.6 cm
Lower bouts: 28.1 cm
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Notes:
"This famous tenor, like its counterpart, the "Medici" tenor by Antonio Stradivari, 1690, now in Florence, Italy, and the violino piccolo by the Brothers Amati, 1613, in the Witten-Rawlins Collection, is one of three known seventeenth-century Cremonese instruments to have survived in original condition."Andrea Guarneri viola, Shrine to Music Museum
"Insofar as I know, it is the only Guarneri tenor there is. . . This noble instrument is not only the only Andrea tenor in existence; it is one of the few Cremonese tenors that have come down to us."
Guided Tour through the Shrine to Music's Galleries, Charles Beare, Journal of the Violin Society of America, Vol. XII, No. 2, Flushing, NY
Provenance
| until c. 1937 | Count Canal |
| c. 1937-1967 | Andrea Bisiach |
| 1967-1984 | Laurence C. Witten II |
| from 1984 | Shrine to Music, National Music Museum, South Dakota |
References
The Strad 1993 Calendar, Orpheus Publications, London (illustrated)- Andrea Guarneri viola, Shrine to Music Museum
- Journal of the Violin Society of America, Vol. XII, No. 2, Charles Beare, The Queens College Press, Flushing, NY (illustrated)
- Luthiers Library (illustrated)
- The Strad, June, 1985, Roger Hargrave, London (illustrated)
- The History of the Viola, Volume II, Maurice W. Riley (illustrated)
- Strings, March-April, 1990, Herbert W. Meyers, The String Letter Corporation, San Anselmo, CA (illustrated)
- The Strad 1996 Calendar, Orpheus Publications, London (illustrated)
- Journal of the Violin Society of America, Vol. VIII, No. 3, Margaret Downie Banks, The Queens College Press, Flushing, NY (illustrated)
- W. E. Hill & Sons Photographic Archive (illustrated)
The Strad 1993 Calendar, Orpheus Publications, London (illustrated)
