Violin by Enrico Marchetti, Turin, 1915

About Enrico Marchetti

Enrico Marchetti is considered to be one of the finest violin makers from Turin of the twentieth century. He served his apprenticeship in Milan with Luigi Bajoni and Gaetano Rossi before moving to Turin to study with Benedetto Gioffredo `Rinaldi´ and Antonio Guadagnini (great-grandson of the superb G.B. Guadagnini). He then set up his own workshop in the city in 1881.

Marchetti travelled a great deal in his earlier years, finally settling back in Turin around 1912 and working there until his death in 1930. This violin was made in 1915, during the more settled years of his career but before the hand of his assistant Anselmo Curletto begins to be seen.

About this violin

This violin is Marchetti´s bold interpretation of a del Gesù model: the flared f-hole wings and flowing outline we would expect to see in such a model are present, however it is not styled after one particular violin.

The violin has a two piece back of interestingly flamed maple. The front is two pieces of unmatched, wide grained spruce. The violin has golden amber varnish laid over a yellow ground and the length of back is 357 millimetres.

How does it sound?

The sound is utterly enormous: a true testament to del Gesù in that it has a huge, dark sound in the lower strings, combined with laser beam projection in the upper strings. Somehow it is totally balanced across all four strings despite this: whilst having different qualities to the registers the overall sound is entirely cohesive.

Condition

The violin is in excellent condition with entirely untouched original varnish and is numbered 21 on the button.

Certification

It comes with a Baumgartner certificate of 1986 and is signed by the maker next to the bass bar inside the violin.

More information

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