本資料庫收藏： Violin (1721)
Domenica Montagnana was well known during his lifetime, but it is still not known even now when exactly he was born, or even how he learned to make instruments. Around 1699, Montagnana came to Venice, and that same year became Matteo Goffriller’s pupil and assistant. Although he was dealing with Gobetti in 1711, he opened his own shop. It is rare to find instruments made before 1720 among the instruments he made that have survived, but his name started to spread beyond Venice that year. Montagnana did not produce very many instruments, but he remained active until 1742.
It still cannot be proven whether Montagnana was a pupil of Antonio Stradivari or Amati in the Cremona school of violin making. However, it is more plausible than saying he was born in Venice and studied how to make violins there in Venice. Moreover, certain documents verify that he was probably Gobetti’s pupil. Of course both Goffriller and Gobetti were extremely capable of teaching him and passing on their knowledge of making instruments, and although it still needs to be further explored and researched, it has a certain amount of historical validity.
The shape and size of the instruments that Venetian luthiers made were quite unique, and although many people attempted to imitate them, none of them were successful. Montagnana was quite prolific during his lifetime, making over a hundred instruments, including cellos, violas, violins and double basses. The duration of time during which he was involved in making instruments was quite long. One of his earliest instruments has a label with the year 1715 on it, while a later instrument has a label with the year 1756 on it, proving that he was still active at that time and had worked as a luthier for nearly 40 years. His style of making instruments was influenced by both Matteo Goffriller and Pietro Guarneri.
The radians of the bouts for the violins he made were extremely flat. The instruments he made were superior to those made by others. The viola that Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) used for so many years was the only viola Montagnana made that survived. The most apparent features of this particular viola are that its purfling did not match up and it lacks polish. However, the scroll’s polish is most exquisite. His cellos are exceptionally well known, and considered to be on par with those made by Stradivari. This might be because there were a lot of cellists located in Venice at that time and also because he taught at four music schools in Venice. The boldness and solid appearance of his instruments posses the sound quality of instruments in the Cremona school, and also has their typical power and full sound. The novelist Charles Reade (1814-1884) gave him the nickname “the mighty Venetian.”
Montagnana’s instruments initially have a deep red tint to them that resembles a Venetian sunset, but after a number of years they take on a darker tint. The world renowned cellist Gregor Piatigorski (1903-1976) used cellos made by Venetian luthiers for many years. Yo-yo Ma also uses a Montagnana cello.
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