martedì 1 novembre 2016

Historical Museum, Basel


7/0 flat back Viola d'amore
Unknown luthier, 18th century

The instrument below is from the musical instrument collection of the Historical Museum in Basel, Switzerland, ex. Paul Sacher collection. It is an instrument with seven playing strings, but without sympathetic strings. The viola d'amore's typical rosette lies here underneath the fingerboard. 


 7/7 flat back Viola d'amore
Benedict Wagner, 1723

The instrument below is from the musical instrument collection of the Historical Museum in Basel, Switzerland, ex. Paul Sacher collection. It is an instrument with seven playing strings and seven sympathetic strings, and the head is that of a satyr.



6/6 flat back Viola d'amore
Johann Benedict Wassern, 1707

The instrument below is from the musical instrument collection of the Historical Museum in Basel, Switzerland, ex. Paul Sacher collection. It is an instrument with six playing strings, and six sympathetic strings. It shows the typical cupid head, as well as a rosette underneath the fingerboard and flaming sword shaped sound holes. The sympathetic strings are attached on the underside of the tailpiece, not far behind the holes for the playing strings.


6/6 flat back Viola d'amore
Christoph Entzensberger, 1714

The instrument below is from the muscial instrument collection of the Historical Museum in Basel, Switzerland, ex. Paul Sacher collection. It is an instrument with six playing strings, and six sympathetic strings. The scroll is in the form of a blindfolded woman's head, and there is a rosette on the top of the instrument. Note the viol-style attachment of the tailpiece with a piece of wood, not with tailgut. Also the attachment of the playing strings and the sympathetic strings is by means of pegs in the tailpiece. 


Paul Sacher (28 April 1906 – 26 May 1999) was a swiss conductor, patron and impresario. He founded and conducted the Basler Kammerorchester (1926-1987). He commissioned notable works of composers of the 20th century and premiered them with the chamber orchestra.
Sacher studied under Felix Weingartner, among others. In 1926 he founded the chamber orchestra Basler Kammerorchester, which specialized in both modern (twentieth-century) and pre-classical (mid-eighteenth-century) repertory. In 1928 he founded the Basel Chamber Choir. Both the orchestra and choir gave their last performance in 1987. In 1984 the Serenata Basel was formed, with no direct connection to Sacher; they later adopted the name Kammerorchester Basel. 

Source:
www.violadamoresociety.org and Wikipedia