Founder of this great Cremonese family of makers, Andrea Guarneri was apprenticed to Nicolò Amati in the 1640s and, after a four-year apprentice, rejoined the Amati workshop in 1650. He adopted the model of his master so skilfully that some violi are almost indistinguishable from Amati\'s work. He continued to make itruments in the Amati tradition after setting up his own workshop in 1654 (later known as the Casa Guarneri). His so Pietro and Giusee followed in his footste. Andrea Guarneri was the link between the Amati and Guarneri dynasties. He was an apprentice in the Amati shop from 1641 to 1646, and again from 1650 to 1654. In that year he left his teacher\'s shop and moved into the house that we now know as the \'Casa Guarneri\'. Andrea\'s instruments were made very much in the Amati tradition, although his work is a little freer in conception and less perfect in execution than that of his teacher. Andrea was the most prolific maker of the family, and was assisted in his later years by his sons, Giuseppe and Pietro, both of whom subsequently became highly respected makers in their own right. Andrea also made a number of very successful small violas, of which only about eight survive, but which are considered among the best violas in existence today. None of the makers in the Guarneri family blindly followed the teachings of his master; instead, each developed his own highly individual and original style. This tradition of bold creativity led eventually to the creation of some of the greatest instruments ever made, and it formed the basis of the great legacy of the name Guarneri. (excerpted from Four Centuries of Violin Making by Tim Ingles.)
Andrea Guarneri was the bridge between Amati and Guarneri families.
Pietro Giovanni Guarneri (Pietro da Mantova) (18 February 1655 - 26 March 1720), the eldest son of his father, worked in his father's workshop from around 1670 until his marriage in 1677. He was established in Mantua by 1683, where he worked both as a musician and a violin maker. His instruments are generally finer than his father's, but are rare owing to his double profession; his instruments are usually based on a large Amati model, although the influence of Stradivari and Stainer can also be seen in his work. He chose excellent wood for his instruments and his varnish is particularly fine. His f-hole pattern is distinctive, with large open circles and elegant curves. Joseph Szigeti used his instrument.
Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri (filius Andrea) (25 November 1666 - 1739 or 1740), Andrea's younger son, joined his father's business in Cremona, inheriting it in 1698. Many of Andrea’s late instruments, particularly the cellos, were primarily the work of Giuseppe. Like his father before him, Giuseppe developed his own individual model, and collaborated with some of the most gifted makers of the day, notably his son Giuseppe ‘del Gesu’ and Carlo Bergonzi. At his best he was a superb craftsman and his mushroom-shaped upper bouts and slanting f-holes make his model one of the most distinctive of the Cremonese makers.
His two sons Pietro and Giuseppe were active in the workshop from around 1710. Pietro left for Venice in 1717, but Giuseppe stayed behind to inherit the business and to further improve on his father’s model, attaining heights that many believe have never been surpassed. (excerpted from Four Centuries of Violin Making by Tim Ingles.)
Born in 1695, Pietro most likely began apprenticing in the Guarneri shop around 1707. In 1717, at the age of 22, he left Cremona and sought his fortune in Venice. It is not known why he left Cremona, but it was very likely due, at least in part, to declining business. By 1715, the Stradivari family garnered virtually every important commission. Still, as the eldest son of Giuseppe \'filius Andrea\', Pietro would have been the natural choice to eventually inherit the Guarneri shop, so his decision to move to Venice may have involved personal reasons as well. Pietro worked for Sellas until 1733, the year he opened his own shop. His instruments, particularly those from 1730-50, are thought to successfully combine elements of Cremona and Venetian styles. Along with Domenico Montagnana and Santo Serafin, Pietro was one of the leading Venetian makers in the 1740s and 50s, and his instruments are highly valued.
Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu ranks today as one of the two greatest violin makers of all time, although the marked difference between the appearance and sound of his instruments and those of Stradivari makes comparison almost impossible. Some simply prefer Stradivari, and some (notably Paganini) prefer del Gesu. Giuseppe trained with his father, Giuseppe Guarneri filius Andrea, and assisted him from about 1714 until 1722. In that year he left his father’s house to get married, and seems to have forsaken violin making for a few years. The earliest known instruments that are entirely his own work date from the late 1720s, but it was not until 1731 that he began to insert the label with the monogram IHS (‘Iesus Hominem Salvator’: ‘Jesus Saviour of Man’), which gave rise to his nickname ‘del Gesu’.
He seems to have been strongly influenced by the Brescian school, and his work combines the best of the Cremonese tradition with the stretched C-bouts and exaggerated f-holes of Maggini and da Salo. Tonally, his instruments retain much of the sweetness of a Stradivari, but have a seemingly unlimited depth and darkness of sound, irrespective of the pressure of the bow. He reached his pinnacle as a craftsman in the mid-1730s, and produced some ravishingly beautiful instruments, such as the ‘King Joseph’ of 1737. However, it is the later instruments that have come to represent all that is characteristic of del Gesu — the unbridled creativity, the astonishing disregard for the details of workmanship, and the sheer daring of design and construction that are the natural conclusion of the deeply ingrained individuality of the Guarneri family. The rapid spread of del Gesu’s fame in the mid-19th century was largely due to the patronage of Paganini, who played the ‘Cannon’ of 1743 for most of his career. (excerpted from Four Centuries of Violin Making by Tim Ingles.)
Twentieth-century 'del Gesù' players include Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Leonid Kogan, Kyung Wha Chung, Michael Rabin, Joseph Silverstein, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Midori Goto, Rachel Barton Pine, Henryk Szeryng, Sarah Chang and Leila Josefowicz.
Guarneri,Giuseppe Giovanni Battista (filius Andrea)(1666 - 1739)
