1732 'ex-Dollfus' Stradivarius Violin

Key Information

ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT

This spectacular nearly 300-year-old instrument, currently played by ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone, was made by Antonio Stradivari who is widely acknowledged as the greatest and most influential violin maker of all time.

He lived in Northern Italy during what is now referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ period of violin making and his instruments are highly prized for their unique blend of tonal excellence, design, beauty to the eye, and accuracy of workmanship. While he produced over one thousand string instruments in his lifetime, only 650 of Stradivari’s precious instruments survive.

There's a strong chance the ACO's newly-acquired 'ex-Dollfus' Stradivarius could have 'met' the 1743 ‘Carrodus’ Del Gesu violin that Richard Tognetti plays, back in the 1950s. In 1952, the 'ex-Dollfus' was acquired by Gilopez Kabayao, a violinist from The Philippines, who studied in Vienna with the then well-known Austrian pedagogue, Theodore Pashkus. Pashkus also taught a well-known Austrian violinist, Ossy Renardy, who owned the 1743 ‘Carrodus’ Del Gesu.

ABOUT THE MAKER

Antonio Stradivari (1644 - 1737) is widely acknowledged as the greatest violin maker of all time. Stradivari’s instruments exhibit a unique blend of tonal excellence, design, beauty to the eye, and accuracy of workmanship. Many of the world’s great violinists have played instruments by Stradivari, including Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Itzhak Perlman.