A violin by famed maker Nicolò Amati, as well as one of only two existing mandolins and one of five existing guitars by master Antonio Stradivari -- all owned by the National Music Museum (NMM), of Vermillion, South Dakota -- are among the Cremonese treasures that have journeyed to Italy for a year-long display.
The historic exhibit “Reunion in Cremona” is taking place at the Museo del Violino from September 21, 2019 to October 18, 2020.
This extraordinary array of Renaissance and Baroque treasures -- most from the NMM’s venerable Witten-Rawlins collection -- include not only the Nicolò Amati violin, 1628; the Stradivari Cutler-Challen choral mandolin, 1680, and Rawlins guitar, 1700; but also the King Henry IV violin, ca. 1595, by the brothers Antonio and Girolamo Amati; a violin, 1609, and a violino piccolo, 1613, by Girolamo Amati; a viola, 1781, by Nicola Bergonzi; a child’s ½-size violin, 1793, by Lorenzo Storioni; and the King Charles IV violin bow, ca. 1700, attributed to the workshop of Antonio Stradivari.
While the NMM is undergoing a historic time of its own in South Dakota, temporarily closed for architectural metamorphosis -- these stringed instruments will be on public view at the Cremonese museum. The NMM is slated to reopen after construction and renovation ends, in 2021.
Stay tuned to www.nmmusd.org.
The Museo del Violino is at Palazzo dell’Arte Piazza Marconi 5 – 26100 Cremona, Italy Tel (+ 39) 0372 801801 www.museodelviolino.org
