Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

Infobox musical artist
Name = Giovanni Battista Guadagnini


Background = non_performing_personnel
Alias = J.B. Guadagnini
Giambattista Guadagnini
Born = birth date|1711|06|23
Bilegno in Val Tidone, Italy
Died = death date and age|1786|09|18|1711|06|23
Turin, Italy
Instruments = String instruments
Occupation = Luthier, pedagogue
Years_active = 1729-1786

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (J.B. Guadagnini; Giambattista Guadagnini; June 23 1711 - September 18 1786) was an Italian "luthier", regarded as one of the finest craftsman of string instruments in history. His violins are often referred to as "poor man's Strads"Fact|date=August 2008 which alludes to the work of Antonio Stradivari, who is generally considered to be the greatest violin maker of all time.

Biography

Guadagnini was born in Bilegno in Val Tidone near Piacenza, current Emilia-Romagna. He practiced his craft from about 1729 until his death and his work is divided into four main periods corresponding to and named after Parma, Piacenza, Milan, and Turin, the four cities in Italy where he lived and worked. The instruments of his later period, Turin, are generally considered to be his best work, and tend toward higher valuations.

Guadagnini's father, Lorenzo, his son, Giuseppe, as well as some other members of the Guadagnini family continued in the line of violin making through several generations.

He died in Turin in 1786.

Performers who have used or are using Guadagnini instruments

;Violinists

; Cellists
* Natalie Clein plays the "Simpson" Guadagnini cello (1777) [ [http://www.natalieclein.com/ Natalie Clein ] ]
* David Geringas plays a G. B. Guadagnini cello made in Turin in 1761 [ [http://www.aitchisoncellos.com/articleguad.htm Aitchison Mnatzaganian cello makers, restorers and dealers ] ]

Bibliography

* [http://phonoarchive.org/grove/Entries/S11886.htm Guadagnini]
* [http://www.aitchisoncellos.com/articleguad.htm G B Guadagnini]
*E.N. Doring: The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers (Chicago,1949)
*A.H. König, ed.: Die Geigenbauer der Guadagnini-Familie. Die Turiner Schule (Frankfurt, 1981)
*G. Fiori: ‘Documenti biografici di artisti e personaggi piacentini dal ’600 all’ ’800 nell’Archivo Vescovile di Piacenza’, Strenna piacentina (1994), 67–111
*P.J. Kass: Violin Makers of the Piedmontese School
*
*
*Walter Hamma, "Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst", Wilhelmshaven 1993, ISBN 3-7959-0537-0
*G.B. Guadagnini - The life and achievement of a master maker by Duane Rosengard (Carteggio Media 2000)

References

External links

* [http://www.leroydouglasviolins.com/guadphotos.htm Images of the "ex-Joachim" G.B. Guadagnini Turin 1775]

Persondata
NAME=Guadagnini, Giovanni Battista
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Luthier
DATE OF BIRTH=1711-06-23
PLACE OF BIRTH=Bilegno in Val Tidone
DATE OF DEATH=1786-11-18
PLACE OF DEATH=Turin