Although nominally dedicated to Art and Archaeology, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum is no stranger to musical events and activity. Permanent home to the Hill collection of musical instruments since 1950, originally donated in 1928, the Museum’s collection now hosts forty-four exquisite stringed instruments, bows and keyboards, many in pristine condition. As such it forms one of the world’s most important collections, complementing the University’s chaotic Bate collection housed in the Music Faculty. Two items share pride of place in the Hill collection – the Kirckman harpsichord from 1772, still often played, and the priceless Stradivarius violin Le Messie from 1716, now never played and retaining its original varnish. These two represent the continuing tension between museum curators who wish to preserve the original appearance of the object (like vintage wine, for buying and selling, not for drinking), untainted by wear and tear, and musicians and music lovers who wish to hear the instrument as intended by the maker, despite its possible deterioration with time. Nevertheless, the Ashmolean has proved a great venue for musical performance, whether in the surprisingly clear acoustics of the ground floor Long Gallery or, more intimately, in a smaller gallery upstairs. Many Friends of the Museum remember the annual Christmas recitals on the Kirckman harpsichord given by Martin Souter, before his sadly premature retirement from public performance.
With a nucleus of its own Stradivarius instruments, two violins and a guitar, the Ashmolean has assembled from around the world a collection of twenty-one of his instruments for a prestigious, well publicised summer exhibition. The Exhibition is curated by the Ashmolean’s Senior Curator of European Art Jon Whiteley, with support and advice from the violin maker Charles Beare whose family firm have provided four of the exhibits.
Antonio Stradivari was born around 1644 and died in his nineties in 1737. He learnt his craft in Cremona under Nicolò Amati (1596-1684), one of whose instruments from the Hill Collection forms a prologue to the Exhibition. Stradivari’s first instrument still extant dates from 1666. Catalogued in Wikipedia are 267 violins, thirteen violas, 70-80 cellos, two guitars, one harp and two mandolins (no double bass?) built by him or in his family workshop between 1666 and 1737. Like thoroughbred racehorses, each is named appropriately after a previous owner, musician, physical or decorative feature. Of the twenty-one exhibited, each is in its own walk-around glass case. An indispensable audio-guide describes fourteen of them with brief – too brief – sound recordings. Outstanding among these are two sound bites of the violins playing virtuoso Paganini, a viola in Mozart’s sublime Sinfonia Concertante with violin, and a cello which once belonged to Piatogorski. Again following the equine analogy, thoroughbred instruments need experienced and strong-willed riders to handle them – too much to expect of the live musicians accompanying the exhibition.
Comparable in price with thoroughbreds, fetching between hundreds of thousands and tens of millions of dollars, the exhibits must have an enormous accumulated value. The insurance risk is borne by an ‘Intergovernmental indemnity fund’, that is, by taxpayers like you and me – yet another good reason not to miss this Exhibition.
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Music at Oxford mounted an interesting concert and demonstration on 14 June at the Sheldonian Theatre. The first half featured no less than three Stradivari violins, two from the so-called Golden Period (1709-1721) and one from 1666, whose label describes Stradivari as a pupil of Niccolò Amati. These had been most graciously lent for the occasion by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford from their current important exhibition of Stradivari’s work.
The distinguished violinist James Ehnes joined Sir Curtis Price, Master of New College, Oxford and Charles Beare of J. and A. Beare, the violin experts, in a discussion and appreciation of the magnificent work of Stradivari which indicated that these instruments, when in good condition and set up for a professional to play, will reveal colours and nuance in tone quite unique in the violin world. To illustrate, James Ehnes played the partita from Prelude no. 3 (J.S. Bach) on the Serdet of 1666 in which every note rang true with a beautifully even tone: this was followed by a performance of the Prokofiev sonata for solo violin (op. 115), a piece ideal for the Parke (1711) with its huge depth of tone on the lower strings. Finally, James Ehnes played Paganini’s Caprice no. 24 on the magnificent Marsick of 1715, his superb technical command showcasing the instrument to perfection.
It was obvious from his performance and discussion that James Ehnes reveres the Stradivari violin and understands its demands and rewards when played by a master. His excellent note on the subject, ‘On playing a Stradivarius violin’ (© Ashmolean Museum 2013), was included in the printed programme and provides much food for thought.
The second half of the concert was given by eleven baroque string specialists comprising the group La Serenissima, one of the leading exponents of the music of Vivaldi and his Italian contemporaries, using instruments set up as they would have been in that period: it was interesting to note the difference in sound and colour from the Stradivari violins in modern set-up we heard earlier. Unfortunately, as Charles Beare said in the opening discussion, a complete comparison cannot easily be made as virtually no Stradivari violin surviving in original form is in playable condition.
The ensemble, whose sound was often enhanced by the use of a tenor viola, adding depth and balance to the whole, played two sinfonias by Navara (Maestro di Capella at Mantua, 1695-1699), followed by a fascinating concerto for four violins by Valentini (1681-1753), and a concerto for solo violin (RV208) by Vivaldi (1678-1741). The technical demands on the soloist in the last piece are considerable; it was almost certainly written for Vivaldi himself and was brilliantly played on this occasion by the group’s director, Adrian Chandler.
La Serenissima is well known for performing the work of little-known composers but it would perhaps have been good on this occasion to have heard something from Corelli, a supreme master of the art of writing for strings, whose work would have been well known to Stradivari.
The exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum continues until August 11th, 2013.