The Gagliano: Two Centuries of Violin Making in Naples

The Gaglianos: Two Centuries of Violin Making in Naples* Guido Olivieri For about two hundred years, from the end of the seventeenth century to the midnineteenth century, the Gagliano was the most important family of luthiers in Naples. Their art, transmitted from father to son for four generations, practically coincided with the history of violin making in Naples. The exceptional production of these makers, which covers the entire qualitative spectrum from outstanding to rather coarse instruments, was able to compete with the most famous North-Italian schools of violin makers and is still today in high demand.1 Violins and cellos made by members of the Gagliano family appear frequently in the lists of important international auctions, side by side with the celebrated instruments of the North-Italian families—Amati, Stradivari, or Guarneri—often attaining rather high prices. A 1709 violin by Alessandro Gagliano at Skinner auction in Boston fetched $205,000 in 2000, while another violin dated 1702 was valued at $204,000 at Christie’s last year; a cello by Gennaro Gagliano, dated 1741, even reached the sum of £246,500 at Bonhams.2 In 2007 a violin by Gennaro Gagliano was sold in London at a new record for that maker of $210,000.3 Abbreviations: ASBN: Napoli, Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli. ASC: Napoli, Archivio Storico del Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella. * This essay gathers the first results of a larger study I am conducting on the life and activity of the Gagliano violin makers. It is my homage to William Prizer’s superb scholarship and a small token of appreciation for having been such a rigorous and patient mentor for me. I would also like to thank Timothy McGee and Neal Zaslaw for their invaluable suggestions. At the moment of the revision of this article, I have received news of a paper presented by David Bonsey at the 40th Annual Conference of the American Musical Instrument Society on the Gagliano family. Unfortunately I could not read this paper and I am not aware of the exact content of it. 1 A recent article underlined the fame and popularity of these instruments stating that “The world is awash in Gaglianos”; Erin Shrader, “Gaglianos Galore,” Strings 146 (Feb. 2007), 98-101 at 98. 2 For the Boston’s auction see Joanna Pieters, “News & Events,” The Strad 111, no. 1317, (Jan. 2000), 8. The report on Christie’s auction is by Caroline Gill, “Auction Report: New Internationalism,” The Strad 118, no. 1406 (June 2007), 27. “The main attraction at Bonhams was a magnificent cello, which sold to a well-known musician. This Gennaro Gagliano, Naples 1741, came with an optimistic estimate of £220,000-280,000, and just managed the lower bracket of £220,000 (£246,500 with premium).” Anne Inglis, “Selling Fireworks” The Strad 111, no. 1318 (2000), 120. 3 Caroline Gill, “The Best of Times,” The Strad 118, no. 1402 (Feb. 2007), 24. 363 364 Guido olivieri Instruments created by the Gagliano family form part of important collections worldwide. Three violins by Nicola and Giuseppe Gagliano have been acquired by the Royal Academy of Music in London, while other instruments of these makers are preserved in the collections of the Library of Congress, the National Music Museum of the University of South Dakota, and the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History, among other institutions.4 The irregular proportions adopted in the early instruments by the founding father of the dynasty, Alessandro Gagliano—especially their longer body, a characteristic shared with other South-Italian luthiers—makes some of these instruments more difficult to adapt to modern standards. But their rich tone and powerful voice are much in demand among many performers, particularly those committed to historically-informed performance practice. John Holloway and Fabio Biondi both play violins made by Ferdinando Gagliano in the 1760s; Catherine Mackintosh owns an 1803 Giovanni Gagliano as her modern violin; and Andrew Manze performs in concerts around the world with his 1783 violin by Giuseppe Gagliano, an instrument admired for its clear and sweet tone that he nonetheless describes thus: “of the ones coming out of the Gagliano workshop, this was probably third-rate, a budget violin.”5 Yet despite all this interest, very little is known of this family of luthiers that dominated the production of violins and cellos in Naples. The activity of many of the Gaglianos – especially that of the earliest representatives – is still shrouded in mystery, while myths and legends characterize the reconstruction of their lives. The information on the careers of some are based solely on the dates recorded on the labels of the instruments they produced. Indeed, even a recent study examining some of the Gaglianos’ finest instruments admits that the extraordinary story of this family is still “locked in the Archives of Naples; and likely to remain so, as the city records are notoriously incomplete, thanks to various acts of nature and mankind.”6 It is perhaps time to shed light on and unveil some of the secrets of these prominent Neapolitan makers. This study presents the first documentary evidence on the activity of the Gagliano family and its relationship with the Neapolitan conservatories in the context of the history of violin-making in Naples in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 4 For the Royal Academy collection see David Rattray and Clarissa Bruce, Masterpieces of Italian Violin Making 1620-1850: Twenty-Six Important Stringed Instruments from the Collection at the Royal Academy of Music (London: Royal Academy of Music, 1991). Information on the Smithsonian Museum collection is in Pierre Ruhe, “Preservation or Incarceration?” The Strad 108, no. 1291 (Nov. 1997), 1230. For the National Music Museum collection, I have consulted the website at http://www.usd. edu/smm/. Several other instruments by Gagliano are preserved in the collection of instruments of the Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella in Naples as well as in numerous private collections. 5 Catherine Mackintosh states: “My modern violin is an 1803 Giovanni Gagliano and that is fine for Brahms onwards—I just don’t use a chin-rest for early 19th-century music and I have gut strings on it.” See Jessica Duchen, “Practicing Performance,” The Strad 106, no. 1261 (May 95): 484. Manze’s comment is in Timothy Pfaff, “Masters of Early Music,” Strings 13, no. 7, issue 77 (April 1999). 6 John Dilworth, “Like Father, Like Son?” The Strad 115, no. 1365 (Jan. 2004), 36-43 at 36. The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples 365 From its inception the history of violin-making in Naples was influenced by the intersection of two main traits: the presence in the city of workshops established by German makers and the impact of the North-Italian schools of luthiers. It is well known that in some small German towns of the Bavarian region, especially in and around Füssen, a long tradition of instrument making had flourished since the Middle Ages. In Füssen the first guild of lute makers was already established in 1562, and a vigorous industry of violin making was well developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The series of religious wars that ravaged Germany and central Europe in the early seventeenth century led to a rapid decline in the once lively commerce of instruments and to the consequent diaspora of entire families of makers. Although the German makers scattered throughout Europe—among the most famous was the Tieffenbrucker family in Lyon and Paris—many saw Catholic Italy as the safest place for the exercise of their art and a thriving country in which to practice their industry. These makers had a fundamental role in the formation and development of the luthier tradition in Italy. Some of the most important luthiers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Italy bear German names: a branch of the Tieffenbruckers in Venice and Padua; the Straubs in Milan, Venice, and Modena; Hans Kolb and David Tecchler in Venice and Rome; and Michael Platner in Rome. As in the rest of Italy, the earliest luthiers to establish their workshops in Naples during the first half of the seventeenth century were of German origin. The long list includes at least Matheus Daiser, Jörg Hellmeier, Georg Kaiser, Magnus Lang I, Christoph Railich, Michael Rauscher, Hans Schavitle, Georg Schiessler, Jacob and Michael Stadler, Lukas and Peter Steger, and Jacob Tiefenbrunner in the seventeenth century; and Georg Bairhoff, Thomas Eberle, Josef Joachim Edlinger, Magnus Lang III, Antonio Magnus, and Hans Man in the eighteenth century.7 Jörg Hellmeier was among the earliest makers to settle in Naples, dying there in 1626. He was probably a member of the large family of Hollmayr (or Hollmayer), German makers active in various Italian and European centers. Georg Kaiser, who was originally from Rieden, near Füssen, moved first to Venice and Padua, where he probably worked with Wendelin Tieffenbrucker, and around 1605 arrived in Naples, perhaps together with Magnus Lang I. He was almost certainly a relative of Martin Kaiser, an influential figure in seventeenthcentury violin making in Venice from whom Matteo Gofriller learnt his craft.8 A document of 1615 indicates Georg Kaiser as the maker of an archlute for the use of the Viceroy Don Pedro Fernandez de Castro, Count of Lemos, a member 7 This list, as well as some of the following information is extracted from the fundamental work by Richard Bletschacher, Die Lauten- und Geigenmacher des Füssener Landes (Hofheim am Taunus: F. Hofmeister, 1978). 8 Stefano Toffolo, Antichi strumenti veneziani 1500–1800: Quattro secoli di liuteria e cembalaria (Venice: Arsenale editrice, 1987); and John Dilworth, “Fit for a King,” The Strad 108, no. 1289 (Sep. 1997), 968. 366 Guido olivieri of the Accademia degli Oziosi and one of the most cultured personalities in Naples.9 Before the plague that devastated the city in 1656, Jörg Hellmeier, Jacob and Michael Stadler, Georg Kaiser, Matheus Daiser, Magnus Lang, Michael Rauscher, Georg Schiessler, and Lukas and Peter Steger were all working in Naples. They were members of a confraternity established to bring together citizens and craftsmen of German origin that was located in the church of S. Maria dell’Anima dei Tedeschi, donated to the city’s German citizens in 1586. According to the statutes of the Confraternita dell’Anima two of the four governors had to be chosen from among the craftsmen members.10 Jakob Stadler certainly occupied a prominent place in the confraternity, since he was elected six times as governor between 1611 and 1644. Michael Rauscher was governor in 1620 and 1622, while Christoph Railich, member of a family of luthiers well established in Padua, was resident in Naples at least from 1668, where he married one Barbara de Mauro and became governor of the confraternity in 1670 and again in 1671. It was also common for these craftsmen to establish family ties among themselves. In 1616 Kaiser’s daughter Apollonia married Hans Schavitle,11 another German luthier who on January 13, 1609 had been elected governor of the Confraternita dell’Anima. The luthier Magnus Lang I, born in Schwangau, had worked in Padua between 1597 and 1599, moving then to Naples probably together with Georg Kaiser. Here he was elected three times as governor of the confraternity in 1606, 1618, and 1624. His daughters Angela and Maddalena married, respectively, the makers Georg Schiessler (in 1628) and Matheus Daiser (in 1630). The presence in Naples of Jacob Tiefenbrunner as a member of the Confraternita dell’Anima in 1667-68 is significant for the liaisons between the Neapolitan and later Mittenwald schools. Indeed, Jacob was probably a relative of Martin Tiefenbrunner, born in 1687 and in turn the godfather of Matthias Klotz, founder of the Mittenwald school.12 9 The document is quoted in Gaetano Filangieri Indice degli artefici delle arti maggiori e minori, 1: 450, and reprinted in Francesco Nocerino, “Liutai del sedicesimo e diciassettesimo secolo a Napoli: contributi documentari,” Recercare 13 (2001), 235-47, at 240. For the Count of Lemos see Otis H. Green “The Literary Court of the Conde de Lemos at Naples, 1610-1616,” Hispanic Review 1, no. 4 (Oct. 1933), 290-308. 10 A doctoral dissertation is presently in progress at the University of Rome Tor Vergata by Luigi Sisto on the Neapolitan luthiers during the Spanish domination (1503-1707), with the title “Napoli e le origini della tradizione liutaria italiana.” Sisto also presented a paper at the annual conference of the Società Italiana di Musicologia in 2007 on “Aspetti sociali e sistema produttivo liutario a Napoli tra Cinque e Seicento. La Confraternita di S. Maria dell’Anima dei Tedeschi: storia, vita sociale, attività corporativa (1586-1717),” which discussed his systematic research of the archival funds of this congregation. The text of this paper was not available to me. 11 In some documents he is indicated as “Sciaffitel.” 12 We note here that Vannes reports a violin of the Mittenwald school signed “Tentzel Benedikt, Napoli 1717.” The Tentzel was in fact a family of luthiers active in Mittenwald in the 18th century. See René Vannes, Dictionnaire universel des luthiers (Brussels: Les Amis de la Musique, 1993), 1: 356. The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples 367 Despite this significant presence of German makers in Naples, which certainly contributed to the birth of a local tradition of violin making, some documents seem to indicate that the production of violins in the early seventeenth century was still very limited and was soon overtaken by the North Italian schools. It seems likely that the best instruments were imported directly from what had already become the most famous school of luthiers in Italy, that of Cremona. Contacts between Naples and Cremona are confirmed as early as the first decades of the century. One of the earliest documents attesting the circulation of violins of Cremonese production dates back to 1620: To the Governors of the [Congregation of] Visita Poveri 10 ducats and on their behalf to Filippo Latino, these have been paid for the porterage of eight violins and one bass that he brought from the city of Cremona here to Naples to be used for the music of their conservatory and of this payment he remains satisfied.13 An inventory of the instruments owned in 1707 by the first violinist of the Neapolitan Royal Chapel, Pietro Marchitelli, shows that the violins of the Cremonese school were already preferred by the most eminent performers of the time. Marchitelli’s collection includes several precious violins from the Amati workshop—here interestingly characterized as “old violins”—together with some other string instruments produced locally by the still today little-known luthiers Mancino and della Rocca: Seven old Violins from Cremona by Nicolò, Antonio and Geronimo Amati, three violette [violas], another violin by Mancini, one violin by Mr. Franceschino della Rocca, one guitar.14 The production of Alessandro Gagliano, the founder of the family dynasty, clearly demonstrates the influence of the two main traditions that coexisted in Naples. 13 “Alli Governatori de Visita Poveri ducati 10 e per loro a Filippo Latino, dite se li pagano per la portatura di otto violini e uno basso che ha condutto dalla città di Cremona qua in Napoli per servizio della Musica del loro Conservatorio e resta sodisfatto.” (ASBN, Banco dello Spirito Santo, giornale copiapolizze mat. 148, on January 3, 1620). Quoted in Francesco Nocerino, “Strumenti musicali a Napoli al tempo di Piccinni,” in Clara Gelao, Michele Sajous, and Dinko Fabris, eds. Il tempo di Niccolò Piccinni: Percorsi di un musicista del Settecento (Bari: M. Adda, 2000), 62. 14 “Violini di Cremona vecchi di Nicolò, Antonio e Geronimo Amati n. 7, Violette n. 3, altro Violino del Mancini, un Violino del Sig.r Franceschino della Rocca, una Chitarra.” Document quoted in Ulisse Prota-Giurleo, “Breve storia del teatro di corte e della musica a Napoli nei sec. XVII-XVIII,” in Felice de Filippis and Ulisse Prota Giurleo, Il teatro di corte del Palazzo Reale di Napoli (Naples: L’arte tipografica, 1952), 69. Mancino could be possibly identified with or at least related to the luthier Costantino Mancino. The activity of this luthier in the second half of the seventeenth century emerges in a single document of payment for a commission of numerous harmonic tables for the construction of calascioni and guitars: “A Giuseppe Antonio Galdieri ducati 18, tarì 1, grana 10, e per esso a Costantino Mancino a complimento de ducati 51.4.10 atteso l’altri ducati 33.3 l’ha ricevuti contanti, quali ducati 51.4.10 se li pagano per l’intiero prezzo, vendita e consegna fattali di numero 350 tompagni di calascione, e numero 452 detto de chitarra, quale con ditto pagamento resta intieramente soddisfatto e per esso a Pietro de Carluccio per altritanti” (ASBN, Banco di San Giacomo, mat. 461, 19 Agosto 1688, c.95); quoted in Nocerino, “Liutai,” 242-43. 368 Guido olivieri The earliest violins and cellos made by this luthier show a distinctive style whose model is closer to the German tradition than to the North-Italian one. Indeed this is not surprising considering the history of the Neapolitan tradition of violin making described above. One needs also to take into account that some German luthiers were still active in Naples when Alessandro started his workshop, and that others, such as Georg Bairhoff and Thomas Eberle, probably worked for some time in Gagliano’s workshop—to the point that some of their instruments are often mistaken for Gagliano’s. A well-established tradition, however, still considers Alessandro to be a follower of the Cremonese school and more precisely a disciple of Antonio Stradivari. This association has been based essentially on the often unreliable surviving labels placed inside the instruments Alessandro made around 1700, in which he calls himself an “Alumnus Stradivari.” To corroborate the belief in Alessandro’s apprenticeship with Stradivari is also the story of his flight from Naples to escape punishment for a crime. One of the earliest and most imaginative accounts of this episode describes how the young Alessandro, son of a marquis of the same name, killed a man and was forced to “hide in a dense forest around Mariglianetto Borgo, and there as a pastime he started carving some instruments similar to the shape of violins in the tree trunks he found at hand.”15 A more credible version was included in 1885 in De Piccolellis’s book devoted to the Italian luthiers: Alessandro Gagliano was born in Naples around 1640 and since his youth had a passion for the study of music and as a pastime made a few mandolins and lutes, showing a certain predisposition and talent. In the Reign of Naples there existed at that time the deplorable custom of dueling. . . . Alessandro, following the common practice, became a very skilled swordfighter and, as he also had a bold temperament, it was easy for him to get into trouble. Indeed, one evening he was arguing with a young Neapolitan noble of the Mayo family, a very powerful family on account of its friendship with the Viceroy, the Count of Penneranda, when actions proved quicker than words and, swords having crossed, Alessandro’s challenger fell dead on the spot. The duel occurred in the small square of Santa Maria La Nuova near the church of the Franciscans that a Bull of Pope Gregorio XIV had made inviolable, like all the other churches in the city. Thus Gagliano, fearing the consequences of his homicide, sought refuge among the friars and asked for their protection. Pennaranda was a strenuous opponent of dueling and was accustomed in such cases to treat it with extreme severity. . . . This was the situation, when it appeared prudent to the Cardinal of Naples, Ascanio Filomarino, who had taken the friars’ side, to 15 “… il s’enfonça dans une èpaisse forêt près de Mariglianetto Borgo, et là pour se distraire, il se mit à tailler dans les troncs d’arbre qu’il avait sous la main, des instruments dont la forme ressemblait à celle du violon…” Nikolai Borisovich Youssoupoff, Luthomonographie historique et raisonnée: Essai sur l’histoire du violon et sur les ouvrages des anciens luthiers célèbres du temps de la renaissance par un amateur (Frankfurt am Main: Ch. Jügel, 1856), 52. The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples 369 save Alessandro by arranging his escape. He took all the necessary steps to have him secretly leave the convent, and at night, securely escorted by armed men, he took him to his villa in Mignaniello, from where Alessandro left for Rome. Alessandro moved on and, going from city to city, finally arrived to Cremona. There he had the opportunity to meet Stradivari and, observing the works of this luthier, Alessandro once again became inflamed with a passion for making instruments and entered the workshop of that great master as a pupil. He worked for about thirty years under the guidance of the illustrious luthier and acquired true mastery. Then, after such a long exile, having obtained an official pardon, he left Cremona and in the last days of the year 1695 saw his hometown again.16 Although there is no documentary evidence to confirm this legend, its profusion of details suggests that it was copied from a chronicle of the time. A few elements, however, make even this version suspicious. If Alessandro was indeed born in 1640 and the duel took place around 1664—this being the last year of Marquis of Peñaranda’s reign—he would have returned to Naples to start up his independent workshop at the age of fifty-five and continued to make violins well into his eighties. Besides considering it unlikely that an artisan could start his activity in his late maturity—what is more, after spending about thirty years in a different city—one must also consider that in the 1660s Stradivari was still at the beginning of his career and therefore far from being the celebrated violin maker that he became later. It is also important to bear in mind that in most of the surviving labels Alessandro “Alessandro Gagliano nacque in Napoli verso il 1640 e fino dai suoi più giovani anni studiò con amore la musica e per diletto si diede a costruire qualche mandolino e qualche liuto, mostrando una certa naturale disposizione ed ingegno. Nel vicereame di Napoli esisteva a quei tempi la funesta piaga dei duellanti [...]. Alessandro, seguendo l’esempio comune, divenne un abilissimo spadaccino ed ebbe inoltre un’indole molto temeraria e tal da doverlo trascinare facilmente a qualche mal passo. Ed in fatti, avendo egli una sera attaccato briga con un nobile napoletano della famiglia Mayo, potente assai per l’amicizia che lo legava al vicerè conte Penneranda, furono i fatti più pronti delle parole: ed incrociate appena le spade, il suo avversario cadde ucciso sul colpo. Avvenne il duello nel piccolo largo di Santa Maria la Nuova vicino alla Chiesa dei Francescani, resa inviolabile, come tutte le altre della città, dalla bolla di papa Gregorio XIV, onde il Gagliano, spaventato per le conseguenze che poteva avere tale omicidio, cercò ricovero dai frati, mettendosi sotto la loro protezione, in grazia del diritto d’asilo che essi godevano. Era il Penneranda strenuo persecutore dei duellanti, e soleva in simili casi trattarli con asprissimo rigore. [...] Stavano così le cose, quando parve savio partito al cardinale di Napoli Ascanio Filomarino, che si era mischiato nella faccenda per sostenere i frati, di ridurre in salvo Alessandro colla fuga. Procurò tutti i mezzi acciò segretamente si allontanasse, e nottetempo, con sicura scorta d’armati, lo diresse a Mignaniello in una sua villa, di dove lo fece partire per Roma. Alessandro spinse più innanzi i suoi passi, e di città in città giunse fino a Cremona. Quivi ebbe occasione di conoscere lo Stradivari, ed osservando le opere sue gli si riaccese la passione di costruire strumenti, ed entrò come scolare nella officina di quel grande maestro. Lavorò circa trent’anni sotto la guida dell’illustre liutaio, ed acquistò una vera abilità. Poi, dopo un così lungo esilio, avendo avuta notizia del suo perdono, lasciò Cremona e negli ultimi giorni dell’anno 1695 rivide la sua città nativa.” Giovanni de Piccolellis, Liutai antichi e moderni (1885) (repr., Bologna: Arnaldo Forni, 1985), 31-32. 16 370 Guido olivieri Gagliano stated only that he was a follower of Stradivari, without providing any further details. While we may safely assume that these labels referred to the by then famous Antonio Stradivari and were most likely used as an advertising stunt, the discovery of the last will of the celebrated luthier has revealed that his youngest son, Omobono, traveled to Naples probably around 1698 and spent two and a half years there.17 It is certainly possible that Omobono Stradivari met Alessandro Gagliano and worked with him for a few months, and that this was enough to cause the Neapolitan maker to proclaim himself a disciple of Stradivari. The lack of documentary evidence makes it extremely difficult to discern any grain of truth behind the legends surrounding the activities of the Gagliano family. However, new documents have emerged during this early stage of my research that provide precise information and firm data about the Gaglianos and their association with the Neapolitan conservatories. The four conservatories in Naples had evolved during the course of the seventeenth century from orphanages into full-fledged music schools. A complex administrative apparatus regulated the organizations of education and saw to the other needs of the figlioli, the young boys in training to become professional musicians. From the start these institutions had obviously to resort to luthiers in order to acquire and repair the instruments used by the figlioli. Some conservatories employed local makers on an occasional basis, while others, such as the Conservatorio of S. Maria di Loreto, hired them permanently among the official personnel, beginning with makers of harpsichords and organs, and later including makers of the string and wind instruments. Starting in the mid-seventeenth century the names, years of activity, and stipends of these “accomodatori d’istrumenti” were listed in the account books of the conservatories. The first mention of Alessandro Gagliano appears in the list of the luthiers appointed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In the Libro Maggiore covering the years from 1699 to 1703, the following makers are listed: Felice Cimmino, organ maker, and Matteo Cappello, who “from the first day of April 1699 has again started to serve the Conservatory for all repairs to violas and violins.” Cappello worked for the conservatory until September 1701 and was temporarily replaced by Vito Antonio Albanese from March 9, 1702.18 In June of the same year, Albanese ceded the post to Alessandro Gagliano, who was hired with a salary of 7.2.10 ducats per annum: “Alessandro Gagliano—1703 on 20 May, Ducats 3.3.15 to be paid through the Bank of S. Eligio for six months of salary up to December 11, 1702.”19 (see Fig.1.) 17 On Stradivari’s testament and Omobono’s travel to Naples, see Carlo Chiesa and Duane Rosengard, The Stradivari Legacy (London: Peter Biddulph, 1998). 18 It is possible that this maker belonged to a family of luthier of old tradition. An Orazio Albanese was active in Naples as a maker of viols in the second half of the sixteenth century. See Nocerino, “Liutai,” 238. 19 “Alessandro Gagliano -- 1703 @ 20 Maggio Ducati 3.3.15 pagabili per il Banco di S. Eligio per sua provvisione di mesi sei per tutto li 11 di Xmbre 1702 ut supra in esso banco.” ASC, Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (1699-1703) (III.1.2.20), c. 289. The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples Figure 1: ASC, Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (16991703) (III.1.2.20), c. 289. (By kind permission of the Archivio Storico del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples) Figure 2: ASC, Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (16991703) (III.1.2.20), c. 289v. (By kind permission of the Archivio Storico del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples) 371 372 Guido olivieri Figure 3: ASC, Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (1704-14) (I.22.7), c.358. (By kind permission of the Archivio Storico del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples) A note on the previous page reiterates that the salary of 7.2.10 ducats is awarded to Gagliano for one year of service “starting in June 1702 and ending on June 11, 1703 with the obligation of repairing violins and violas in the same way as carried out by Master Matteo Cappello.”20 (see Figure 2.) Gagliano maintains his positions also in the years 1704-14 with the same obligations and an unaltered annual salary. But the Libro Maggiore further reveals the existence of a contractual agreement: (see Figure 3 above): Ducats 3.3.15 for his six months’s salary from July 1 1703 until December of the same year with the obligation to repair the violins and violas according to the contract stipulated by the Notary Domenico Marinelli, to which we make reference, and he remain satisfied of the past, [he accepts] the balance as it appears in the preceding [account] book on c.289.21 The activity of Alessandro Gagliano at the Conservatory of S. Maria di Loreto ended in 1722, with the last payment being recorded in December of that year. All biographies place Alessandro’s death sometimes between 1725 and 1735.22 20 Ibid., c. 289v. “Ducati 3.3.15 per sua provvisione di mesi sei dal primo di Luglio 1703 per tutto Xmbre detto per lo peso d’accomodare li violini e viole giusta l’espresso nell’istromento rogato per Notar Domenico Marinelli, al quale ut supra stando sodisfatto del passato come dal libro antecedente a c. 289 ut supra a conto de Resti.” Ivi, Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (1704-14) (I.22.7), c. 358. 22 Luigi Francesco Valdrighi, Nomocheliurgografìa antica e moderna: ossia Elenco di fabbricatori di strumenti armonici (1884) (repr., Bologna: Forni, 1967); Giovanni de Piccolellis, Liutai; Willibald Leo 21 The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples 373 I believe it is unlikely that Gagliano, having worked for about twenty years in the same conservatory, decided to retire from this secure position and either move to another institution or devote himself exclusively to the production of violins in his workshop. If not precisely in 1723, I would estimate the time of Alessandro’s death as probably no more than a few years later. Alessandro’s successors at the conservatory of Loreto were three little-known luthiers: Emilio Sfrondato, from May 1723 to April 1726; Michele Sala, from September 1726 to August 1731; and Nicola Vinaccia, from October 1731 to March 1734. The last is the earliest-known member of an important family of instrument makers active in Naples in the second half of the eighteenth century. His name does not appear in any biographical repertory, but an archival document indicates that in the same year (1734 )he was employed as a luthier at the Conservatory of Sant’Onofrio a Capuana.23 Between May and June 1734 the Gaglianos re-established their supremacy. Alessandro’s eldest son, Nicola, probably the most talented member of the family, was hired as luthier at the Conservatory of Loreto. His activity there continued uninterruptedly for the entire period of fourteen years covered by the account book. (See Fig. 4 on p. 374.) It is certain that Nicola Gagliano kept his position at the Conservatory of S. Maria di Loreto for at least another ten years, as it is confirmed by a document dated November 14, 1758: Expenditures - To Magnifico Nicola Gagliano for three ducats, grana 3.15 via the Bank of S. Eligio for his salary of 6 months ended this month of November 1758, corresponding to his annual stipend of ducats 7.2.10 for the duty of repairing violins, cellos, and double basses in our Conservatory and Sacred House of Loreto, according to what has been agreed, and he remains satisfied …24 Lütgendorff, Die Geigen und Lautenmacher vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (Frankfurt a.M.: Verlag von Heinrich Keller, 1913); and Henri Poidras, Critical & Documentary Dictionary of Violin Makers, Old and Modern (Rouen: Imprimerie de la Vicomté, 1928) all give 1725 as the year of death for Alessandro Gagliano. Vannes, Dictionnaire, puts the end of Alessandro’s activity around 1728, while Cecie Stainer, A Dictionary of Violin Makers (London: Novello,1956) states that Alessandro died in Naples “around 1730.” In his recent article “Like Father, like Son?” John Dilworth extends the activity of Alessandro to 1735. 23 “Ducati 2.2.10 a Mastro Nicola Vinaccia, disse esserno per il semestre maturato alla fine di giugno 1734 per l’accomodi che fa alli Violini, viole, controbasso, ed altro delli figlioli del loro Conservatorio.” ASBN, Banco dei Poveri, Account 1164, on July 7, 1734; quoted in Paologiovanni Maione, “Le carte degli antichi banchi e il panorama musicale e teatrale della Napoli di primo Settecento,” Studi Pergolesiani 4 (2000), 1-129, at 76. 24 “Esito – Magnifico Nicola gagliano per Ducati Tre, grana 3.15 per il Banco di Sant’Eligio per sua provvisione di Mesi 6 finidi nel corrente Mese di 9mbre 1758, alla ragione di ducati 7.2.10 l’anno per lo peso d’accomodare li Violini, Violoncelli e Contrabassi del nostro Real Conservatorio e Casa Santa di Loreto, giusta il convenuto, e resta sodisfatto [...]. ASC, Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, Giornale dell’Introito et Esito (1758-1762), c.37r. The document is published in Tommasina Boccia, “Documenti e regesti”, in Il museo della musica. Guida alla mostra, ed. Luigi Sisto, Emanuele Cardi, and Sergio Tassi (Naples: Accademia organistica campana, 2002), 27. I am grateful to Luigi Sisto for making available this material. 374 Guido olivieri Figure 4: ASC, Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (1715-48), [I.23.3], ff. 183 r-v. (By kind permission of the Archivio Storico del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples).25 Nicola was also active as a luthier at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo around the same time. The documents related to the expenses for this conservatory in 1742 include the indication of a regular salary paid to “Nicola Cagliano” [sic] as maestro in repairing all the string instruments of the conservatory and other related duties for 8 ducats a year.26 Another document in the same book records a payment for 1 ducat to “Mastro Nicola Cigliano” [sic] to repair a cello completely broken (“rotta é tutta scassata”) of one of the figlioli. The association of the Gagliano family with the Neapolitan conservatories extended over the entire eighteenth century and beyond. Some documents of the early-nineteenth century confirm that, even after the suppression of the four old conservatories and the creation of the Real Collegio di Musica a San Sebastiano, the Gaglianos remained the luthiers of choice. A list of all the repairs to the violins 25 26 ASC, Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, Libro Maggiore (1715-48), [I.23.3], cc. 183r-v. “A di. d.o [Dec. 31, 1742] al Sig. Nicola Cagliano Maestro di Accomodare tutti li Istrum[en]ti di corde della Casa e Altro D. 8 per l’annata finita ut supra -----8” Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, Libro d’Esito (1742) [D51], f. 49v. The GaGlianos: Two CenTuries of violin MakinG in naples 375 and bows of the students of the conservatory made between January and March 1816 bears the signature of Giuseppe Gagliano,(see Figs. 5 & 6 on p. 376), the second son of Nicola. This is clear evidence that Giuseppe was still active at the beginning of the nineteenth century, although apparently not as a violin maker.27 A later resolution of July 12, 1831 by the administration of the (now) Real Collegio di Musica rewarded a different member of the Gagliano family for his work in the manufacture and repair of instruments: “We pay to Antonio Gagliano 30 ducats and 14 grana for the cost of a violin and other new pieces made for the violin, cello, and double bass of this Collegio, in accordance with the estimate for this amount provided by Maestro Cerretelli.”28 The luthier named here is either Nicola’s third son — who often collaborated with his brother Giuseppe on the manufacture of violins — or, more likely, Nicola’s grandson, who belonged to the last generation of violin makers bearing this surname. Both Raffaele and Antonio, sons of Giovanni Gagliano, the last child of Nicola, started their activity as makers of violins in the family workshop, but their instruments are often of inferior quality, and they soon confined themselves to the production of strings for instruments. By the mid-nineteenth century, the long tradition of the Gagliano family that started with Alessandro had been irreparably lost, but this family of violin makers had left its mark in the development of a Neapolitan school of luthiers: a school that created some of the finest instruments of the eighteenth century, still regarded as models by subsequent generations of luthiers inside and outside Naples. 27 The two leaves are in ASC, Real Conservatorio di S. Sebastiano, Vol. Florimo, Rari 19.9, doc. 133. Many thanks to Dr. Tommasina Boccia, head archivist of the Conservatory, for pointing out this document to me. 28 “Pagansi ad Antonio Gagliano ducati trenta et grana 14 per importo di un violino ed altri pezzi nuovi datti ai violini, violoncello, e contrabasso di questo Collegio, giusta la nota valutata per detta somma dal Maestro Cerretelli.” ASC, Serie Amministrazione, Sottoserie Deliberazioni, Registro delle Deliberazioni della Commissione Amministrativa del Real Collegio di Musica (8 gennaio 1831 – 27 Dicembre 1836), f. 13v. The document is reproduced in Boccia, “Documenti,” 29. 376 Guido olivieri Figs. 5-6: ASC, Real Conservatorio di S. Sebastiano, Vol. Florimo, Rari 19.9, doc. 133. (By kind permission of the Archivio Storico del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples)