Playing with Paganini

“ Paganini achieved an incandescent level of virtuosity when he played Il Cannone”

The value of high-quality violins has soared in recent years, especially those made by Cremonese makers Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and Giuseppe Guarneri (1698-1744). The latter, known as ‘del Gesù’ – due to the cross motif found on his later instruments – is widely considered the finest of all luthiers. His violins, of which less than 200 have survived, are prized for their lustrous sound and luminous tonal colours. Little wonder one of his sublime instruments holds the current auction record of $16 million reportedly paid for the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri, named after the great Belgian player-composer who once owned it and currently on loan for life to the American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers.

Yet there is one Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ of such legendary renown that it is kept guarded under lock and key in Genoa’s Palazzo Doria Tursi: , crafted in 1743 and the main instrument of the