Big viola in original conditions
In Lübeck’s museum!
In the last 15 minutes of our visit to Lübeck’s St. Anne’s museum, and thanks to a hint by Kai Thomas Roth, we watched and took pics of this beautiful viola. Unfortunately, we had not enough time to measure it properly. It has a 45.5 cm body with a 13 cm neck. It was part of the instruments collection of the Marienkirche (the church of the merchants), made by Daniel Ehrich around 1660. Buxtehude commissioned this maker a viola for himself. And this is pretty much all we know.
I would be curious to know more about some deep and marked wear signs just under the fingerboard, precisely like those that the strap leaves on my Violoncello da Spalla’s top. It doesn’t make sense to me to play a viola with a strap, but I don't know what they could be made from. Leave a comment below with your thoughts!
Updates from our workshop
Featured video of the week
From Don Rickert’s podcast: Cool Instruments for Hep Cats, here is the episode on Violoncello da Spalla recently published, featuring yours truly. It’s five clips, here is the first. Make sure you subscribe, as more episodes on Violoncello da Spalla are following!
