Author:Gasparo Bertolotti da Salò(1540-1609)

Category：Entertainment

Year：ca. 1560

Introduction：Gasparo Bertolotti da Salò was born in Salò on Lake Garda in Northern Italy to a family of craftsmen. After his father died, he moved to Brescia, where he set up a workshop and devoted himself to violin making. What he inherited from the forerunners and left for the successors was of unsurpassable significance. Prior to his arrival in Brescia, the renowned violin maker Zanetto Micheli da Montichiaro was already there, and Gasparo’s student Giovanni Paolo Maggini was there after him, making it the peak of the violin making in Brescia.

The instruments created by da Salò are very rare – less than 50 in total, in which violins are even more scarce, making them extremely precious. This violin called “Al Droubi” is considered to be the best preserved of the master's surviving violins. The tone of this violin is deep and powerful, similar to that of a viola. The name is derived from its former owner, the Indian musician, Al Droubi.

Just like other violin makers of that time, in the beginning da Salò was profoundly influenced by Zanetto the elder; however, his originality gradually revealed in his unique personal style. His violins give a sense of strength and boldness, revealing obvious tool marks, not to mention their powerful and balanced sounds in full register, which made him a contributor of expanding the range of the violin. Some experts believe that do Salò's innovations helped in some way or other to the development of violin. However, during his time, violin making was still in its premature stage, almost no violin makers wrote down the date on the label, which makes it lack the direct evidence of the precise history of early violin making.

Accession Number:0010292

Place of Orgin：Brescia, Italy