Barjansky (cello)
Barjansky is the name of a cello that was built in Cremona by the Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari . The instrument is named after the Russian virtuoso Alexandre Barjansky (1883–1946). It has been owned by Julian Lloyd Webber since 1983 .
construction time
The year of manufacture of this cello is unclear and the subject of ongoing discussions. According to the original note, it was built in 1684. In 1871 a violin maker in Paris noted “1709” as the year of construction. In several publications even 1736 was given as the year of construction, which is now considered an error.
Jost Thöne gives "approx. 1690 “as construction time. Based on an analysis of the dimensions, among other things, the expert Florian Leonard, who knows the cello well, essentially comes to the same conclusion. In any case, the instrument lies between Stradivari's early Amati style and the phase shortly after 1700, when Stradivari had found his own cello model.
Provenance
The provenance is documented from the 1850s. The first known owner was therefore the violin maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in Paris. The next were a Marquis de Pluvié, who was characterized by the Hill collector family as a passionate amateur cellist, then the musicologist Jules Gallay and from 1871 a French count, the Comte de Poilloüe de Saint Périer de Kergorlay. In 1909, after stints at dealerships in Geneva and Paris, the cello reached the dealer George Hart in London, who examined and certified it. In the same year, the later namesake Alexandre Barjansky bought the instrument from Hart.
Alexandre Barjansky owned the cello from 1909 to 1922. After the outbreak of the First World War , he fled with his wife and the cello on a train from Paris, where the other refugees in the overcrowded train compartment complained that Barjansky would not allow the cello to be transported in the baggage car wanted to. Ernest Bloch dedicated his 1916 work Schelomo for violoncello and orchestra to the Barjansky couple . Barjansky played the solo part on the instrument at the world premiere of Frederick Delius' cello concerto on January 30, 1921 in Frankfurt.
The next owner was from 1922 Henri Quersin in Brussels. From 1963 the instrument belonged to R. van de Kerchove (Bonnebosq, Calvados , Normandy). The Barjansky had been in a bank vault for twenty years.
In 1983 the British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber bought the instrument at a Sotheby’s auction for a record price at the time; the amount was not disclosed. Lloyd Webber played the Barjansky cello for more than 30 years and made over 30 award-winning recordings on the instrument. In 2014, the cellist was forced to end his active career at the age of 63 after a herniated disc weakened his right arm. In January 2015 it was announced that he was offering the instrument for sale. Lloyd Webber said that such an instrument must be played and by no means end up in a museum.
Web links
- Data on the "Barjanski" cello Archivio della Liuteria Cremonese, as of March 23, 2017
- Barjansky Strad blog article by music journalist Helen Wallace, March 5, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Data on the cello "Barjanski" Archivio della Liuteria Cremonese, as of March 23, 2017
- ↑ a b Information on the Barjansky Jost Thöne Verlag
- ↑ Homepage of Florian Leonard
- ↑ a b c d Barjansky Strad blog article by Helen Wallace, March 5, 2015
- ^ The "Barjansky" Strad ( Memento of April 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Article in The Strad , October 1983 (archived website).
- ^ A b Julian Lloyd Webber is selling his Stradivarius after being forced to retire Birmingham Post, January 29, 2015