A Guarneri violin at the Scala theatre: Premio Internazionale LOMBARDIA È RICERCA- giornata della ricerca in memoria di Umberto Veronesi- III edizione
Once again one of our violins took part in the ceremony of Premio Internazionale LOMBARDIA É RICERCA (International Prize- Lombardy is research)- Research Day dedicated to the memory of Oncologist Umberto Veronesi, promoted by the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi and Regione Lombardia, at the Teatro alla Scala, Milano, November 8 2019. The prize was given to Doctor Guido Kroemer. The Jury awarded the first prize to his discovery of the importance of the reduction of the amount, a key factor to increase longevity, keeping the organism healthy.
Edoardo Zosi played on the violin “Spagnoletti”, by Guarneri del Gesù, 1734, on display at the Museo del Violino within the project friends of Stradivari, accompanied by Raphael Gualazzi, piano, in the amazing location of the Scala theater, Milano, during the Ceremony.
Violin Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù “Spagnoletti”, 1734
This violin is an unique violin because it is the only instrument made by one of the early great Cremonese violinmaker that was named after a great Cremonese violin player. This violin player was “Spagnoletti” AKA Paolo Diana. In the summer of 1831, the virtuoso from Genoa performed in numerous recitals, and the posters printed for these concerts show Spagnoletti had the prestigious role of leader of the orchestra. We will never know whether, on those evenings, Paganini was struck “by the readiness, precision and elegance, by the vigorous sound, by the brilliant staccato and by the graceful adagio expression, all distinctive features of the Cremonese virtuoso”, as Spagnoletti was described by the Milanese Carlo Gervasoni in his Nuova teoria di Musica, published in Parma in 1812. What is certain, however, is that the two violinists were both performing on instruments made by Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’: Paganini on his famous 1743 ‘Cannone’ violin, and the Cremonese musician, now an adopted Englishman, on a 1734 violin that now bears his name.