The Violins of Cremona – A Tour with Salvatore Accardo

For anyone who loves music and knows a little about its history, the city of Cremona immediately evokes, today, the violin and the great families of violin makers who, since the end of the 16th century and for many generations, made it famous in all the world: Amati, Guarneri and, above all, Stradivari. Even today, the city is filled with violin makers’ shops: to be able to write on one’s business card “Violin maker in Cremona” gives a builder of violins, violas, cellos (but also guitars, mandolinds, etc.) that extra status and appeal that helps make the difference, so to speak. And even though the houses and workshops of the great luthiers of the past no longer exist, to walk the streets of Cremona and breathe its air is quite enticing, helps to understand. Many of the tools of the great masters, their forms, measurements and drawings have come down to us, and are conserved at the Violin Making Museum. We also still have many instruments of exceptional artistic value and musical quality, in display at the “Museo Comunale”, where one can appreciate their incredible beauty. In this documentary, entirely filmed in Cremona, the renowned Italian violinist Salvatore Accardo is joined by Andrea Mosconi, President of the Stradivari Museum and curator of the Palazzo Comunale instrument collection, by the violin maker Francesco Bissolotti and the US restorer and violin maker Bruce Carlson in a fascinating journey in the world of this Cremonese traditional craftsmanship, showing us and playing some of the most prestigious instruments kept in the Lombard city. These instruments invariably have a glorious history, like for example the 1715 Stradivari violin that belonged to the violinist Joseph Joachim, to whom Johannes Brahms dedicated his Violin Concerto in D major, a beautiful instrument in perfect condition; or the 1734 Guarneri del Ges, donated to the City of Cremona by the Stauffer Foundation; or the “Cristiani” cello by Stradivar