violin

This violin is undoubtedly the crown jewel of the entire collection of the Musical Instrument Fund. The violin comes from the famous “Max Rodriguez Collection,” which consists of four Italian master instruments and sixteen valuable bows. In 1992, the Rodriguez Collection was loaned to the foundation. In 1997, the owner decided to donate nearly all of the instruments to our foundation, with the exception of a cello and a few bows, which were purchased by the foundation. It remains the largest donation ever made to the Musical Instrument Foundation.

The Guarneri del Gesù violin comes from the Von Heyder Collection (Frankfurt), where the violinist Hugo Heermann purchased an entire string quartet of Italian instruments in 1892. Heermann studied with Joseph Joachim. He taught at the conservatories in Frankfurt and Geneva, gave lessons in Berlin and Chicago, and was the first violinist of the Museums-Quartett in Frankfurt. The violin subsequently came into the possession of Mina Rode, a student of Heermann’s. In 1972, Max Rodriguez, himself a cellist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, purchased the instrument from dealer and expert Max Möller in Amsterdam.

The violin underwent extensive restoration in the year 2000, during which, among other things, the curvature of the top was corrected. With the violin open, several experts had the opportunity to examine its interior. They also concluded that it was made during the luthier’s golden age, contrary to what had previously been thought. The estimated year of construction was revised from ca. 1730 to ca. 1736. The foundation thus found that it possessed one of this maker’s most important instruments in its collection.

The violin was initially loaned to Isabelle van Keulen in 1992. Starting in 1995, it was loaned to Henk Rubingh (concertmaster of the Bach Solists and, at the time, principal second violinist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra). Rubingh played the Del Gesù for over 21 years. In April 2017, this top-tier instrument went to Daniel Rowland (first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet). He played the violin for two years. As of May 2019, the Del Gesù is being played by Vadim Tsibulevsky, concertmaster of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.