cello

This cello, along with a Magnin cello, was part of a small private collection that the Musical Instrument Fund was able to acquire in 1993. At the time, the experts could not agree on the origin of this cello. It is rare for the Fund to encounter such a wide divergence of opinion among experts as was the case with this instrument. Two experts identified it as an English cello, another expert was convinced it was built in the Netherlands, and yet another expert confidently attributed the instrument to the Italian maker Ornato Gragnani. The Gagliano label found inside the cello was deemed a forgery by all the makers. As luck would have it, the cello required repairs in 2003. The Amsterdam violin maker who performed the repair called the Musical Instrument Fund and excitedly reported that he had received a cello from another client at his workshop whose top was made from wood cut from the exact same tree. It was confirmed that the other cello was a Lefebvre, which meant it could also be established with certainty that our cello was likewise built by J.B. Lefebvre. Shortly after its purchase in 1993, the cello was loaned to the then-principal cellist of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, Sarah Wijzenbeek and Ella van Poucke played the Lefebvre for some time. Since 2010, the cello has been in the possession of Mascha van Nieuwkerk, and as of 2019, it is with Jobine Siekman.