Violoncello da Spalla Podcast

I recently received a call from my friend Claudio Amighetti, expert dealer and restorer in Cremona, because he has received an unusual instrument for sale and he was eager to have our opinion. I drove there to see it and try it as a Violoncello da Spalla. It is now strung with D’addario Helicore and tuned GDAE, but I also brought with me a tailpiece and some strings to try it ain the normal cello...

Well, it's actually my dream. I dream of making an instrument for a cathedral. A small “Handbassel”, or Violoncello da Spalla, that hangs there on the musicians' balconade, next to the organ, ready for anyone who wants to accompany at the bass. Just as it happened to the small five strings Wagner for many years, as its wear signs tell us. Besides the Wagner, there are other original instruments to...

This week, we played the Sonata “L’inconnue” by Michel de la Barre in concert; here is the video of our complete live performance. Daniela’s Violoncello da Spalla is made by herself in 2022 and equipped with Tomoki Sumiya pure gut trebles and Eliakim Boussoir’s overspun gut basses. We played in a beautiful hall in Bolzano called the Josephsaal . It was made in 1908 in the style of a hall of the cr...

During the past week we had rain every day, which is quite unusual here for may. It was not a good weather for varnishing: we do not have a UV light box, as in the mountain UV rays are stronger we like to use the natural ones when we need them. Plus, we both felt we wanted to understand more the character of these two new da spalla cellos instead of rushing them through varnishing. So here we offe...

I so much wanted to share with you the beauty of this place where we live, that I hope you will not bother too much my difficult language and you’ll enjoy the view! Updates from our workshop The first of the two da spalla cellos I made this year is playing! It is loud and rough, as an instrument in white should be, it will be more rounded and elegant after it’s varnished. This is the 10th Violonce...

I’m receiving more and more questions about gut strings, so I thought I should share this video with a talk that I gave two years ago for the Women in Lutherie Conference, You may like to dig into the Women in Lutherie YouTube channel , there are many interesting talks on various topics lutherie-related. Other links related to this video podcast: Where to buy Giulia Bolcato’s new cd: Barbara Stroz...

A brief story on how we came to record that video almost two years ago. We are extremely grateful to organist Stephan Kofler, who enthusiastically welcomed and joined our project and put us in touch with soprano Giulia Bolcato. Giulia recently launched her cd “ Barbara Strozzi Opera Ottava ”. If you like what you hear in the background of our speaking and driving, consider buying it, it is on all...

As promised in the podcast, here is the link to the viola pomposa by Giuseppe Ornati, probably the one used for the Francesca da Rimini. It is noticeable that on the accompanying PDF document, it is not clear if the author is Giuseppe Ornati or Leandro Bisiach , and the vibrating length mentioned is 69 cm, exactly like a cello. In the printed catalogue we see two different instruments (same body s...

Hallo! This is the first episode of the Violoncello da Spalla podcast, broadcasted from Italy by Daniela Gaidano and Alessandro Visintini. We are two Italian luthiers specialized in Violoncello da Spalla. How does it come that we make Violoncello da Spalla? It came from a totally unexpected passion. Violoncello da Spalla brings together our love for violin making, the excitement of research and th...

We know it took a long time, but we couldn’t afford a full time effort as also ur instruments need to get done! Anyway now the updated edition of our book on Violoncello da Spalla is available on Amazon! The sales page still says 6 March 2022, that is the first date of the first edition. But when it says 87 pages you know it’s the new one. What’s new inside? The chapters on surviving instruments a...