Bass viol, London, 1677. I had long overlooked this viol described in the 1960s catalogue as a composite and when it was last on display it languished against a wall so that the back was impossible to see, but despite its drawbacks, it was the best fit for the new hanging of the British Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum, with their emphasis on domestic music of the Charles II period. It was therefore a sheer joy to discover

Provenance research relating to the Longuet, 1692. When researching a violin in our stock by the Edinburgh maker, Matthew Hardie, we became aware of the similarities of the violin to the description of a copy made of Pierre Alday’s Stradivari which seemed to conclusively fit our instrument. At the same time, our attention turned to the remarkable similarities between this violin and the so-called ‘Longuet’ at the Musée de la Musique in Paris. Further investigation with ultraviolet light showed that

The King James II Violin, London, circa 1685. I was thrilled to be consulted for the re-hanging of the British Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2022, which meant selecting suitable musical instruments for the exhibition and providing the necessary conservation work to stabilise them for display. I suspect that Ralph Agutter’s violin was made during a period of competition between the makers working on the Strand, near the royal court for the post of Instrument Maker in

Mute viola d’amore, Vienna, circa 1750. Stadlmann is most remarkable for his direct engagements with the court of Prince Esterházy, who played a Baryton made by him in 1750. Thus he is intimately connected to the musical world of Joseph Haydn who spent many years under the prince’s employment. Separately Stadlmann has a much deserved reputation as a remarkably close spiritual successor to Jacob Stainer, both in quality of work and reputation within the Austro-Hungarian world. This instrument originally emerged

Tailpiece for the Lady Blunt, Cremona, 1721. Sometimes the most unexpected things appear before your eyes, as was the case at the Musée de la Musique in Paris, where the collection includes various old fittings gifted to the museum by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in the nineteenth cenutry. A remarkable feature of the Lady Blunt violin of 1721, the second-best preserved Stradivari violin of the Golden Period is the survival of the fingerboard that lives with it, and so I was delighted

Marco Uccellini’s sonatas and an Andrea Amati of 1572 Precisely four-hundred-and-fifty years after it was made, it was thrilling to make a new discovery of a labelled and dated Andrea Amati violin from 1572. There are slightly less than two dozen Andrea instruments in existence, so whilst it is a battered and compromised example, it is better than no Andrea Amati, and still retains its exceptional tonal qualities. To people like me, it is like finding a fragment of a

Violin, viola and cello, London, 1785. Joseph Merlin may be most famous for the ingenious silver swan that survives at the Bowes Museum in Castle Barnard, County Durham. He invented the roller skates, and debuted them whilst showing off improvements he had made to a violin of his own design, though he omitted to invent brakes for his skates, and careened into a plate-glass mirror, smashing it, his violin and a good deal of himself. I’ve been delighted to collaborate

The George Henry Harlow portrait, London, 1818. The portrait, long identified as the Duke of Wellington because of a provenance of ownership by descent from his own collection is of the pianist and music publisher J.B. Cramer, and a miniature version of the same painting survives in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Cramer gained the respect of Beethoven who considered him the finest pianist of the day from the standpoint of pure technical perfection. In turn it was Cramer

Viola by Jacob Rayman, Southwark, 1641. There is compelling evidence that the small group of violins and violas made by Jacob Rayman in 1641 were intended for the use of the musicians of the Chapel Royal under the reign of King Charles I. These represent the earliest violin-family instruments of modern form that exist from England. I was delighted to enable the loan of the Rayman viola for this definitive recording made at the Chapel Royal of St James’ Palace