Eduardo Asiain

Eduardo Asiain (Eduardo Hernandez Asiain) was a Spanish violinist born (in Havana, Cuba) on May 17, 1911.  He is best known for his interpretations of the works of Pablo Sarasate and for being one of the longest-lived violinists in history, in the style of Roman Totenberg.  He began his studies with his father, a violinist and composer, at a very early age.  He gave his first concert at age 7.  At age 14, after receiving first prize in violin at the National Conservatory of Havana, he became concertmaster of the Havana Symphony.  If that is factual (I could not verify it from more than one source), he joins Paul Kochanski in being the youngest concertmaster (of a professional orchestra) in history.  In 1932, Asiain, along with his family, moved to Spain.  He was 21 years old.  In Madrid, he studied with Enrique Fernandez Arbos and Antonio Fernandez Bordas.  He later graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, obtaining special mention and receiving the Pablo Sarasate Prize.  The major part of his career was spent in Europe although he did perform outside of Europe a few times.  His discography is limited although his recordings of Sarasate’s music are still highly praised.  He founded the Chamber Orchestra of San Sebastian but I could not ascertain in what year that was.  In 1968, he became first violinist of the RTVE (Spanish Corporation for Public Radio and Television) Quartet.  From 1977 onward, he received various medals and honors from the Spanish government.  He played an Amati violin constructed in 1633.  Here is a YouTube audio file of Asiain playing music by Sarasate and here is another.  Asiain died on May 11, 2010, at (almost) age 99.

Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer is a German violinist and conductor born on February 27, 1947 (Heifetz was 45 years old). He lived in Russia with his family (he is Russian-born) until 1980, when he moved to Germany. He began his studies with his father at age four and later studied with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1967 onwards, he entered and placed in the top three places in several competitions, finally winning the first prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970. He made his German debut in 1975 and in New York in 1976. He has toured the world ever since. He can be heard on many CDs and can be seen on several videos on YouTube. It is said he plays an old Amati violin.

Gaspar Da Salo

It is generally accepted that Gasparo Da Salo (1542-1609) was the first to create the form of the modern violin, as his violins are among the first of which there is concrete evidence. Some credit Andrea Amati. Gasparo Da Salo took his name from a tiny city on Lake Garda named Salo. His real name was Gasparo Bertolotti. He came to Brescia as a youth and was already established before 1565. His outstanding ability soon found widespread recognition and to him goes the distinction of having founded the Brescian school. Unfortunately, few of his instruments have survived. His violas, which are very rare, are particularly magnificent. One of those violas is played by Amihai Grosz.  The violin shown here is possibly by Da Salo or by Maggini or by Cellini.

Girolamo Amati - 1609

This is one of Girolamo Amati's violins from 1609. It's an early violin, considering that the modern violin was developed (or took form) around 1520 - five hundred years ago. This one is by the first Girolamo (there are two, although the second one is sometimes referred to as Geronimo). He was the son of Andrea Amati. Girolamo (1551-1635) had two sons - Antonio and Nicolo. Nicolo (1596-1684) was the father of Geronimo (the second Girolamo - 1649-1740), who was the last in line of the Amati violin makers. If you click on the photo, it will probably give you an enlarged version so that you can see all the tiny scratches. This violin is probably worth more than $1,000,000, although I am just guessing.

Amati

Everyone has his favorite violin maker (luthier, in formal terms). Stradivari seems to be a universal favorite. Andrea Amati's grandson or great grandson is said to have taught Stradivari but nobody really knows for sure. Here is a sample Amati from 1560. It looks kind of crude and it is. Click on the picture and you'll see how really rough it is. Violins didn't really begin to get sophisticated until about 1600. Makers used to make them out of pine or pear tree wood. For hundreds of years now, luthiers have been using maple and spruce. Though there has been some experimentation with the shape, the violin has stayed the way we see it now for more than 450 years.