The Bonjour Stradivari

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

was made by famous

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloq ...

1692. The instrument is named after the amateur 19th-century

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ian cellist

Abel Bonjour Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepher ...

. On the death of Bonjour sometime after 1885 the cello passed via Fridolin Hamma of Stuttgart to Dr. Hans Kühne of Cologne, who loaned the cello to the Stradivari Bicentennial exhibition in

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

in 1937. Other owners include The Habisreutinger Foundation of

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, soloist Robert Cohen (who played it between 1984 and 1993) and Martin Lovett of the

Amadeus Quartet The Amadeus Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1987, having retained its founding members throughout its history. Noted for its smooth, sophisticated style, its seamless ensemble playing, and its sensitive interpretat ...

. The present owner acquired it in the fall of 1999 and it is currently on loan to The

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

Instrument Bank, which then loans this instrument for 3 years to the winner of its national competition. After being loaned to Korean-Canadian cellist

Soo Bae Soo Bae (born Apr 1977) is a Korean-Canadian cellist who currently lives in New Jersey. She was born in Seoul, South Korea, and began her cello studies at six years of age. She then moved to Toronto, where she studied at the Royal Conservatory ...

for 3 years, it was awarded in September 2009 to Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer, in 2012 to Arnold Choi of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, in 2015 to Cameron Crozman, and in 2018 to Bryan Cheng. It is currently valued at US$14 million.

References

External links

2000 info about its loan to the Canada Council

1696 works Stradivari cellos Stradivari instruments {{Cello-stub

See also

References

External links