Gasparo da Salò
Gasparo da Salò was the son and nephew of two accomplished musicians, Francesco and Agostino, who were violin players and composers of the highest professional level, distinguished enough to be referred to in surviving documents as the "violì” or "violini.
It appears da Salò immediately rented a house and set up shop in the neighbourhood hub of musical life, the Contrada Antegnati, known for the presence of a very famous dynasty of organ builders, and other skilled multi-instrumentalists, who were granted a professional patent by the Brescia City Council in 1528, the first known example of such in Europe.
During this time Gasparo da Salò cultivated a deep relationship with Girolamo Virchi, one of the most prominent artist-craftsmen of the city, cited in a 1563 document as "maestro de musica instrumentis."
In addition, in that neighbourhood there lived two organists of Brescia Cathedral, Fiorenzo Mascara and his successor Costanzo Antegnati, and a noted violin player, Giuseppe Biagini.
A short death notice of the time reads: "Messer Gasparo Bertolotti maestro di violini is dead & buried in Santo Joseffo."
The exact location is not known where his remains lie among the graves of the Brescian musical pantheon, in company with Antegnati Costanzo, Don Cesare Bolognini and Benedetto Marcello.
It appears Gasparo da Salò's patterns were later studied by Stradivari between 1690 and 1700 for the violin type referred to as the "Long Strad," one of the master's most distinguished and desirable models.
About eighty of Gasparo da Salò's instruments are known to have survived to the present day, and they stand confidently among the works of Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Amati, Jacob Stainer, and his own pupil Giovanni Paolo Maggini as unique examples of the highest mastery attained in Brescian or indeed European instrument manufacture of the golden era of violin making, possessing exceptional tonal characteristics.
[7] Benvenuto Cellini carved the scroll of this spectacular instrument, which is on permanent display as a part of the exhibition "People and Possessions" at Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuesum in Bergen.
[8] One of his finest instruments, a double bass with a rapidity of response similar to that of a violin (owned by the 18th - 19th-century virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti), is preserved today in the Basilica of San Marco in Venice.
[9] A second, exceptionally rare bass, possibly the only surviving example of a classical violone contrabasso with a six-hole peg box, was discovered by the Roman master luthier and restorer Luigi Ottaviani in the stores of the Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome, where it is now displayed.
And a fourth was acquired by the Salodian family Biondo from M° Leonardo Colonna, for one of the double bass players of Teatro alla Scala of Milan, and is now on display in a room of the City Council Palace in Salò.
[10][11] Violists who play da Salò's instruments include Gérard Caussé, Jennifer Stumm, James Dunham,[12] Amihai Grosz, and Cynthia Phelps.
