As a musician, Victor Salvi played under some of the best known conductors of the twentieth century, including Dimitri Mitropoulos, Arturo Toscanini, and Bruno Walter.
Salvi has expanded the harp's notoriety worldwide, raising the instrument's profile, and heightening its importance musically.
[1] Rodolfo married his second wife Apollonia, the granddaughter of Vincenzo Bellizia, a well known harp maker of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Rodolfo left Viggiano and brought the family to the United States in 1909, and once based in Chicago, Victor was born.
Described by Columbia Artist Management as having been founded with "... the purpose of bringing symphonic music to audiences everywhere", Sinfonietta was a distinctively unique ensemble, "... a chamber orchestra which would have not only the delicacy and refinement of the stringed instruments, but a reasonable degree of the extended tonal altitude, color variety and sonority of the symphony orchestra – an ensemble whose instrumentation would permit equally authoritative presentation of the classic symphonies ...."[2] While touring with the orchestra, Salvi, following in his father's footsteps, taught himself harp repair and set up a workshop in Chicago, beginning his work as a mechanic and engineer.
In 1950, Salvi secured a New York-based job playing in Gian Carlo Menotti's Consul, which ran on Broadway for nearly a year.
There, he recruited a staff of twelve cabinetmakers and other similar craftsmen, and "... a workshop was set up in a fifteenth century villa, reputedly once owned by the famed Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria.
"[6] Slowly, "... more and more harpists in Europe and the United States became aware of the new Salvi harp and it started making appearances in symphony orchestras, schools and private studios alike.
The factory is a focal point of the region, and attracts many visitors each year, and regularly opens itself for tours to schoolchildren to learn about harp making.
[9] In an interview with Jane B. Weidensaul in American Harp Journal, Salvi said: I heard around June 1987 on the 'grapevine' that Lyon & Healy was again on the market and, after great deliberation and consultation with my advisors, made a bid on behalf of Les Arts Mecaniques, which I am happy to say was accepted.
Salvi Harps will benefit greatly in that we will be distributed by Lyon & Healy – a well-established and prestigious company – in the USA.
[10]Throughout his career, Salvi devoted his time to perfecting the sound and mechanics of the harp through innovative technologies, paving the way for profound advancements for the instrument.
Each neck has inner core of many laminations impregnated with resins and compressed to size by a two-story-high press ...."[13] Salvi regularly collaborates with scientists to revolutionize the harp.
Due to the large internal loads seen within the harp, simulations have led to increased structural integrity of the design while correlating to experimental data.
The instrument has since been played by the official royal harpist at many imperial functions, including the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.