[Salvatore Accardo. Cremona, October 7, 1983]
My father and I discovered Sacconi through his work. It was in the 1930's that Zoltan Szekely, a Hungarian violinist living in Holland, came to show us the double Sacconi had made for him of his Stradivarius. I say «double», because «copy» or «imitation» would be too ordinary a way of describing this beautiful violin, which didn't just remind us visually of Stradivarius, but also bore something of his spirit in its craftsmanship. Indeed, some features of his work were clarified by it.
We were both enthusiastic, but I could not have foreseen that only a few years later my bench would be next to Sacconi's.
The great expert Emil Herrmann, established both in Berlin and in New York in those days before the war, had discovered Sacconi and done everything in his power to get him to come first for a brief stage in his atelier in Berlin, and then to work for him in New York. Emil Herrmann needed an assistant for that workshop, and I was extremely proud to be appointed to the position after my training in Mittenwald and Mirecourt, and with Charles Enel in Paris.
Those of that era will recall the «coquettish» little house on 57th Street, the width of one room and with only three stories, plus an attic. Here Emil Herrmann reigned, and every day there was an intense exchange of experiences. On one hand, Herrmann gave Sacconi the opportunity to familiarize himself with a great number of Stradivarius's instruments; and on the other, Sacconi pleased Herrmann by doing such conscientious, exact work in restoration that no one else at the time could match it. This cooperation soon made an expert of Sacconi and gave Herrmann the possibility of offering for sale perfectly restored Stradivariuses. As a young man of twenty-one, I was given the opportunity of following all this. The beautiful thing was the way in which both of them passed on their knowledge and discoveries so generously. In those years Sacconi found out that Stradivarius cut his f-holes from the inside, out, and also what different materials the various makers used for the purfling. In short, it was a period in which our horizons were broadened daily by Sacconi's findings. His knowledge grew so that he was soon to be described as being almost Stradivarius, himself. (...)
[Guillaume Max Möller. Huizen, July 10, 1983]
Fernando Sacconi was an artisan who through incessant labor brought his art to that high degree of perfection that only true passion for the profession enables one to obtain. Faithful, modest in spite of his reputation and erudition, and with Latin sensitivity, one could say of him along with [William, e.n.] Shakespeare:
Simone Fernando
Sacconi is impossible to define in a few words because the figure of this great
violin-maker cannot be enclosed in a rigid category, given the vastness of his
work and his thought, but I will still try to trace the essential lines to give
an idea of who Sacconi was and his importance in the history of violin-making
and music in general.
First, it is
important to point out that among others, Sacconi had Giuseppe Fiorini as a
teacher who introduced him to the "secrets" of Stradivari's work; in
fact, it was Fiorini himself who managed after many difficulties, managed to
acquire the entire collection of the original tools and forms from Stradivari's
workshop. Therefore, Sacconi had the privilege of having first-hand information
on the work of the great Stradivari, and not working on the basis of
"hearsay," which unfortunately has characterised much of the history
of Italian violin-making from the end of 1700 onwards.
It should be
remembered that, that while rivers of ink have been spilled on the subject of
classical Cremonese violin-making, we have had to take note that that golden
age of our art saw its glory come to an end in the mid-1700s, due to changing
political and social conditions. Basically, there were no heirs or scholars who
could pass on the way of working of the ancient violin-makers of Cremona.
This
irremediable fracture between the ancient and the modern worlds of
violin-making has resulted in instruments that differ in construction method
and thus, also in sound from the classical ones, which also contributed to the
myth of Stradivari and his alleged "secrets".
Sacconi, who
emigrated to the United States in 1931, first found employment at Hermann and
then at Wurlitzer, two of the largest traders in ancient instruments then
present on the world violin and musical scene, and it was here that Sacconi
developed his masterly art of restoring original instruments.
Soon, Sacconi
became the reference point for most of the most famous musicians in the world,
because it is not enough to own a beautiful violin by Stradivari or Guarneri
del Gesù to be guaranteed memorable concerts, a good instrument needs to be
attended to constantly, a bit like a racing car and its mechanic, was there at
all times to ensure that the instruments were always in the optimum condition
to express their wonderful tone.
The lesson that
Sacconi still teaches us today is that of continuity: in tradition, in building
new instruments, in repairing and developing historical ones, in assisting
musicians, in developing the culture and taste for music, in allowing the young
generations of violin-makers and musicians to start off on the right foot, in
keeping the spirit of research alive.
Without a
guarantee of continuity to the violin-maker, there would be nothing left but
mute pieces of meaningless wood on which to work.
At the end of
the 1950s, Sacconi began his "pilgrimages" to Cremona, bringing with
him his endless and precious wealth of knowledge, because Stradivari and the
environment in which he had lived wanted to get to know him well, in the
certainty that a purely abandoned art such as that of classical violin-making
still leaves some trace behind it. And he was surprised to see that the original
tools of Stradivari's workshop, donated to the city of Cremona by his master
Giuseppe Fiorini, lying abandoned and gathering dust in a museum.
But the people
of Cremona are not to blame, because the history of art is characterised by
abandonment and rediscovery; just as the music of Bach and Vivaldi was
rediscovered centuries after the disappearance of their composers, the original
tools and forms of Stradivari's instruments also needed someone to rediscover
them and understand their importance.
Sacconi was
granted honourary citizenship by the Municipality of Cremona for his
extraordinary violin-making and cultural merits; the Roman Sacconi, an adopted
American and honoured citizen of Cremona, in fact can be considered a
cosmopolitan, a man who has travelled from one culture to another without ever
being affected by them and who was always able to capture their best side.
Together with
his beloved students, Francesco Bissolotti and Wanna Zambelli, Sacconi lived in
Cremona for one of the most creative periods of his life, and it is no
coincidence that thanks to him, the legendary violin by Antonio Stradivari, now
known as the "Cremonese 1715", was the first classical instrument to
return to the city after more than 200 years of absence. A city that regains
its memory.
Sacconi's
spiritual testament is his book "I 'segreti' di Stradivari (The 'Secrets'
of Stradivari)", a work in which he transferred the immense wealth of his
knowledge, still considered a reference text today for anyone interested in
instruments, music and violin-making, which provides infinite research ideas
and in fact marked the boundary between violin-making based on
"hearsay" and that of having seen and touched.
The 50th
anniversary of Sacconi's death, which will fall next year in 2023, is not only
an opportunity to remember this great violin-maker, but also to talk about and
discuss his book, his teachings and his methods. Not only that, we will also
have the opportunity to listen to some of Sacconi's wonderful instruments
through the great mastery of the English «Sacconi Quartet» ensemble
which, on 25 June 2023, will be the main act of a highly anticipated concert in
the splendid «Giovanni Arvedi» Auditorium of the Violin Museum of
Cremona. Sacconi himself will return to speak to us through his instruments,
offering us a unique opportunity for artistic growth.
In the photo above: Tenor Viola by Simone Fernando Sacconi, New York 1934
Introduction to the book:
«From Violinmaking to Music:
The Life and Works of Simone Fernando Sacconi»
In the image:
The cover of the book
(English version)
Link: Charles Beare
«I 'segreti' di Stradivari» was Fernando Sacconi's final gift to his profession, a detailed account of how Stradivari made his unique instruments, and it has become almost a bible. The method described in it is, I believe, certainly Stradivari's and almost certainly the best, but Sacconi would have been upset at those who follow it blindly and assume that their result will inevitably be good. He achieved what he did and became the great person that he was by questioning everything, following his own instincts and making up his own mind, and always looking for a better way of doing things, and a better result. Antonio Stradivari himself can hardly have been very different.
[Charles Beare. London, July 4, 1985]
From the book:
«From Violinmaking to Music:
The Life and Works of Simone Fernando Sacconi»
In the image:
The violinist Salvatore Accardo
biografieonline.it
Link: Salvatore Accardo
From the book:
«From Violinmaking to Music: The Life and Works of Simone Fernando Sacconi»
From left in the image: The violinist Renato Zanettovich,
the pianist Dario De Rosa and the cellist Amedeo Baldovino.
Link: Trio di Trieste
From the book:
«From Violinmaking to Music: The Life and
Works of Simone Fernando Sacconi»
Cremona
Museo del Violino
Cremona
Stauffer Center for Strings
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
Catalog
Corriere della Sera
«Italians»
di Beppe Severgnini
50° Anniversario della morte del liutaio italo-americano Sacconi (corriere.it)
Firenze
OPAC - Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze (sbn.it)
50° Anniversario della morte di Simone Fernando Sacconi
Il Portale del Violino (claudiorampini.com)
Liuteria e Musica in rete
© 2023 - In memory of Simone Fernando Sacconi in the 50th Anniversary of his death