Andrew Dipper DVA257 viola d’amore front
Andrew Dipper viola d’amore scroll
Andrew Dipper viola d’amore back
In 1976 as part of my work translating Simone Sacconi’s book, The “Secrets” of Stradivari into English I was asked to review the holdings of the Ala Ponzone collection of Stradivarian material in Cremona. This collection consists of the residue of forms and patterns that were once part of the workshop materials of Antonio Stradivari. Included in this material are a number of forms and patterns for viola d’amore type instruments. Some of these are demonstrative of advances in the design of a novel instrument based on the format of a viola d’amore.
