Lisa B Robinson

Created on the occasion of the Juilliard School's 100th anniversary in 2005, this book offers an unprecedented look at Juilliard's historic stringed instrument collection. The collection, assembled over the course of the last century through generous gifts of instruments and funds to the school, is vividly represented by photographic and narrative accounts of 25 instruments (and three bows) of particular historic interest by such illustrious makers as Amati, Bergonzi, Guadagnini, Guarneri, Stradivari, and others, as well as reproductions of historic documents and an annotated list of other instruments and bows. Among the featured instruments are a Stradivarius violin that once belonged to a Russian czar and was later owned by Avery Fisher, a Guarneri del Gesu violin played by a member of the Viennese quartet that premiered many of Beethoven's and Schubert's works in that genre, and a Stradivarius cello previously owned by Hugo Becker, head of the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik. Short essays sketch the history of Juilliard and its illustrious string department, and describe the crucial role of the Instrumental Loan Program, which allows students to borrow instruments for special performances and competitions as well as for longer-term use. The book includes a foreword by renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, a Juilliard alumnus and holder of the school's Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair since 1999.