The 1690 instrument is one of less than a dozen surviving violas by the master luthier
The US Library of Congress (LoC) has acquired the famed ‘Tuscan-Medici’ contralto viola, made in 1690 by Antonio Stradivari and valued at $30 million (£22.5 million). Since 1977 the instrument has been loaned to the LoC by the Tuscan Corporation, in a collaborative custodial arrangement. The acquisition has been made possible thanks to a $20 million donation by the David and Amy Fulton Foundation, plus an in-kind contribution of $10 million by the family of the instrument’s former owner, the late Cameron Baird. The cost is higher than the $23 million recently paid for the ‘Baron Knoop’ Stradivari violin of 1715.
One of less than a dozen surviving violas by Stradivari, the instrument was originally part of a quintet he made for the court of Ferdinando de’ Medici. The Hills wrote that it was ‘one of the finest of the ten existing examples of [violas by] the maker, its preservation being as remarkable as the beauty of its appearance’. The top is made from fine-grained spruce, while the back is of two pieces of quarter-cut maple, with the ribs and scroll of similar wood. The f-holes are finely cut although display a number of differences from each other, and the varnish is orange–light brown. The viola still retains its original label, and was featured on one of The Strad’s posters in October 1992.
The Tuscan Corporation was set up in December 1985 by the family of Cameron Baird, chair of the Music Department at the State University of New York, Buffalo. Baird bought the viola in 1957, and after his death in 1960 the instrument passed to his wife Jane, who placed it on loan with the LoC in 1977. The Tuscan Corporation was set up by the Baird family, with shares owned by the various Baird family members.
A renowned collector of fine Italian instruments, David L. Fulton recently sold the last of his Stradivari violins, the ‘Baron Knoop’. Following the LoC’s acquisition of the ‘Tuscan-Medici’ he noted: ‘It’s a pretty good trick to morph a uniquely fine Stradivari violin into a uniquely fine Stradivari viola, one dedicated to the nation’s benefit. I think this is a suitable capstone for the [Fulton] Collection, an apotheosis.’
The viola, which will henceforth be known as the ‘Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici’, joins five more Stradivari instruments housed and preserved at the LoC, bringing the total to six. The other five were donated in 1935 by Gertrude Clarke Whittall, with the mandate to make them accessible through performance and research. In 2015 Roberto Díaz, violist and president of the Curtis Institute of Music, premiered a viola concerto by composer Jennifer Higdon, written specifically for the ‘Tuscan-Medici’. It went on to win the 2018 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Compendium. The viola will also be featured in performance during the 2025–26 season of LoC concerts.
‘This is an extraordinary gift to the Library and to the nation,’ said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. ‘We will continue to embrace the spirit of sharing this remarkable instrument with America and the world, creating opportunities for musicians to perform at the Library and beyond so audiences can experience this exquisite viola. I am personally grateful to the Fultons and the Bairds for their tremendous generosity in making this instrument available to the public as part of the Library’s collections.’
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