Carlo Antonio and his younger brother Paolo Antonio were the two violinist sons of Carlo Giuseppe Testore, the first in the family to make violins. Carlo Sr. was a student of Giovanni Grancino, a renowned violin maker in Milan, where he also lived and established his Carlo Giuseppe workshop. Carlo’s teacher had learned his trade from his father, Paolo, who studied the trade in Cremona under Nicolo Amati. In particular, “… that genius considered him (Paolo Grancino) as one of the most gifted in his workshop” (Henley’s Universal Dictionary). Giovani’s early instruments closely followed Amati’s pattern, although he later departed somewhat from it. In what is known as his ‘maturity period’ (1709 onwards), he refined the design to form his own personal style which became the basis of the typical Milanese style. Giovanni’s excellence is well recognized and some of his instruments are considered to surpass the best work of his father. Carlo Giuseppe’s violins closely followed the work of his master and are considered by many to be difficult to distinguish. Amati’s strong influence remains. However, the arch is lower and has a subtlety to its shape. The sound holes are Stradivarian in style, being more developed. These first products of the Milan school in development were elegant, they had a unique grace and charm that make them highly appreciated and highly sought after in today’s market.
Carlo Giuseppe died in 1716, but by then his 23-year-old son, Carlo Antonia Testore, was a well-established violin maker in his own right and took over the management of the workshop, known as “the sign of the eagle” after the management. of the store. Carlo Antonio’s violins sometimes do not get credit for his father’s work, as they lacked the finesse that Carlo Sr. had in his prime. On closer observation though the eldest son’s craftsmanship is considerable and even more so in light of the inferior materials with which he had to work. Either because he was making instruments to order and the lower price offered by customers meant he had to use less expensive woods, or because of the economics of the time. It was at this time when the Grancini workshop was increasing its production and this greater competition would have undoubtedly impacted ‘the sign of the Eagle’. While major Cremonese makers could still command higher prices and Stradivarius would never have contemplated using anything more than wood specifically termed “tonewood”, even if they occasionally used locally grown maple known as “oppio”, rather than white maple clear of the highest quality imported from the Balkans. However, Carlo Antonio is found using woods, including locally sourced spruce and maple, designed for other uses and, in some examples, has disfiguring knots. These woods are hard and have narrow grains, which makes them difficult to work. Despite these handicaps of impoverished materials, Carlo junior proved more than a match for the challenge and such were his abilities that he was able to overcome these difficulties to produce some fine violins that came close to matching the fineness of appearance of his father’s and many would argue they are far from inferior in tonal qualities.
Carlo Antonio’s violins often feature sound holes that are gracefully shaped and open, while the scrolls feature the concentric whorls of a master craftsman at work. His signature touches were the enlarged front view of the scroll and the slightly pointed corners of the plates. Conformity to the general pattern of Carlo Antonio’s violins has given him great respect and appreciation of his instruments for their fine tonal qualities. Consistency of contour and arch is always required to ensure this. Some of his violins may have made use of poplar wood for the purfling (purfling is a cutout around the edge of the violin top and back, usually dark in color, that beyond its decorative purpose is also functional This thin band of wood placed inside a channel cut just from the edge of the violin prevents small cracks that start at the edge from spreading out and becoming large cracks in the body that would affect the sound of the violin). Poplar wood is soft, which allows it to crack and distort quite easily, which then highlights any imperfections in the channel cut for seating. Also, if it is not fully tinted, its color may also fade to a pale gray shade. Pear wood is the material of choice for filleting. Its stronger and more elastic properties produce a more fluid filleting that evens out any deficiencies in the channel cut. Despite the use of cheaper materials at times, Carlo Antonio always remained above the heresy of replacing filleting with hatched lines, a shortcut used by later generations to save time.
Carlo Antonio’s younger brother, Paolo Antonio, on the other hand, was far less fussy about appearance and many would say he dropped the standards. No doubt many of his clients insisted that he worked at a price, and to achieve this, Paolo Antonio saved time on production where he could. In addition to the absence of true purfling, the back of the headstock was not carved with the usual fluting, and the varnish (usually pale yellow) was applied thinly and with little aesthetic concern. Paolo Antonio’s son Pietro seemed to lower the standards even further, to the point of earning the somewhat dubious praise of having “possibly the clumsiest pair of hands a violin has ever made” From the authors of the Grove Dictionary of Music.
Regardless, even Pietro’s violins are very good to play, as long as you don’t have to look at them while doing it, some would add. The undoubted resonance and power is highly gratifying. Those of Carlo Antonio and his father, being tonally better still, often full, colorful and remarkably resonant, if not reaching the depth of richness and sheer power of a Stradivarius. These qualities have made them highly sought after by soloists and orchestral musicians alike and have established them as a reputable name in today’s marketplace. In fact, to get one of these violins you can expect to pay around $100k – $200k at dealer shops or auction houses in London and New York; if you can find one for less, it’s probably very good. investment; firstly, in terms of the reward that his wonderful tonal presence will bring you, and secondly, in terms of a violin that will bring you financial benefits in the long run.
In the history of the Testore family we have depicted the history of the decline of violin-making in Italy throughout the 18th century, from the luthier who combined the skills of a master craftsman with the eye of an artist and who worked to the most exacting standards to the hasty productions of the late 1700s that has led to its being called “a corrupt trade.” This was undoubtedly in response to the influx of mass-produced instruments coming out of southern German workshops that swept across Europe at the time and eventually even undermined Cremona’s great violin-making traditions.