Personal History

Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi (c. 1714 – 1787) was a legendary, individual master luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 who was active in the Italian 18th century during the golden age of stringed instrument making.

Landolfi is considered among the half dozen finest stringed instrument makers in history, along with Stradivarius

Stradivarius

The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...

 and Guarneri del Gesu and Pietro Guarneri

Pietro Guarneri

Pietro Guarneri was an Italian luthier. Sometimes referred to as Pietro da Venezia, he was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, filius Andreae, and the last of the Guarneri house of violin-makers...

. Instruments created centuries ago by Landolfi and his fellow Italian luthiers have not been improved upon despite modern technology and are still played by the finest violinists and violists in the great concert halls across the world.

Landolfi was born in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, Italy in 1714 and after an apprenticeship in Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

, Italy, he returned to Milan in 1734, age 20, and created his workshop. As his instrument labels indicate, he worked "Contrada Santa Margherita, al Segno della Sirena," in the central metropolis of Italy's Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 region, at the center of the city's busy mercantile and artistic activities.

Landolfi's career continued in Milan throughout his life.

Instruments

Landolfi may have been the last of the classical Italian master luthiers to use Cremonese methods of construction and of compounding varnishes. He lavished remarkable attention on the creation of his finest instruments, all of which express their maker's distinctive personality.

For his finest instruments, Landolfi chose the woods with exceptional care and used superb varnishes of a particularly striking hue.

Landolfi's best instruments have similarities to the work of Guarneri del Gesu, but the Landolfis have unique characteristics reflecting constant refinement over the course of his career. For example, Landolfi developed an approach that increased the arching of the belly of each violin and viola with relation to the back. And his careful workmanship included scroll carving of a particularly graceful manner, often smaller and broader than the work of other master luthiers.

Importantly, Landolfi's most exceptional instruments possess a full tone of great carrying power. For that reason, over the centuries Landolfis have been prized by solo performers.

Famous musicians who have owned Landolfis include Carl Flesch

Carl Flesch

Carl Flesch was a violinist and teacher.Carl Flesch was born in Moson in Hungary in 1873. He began playing the violin at seven years of age. At 10, he was taken to Vienna, and began to study with Jakob Grün. At 17, he left for Paris, and joined the Paris Conservatoire...

, the great Hungarian violinist and teacher (1873 - 1944) who played both a very fine Landolfi and the Brancaccio Stradivarius.