Countess Of Stanlein Restored: A History of the Paganini Stradivarius Cello of 1707 by Nicholas Delblanco (1-Aug-2000) Hardcover

by Nicholas Delbanco

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that Antonio Stradivari of Cremona (1644-1737) was the noblest of bowed wooden stringed instrument makers. His work remains the Platonic ideal and template for contemporary "luthiers"; present-day technology may hope to match but not alter the standard of such craftsmanship. Extant examples of the master's instruments are numerous - but cellos from the "great period" (1707-1720) are relatively few. The Countess of Stanlein-ex Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707 is one of the best known is this exalted groups. It has been copied often, physically dissected, discovered in a barrow on its way to a municipal dump, owned by Paganini, and applauded in hall after hall." Today the "Stanlein" belongs to the cellist Bernard Greenhouse. In his eighties and semi-retired, he determined "to give back something of value to the world of music that had given him so much." In September 1998 he deposited the cello in the New York atelier of virtuoso luthier Rene Morel. The craft of instrument repair remains rooted in tradition; its practitioners belong to a quasi-mediaeval guild. Morel began a complete restoration of the instrument, a painstaking and meticulous enterprise that took him nearly two years. This book tracks that process - the intricacies, anxieties and pleasures that precede the cello's triumphal unveiling at the World Cello Congress in June 2000. Its subject is a work of art that must prove nonetheless functional, for the Countess of Stanlein-ex Paganini Stradivarius is only itself when played.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Nicholas Delbanco is the Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan and Chair of the Hopwood Committee. He has published twenty-five books of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent novels are The Count of Concord and Spring and Fall; his most recent works of non-fiction are The Countess of Stanlein Restored and The Lost Suitcase: Reflections on the Literary Life. As editor he has compiled the work of, among others, John Gardner and Bernard Malamud. The long-term Director of the MFA Program as well as the Hopwood Awards Program at the University of Michigan, he has served as Chair of the Fiction Panel for the National Book Awards, received a Guggenheim Fellowship and, twice, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship. Professor Delbanco has just completed a teaching text for McGraw-Hill entitled Literature: Craft and Voice, a three-volume Introduction to Literature of which he is the co-editor with Alan Cheuse; in 2004 he published The Sincerest Form: Writiing Fiction by Imitation. His new non-fiction book, Lastingness: The Art of Old Age will be published by Grand Central Publishing in 2011.
Full Biography

NOTE: The following biography was composed in 2000 by Jon Manchip White and reflects information only up to and including that year.

Nationality: American. Born: London, England, 1942. Education: Harvard University, B.A. 1963; Columbia University, M.A. 1966. Career: Member of Department of Language and Literature, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1966-84, writing workshop director, 1977-84; professor of English, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1984-85; Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1985—. Awards: National Endowment for the Arts creative writing award, 1973, 1982; National Endowment of Composers and Librettists fellowship, 1976; Guggenheim fellowship, 1980; Woodrow Wilson fellowship; Edward John Noble fellowship; New York State CAPS Award; Vermont Council of the Arts Award; Michigan Council of the Arts Award. Agent: Brandt & Brandt Literary Agents, Inc., 1501 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, U.S.A.

As a novelist, Nicholas Delbanco can be considered doubly fortunate in that he has always been able to draw inspiration and sustenance from two continents and two cultures.

Of Italian and German descent, he was born in London at the height of the German Blitz, and his family did not depart for America until he was six, and he was not naturalized as an American citizen until he was eleven. It is not surprising that, though later he would anchor himself firmly in New England and particularly in Vermont, and more recently in Michigan as the Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, the influence of his European origins would play a consistent part in his fiction and non-fiction alike.

The cultural ambivalence, if such it may be called, manifested itself early. At Harvard, his B.A. thesis was devoted to a joint study of Rilke and Heredia, two noteworthy wanderers, and the subject of his M.A. thesis was that tragic outcast, Malcolm Lowry. Examining the numerous novels Delbanco has published to date, one finds that only five are set exclusively in the United States and that the majority are set, either in whole or part, in Provence, Tuscany, Greece, Switzerland, or as far afield as Barbados and Mexico. Several of his non-fiction books are concerned with Europe, one of them a study of that remarkable group of literary exiles, including Conrad, Crane, and James, who lived and worked together in a small corner of England at the turn of the last century. Indeed, one of the courses Delbanco has taught over the years is specifically entitled “Exiles,” and is devoted to Becket, Conrad, and Nabokov, while other courses have featured a gallery of roving and displaced novelists such as Joyce, Lawrence, Forster, Ford, Mann, Fitzgerald, and He

Reviews

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly uninteresting, and almost totally uninformative, despite the topic: the restoration of perhaps the finest cello Stradivarius ever made--the "Countess of Stanlein", once owned by Paganini. Yet, the restorer here was the tutor of Sam Zygmuntowicz in the better book "The Violin Maker"; still better is Tony Faber on violins and Eric Siblin on cellos. Stick with any or all of those.

[Annina Luck Wildermuth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was given to me and, although I have enjoyed books about classical pianists and opera singers, a book about a Stradivarius cello is not what I would normally read. But I do love music, so I was intrigued at first. Some of it is interesting and it is a short read. It tells the story of the restoration of this famous cello that belonged to the cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio and how he, Bernard Greenhouse, had it restored in New York City between 1998-2000.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gem, and a delightful tale - true - about a wonderful 'cello! Makes me want to play all the more, and visit all those ateliers where the work still goes on ...

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 page nonfiction account of the history of Bernard Greenhouse's cello and its restoration by Rene Morel in 1999-2000.