Music & Musical Instruments

Jesse Fuller's Silvertone Guitar

The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician. In various ways, our collections find expression in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and in other public programs.

Resource Type: Violins

Vuillaume Violin

This violin was made by Claude-François Vuillaume in Mirecourt, France around 1750. Claude-François (I) Vuillaume (ca. 1700-1792?) was the great-great-grandfather of J. B. Vuillaume, the eminent 19th-century Parisian maker, dealer and expert.
Description
This violin was made by Claude-François Vuillaume in Mirecourt, France around 1750. Claude-François (I) Vuillaume (ca. 1700-1792?) was the great-great-grandfather of J. B. Vuillaume, the eminent 19th-century Parisian maker, dealer and expert. This violin retains original features common to Mirecourt output of the period, including the maple neck and top block in one piece. The ribs are inlaid into a channel cut into the back, and are without linings excepting the center bout area of the back. Interior blocks are very small. The fingerboard of plain maple is veneered on the top with ebony and accompanied by a nut of ivory inlaid into the neck. Purfling is represented by two painted lines of ink. This violin is made of a table of spruce in two pieces, back of plain maple in two pieces cut on the quarter, similar plain maple ribs, an original plain maple neck, pegbox and scroll, and a slightly opaque yellow-brown varnish.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1735-1745
maker
Vuillaume, Claude-Francois
ID Number
MI.69.01
catalog number
69.01
accession number
281113

Peresson Violin

This violin was made by Sergio Peresson of Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1980.
Description

This violin was made by Sergio Peresson of Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1980. There is an original printed label inside the instrument:

Sergio Peresson di Udine
Fece Anno 1980
Haddonfield
Sergio Peresson

[the number"80," the word "Haddonfield"and the signature are hand-written]

(stamped on the middle of the inside back):

S.PERESSON

Sergio Peresson (1913–1991) was an Italian-American violin maker. Born in Udine, Peresson began making violins in Italy in 1943. Four years later, Peresson moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where he made new instruments and was repairer to the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra. In the early 1960s he moved to Philadelphia and worked for the firm of William Moennig & Son from 1963-1971. In 1971 Peresson moved to the suburb of Haddenfield, New Jersey and continued to make instruments until his death in 1991.

Location
Currently not on view
date made
1980
maker
Peresson, Sergio
ID Number
2002.3026.01
nonaccession number
2002.3026
catalog number
2002.3026.01

Grancino Violin

This violin was made by Giovanni Grancino in Milan, Italy after 1710. This instrument was probably made after 1710 when Grancino frequently abandoned the practice of making violins of large body length (35.5 cm [14"] or larger).
Description
This violin was made by Giovanni Grancino in Milan, Italy after 1710. This instrument was probably made after 1710 when Grancino frequently abandoned the practice of making violins of large body length (35.5 cm [14"] or larger). In compensation for length, bodies of the later instruments were usually of a broad model with archings reduced in height relative to earlier periods. The back of this example has a broader fuller arching than that of the table, a feature that would provide increased concentration of sound with the newly developed lower strings of gut wound with metal wire. This violin is made of a two-piece table of spruce with a beautifully even grain, narrowing at the flanks, back of two-piece maple cut on the quarter bearing very mild even medium descending figure, ribs of similar quarter cut maple with mild to faint figure, grafted maple neck terminating in a plain maple pegbox and scroll with deeply cut volutes and medium fine chamfer, and a transparent golden-yellow varnish.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1710-1730
maker
Grancino, Giovanni
ID Number
1984.0976.01
catalog number
1984.0976.01
accession number
1984.0976

Laprevotte Violin

This violin was made by Etienne Laprevotte in Paris, France in 1834. Laprevotte was born in Mirecourt at the end of the 18th century and died in Paris in 1856. He was appointed maker to the Duke of Bordeaux and achieved his greatest reputation for beautifully crafted guitars.
Description
This violin was made by Etienne Laprevotte in Paris, France in 1834. Laprevotte was born in Mirecourt at the end of the 18th century and died in Paris in 1856. He was appointed maker to the Duke of Bordeaux and achieved his greatest reputation for beautifully crafted guitars. This violin retains a reset original neck, bassbar and three original pegs. Ii is made of a one-piece table of spruce, one-piece back of slab-cut maple with broad, irregular horizontal figure, ribs of similar maple; moderately deeply figured original (but reset) neck, with pegbox and scroll, and a semitransparent dark reddish-orange varnish
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1834
maker
Laprevotte, Etienne
ID Number
MI.096610
catalog number
96610
accession number
31631

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