Just in: Mozart’s violin is donated to Salzburg

The Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation have just informed us with some excitement that a violin played by the composer has been given to them by a supporter:

A violin made by Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa in 1764 has been donated to the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation. It is believed that Mozart owned and played the violin during the years he lived in Vienna. The world’s largest collection of original instruments, portraits, letters and other private objects belonging to the Mozart Family is thus enriched by another important instrument.

The Costa Violin was purchased privately by Dr. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, chief executive officer of the TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG based in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, and donated to the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation. According to the label stuck inside the violin the instrument was made in 1764 by Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa. Experts are of the opinion that the violin is an authentic instrument made by this highly respected member of the so-called Venetian school of violin makers. The complete history of the instrument can be traced from the time when it was made to the present. The benefactress and representatives of the Mozarteum Foundation are in agreement that this wonderful violin should be exhibited in the Mozart museums in Salzburg and regularly played together with the other original instruments.

The generous donation means that Mozart’s Costa Violin is re-united with his fortepiano (Anton Walter, Vienna, ca. 1781, given to the Foundation in 1856) and his viola (anonymous, northern Italy, ca. 1700; owned by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation since 1966). For the first time ever the violin Mozart used in Vienna can be directly compared with the concert violin he used in Salzburg (Mittenwald, made perhaps by a member of the Klotz Family, ca. 1700; purchased in 1956).

Full press release here (auf Deutsch).