Ep 40. Del Gesu Part 4. "The Master and His Cello: Exploring the Hands of Del Gesu with Julian Thompson"

The Violin Chronicles: Interview with Julian Thompson on His Antique Cello In this episode of the Violin Chronicles, we sit down with Julian Thompson, a distinguished cellist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra since 2006. Julian shares fascinating insights into the unique 1729 Giuseppe Guarneri cello he's been playing for the past eight years. We delve into the history, craftsmanship, and intricate details of this extraordinary instrument, including its complex provenance and distinctive features. Julian also discusses the quirks of playing such a historic cello, from its responsiveness to various climates to how its rich history impacts his playing style. Additionally, we touch upon the differences in construction techniques between Baroque and modern instruments, exploring how these methods influence their sound and playability. Join us for an in-depth look at one of the most remarkable cellos in existence and gain a deeper appreciation for the artistry involved in its creation and performance. Transcript  Welcome back to the Violin Chronicles. In this episode, I'll be talking to Julian Thompson, cellist extraordinaire, who has been playing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra since 2006. Overly accomplished musician that he is. We are going to concentrate on his instrument in this interview. What is it? I hear you asking. Well, I will let him do the honours. Julian Thompson I'm Julian Thompson. I play cello with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for the last. 20 years. Linda Lespets Wow. And, and what, what instrument do you play? Julian Thompson So, I am lucky enough to have had in my hot hands for probably about the last eight years a beautiful 1729 Giuseppe Guari cello which I understand has a, possibly, has a slightly complicated providence. Linda Lespets Do you know when it sort of changed identity? Julian Thompson I, I don't know exactly when. I just know that there's been quite a lot of speculation that the hand of Jesu may have played a part in the, the, the table of the cello and maybe the scroll as well. So it's, it's that cello, I think it's really late. And there's another cello that certainly has a lot of Del Gesu a different form, apparently that one. This one's still in the, in the older form. The, the fathers, the Guarneri Filius Andrea, that's right. But the, the experts out there seem to say that yeah, because of some of the features, the specific features of, of the wood and the scroll and, and the, maybe the f holes as well. That they think that there's certainly the hand of Del Gesù in part of this cello, so that's pretty special. Linda Lespets Yeah. Yeah, because there's the other cello is the messias I think it's called. Mm-hmm. Where they say it's all Del Gesù Mm. So there's this sort of idea that he never made cello, but he has, he has indeed made a cello, a full one. And then why not? Bits of one? Well, I guess you can imagine if he, if he's around working in the workshop and Giuseppe's getting older, then you would imagine there would be, I guess an increasing amount of work done. Julian Thompson And there's also been talk about, and you, you probably know a lot more about this, about. Sort of illnesses at various points and whether that meant that Giuseppe Guarneri wasn't in the studio for a while and then, you know Del Gesù maybe had to take the reins there more, more solidly for a period. Linda Lespets Yeah. So what happened was Del Gesu, he moved out of home when in 1722, he left. And his brother Pietro of Venice had left in 1717 to go to Venice. That, so it was just him. His dad was kind of really bad with money and pretty much like very heavily indebted. So Del Gesù was like a young man. He was married and so he moved away. Because his, it was just a black hole basically working in his dad's workshop because he owed so much, so much money to so many different people. Yeah. So he moved away, but then in 1729, 1730, when your cello's made, he had, he was very ill. He went to hospital. And normally if you went to hospital, then it was like you were dying. Yeah. You didn't wanna hang around in a hospital. But then he sort of miraculously recovered. He comes home, but he was, he couldn't really do, he couldn't really make a full instrument again. Right. He could make scrolls, but that was it. And then Del Gesù sort of comes back to help his father because his parents are sort of in bit of dire straits at that point. Yeah. And so you can imagine that there was just this cello, it just needed the belly made and he finished it. And put the label in. And the other one, the other cello that is like a hundred percent Guarneri Del Gesù that they say it's a hundred percent Del Gesù The label is 1731. So that's two years later. Right. And that's the very last label of the father a Guarneri Filius Andrea. Okay. That we sort of know of. So maybe he was there and he was like, look, I'm just gonna make this cello. His dad, like dad's label him, and that, ...