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Collection Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress

Viola by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1727, "Cassavetti"

close-up details of a viola
Viola by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1727, "Cassavetti" [Body center front, whole and each f-hole]. Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress.

The "Cassavetti" arrived in England through David Laurie, who sold it to Alexander Cassavetti. In 1928, the agents of department store-magnate Rodman Wanamaker of Philadelphia bought it from George Hart to add to the extraordinary ensemble being assembled by Wanamaker to play orchestral concerts in his stores. After Wanamaker's untimely death in 1929, the entire collection passed to the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company and the "Cassavetti" appeared in their 1931 catalog. It too was sold to John T. Roberts, who eventually sold it to Mrs. Whittall, joining the "Betts" with which he previously had parted.

The "Cassavetti" viola is built from the same mold (still surviving in the Stradivari museum in Cremona, Italy,) as the "Tuscan-Medici" viola though comparative measurements demonstrate the range of variation due to varying edge widths and natural distortion.