King Henry IV’s Amati Violin Joins

NMM’s Crown Jewels A violin by Antonio and Girolamo Amati (Cremona, ca. 1595), bearing the

armorials of King Henry IV of Navarre and France (1553-1610), was present-

ed by Kevin Schieffer, Sioux Falls (right), a member of the NMM Board of

Trustees, to NMM Director, André P. Larson (left), on May 14, 2010. The

presentation ceremony, attended by the NMM Board of Trustees and Staff,

coincided with the 400th anniversary of the assassination of the popular

French monarch.

The royal violin, along with its 18th-century case made during the reign of

Louis XVI, will be placed on permanent display in the Rawlins Gallery and

unveiled on September 24. A detailed technical drawing of The King Henry

IV violin is being prepared by Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet, Conservation

Research Assistant, and will be available for purchase later this year.

Visit the NMM website for additional information about the presentation

and images of The King Henry IV violin.

The NMM’s

Crown Jewels

Violoncello by Andrea

Amati, Cremona, after

1538. Made for King

Charles IX of France.

Viola by Andrea Amati,

Cremona, ca. 1560. Made

for either Marguerite de

Valois-Angoulême or King

Phillip II of Spain.

Violin by Antonio and

Girolamo Amati, Cremona,

ca. 1595. Made for King

Henry IV of France.

Violin bow attributed to

S trad ivar i workshop,

Cremona, ca. 1700. Made

for King Charles IV of

Spain.

Long drum, Britain, 1714-

1727. Made for the military

band of King George 1st.

State trumpet by John

Nichols, London, 1846-

1847. Made for Queen

Victoria’s First Life

Guards.

National Music Museum 414 East Clark Street Vermillion SD 57069

605-677-5306 phone 605-677-6995 fax nmm@usd.edu

www.nmmusd.org The Newsletter is published by the

NMM and is available in both printed

and electronic formats. ©National

Music Museum, 2010.

Photo by Bill Willroth Sr.

NNNAAATTTIONALIONALIONAL MMMUSIUSIUSICCC MMMUSEUUSEUUSEUMMM NEWSLENEWSLENEWSLETTTTERTERTER

Volume 37, Number 2 www.nmmusd.org August 2010

J . M a r k

T h o m p s o n

(Northwestern

State University,

N a t c h i t o c h e s ,

Louisiana) holds

the NMM’s Ital-

ian cimbasso by

Bottali. He and

his Des Moines

Metro Opera colleagues, Timothy

Howe (Arkansas Technical Uni-

versity, Russellville) and Thomas

Hundemer (Centenary College,

Shreveport, Louisiana), exam-

ined brass instruments called for

by 19th-20th-century operatic

composers.

Gil Cline, Professor of Music at

Humboldt State University, Ar-

cata, California, examined and

measured posthorns and bugles

Mike Cwach, Yankton, a doctoral

student at the University of Can-

terbury in Christchurch, New

Zealand, conducted research

about Niobrara, Nebraska,

bandsman, John Lenger. Martha Giles, Virginia Beach,

Virginia, investigated the NMM’s

hammered dulcimer collection.

Dorothea Nelson, a graduate stu-

dent in history at the University

of North Dakota utilized the re-

sources of the Canning Banjo

Collection and Archive in support

of her thesis concerning 19th-

century blackface minstrelsy.

Melanie Piddocke, University of

Edinburgh (Scotland), examined

the NMM’s basset horn by

Doleisch in support of her PhD

dissertation research.

The Violin Making School of

America, Salt Lake City, Utah,

sent 24 students and faculty to

the NMM to examine instru-

ments in the Witten-Rawlins

Collection.

Kay Widdows, John H. Schroeder

Interdisciplinary Chair in Eco-

nomics at Wabash College, Craw-

fordsville, Indiana, conducted

research about the history of the

commercial violin industry.

Twelve mem-

bers of the NMM

Board of Trus-

tees set out on

June 23 for a

visit to the

NMM’s Southern

sate l l i t e— The

Joe R. and Jo-

ella F. Utley

Collection of

Brass Instru-

ments and Insti-

tute for Brass

S t u d i e s — i n

Joella Utley’s home near Spartanburg, South

Carolina. They enjoyed traditional Southern

hospitality and were awestruck by the riches

of the collection that was donated to the

NMM in 1999.

Sabine Klaus, the Joe R.

and Joella F. Utley Curator

of Brass Instruments, pre-

sented the group with a

tour of the collection’s high-

lights. Aided by videos

filmed in the Utley home

within the last three years,

the trustees were able to

admire not only the visual

beauty of the instruments at hand, but also

their sounds as they were expertly played by

world-renowned musicians.

Among the treasures viewed by the Trus-

tees was a silver State Trumpet made for the

First Life Guards of Queen Victoria (pictured

above), one of a set of three trumpets, the

other two of which are still owned by Queen

Elizabeth II and kept at the Tower of Lon-

don with the crown jewels.

The tour culminated in a presentation of

Klaus’ forthcoming book, Trumpets and Other

High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R.

and Joella F. Utley Collection of Brass Instru-

ments. [Read more on NMM website!]

Several priceless, 16th–19th-century

instruments from the NMM’s collections,

including The King Henry IV Amati vio-

lin, a Neapolitan harpsichord, and an

English cittern have recently undergone

CT scans and endoscopic examinations at

Sanford Hospitals in both Sioux Falls

and Vermillion. [Read more on NMM website!]

As you do your estate planning, please

don’t forget to include the National

Music Museum. The care and preser-

vation of the NMM’s great collections

is an awesome responsibility. Your

help is needed, if we are to meet the

challenges of the future. Become a

member of The Amati Society!

Sally Fantle Archival

Research Center

Guestbook

BROWN BAG LUNCH PROGRAMS

September 10. Duos for Harpsichord and

Fortepiano, Asako Hirabayashi (Falcon,

Heights, MN) and Gail Olszewski

(Minneapolis). 12:05 p.m.

September 17. Front Porch Stories &

Blues, Alvin ―Little Pink‖ Anderson

(Vermillion). 12:05 p.m.

September 24. The Tudors: Music for

Voice & Lute from the Tudor Courts, Mi-

gnarda Lute Song Duo (Spencer, NY).

12:05 p.m.

October 1. Muzio Clementi, Father of the

Pianoforte, Erin Helyard (Montreal).

12:05 p.m.

October 15. The Euclid Quartet (Indiana

University South Bend), 12:05 p.m.

Trustees Visit Utley Collection in South Carolina

Medical Imaging Enables Staff to See “Whole” Picture

Justin Emerich,

Principal Trumpet

in Seattle Opera’s

August 2010 pro-

duction of Wagner’s

Tristan und Isolde,

demonstrates how

the NMM’s copy of

a Holztrompete is

played. Commis-

sioned by Joe Utley,

the copy was made

by Andreas Schoni

& Rainer Egger,

Bern/Basel, Switzer-

land, in 2001. [Read more on NMM website!]

Seattle Opera Features NMM’s

Tristan Trumpet (Holztrompete)

Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Photo by Craig Kridel Photo by John Koster

Photo by Margaret Banks

Above: Celeste Holler Seraphinoff demonstrates the

sound of a miniature natural horn by Johann Wilhelm

Haas, Imperial City of Nürnberg, 1681 (NMM 7213).

Photo by Mark Olencki

Margaret Downie Banks, Senior Curator of

Musical Instruments and Professor of Music,

attended the grand opening of the Musical

Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, April

21-24. [Read more on website!]

BEHIND THE SCENES

Congratulations to

Sarah Deters Rich-

ardson, Curator of

Musical Instruments,

who successfully de-

fended her thesis,

―Instruments of

War: The Impact of

World War II on the

American Musical

Instrument Indus-

try,‖ on July 9. The

submission of her thesis satisfied USD’s re-

quirements for a Master of Music degree with

a concentration in the history of musical in-

struments.

The 2010 award of a U.Discover Sum-

mer Scholar grant for undergraduate

research at USD provided me with the

opportunity to undertake the project

―Dizi, Xiao, Shinobue, or Shakuhachi?

A Study Focusing on the Collections of

Bamboo Flutes at the National Music

Museum.‖ My faculty sponsor was

Deborah Check Reeves, Curator of

Woodwind Instruments and Associate

Professor of Music. The goal of my pro-

ject was to create a quick and efficient

method to identify bamboo flutes from

Eastern Asia.

Based on an ex-

amination of in-

struments at the

NMM, I discov-

ered that at least

thirteen different

types of tradition-

al bamboo flutes,

along with tourist

or toy flutes, can

be found in the

geopolitical region

known as Eastern

Asia—Japan, Chi-

na, and Korea. In

order to help oth-

ers correctly iden-

tify these types, I

created an identification guide

(flowchart) and informational packet

that focused on physical characteristics

that can be observed and used to differ-

entiate between the various types.

Although I read many published

sources in the course of my research, I

found that being able to physically ex-

amine the more than eighty bamboo

flutes from this region, preserved at the

NMM, was the most helpful aspect of my

ten-week study. I created my own cata-

log sheets for each of these instruments

in order to gather all the relevant infor-

mation and measurements in one place.

Using the instruments available to me, I

was then able to test my identification

guide for accuracy.

The results of my research were pre-

sented at one of the weekly U.Discover

group meetings and culminated in a

poster session held in late July. A more

formal presentation of my research will

be made at USD’s IdeaFest (for both

undergraduate and graduate research) in

the spring of 2011.

NMM staff members Jonathan Bouquet,

Sabine Klaus, John Koster, Deborah Check

Reeves, and Sarah Deters Richardson attend-

ed the annual meeting of the American Musi-

cal Instrument Society at the Library of Con-

gress, Washington, DC, May 26-29. Papers

were presented by Bouquet (―A Closer Look

at The Rawlins Guitar by Antonio Stradiva-

ri‖) and Koster (―What Did Harpsichords

and Clavichords Sound Like in 1910?‖).

Reeves was re-elected to another term as Sec-

retary of the AMIS. did harpsichords

Visit the NMM Website for additional details.

Curatorial Commentary

Click on Links Below to Read Articles Posted on the

NMM Website

“Instrument Identification:

Research Tools at the

NMM” By Arian Sheets

“Dynamic Research: Earle

Kent and Conn’s Research

Department”

By Margaret Downie Banks

“Stop the Music! Band

Instrument Manufacturing

During WWII”

By Sarah Deters Richardson

“Mario Maccaferri’s Styron

Revolution: Alternative Mate-

rials for Stringed Instruments”

By Arian Sheets

“Remedies for the Clarinet’s

Sore Throat”

By Deborah Check Reeves

Dizi, Xiao, Shinobue,

or Shakuhachi?

By Kendra Van Nyhuis, U.Discover Summer Scholar

John Koster, Conser-

vator and Professor of

Music, is participating

in several projects

marking the 500th

anniversary of the

birth of the great

Spanish Renaissance

organist and composer

Antonio de Cabezón

(1510-1566). For the

C@BEZON500 project

organized by the Festi-

val Internacional de Música de Tecla Espa-

ñola (FIMTE) to make recordings of Cabe-

zón’s complete oeuvre available online,

Koster recorded two works on the NMM’s

harpsichord by Giacomo Ridolfi. Koster, who

is co-chair of FIMTE’s 10th International

Symposium to be held in October in Mojácar

(Almería, Spain), will also present a paper at

this international event. [Read more on website!]

Sioux Falls sculptor, Darwin Wolf,

recently replaced the violinist’s miss-

ing bow and showed NMM staff

members how to properly clean the

Townsley Courtyard’s bronze statues

that were sculpted by the prominent

Black Hills sculptor, Michael R.

Tuma, in celebration of the South

Dakota Centennial in 1989. [Read more

on website!]

Photo by Aaron Packard

Photo by Margaret Banks

Photo by Aaron Packard

Photo by Bill Willroth Sr.

André P. Larson and the NMM are

featured in ―Making Music: The Art

and Craft of David Rivinus,‖ to be

aired on South Dakota Public Televi-

sion, September 8 at 8:00 CDT.

1 Rare, 17th-century Kettle

Gong from Siam or Burma

TYPES OF ANNUAL

MEMBERSHIPS

* Member ........................................................... $35

* Donor .............................................................. $50

* Contributing ................................................. $100

* Sustaining ...................................................... $250

* Supporting .................................................... $500

(*Renewed annually)

Luthier ........................................... $1,000 or more

Artisan ........................................... $2,500 or more

Sponsor ......................................... $5,000 or more

Patron .......................................... $10,000 or more

Benefactor ................................... $25,000 or more

Fellow .......................................... $50,000 or more

Connoisseur ............................... $100,000 or more

Angel ........................................... $250,000 or more

Elegance ..................................... $500,000 or more

Founder .................................. $1,000,000 or more

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

National Music Museum 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069

Name _______________________________________

Address ______________________________________

City _________________________________________

State _______________________ Zip ____________

*Amount $ __________________ Date ___________

Visa/MC # __________________ Expires _________

□ New □ Renewal E-mail Address ________________

*Dues may also be paid electronically through PayPal.

MEMBERSHIP

PRIVILEGES

Membership in the NMM offers the tangi-

ble benefits of special invitations to previews

and receptions, concerts and special events,

gift shop discounts, the Newsletter, and re-

search services. More importantly, it offers

the intangible rewards of being associated

with a unique institution, one of the great

museums of its kind in the world.

Membership dues and contributions are

tax deductible, within the limits provided

by law, and directly assist in supporting the

many public services of the NMM.

NMM BY THE

NUMBERS What Makes the NMM

Unique?

801 Zithers Collected from

Around the Globe

43 Instruments

from Tibet

and Nepal

195 Instruments

from India

265 Instruments from

Southeast Asia

89 Instruments from Oceania

336 Instruments

from China,

Japan, and

Korea

260 Instruments

from Africa

1 Rare, 17th-century

Pamir Robab (Long-necked

Lute) from Pamir Region of

Central Asia

96 Instruments from Central and

South America

Have you seen the NMM’s new billboards along Interstates 29 & 90 and SD Hwy 50?

NMM Participates in Blue Star

Museums Partnership

The NMM participated in the Blue Star

Museums initiative during the summer of

2010, in partnership with the National

Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Fam-

ilies, and more than 600 museums across

America, to offer free admission to all

active duty military personnel and their

families from Memorial Day through

Labor Day.

The NMM in Print & On-the-Air Gary Ellenbolt, ―A King’s Violin: from

Italy to South Dakota,‖ All Things Con-

sidered, National Public Radio, July 7,

2010. About acquisition of The Henry IV

Amati violin. Bruce Gleason, ―The Mounted Band and

Field Musicians of the U.S. 7th Cavalry

During the Time of the Plains Indian

War,‖ Historic Brass Society Journal 21

(2009): 69-91. Discusses NMM’s Vinatieri

Music Archive. Steven Mazey, ―New Fiddle, 300-year-old

Sound: Exact Copy of a 1693 Stradivari

Violin Made in Ottawa Debuts Tonight,‖

The Ottawa Citizen, July 27, 2010. Copy

of The Harrison Stradivari violin by Cana-

dian luthier Guy Harrison. Paul Niemisto, ―The Recent Rebirth of

the Russian Horn Capella,‖ Alta Musica

28 (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2010): 303-

304. Two Utley Collection horns featured. Albert R. Rice, ―Making and Improving

the Nineteenth-Century Saxophone,‖

Journal of the American Musical Instru-

ment Society 35 (2009): 81-122. Includes

saxophones from the NMM’s collections.

Erin Shrader, ―The French Connection—

National Music Museum Receives the Rar-

est of Gifts,‖ Strings 184 (August 2010):

68. About The Henry IV Amati violin.

Tom Brokaw Narrates New NMM

Promotional Video

A grant received from the SD Commu-

nity Foundation’s nonprofit award fund

enabled the production of a new promo-

tional video produced by the Blue Fire

Design Group of Sioux Falls. Narrated

by former NBC News Anchor and noted

USD Alumni, Tom Brokaw, the video

will be used in conjunction with group

presentations and as a free-standing

presentation during the NMM’s upcom-

ing capital campaign, according to Ted

Muenster, NMM’s Development Officer.

The video can also be viewed on

YouTube.