about CELLO

とても気に入っている楽器です。虎の子一台。
明るい音色で、素直な操縦感。
豊かな表現の幅の代わりにとてもシビアな要求もしてくる楽器です。
この楽器に教えられた事は、今の僕にとって欠かせない事ばかりです。

The son of Angelo and Virginia Billi,Cesare was born in Bologna on March 5th 1869.
In 1884,when he was fifteen his father died and he started to work as an apprentice in the workshop the violinmaker Raffaele Fiorini of Bologna where his elder brother Oreste was already employed.
One can easily imagine that his tasks in the workshop were those reserved to a young apprentice.

In 1888 he joined his brother in Genoa, to work as a guitar, mandola and mandolin maker in the same factory of plucked instruments owned by the Barberis Brothers situated in Salita Santa Caterina.

Encouraged by various people, and in particular by Eugenio Praga, Candi decided to work on his own; around 1892, he opened a workshop with his brother Oreste in Via dei Servi No.54 – in the same street as the workshop of Enrico Rocca and other guitar makers.

In this period he continued to make plucked mandolins and guitars with increasing talent.

He particularly excelled in making instruments decorated with sculptures and various inlays, a tendency which he nurtured throughout his entire career. Cesare Candi only began making violins with regularity much later, probably after a period of frequenting the workshops of Eugenio Praga and Enrico Rocca.

He participated in the mandolin category of the Italo-American Exposition in Genoa in 1892 as a dependent of the Barberis firm, receiving his first national acknowledgement in the field of instrument making.

In 1896 he married Rosa Castello with whom he had three daughters(Amelia,Linda,Ofelia).

He moved his house to Piazza Sarzana No.26 and briefly moved his workshop to Salita del Prione; shortly afterwards he moved to his definitive working address in Via di Porta Saprana No.9(a street named Via Wilson for several years after World War I).

When Eugenio Praga died in 1901, the Candi brothers came into possession of his tools and materials.

In 1906, during the Milan Exposition, he received his first award for instruments of the violin family (gold medal).

In 1907 he obtained a diploma of honour for his quartet in Bologna.

From 1915, after the death of Enrico Rocca, he succeeded him as curator of the Paganini violin (the Cannon) preserved by the Genoa City Council.

In 1937 he did same restoration work on the “Cannon” which was to be exhibited in Cremona during the Bicentenary Celebrations of Stradivari.

In this exposition he exhibited a violin and a cello in a class of its own as well as submitting two violins and a viola for which he received a gold medal.

He died in Genoa on September 29th 1947.

Cesare Candi is the most impotant figure of Genoese violinmaking of the twentieth century, both for his creative personality as also for having formed various pupils who contributed to the delineation of the strong characteristics of the school.

Eugenio Praga definitely represented his most likely source of inspiration, even though he didn’t really follow the models and style of this maker.

In fact he preferred to use a personal technique, making use of the external mould for bending the ribs.

This type of mould – which he had already seen in Raffaele Fiorini’s workshop – was a natural choice for Cesare Candi since he had been using it for years in the construction of guitars and similar instruments.

Another influence of his experience as a guitar maker was the idea of using continuous linings which passed over the corner blocks terminating in the upper and lower ones where they were mortised. This perculiar method, also used by his brother Oreste, was a prerogative of all his pupils and followers, to the point of becoming one of the typical elements of the modern Genoese School.

It is difficult to demonstrate the influence of the Bologna School since his real masters were from Genoa.

Apart from Eugenio Praga, already mentioned, Enrico Rocca is not to be overlooked.

From Rocca we can cleary trace the stylistic influence, especially in the taste of the general aesthetical lines.

His production can be divided into four distinct periods:

– in the first period, as already mentioned, he worked almost entirely on plucked instruments,.

In this period he constructed guitars, mandolas and above all mandolins, which sometimes had sophisticated decorations and inlays;

– the second period which lasted about ten years, beginning in 1904-1905, was marked by a growing maturity of the master and it was the period of his first bowed instruments;

– the third period began in 1914-1915.

Here, the quality of his instruments shows an important maturity of style.

This is the most fascinating period, but also the most difficult one to define, for its great eclecticism.

Although the general frame of work remained unchanged (models, interior work, placement of the f-holes), Candi succeeded in making instruments which show a wide variety of style, in virtue of the different solutions which he adopted for the edges, scoop around the purfling, arching and varnish;

-in the fourth period, dating from around 1930, his production decreased considerably and his work acquired a definitive standardisation of style.

The varnish used from here onwards is harder and more brittle, generally reddish orange.

In the work of this period, one can easily see signs of collaboration by his most faithful pupil, Giuseppe Lecchi.

A separate point needs to be made for Cesare Candi’s dedication to his “special” instruments, distinguished either by their form or their ornamentation.

Candi nurtured a passion for these instruments which lasted all of his life, reflecting the creative dynamism of his personality.

Apart from the mandolins, we recall viola d’amores, viola da gambas, doubleneck guitars (see the photos ), harps, psalteries, and a famous rebec made for the Sultan of Morocco.

From 1911 to 1917 he also made several violins with a model of his own which had inlays of ivory, ebony and whale-bone.

He used four known labels; the first two were used exclusively for plucked instruments (see the photos) and another two used for stringed instruments, the first one with his photo (used until 1913-1914 approximately) and the other definitive one, used until the end of his career.

He had a brand “C.CANDI GENOVA” which he used on the inside of his instruments and a smaller brand for bows and bridges.

Amongst his pupils we recall Paolo de Barbieri, Giuseppe Lecchi (already mentioned), and his grandson Corrado Gritti Candi who applied himself to violinmaking for a brief period.

Cesare Candi and wife with their three daughters on the hills surrounding Genoa in 1915.

Candi in his workshop in via Porta Soprana. On the foreground the external mould used for his entire production.

Candi・・・Porta Soprana通りの工房にて。手前に写っているのが、Candiが使用していたexternal mould（外側からの型）。