Gasparo da Salò

Gasparo da Salò (May 20, 1542, Salò - April 14, 1609) is the name given to Gasparo Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and an expert double bass player. Around 80 of his instruments are still in existence: violins (small and large), alto and tenor violas, viols, violones and double basses, violas with only a pair of corners, ceteras.

He was born in Salò on Lake Garda, in a family with legal, artistic, musical and craft interests. His grandfather Santino, a land and flock owner who it is believed likely produced musical gut strings, moved from Polpenazze to Salò, capital of the Riviera del Garda, possibly in search of the greater opportunities than available in Salò, whose music scene was very rich and vibrant. Gasparo was the son and nephew of two accomplished musicians, Francesco and Agostino, who were violin players and composers of the highest professional level, distinguished enough to be referred to in surviving documents as the "violì” or in extended form, to avoid doubts, the "violini."

In addition to being an expert in musical instruments, Gasparo's uncle Agostino was the first Kapellmeister of Salò and his son Bernardino, Gasparo's cousin, was a virtuoso musician (violinist and trombonist), who worked in Ferrara at the powerful Este music court, and then in Mantua for Vincenzo Gonzaga I, during which time he was a contemporary of Monteverdi, and finally in Rome as "Musician of His Holiness the Pope in the Castle of S.Angel."

Gasparo's musical education took place during a period of growing refinement and professionalism among the musicians and violin players of Salò and Brescia, many of whom played in the Basilica of St. Marco in Venice, as among the musicians of many European courts from the early 1540s onward. His deep education in musical performance, undertaken by his noted musical family, is evidenced in a document found in Bergamo concerning music in San Maria Maggiore dated 1604, in which Gasparo is cited as a very talented violone player.

When his father died, around 1562, he moved to Brescia. It appears Gasparo immediately rented a house and set up shop in the neighborhood hub of musical life, the Contrada Antegnati, known for the presence of a very famous dynasty of organ builders and other skilled multi-instrumentalists, from 1528 granted from the Brescia City Council, with a professional patent (first example in Europe), all of whom were located in the Second Quadra St. John, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio del Podestà (now Via Cairoli). From his ability almost immediately to rent a house with a shop in this sought-after neighborhood, and considering the slight possibility of a substantial inheritance, given his conspicuously large number of brothers and sisters, we can surmise that Gasparo was enjoying some measure of success in the family's traditional string making trade. His business was successful enough to allow him to marry Isabetta Cassetti, the daughter of an artisan potter and glassmaker three years later. During this time Gasparo cultivated a deep relationship with Girolamo Virchi, one of the most prominent artist-craftsmen of the city, cited in a 1563 document as "maestro de musica instrumentis." And in 1565 Virchi became godfather to Gasparo's child Francesco, the first of six others, three sons named Marcantonio, two of whom died in infancy, and three daughters.

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