Violin maker Otto Schünemann: A Romantic visionary

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Although Otto Schünemann’s violins were praised by everyone from Vuillaume to Sarasate, his name is barely recognised today. Clifford Hall tells the story of this idealistic luthier who strove to bring the glories of the Cremonese masters to 19th-century Germany

Otto Schünemann (1837–1914) had a problem. In the Prague ballet orchestra in which he was employed as a first violinist in the 1860s, he noticed that the violins were of such poor quality that the sound of the orchestra suffered greatly…

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