Giuseppe Pedrazzini was born in Pizzighettone (Cremona) in 1879. His father was a wood worker and he started doing wood work at an early age. In 1903, he moved to Milan to work with his uncle who was also a woodworker. Giuseppe developed an interest in violinmaking and taught himself to make and repair violins. He had instruction from Romeo Antoniazzi. He started his own workshop in 1906 in Milan and moved several times until he settled in 1934 to Via Cavallotti in Milan until his death in 1957. He won recognition and many awards at various exhibitions. In 1920, he won the Gold Medal at the National Violin Making Competition in Rome and he entered a quartet in the International Exhibition in Cremona in 1937. He was appointed as the violinmaker of the Milan Conservatory and the Milan opera House. He predominantly used the models of Stradivari, GB Guadagnini, and Amati. He sold many of his instruments abroad and had very close business ties to the prominent firm of Boosey and Hawkes in England. He also had a very keen eye and bought and sold many fine Italian instruments. Several violinmakers collaborated with him including F. Garimberti, P. Parravieini and his nephew N. Novelli. He used five different labels and three different brands. Pedrazzini was one of the most prolific Italian makers of his era. His wood choice is always of excellent quality. His best varnish, a softer oil varnish, seems to have been reserved for his very best work. This fine violin is in mint condition and was built in 1918 in Milan by Giuseppe Pedrazzini. It comes with a certificate from Eric Blot who is the foremost authority on this period of modern Italian violins. There is a facsimile label by R. Fiorini and another handwritten label of restoration by Pedrazzini.
Nicolas Caussin was born in 1818 in Rouvres-la-Chetive (Vosges) and died in 1889 in Neufchateau (Vosges). Nicolas was the older son of the violinmaker, Francois Caussin, who taught him the craft. He worked with his youngest brother, Francois Hippolyte Caussin, in their father’s workshop at Neufchateau before going to Paris to establish his own workshop in 1, Place dela Croix Rouge. Nicolas worked mostly in the style of Amati and he and his family made imitations of the old Italian Violinmakers. This fine violin was made in the 1850s and is very nice representative of the masters work. It comes with a certificate from the atelier of Serge Boyer of Paris and was written in 2018.
Igor Vassilyevich Ulitsky graduated from Chisinau State Academy of Music. He began to learn the making of string-bow instruments in the workshop of German Kastrubin, where he made his first violin in 1984. In 1995, he completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Gio Batta Morassi, a known Italian master, in Cremona. He represented Russia at large international fairs and competitions in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and Russia. He is the winner of the X International H. Wieniawski Violin Making Competition (Poland, 2001). He is the winner of the First Prize and the Gold Medal of the XII International Tchaikovsky Violin Making Competition (Moscow, 2002). In 2002-2004 he was a staff member of the State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments of the Russian Federation. Since 2004, he has worked as violin maker at Moscow International House of Music.
