The Samacchini bow by Antonino Airenti
Upon being requested to issue a bow for a 16th century viol just restored by Master F.Lowenberger, I was faced with two choices: making a copy of an existant bow of the same period1,2,3, or a reconstruction. The painting “Madonna con bambino, S.Petronio e Maria Maddalena” 4 by Orazio Samacchini (1532-1577) shows a viol and a bow which, if not identical, are actually very close to the viol mentioned above, and the drawing for this painting5 reveals many details of the bow and of the player’s technique. Another work by the same author, a “fresco” in the S. Petronio church in Cremona, clarely shows the tip of a bow of the same model. The idea of making the “Samacchini bow” became really strong and so I decided, totally on my own, to start its reconstruction keeping in mind both the above mentioned items and the iconography. The drawing allowed me to calculate the possible length and the larger diameter of the stick. This latter detail suggests that the wood used for the stick itself was of low density. Among the kinds of wood that were used in Italy in that historical age cherrywood was my first choice. From the existant bows I extracted the proportional decrease in diameter of the stick and applied it to the measurements taken from the drawing. The shape of the tip was inspired by the fresco in the S. Abbondio church, and the frog was copied “as is” from the Bologna’s bow3 because its dimensions closely matched the ones of Samacchini. After several prototypes I obtained a bow whose main features 6 allowed some skilled musicians to use the same right hand and bow positions shown in the iconography, and play music of the period in so naturally a way that I couldn’t have hoped for better.
1) Kunst Historisches Museum Wien (KHM) sam 81,sam 84. 2) KHM sam 74, sam 76, sam 77, sam 78, sam 79, sam 82, sam 86, sam 107 and specially sam 75 e sam 83 3) Accademia filarmonica di Bologna ( AccFilBo) Italian viol bow existant in the academy since 1608 4) Orazio Sammacchini (1532-1577) “Madonna con bambino S. Petronio Maria Maddalena” British private collection. 5) Orazio Sammacchini drawing belonging to the "Custodia Collection", Paris 6) Lenght 710 mm, larger diameter 16 mm, frog’s height 35 mm, frog’s width 14 mm, hair-stick gap 31 mm, tip length 66 mm, tip height 21 mm, tip width 12 mm, weight 84 gr.