Omobono was one of six children of Antonio Stradivari and his wife Francesca Feraboschi. Omobono and his brother Francesco, like their father, also became violin makers, while Omobono, even if he joined his father’s workshop only at the age of twenty, is considered the more accomplished successor to his father. 

 

This violin, made around 1710, furnishes ample evidence of the close collaboration between father and son – indeed proof of it. Most of the instruments made by Omobono and Francesco were signed after the death of their father in 1737. Undoubtedly, they were made with the best wood available in the workshop. According to an age test, the spruce tree wood of the top plate of the Omobono Stradivari is the same as that of three violins from his father’s golden period.

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The Omobono violin was once the showpiece of a collection owned by the Brazilian Industrialist Geraldo Modern (1913–2007). Geraldo, son of the Berlin violinist and conductor Max Modern, actually wanted to become a musician, and it could be said, in the end he partially fulfilled his dream by acquiring the violin. He went on to build up a collection of string instruments, which his daughter Renata later took over. It included the “Omobono Stradivari”. 

 

Renata’s husband, Rudolf Koekert, the famous violinist and concert master of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, gifted the instrument to his son Nicolas (born 1979). Nicolas, following in the footsteps of his father, also became a noted musician and concert master. Until 2018 he was professor at the private University for Music and Arts, Vienna. In 2018, the violin became part of our collection.

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The instrument is currently played by Ilva Eigus.