Fine Viennese master violin by Mathias Thir, 1782

This master violin by Mathias Thir is an unusually beautiful, resonant and well-preserved instrument which serves as an elegant representation of a highly successful luthier’s personal style and good name. Like his brother and teacher Johann Georg Thir, Mathias Thir was one of the leading masters of Viennese violin making in the era of Haydn and Beethoven. In keeping with the aesthetic of the age and the role model of his brother, who was 26 years older, Mathias Thir patterned his instruments after the work of Jacob Stainer and gave this model an inimitable harmonic aesthetic. The full arch is especially well executed on this violin and forms the basis of its excellent tonal properties; at the same time, it is a clear part of a great European violin-making tradition which became the standard in Viennese classicism. Mathias Thir’s original label is a valid confirmation of the instrument’s provenance, and there can be little doubt that this is a genuine Mathias Thir instrument, given its heavily darkened reddish-brown varnish which has worn away in part due to intense use. The attractive antique varnish charmingly accentuates the moderately-grained spruce of the top and gently-flamed maple of the two-piece back. Its mature and powerful voice demonstrates the splendid condition this antique master violin is in; it has comparatively few restorations, given its advanced age, and it was painstakingly set up and tonally optimised by the experts at our workshop. Its clear voice is powerful in the lower registers and bright with a slightly sweet character in the higher notes. A certificate issued by the renowned experts at Hamma & Co., Stuttgart is included.

 

 

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