The Viola da Gamba Collection of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Berlin
The original instrument collection of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Berlin was largely destroyed during the Second World War. After 1945, the museum systematically acquired new holdings.
The viola da gamba section comprises a small number of instruments from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, connected with various historical making centres: Gregorius Karpp (active late 17th century) from Königsberg; Joachim Tielke (1641–1719) from Hamburg; Jacob Meinertzen (c. 1665–after 1732) from Berlin; Jeremias Würfel (c. 1655–after 1720) from Nuremberg; Barak Norman (c. 1651–c. 1724) and Robert Cotton (fl. late 17th century) from London; and Jacob Stainer (c. 1619–1683) from Absam in Tyrol.
Just as Old Master paintings preserve the visible world of their time, these instruments preserve its sound. Each endures as a work of rare beauty in its own right, shaped by exceptional craftsmanship and the cultivated taste of its era.