Pina Carmirelli - violinist

Virtuoso trusted with 17th century masterpiece

Pina Carmirelli quickly established herself as
one of Italy's most talented violinists

Pina Carmirelli, who became one of Italy’s most gifted violinists of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1914 in Varzi, a town in the province of Pavia in Lombardy about 90km (45 miles) south of Milan.

Carmirelli enjoyed a brilliant career as a soloist and as a member of various chamber groups, the most notable of which was the Boccherini Quintet, which she co-founded with her husband, cellist Arturo Bonucci, in order to revive interest in the music of the 18th century cellist, Luigi Boccherini.

She was held in such high regard that the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she taught for many years, allowed her use of one of the prized possessions of their Museum, a 1690 violin that was one of a set of five instruments the great luthier Antonio Stradivari built for Ferdinando de’ Medici, the Grand Prince of Tuscany.

Carmirelli played the precious instrument, known as the 'Tuscan, Medici' in numerous recitals and concert performances between 1962 and 1977, as well as in some recordings, notably those with the Boccherini Quintet.

As a child, Pina Carmirelli is thought to have been inspired to follow a career in music by her grandfather, the conductor and composer Carlo Podesta. She began studying music and performing as a concert pianist at a very young age. 

She also had a music-loving uncle in Cremona, which - thanks to the Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri families and others - is steeped in the traditions of violin-making. Carmirelli visited the historic city throughout her childhood and it became something of a spiritual home. 

Later, as a student of Teresina Tua and Michelangelo Abbado, she graduated from the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan in violin in 1930, and in composition five years later.

Carmirelli with the Boccherini Quintet soon after it
was formed. Arturo Bonucci is on the right, seated

She was awarded the Stradivari Prize in 1937 and the Paganini Prize in 1940, which cemented her status as one of the most gifted young violinists in Italy. 

Carmirelli’s distinguished career was notable for her deep affinity for Classical and early Romantic music. Along with her husband, who was 20 years her senior, she formed the Boccherini Quintet in 1950, followed by the Carmirelli Quartet in 1954, also featuring Bonucci.

She also became first violin of I Musici, the chamber orchestra from Rome, formed in 1952, which became well known for their interpretations of Baroque and other works, particularly those of Antonio Vivaldi and Tomaso Albinoni.

The orchestra consisted of 12 musicians, most of whom were students of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. They were so successful that their recordings of Vivaldi’s most famous work, his collection of violin concerti known as The Four Seasons, sold more than 25 million copies.

Bonucci, who she met in 1938 and soon married, was a decorated pilot as well as a musician, but also a committed opponent of the Fascist regime, a stance shared by Carmirelli. 

In later years, Carmirelli played often at
the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont

They collaborated in the revival of Luigi Boccherini’s music after Carmirelli, on tour in Paris, discovered by chance in the library of the Paris Conservatory a complete collection of Boccherini’s works for strings, which had been long forgotten. Carmirelli persuaded the Italian consulate to buy them on her behalf before she and Arturo painstakingly worked through 147 string quintets for two cellos and over 84 string quartets, forming their Boccherini Quintet in order to do them justice in front of an audience.

While Carmirelli’s career was rooted in Italy, she also performed extensively abroad, including in the United States. Her American engagements included chamber tours, guest appearances with orchestras, and collaborations that helped introduce European chamber traditions to US audiences.

For example, she became a regular at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, which she visited for the first time in 1964, not long after the death of Arturo, for whom she was still in mourning. She admitted that the sense of community at the festival allowed her to set aside some of her sadness and feel part of a family again, sharing her knowledge and experience with countless musicians in the years that followed.

Carmirelli, who had by then enjoyed a 50-year association with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, died in 1993 in a town today known as Capena, in northern Lazio, some 35km (21 miles) north of Rome. She had reached the age of 79.

Varzi, the Lombardy village that was Pina Carmirelli's
birthplace, has a well-preserved medieval centre

Travel tip:

Varzi, where Pina Carmirelli was born, designated by the Associazione I Borghi più belli d’Italia as one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, is the gateway to the Upper Oltrepò region, an unspoiled area of the Apennines located at the southern tip of Lombardy, close to the borders with Piedmont to the west, Emilia-Romagna to the east and Liguria to the south. It is characterised by medieval architecture largely unchanged for centuries. Historical attractions include the 13th century Malaspina Castle and Witches’ Tower, the 18th century Palazzo Tamburelli, the 16th century Chiesa di San Germano and the Oratories of the Bianchi and the Rossi, built in the 17th century in different architectural styles, one late Renaissance, the other Baroque. Remnants of the medieval walls are visible in the towers of Porta Soprana and Porta Sottana. Varzi is famed for its Salame di Varzi DOP, which supposedly owes its flavour to being cured by the breezes from the Ligurian Sea. A crucial stop along the Via del Sale trade route, which connects the Po Valley with the Ligurian coast, Varzi enjoyed great prosperity from the 13th century onwards under the Malaspina family, who built many of the buildings that distinguish the village today.

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The inner courtyard of the Conservatorio di Santa
Cecilia, where Carmirelli taught for many years

Travel tip:

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, was established in 1565. It was founded in Rome by Pope Sixtus V at the Church of Santa Maria ad Martires, better known as the Pantheon. Over the centuries, many famous composers and musicians have been members, among them in recent times the opera singers Beniamino Gigli and Cecilia Bartoli. Since 2005 the Academy’s headquarters have been at the Parco della Musica in Rome, which was designed by the architect Renzo Piano, in Viale Pietro de Coubertin in the Flaminio district, close to the location of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games. Previously, the Accademia was based at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, which dates back to 1875. Entrances can still be seen in Via dei Greci and Via Vittoria, not far from the Spanish Steps in central Rome.  The museum housing the 1690 Tuscan, Medici violin and the other instruments that comprised the Medici Quintet is located in the Parco della Musica complex. In the exhibition gallery some 130 instruments are on display and about 50 luthiery tools in an open-air laboratory where the museum luthiers work.

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More reading:

Why Luigi Boccherini spent his last years in Madrid

Niccolò Paganini, the violinist whose extraordinary talent aroused bizarre suspicions

The 17th century luthier whose instruments are still seen as the best in the world

Also on this day:

1752: The death of composer and pianist Muzio Clemente

1881: The birth of heiress and muse Luisa Casati

1921: The birth of sculptor and trophy-maker Silvio Gazzaniga

1928: The birth of controversial politician Salvatore Lima

1980: The death of car designer Giovanni Michelotti

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