Cholmondeley Cello
Cholmondeley Stradivarius cello
| Category | Link-debt |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Cremona, Italy (c. 1698) |
| Classification | cello |
| Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org |
| Wikidata | Q5104375 |
Overview
The Cholmondeley (pronounced “CHUM-lee”, in the standard pronunciation of the English aristocratic surname) is the popular name of a Stradivarius cello produced at Cremona by Antonio Stradivari in around 1698. The instrument takes its name from the Cholmondeley family, the English aristocratic family whose ownership of the cello in the 19th and 20th centuries fixed its modern identifying name.
In a Sotheby’s London sale held on 22 June 1988 the cello fetched GBP 682,000 (roughly USD 1.2 million at the exchange rate of the day), a price that broke the world auction record for a musical instrument at that moment. The Cholmondeley sale surpassed the previous instrument auction record (also set in 1988) of USD 890,000, paid for the Stradivarius violin known as the Marie Hall. Before the Marie Hall, it had been the Bonjour Stradivarius had held the record at USD 393,000.
Origin & History
The cello was made in Cremona around 1698, during what scholars regard as the earlier mature phase of Antonio Stradivari’s working career. Stradivari produced approximately 80 cellos across his lifetime (compared with several hundred violins), of which perhaps 60 survive today; the Cholmondeley is one of the better-documented examples of his pre-1700 cello work.
The instrument’s documented modern provenance traces to the Cholmondeley family of Cheshire and Norfolk, hereditary peers and the Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains of England. Family ownership extended through several generations of the 19th and 20th centuries; the cello was sold by the family at the 1988 Sotheby’s auction.
The 1988 buyer at the record-breaking auction was a private collector. The instrument has subsequently passed through the standard fine-instrument private market and has been on loan to professional cellists at various points; the names of the players who have performed on it are not always public, in line with the discretion that characterises the modern fine-instrument market.
Construction & Materials
The Cholmondeley follows the standard Stradivari pre-1707 cello pattern — somewhat larger in body than the post-1707 “B-form” instruments that became the modern reference, with body length of approximately 79 cm (compared with the 75 cm of the standardised B-form). The body is built from a carved spruce top and a one-piece maple back, with maple ribs and ebony fittings. The varnish is the warm orange-brown characteristic of Stradivari’s mature period.
Like nearly every surviving Stradivari instrument, the Cholmondeley underwent the standard 19th-century modifications to neck angle, neck length, fingerboard, and bridge to handle the higher string tension and longer scale length of modern playing. The original 17th-century setup is therefore preserved only in the carved body itself; the working setup is essentially modern.
How It Is Played
The Cholmondeley Cello is played in the standard modern cello manner — held vertically between the player’s knees with the body resting on an adjustable endpin, sounded by a horsehair bow drawn across the strings or by plucking. Like other top-rank Cremonese instruments, it is reserved for advanced professional use; the technical demands and physical fragility of the instrument make it unsuited to casual or student playing.
When the cello is being actively performed (rather than held purely as an investment), it is typically loaned to an established professional player on terms that include insurance, conservation requirements, and shared rights between the owner and the player. This arrangement — common across the modern fine-instrument market — means that listeners may hear the Cholmondeley on commercial recordings without the player or label necessarily identifying the instrument by name.
Cultural Significance
The Cholmondeley Cello’s significance is double. As a Stradivari cello it sits alongside the great instruments of the Cremonese tradition — the Davidov, the Duport, the Servais, the Comte de Stainlein — that constitute the small set of historic cellos played by the leading soloists of each generation. As a documented auction event, the 1988 sale was a turning point in the modern recognition of Stradivari instruments as a distinct asset class. The breaking of the GBP 682,000 / USD 1.2 million barrier in that single sale put cellos definitively into the same financial-asset category that violins had occupied for several decades.
The cello’s name pronunciation — “CHUM-lee” rather than the spelling-suggested four-syllable form — has itself become a small cultural marker, a quiet test of familiarity with the British aristocratic surname tradition that named the instrument.
Notable Examples & Recordings
- The instrument’s auction history is documented in Sotheby’s published auction archives.
- Recording history is partial; the Cholmondeley has been performed on by various professionals on loan, but specific recordings are not always identified by instrument name.
- Comparable historic Stradivari cellos (the Davidov, Duport, Servais, Pawle, Bass of Spain) are documented in the standard Stradivari catalogues by Charles Beare, Stewart Pollens, and others.
Related Instruments
- Cello — the modern Western standard cello.
- Violin — the soprano member of the same family, with a substantial body of comparable named historic Stradivari and Guarneri instruments.
- Viola — the alto member of the family.
- Medici tenor viola — another comparably significant museum-grade Stradivari instrument.
- Tenor violin — the historical mid-size voice of the violin family.
- Viola da gamba — the older fretted bass viol from a separate family.
- Trinity College Harp — a comparably significant museum-grade historical instrument from a different tradition.
Where to Hear It
The Cholmondeley Cello is in private ownership and is performed on selectively when on loan to professional cellists. The instrument has not been recorded under its own name as far as published catalogues currently document; listeners are more likely to encounter the broader Stradivari cello sound through commercial recordings of named players (Yo-Yo Ma on the Davidov, Mstislav Rostropovich on the Duport) than to hear the Cholmondeley itself identified.
- Wikipedia: Cholmondeley Cello
- Wikidata: Cholmondeley Cello (Q5104375)
- DBpedia: Cholmondeley Cello
- Sotheby’s auction archive
Learning Resources
The Cholmondeley Cello is not a working teaching instrument; the practical study of cello at every level uses modern instruments, with the historic Stradivari and Guarneri instruments reserved for the very top professional level on loan-or-sponsored terms. Scholarly study of the cello as a class draws on Charles Beare’s Stradivari catalogue work, Stewart Pollens’s published work on the Stradivari archive, and the published auction records of Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bromptons, and Tarisio for the modern fine-instrument market history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it pronounced “CHUM-lee”?
The Cholmondeley family surname has the standard British aristocratic-surname spelling-pronunciation mismatch by which “Cholmondeley” is pronounced “CHUM-lee” (two syllables). Comparable cases include “Featherstonehaugh” pronounced “FAN-shaw” and “Mainwaring” pronounced “MAN-er-ing”.
Is the Cholmondeley still the world’s most expensive cello?
No. Subsequent decades have seen Stradivari cello sales at substantially higher prices, with the Duport Stradivarius reportedly sold privately for around USD 20 million in the 2000s. The Cholmondeley’s 1988 record was overtaken within a few years; it stands now as a historical milestone rather than the current top.
Where is the Cholmondeley Cello now?
In private ownership. The current owner has not been publicly identified in the standard auction records.
Who has played the Cholmondeley?
Various professional cellists on loan arrangements, but the named player history of the instrument is not as fully documented as that of the Davidov or the Duport.
Was 1698 a particularly important year for Stradivari cellos?
Stradivari worked across more than seven decades and produced cellos throughout. The c. 1698 instruments belong to the earlier mature phase, before the post-1707 “B-form” pattern reduction of body size that became the modern reference. The Cholmondeley is one of the better-documented surviving examples of this pre-1707 work.
