Original, Fake, or a Little of Both? On the Question of the Authenticity of a Pandurina by Giovanni Smorsone

Abstract

The Museum collection of the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung in Berlin houses a pandurina built by Giovanni Smorsone. However, this instrument came to the museum from within the circle of a violin forger. Investigations have proved that it is not a forgery. Nevertheless, alterations were found that do not match the original state of the instrument.

Keywords

• pandurina
• mandore
• organology
• micro-computed tomography
• giovanni smorsone