The Gentile Collection

The history of the Servais cello is well summed up by the following quotations from E. Doring's book How many Strads?:

The "Servais" came in to Vuillaume possession about 1845, after the death of M. Raoul, its previous owner, a Parisian who was well known as an amateur player. The famous cellist, Adrien Francois Servais (born at Hal, near Brussels June 6th, 1807; died there November 26th, 1866) desired to possess the instrument but lacked the necessary means to acquire it. Owing to the friendship of the Russian Princess Youssoupoff (Yusupov) to whom Servais confided his ardent wish, the cello was ordered by her to be sent to (then) St. Petersburg, but before it arrived, the Princess died. However, her family arranged to purchase it and Servais became the owner...

Servais used the cello throughout his life and at his death it passed to his son Joseph, who was also a fine performer; thus, two generations of celebrated players firmly established the name of Servais as the title of the instrument.

After the death of Joseph Servais, the cello was sold to Auguste Couteaux about 1885, who purchased it for the use of his son Georges, a student. M. Couteaux is said to have paid 60,000 francs for the instrument, a considerable enhancement in its value, as, when Vuillaume owned the cello, his price was 12,000 francs. In 1893 the cello passed to William E. Hill & Sons, who sold it to the Prince Caraman-Chimay, an excellent player, friend of music and collector of rare instruments, who had been a friend and pupil of Joseph Servais. Prince Chimay became the victim of odious publicity when his wife, who was Clara Ward of Detroit, Michigan, eloped with the gypsy violinist, Jancsi Rigo (who died, it is said, of the bubonic plague in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1899), as the result of an acquaintance formed during frequent visits Rigo made at the home of the Prince, lured there first by the fine collection of instruments...

Passing from the possession of Prince Chimay, the cello eventually came through Hill to Wurlitzer, a notable acquisition to America's treasury of great works.

The cello was donated to the Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institute) by Charlotte Bergen of Bernardville U.S.A., to whom lovers of music and musical instruments will be eternally grateful.

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