Louis Otto, Dusseldorf 1897
Louis Otto, trained under his father Carl August, died 1920. He gained first prizes at the Dusseldorf Exhibition, also at Melbourne and Chicago. Emile Sauret (famous French virtuoso) used one of his violins for several years. Later in his career, when this violin was made, he almost exclusively became a semi-copyist of the large Stradivarius design, but did not allow anything to fetter his free spirit and in giving rein to certain little individualities, never lost the intuitive sense of beautiful symmetry. Outline and sound holes delightfully Stradivarian. Whole contour one of splendid robustness. Built for production of a very large tone, with rather remarkable penetrating resonance. The plates perfectly attuned and graduated with very fine workmanship throughout. Purfling merits all possible praise. Particularly wonderful in point of clarity and mellowness.
Setup with Rondo strings and rosewood fittings.
For an audio sample, please visit
https://youtu.be/YIqDGavtz_o