The Paganini Quartet was a virtuoso string quartet founded by its first violinist, Henri Temianka, in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari, had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini.
Henri Temianka: 1st Violin: “Comte Cozio di Salabue” (1727)
Gustave Rosseels: 2nd Violin: “Desaint” (1680, Stradivari’s early Amatise style)
Robert Courte: Viola: “Mendelssohn” (1731, one of less than twelve surviving Strad violas)
Robert Mass: Cello: “Ladenburg” (1736)
Today these instruments belonging to Nippon Music Foundation on loan to the Tokyo String Quartet. – Saulo Zucchello