$20 million gift from David and Amy Fulton and $10 million by the Baird family enables Library of Congress to acquire 1690 Stradivari Tuscan-Medici Viola
The Library of Congress has acquired the historic 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola by Antonio Stradivari as a gift to the nation from David and Amy Fulton and The Tuscan Corporation.
The contralto viola was previously on loan to the Library by The Tuscan Corporation (of the Cameron Baird family) in a collaborative custodial arrangement since December 1977.
The viola joins the Library of Congress’ world-renowned instrument collection, which is anchored by the five Stradivari instruments donated by Gertrude Clarke Whittall in 1935. The viola, the second of the Library’s collection, has been renamed to commemorate its newest chapter: Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1690, viola, Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici.
The Tuscan-Medici viola was commissioned from Stradivari in 1690 by Ferdinando de’ Medici, the grand prince of Tuscany and patron of music in Florence, to form a Stradivari quintet with instruments previously gifted to him.
By the late 1700s, the viola left Italy and arrived in England. It remained there with various owners – including the collectors Alexander Glennie, F. de Rougemont, and Avery-Tyrell – until 1924, when it was sold to the American amateur musician and Macy’s department store heir Herbert N. Straus.
In 1957, Cameron Baird, violist, philanthropist and chairman of the Music Department at the State University of New York, Buffalo, purchased the instrument from the Straus estate.
The esteemed violin workshop of W.E. Hill & Sons wrote to Baird that the contralto was “one of the finest of the ten existing examples of the maker [Stradivari], its preservation being as remarkable as the beauty of its appearance.” Upon Baird’s death in 1960, the instrument passed to his wife, Jane Baird, who placed it on loan with the Library of Congress in 1977.
“This is an extraordinary gift to the Library and to the nation,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We will continue to embrace the spirit of sharing this remarkable instrument with America and the world, creating opportunities for musicians to perform at the Library and beyond so audiences can experience this exquisite viola. I am personally grateful to the Fultons and the Bairds for their tremendous generosity in making this instrument available to the public as part of the Library’s collections.”
The acquisition of the viola, valued at $30 million, was made possible through a gift of $20 million from the Fultons and an in-kind contribution of $10 million by the Baird family.
“The viola will forever be the property of the nation and will be protected, heard and available for study. It’s an ideal outcome,” said David Fulton.
“It is an altogether appropriate way to express our gratitude for the way we have lived, prospered, thrived and been nurtured by this great nation, our beloved home. In fact, my wife Amy’s very existence is thanks to the safe haven the United States provided for her mother after her family fled the Holocaust in Austria. Moreover, it seems a very good way to memorialize the passion for great stringed instruments that has illuminated most of my life. A capstone for the collection, if you will.”
The viola joins a rare ensemble of Stradivari instruments housed and preserved at the Library, bringing the total to six.
Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five of those instruments in 1935 with the mandate to make them accessible through performance and research, and to ensure that they are living objects that facilitate creating new works and interpretations of classics.
The Library has taken Whittall’s vision to heart: as an example, it co-commissioned (with support from the family of Cameron and Jane Baird, and John J. Medvickis) Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon to write a concerto specifically for the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola. Roberto Díaz, violist and president of the Curtis Institute of Music, premiered the piece at the Library in 2015, and it went on to win the 2018 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Compendium.
The Stradivari Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici viola will be featured in performance during the 2025-2026 season of Concerts from the Library of Congress, as part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the concert series. Additional details will be announced in Summer 2025.
David L. Fulton is noted as a private collector of Cremonese instruments. A native of Eugene, Oregon, he received his Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from the University of Connecticut. During his academic career, Fulton performed professionally with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra as a violinist. In 1970, he founded the Department of Computer Science at Bowling Green State University, serving as its professor and chair for 10 years.
While there, he co-founded Fox Software, which became internationally known for its database management application, FoxPro. Following the sale of Fox Software to Microsoft in 1992, Fulton served as Microsoft’s vice president for database products until his retirement in 1994.
Since then, Fulton has pursued his life’s passions, including assembling one of the world’s great collections of stringed instruments.
The collection led to friendships with many of the great violinists of the time, including Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and James Ehnes. At its zenith, the Fulton Collection contained 28 instruments, including eight by Antonio Stradivari.
Starting in 2017, Fulton dispersed his collection, ultimately giving all but one instrument to the David and Amy Fulton Foundation to sell in support of a variety of organizations and causes. Fulton has produced several documentary films about violins and music: “Homage” (2008), “Violin Masters: Two Gentlemen of Cremona” (2010), “Transcendence: A Meeting of Greats” (2014), and “Song of Rapa Nui” (2020). He also published “The Fulton Collection – A Guided Tour” about his violin collection.
Cameron Baird (1905-1960) was an entrepreneur, musician, educator and philanthropist whose vision transformed musical life in Buffalo, New York.
In addition to co-founding the Buffalo Pipe and Foundry Company with his brother William, Baird founded the Buffalo Oratorio Chorus and helped establish the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
He was an avid pianist, violist and conductor. He met cellist Jane Dugan while playing string quartets. They married in 1937 and together supported the Buffalo Chamber Music Society and other local music organizations.
He was instrumental in securing funding and bringing world-class musicians to Buffalo, many of whom became close family friends, including William Steinberg and members of the Budapest String Quartet.
Baird developed the Music Department at the University of Buffalo, serving as its first chair until his death in 1960. He had a deep interest in string instruments, especially the viola, which he started playing in his 30s. Baird was particularly in touch with the Straus family, who owned the Stradivari Tuscan-Medici viola.
After Herbert Straus’ death, the Bairds purchased it from his estate in 1957. Baird was not able to play the instrument for long because of his illness and it was loaned to Boris Kroyt of the Budapest Quartet for many years, to be played around the world.
The Quartet’s Alexander Schneider also played it on many occasions.
The Baird children joined their parents in music-making.
Many of their mornings started with rigorous practice before breakfast and many evenings were filled with the sounds of some of the world’s top string players who visited their home in Eden, New York.