This app presents the 22 historic stringed musical instruments in the Caldwell Collection of Viols, including fine, rare, and important examples made in the 17th-19th centuries by Amati, Bertrand, Norman, Rose, Tielke, and others.

Lavishly illustrated listings provide:

* more than 200 photographs, including full-screen portraits of each instrument by Roger Mastroianni
* over 90 minutes of music, in 40 audio tracks
* details of provenance, dimensions, and restoration history
* technical descriptions of each instrument by the contemporary viol builder John Pringle
* essays on the makers by the musicologist Thomas G. MacCracken

The publication contains Catharina Meints Caldwell's moving and humorous memoir as well as a catalogue of the instruments, telling the story of how the collection was shaped by the 40-year musical life together of its principals, and by their conviction that “instruments, no matter how beautiful, are meant to be played and heard, not just looked at.”

See the video at http://vimeo.com/41504020

A 160-page hardcover print version of the same material, featuring 217 photographs and 2 audio CDs, will be published on 27 July 2012 by Music Word Media Group Ltd. Use discount code dsrj0im8nwRB to recieve a $10 discount at http://bit.ly/dsrj0im8nwRB