a concert violinist and conductor, author, and educator. He was the only constant member of the Paganini Quartet throughout its existence. Gustave Rosseels was the original second violinist. Later, he was replaced by Charles Libove (who subsequently became first violinist with the Beaux-Arts Quartet), and then Stefan Krayk. Robert Courte, who had been a professor of the viola at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, was the original violist. He was later replaced by Charles Foidart, and then David Schwartz and Albert Gillis, respectively. Robert Maas, the quartet's original cellist, died suddenly in 1948. He was replaced by Adolphe Frezin, and later by Lucien Laporte, who had been first cellist for the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch, and the NBC Symphony. Gábor Rejtő, Victor Gottlieb, and Edgar Lustgarten also filled in at various times. Instruments The four Strads were among the most cherished possessions of the famed musician Niccolo Paganini. After their purchase by Mrs. Clark, further adjustments were made to the instruments by the craftsman Simone Fernando Sacconi. The provenance of the instruments is as follows: The first violin, the "Comte Cozio di Salabue," was made by Stradivari in 1727 and was played by Paganini himself, after he acquired it from Count Cozio de Salabue in 1817. The second violin, the "Desaint," was made by Stradivari in 1680. It is an example of Stradivari’s early Amatise style, and is profiled in the book Stradivari’s Genius by Toby Faber. The viola, the "Mendelssohn," was made in 1731, when Stradivari was 86 years old. It is one of fewer than a dozen surviving Strad violas, and was the instrument that inspired Paganini to commission Hector Berlioz to write his symphonic poem "Harold in Italy". The cello is the “Ladenburg” of 1736. It was owned by the Mendelssohn family before coming into Paganini’s possession. When the Paganini Quartet disbanded in 1966, the four Strads reverted to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In accordance with Mrs. Clark's will, they were never to be separated. Beginning in 1992, they were loaned to the Cleveland String Quartet. Since 1994, they have been owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, and were played by the Tokyo String Quartet until the quartet disbanded in 2013. The four instruments were then played by the Hagen Quartet, and then by the Quartetto di Cremona. In 2019, they were loaned to the Kuss Quartet to record the entire