Madam, - Richard Pine (February 16th) has been a little hasty in identifying Samuel Pigott as the Irish merchant mentioned in my review of Mexican cellist Carlo Prieto's lecture recital about the fascinating history of his Stradivarius cello.
As Prieto made clear, the man who acquired the cello in Spain and took it to Ireland in 1818 was the sherry merchant Allen Dowell. Three years later Dowell sold it to a Rev Booth of Carlow, and it was only after his death that the cello was acquired by Pigott in 1831. The great cellist Alfredo Piatti, after whom the cello is now named, first encountered the instrument in Dublin in 1844.
Piatti could not afford to buy the cello when it was sold after Pigott's death in 1853. He acquired the instrument in 1867, when it was given to him as a surprise gift by his friend Col Oliver, an enthusiastic amateur cellist in London. - Yours etc,
MICHAEL DERVAN,
Irish Times Music Critic,
Dublin 8.